Hello Argonauts,

Today I've got a preview from our upcoming chapter, but before that I've got two podcasts for you to check out.

The first is an early delve into Trinity Continuum: Aegis right from the end of last year! Episode 238 of the Onyx Pathcast from December 2022 -

Onyx Pathcast Episode 238: Trinity Aegis <link>

This episode delves into some fun early discussions

And then, if we get into the most recent episode, the team revisits the Aegis discussion now that the project is live and being shared.

Onyx Pathcast Episode 269: Aegis is Alive <link>

This one digs into

I love reading the draft manuscript previews that get posted for backers to read, and I love seeing the game in action (if I get any actual plays, I'll be sure to post them), but I really love listening to the developers and writers discuss their processes and thoughts behind the book.


And speaking of writing and previews, let's get a preview from our next Chapter. Coming Tuesday, we'll have the full draft manuscript of Chapter 3: Inspired Characters, but for now we'll have a small preview.

Inspiration refers to an Inspired character’s ability to harness and control ambrosia’s fate-twisting energy, and the capacity at which they wield it. With it, they are capable of amazing, superhuman feats. Champions display incredible physical strength and wit, and can twist probability in their favor. Oracles’ powers include divination, transformation, and control over the elements. Olympian abilities go even further, wreaking changes on their bodies and minds and allowing them to display a prowess far beyond any mere mortal’s capacity.

Characters in Trinity Continuum: Aegis gain their abilities through contact with ambrosia. This may be through a deliberate action such as bathing in a pool of it, receiving a sip during a ritual, eating foods infused with it, or stepping into a shaft of light where golden particles dance. Characters can also experience ambrosia’s effects without understanding what it is they’ve encountered. They might walk through a meadow covered in golden mist and inhale its particles, or sleep on ambrosia-infused ground and awaken refreshed but unaware of the shimmering veil that blanketed them while they slumbered. How much ambrosia one imbibes doesn’t dictate whether the character becomes a Champion, Oracle, or Olympian, though it’s a common misconception that further contact might introduce additional changes. In fact, three people could submerge themselves in the same pool of ambrosia at the same time and each come out a different type of Inspired individual.

Humanity has always had heroes. Back to the first stories recited around nighttime fires, back to the first figures inscribed upon cave walls, and back further still, disappearing into mysterious darkness that the first people walked from. But eventually humanity’s heroes carried food to feed the many in cleverly woven baskets instead of overfull hands; eventually they raised knives of flint and fire-hardened lances to hunt and drive off the beasts of the land. Possibilities expanded as civilizations grew. Inspired to greater and greater things, new heroes’ stories echoed even louder than those of their predecessors. Then fire fell from the sky, bringing with it the golden liquid that kindled inner Gifts, and the first Champions opened their eyes after drinking deep.

Champions are Inspired individuals favored by fortune. Their luck saves them from anything from a rampaging bull to an awkward situation. They’re capable of great athletic prowess, creating works of inspiring art, and clever thinking.

Champions are often aware that they are now different, and recognize their potential to impact the world. Some credit their newfound abilities to fate, and seek to fulfill or surmount what they perceive as their destiny. Others attribute it to the will of the gods, and work to honor, propitiate, or emulate them. The comfortable and self-assured may ascribe their newfound abilities to superior birth or other supernatural musings, using it to justify their actions. Many test their own limits as they try to fit their Gifts into their philosophical understanding of the world.

Champions enjoy all the benefits of Talents from the Trinity Continuum Core (p. 151-155.) They may Dramatically Edit, purchase Inspired Gifts, and benefit from Facets, but ambrosial changes push them even further. Their Gifts reflect greater abilities, and their Dramatic Editing options go beyond those of Talents. Furthermore, their awareness of their ability to affect probability is greater, no matter what name they give to outrageous fortune and endless possibility; a Champion understands on some level what it means to swear a Mighty Oath, and that the Twists of Fate they’re subjected to are more than mundane humanity must contest with.

A Champion’s inherent Inspired nature doesn’t fully owe itself to ambrosia, but their particular relationship to Inspiration is certainly mediated by the golden gift. Maybe other circumstances could result in Champions rising in other situations, but ambrosia has seen their creation en masse during the time of Aegis. Many are aware of the gift ambrosia has given them, and some seek to master it further, but further evolution or transformation must be by their own hand: ambrosia has already given them the gift of living as their best, most Inspired selves.

This isn’t to say that Champions have no further use for ambrosia. With access to the miraculous substance, intentionally directed diversions of fate such as invoking the Morai are possible, and it serves as an endlessly malleable and useful catalyst in the construction of wonders and raising of fantastical creatures. But rare is the Champion who seeks to glut themselves on it; for those who wish to indulge in worldly pleasures, many prefer unwatered wine, a fresh rack of lamb, or lovely musicians playing the pipes. Ambrosia is a tool, albeit one of incredible power and mysterious origin.

Oracles display psychic abilities such as controlling the weather, predicting the future, and wielding powers of transformation. Many act as advisors to people in power, whether that’s whispering in a queen’s ear or advising a general on the evil of battle. They’re revered priestesses in busy temples, or sorceresses living in remote seaside hovels. They understand the give-and-take that such abilities require. Everything has a price; sometimes you declare what you’re willing to pay, sometimes fate sets its own. Some destinies are beyond an Oracle’s ability to predict or thwart, but this doesn’t make them shy away from the power at their fingertips. It’s a matter of knowing that if something is worth doing, you must know what you’re willing to give up to do it.

Oracles often literally shape the world around them. Combined with other reagents and rituals, they use ambrosia to affect changes in their environment, people in their vicinity, and even what a person’s future holds. Their magic — or their manipulation of probability — helps them knit flesh, conjure storms, and lay curses upon those who cross them.

When an Oracle uses her powers for another person’s benefit, she rarely does so for free. Her expertise comes at a cost, and it’s only fair to ask the same level of commitment from her client as she puts in herself. She may set someone seeking her wisdom with a task to prove their worth, whether that’s an arduous climb to the rocky promontory from which she’ll cast her spell, a quest to procure a component from a dangerous beast, or a riddle they must first solve. Those who seek an Oracle’s wisdom aren’t guaranteed clear or easy answers. The future is always changing, after all, and even armed with foreknowledge seekers often stumble into their own fates. Those who dismiss an Oracle’s advice do so at their own peril; many a kingdom has fallen because its leader didn’t like what he heard.

Oracles’ power, to outside observers, seems mystical or god-given. What Oracles consider the price of power, or the whims of fate, is in truth the result of their manipulating probability. Their abilities are transformative in nature, manipulating weather, elements, and biology in ways that wouldn’t occur naturally. So calling up a great storm on a clear day risks capsizing ally’s ship or delaying a critical message from arriving on time, even as the storm stymies an enemy’s fleet.

Oracles’ Gifts often require a ritual or reagents to perform, and sometimes even rely on the availability of ambrosia. Often, this is a narrative device set to represent the sacrifice an Oracle makes in exchange for manipulating fate. However, for particularly powerful Gifts, if an Oracle doesn’t have the proper reagents, time, or access to ambrosia to activate them, the Storyguide may elect to add a Complication to the roll reflecting an unintended consequence that will happen if it’s not bought off. On a botch, rather than adding Momentum to the pool, the Oracle’s player and the Storyguide may work together to decide on a narratively and dramatically appropriate consequence.

To be an Olympian is to stand above.

Olympians are more than human; while young ones may still appear mortal, from the moment the divinely transformative ambrosia passes their lips, they are as different from a baseline mortal as a lion is to an ant. The story of an Olympian is the stuff of myth. Theirs are stories that will be told again and again as their personal legend grows and they challenge the powerful and reshape the world to suit their vision. Theirs is a story of epic conquest, divine odyssey, and riveting discovery.

It’s also a story of ascension and growth, as the mortal-turned-god comes to grips with their newfound might. As they understand their abilities and wield them with more confidence, the trials of their youth fall like wheat cut by the sword that is their majesty. The world shakes with their footsteps, nations fall at their mere suggestion, and walls crumble with the slightest touch. However, this incredible power often comes at an incredible price: The life of a mortal is difficult to maintain when those around you look to you as a god. An Olympian may find herself not only beloved by but responsible for more people than she ever imagined she’d meet, or she may discover those same people fear her instead; either way, her relationship to the community she once knew and considered herself a part of changes drastically.

Whether they discard their humanity with glee and abandon and embrace their role as a force of nature, or cling to it like a sailor thrown from their ship clings to driftwood in a raging storm, the outcome is usually the same. Just as a king cannot be a peasant, one cannot be man and god forever. The Olympian will forever stand apart from those they once knew as kin, and that distance grows as the Olympian grows in puissance. The only question is whether she defies the gods of old and becomes a benevolent deity or follows the well-tread path of cruelty, envy, and pettiness of those who came before.

Mechanics of an Olympian

The exposure to ambrosia made massive changes to the Olympians; their bodies are more muscular, their minds quicker, and their charisma undeniable. They are uniformly difficult to injure and faster to heal. They can do everything from elemental manipulation to leaping tall buildings to controlling the emotions of others. They get into all the trouble that the gods of Greek mythology can get into without as much of the celestial baggage.

Olympians’ Gifts are often more overt than those of Champions or Oracles. They need not dance to call the rains; nor do they beg Zeus to grant them lightning, and they don’t need to do pushups to gain the strength to sunder walls. They may believe their strength comes from exercise, their elemental powers a gift from the gods, or their knowledge of weather comes from being well informed. They throw lightning; they do not call it. They punch walls down; they do not ask them to fall.

While training can encourage certain Gifts to manifest, many others emerge in times of crisis. As a tempest bears down upon their people, they may find that their powers allow them to control storms. An Olympian faced with an army may find they have an infinite capacity for martial prowess. Any Olympian can manifest any Gift, but a mix of personality and circumstance determines which ones do manifest.

So just some pieces of a larger manuscript. As mentioned, on Tuesday backers will have access to Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 from the book and be able to read the complete text.  I'll be back on Monday with some more awesome Aegis fiction. 

So, as always, please continue to spread the word about this campaign. Share in your social circles and on your social media, and let's keep up the pace and see if we can knock out another Stretch Goal or two over the next few weeks!

Standing on a mountainside, Biriam looked over his future and balanced it against the blade of his axe. He wished, would that I am remembered. The edge was chipped — blunted and carved with the lives it’d ended. He called it Ambition. Biriam honed it, polishing the blade, working it with whetstones, hoping with each swing to carve his path into the future.

“Wake up,” curled a coarse tone. “Sunrise.”

Biriam sat up amidst furs and fleece. Darkness ebbed and thin rays of morning intruded from the tent flaps. He loathed the morning; awakening brought an urge to flinch, intuiting a boot colliding with his ribs to urge him to the day’s work. But those days were shorn away on the edge of his axe, sacrificed to Ambition. Yet still in the in-between waking moments they stirred.

He shoved aside the tent’s flap and surveyed his warriors.

Striding among his men, family bought by coin and the shared dreams of Biriam’s future, he sipped from a water trough which reflected crimson skies the shade of the evening’s soil. He thrust the metal cup into the hands of Garades, a red-haired youth from Nador who’d pledged a blood oath to the gang and was all but Biriam’s battle-brother. “Drink well,” he said.

Garades smiled, clapping his war-leader on his ox-wide shoulder. Biriam met the smile, held it in like a breath. He prayed it would never tarnish like the metal cup had.

He loved Garades, loved all his battle-brothers with a heart forged in seeped, shared blood. The youngster passed the cup back, and Biriam passed it to another: Perius, the fleet, the horse-rider. “We push forward tonight again,” said the warlord. He knew any one of his family would give their lives for his dream; their dream.

And yet, he’d sacrifice any upon the edge of his axe-blade to achieve his Ambition.

During the long afternoon, when the sun crawled, he sat and schemed their siege. They’d watched the caravans for months as they extracted materials from the starfall. The wagons brought their goods behind the walls of an encampment two leagues distant, where the students of the gods kept them.

Perius drew in the sand, parting grains with a sharp-tipped stick. On one side, the fields and hill and Biriam’s warband; on the other, their destiny. “They call themselves Lions,” he said, crouching by the pictogram.

“We’ve killed lions before,” laughed Garades. “I’ve seen Biriam choke the life from one.”

“Probably a cub,” Perius joked. Amusement rippled through them.

“Be serious,” scolded Biriam. The fighters, like children, hushed at their father’s word. “These are no cubs we fight.”

He didn’t need to remind them of the severity of the mission. Had it been any other, he’d have welcomed the levity. But for this, he would brook no nonsense.

The warlord Biriam’s past was a millstone, a weight paid in shed blood. Even into his fortieth year he kept his hair cut short, like he had in his days in the Athenian military. A half-decade of banditry had followed. Many of the oldest in his family came from those days, and they’d fostered hopes of assailing mercantile roads for a comfortable life. Yet still, Biriam dreamed of more.

The evening met Biriam’s crew drenched in blood. His axe-blade led the way, severing dusk and night as the sun slipped low. A cry rose from his ranks, the fighters eager for more. They’d planned for a siege, one which would shatter the encampment’s defenses. Bitter bile rose in the warrior’s throat. “Break the walls!” he screamed.

To his left, a battle-brother clashed with a defender: Adros, an older comrade. He’d joined Biriam’s retinue shortly after the star fell, had sworn his blood oath soon afterward. Adros, who amused the band on spring evenings plucking drunkenly on his lyre. His opponent was formidable. Adros fell, his body ripped from shoulder to gut by spear-point. Biriam clenched his teeth, steeling himself to hold firm, urge forward. A section of wall collapsed into rubble beneath his charge. He rose, buoyed by rage, cresting a wave of his battle-brothers.

As the wall fell, he smashed Ambition against the skulls of two defenders, severing them like eggs, spilling crimson yolk. He laughed, remembering Adros. “These are no lions!” he yelled — it was performative, he knew, emphatic boastful confidence to drive his fighters on. “They call themselves the Society of the Lion, but look how they die!”

In his youth, they’d called him the Beast Biriam, for his brutality. Death walked with him, close enough his family knew to stay several steps aside lest they be struck down by his Ambition. They wouldn’t be the first to do so. Such had marred his youthful days in service of Athenia’s King, a savagery which earned him the loathing of his fellows-at-arms, a winding road of butchery which led to exile. Now, among his family, he retained his discipline — but not at the expense of his rage.

As the robe-clad Lions died, he beckoned his family. “In, through the break!” he bellowed, “Now!”

Garades and Perius hurried to his side. The youngster leaned down, scooping up scrolls which littered an upturned table. “I hoped we’d find fighters here,” he said, “not these scholars. There’s no fight in them.”

Biriam snorted. “Don’t congratulate yourself yet. Some here have turned their stolen treasures to their own benefit. That’s why we liberate it.”

Garades threw the papers down. “Their fortress is a vault. We’ll find what we seek in its depths.”

The gods did not choose the Lions, Biriam decided as the band broke door by door. At his lead, his battle-brothers put scholars and students to the blade, until the paving stones of the fortress ran slick with blood. “Burn the papers,” said Biriam. He closed his eyes; the smell invaded his senses. With each step, he’d feared judgment; he wondered if he’d break upon Hades’ branches. Certainly, if he didn’t achieve his ambition. And if he did, he’d best Hades himself.

Resistance met the fighters as they breached the fortress, delving deeper into its heart. Combatants armed with blades, roused from the suddenness of the invasion, broke like waves upon Biriam’s onslaught. Flames quickly enveloped much of the building’s outer rings, sealing their escape and stemming the rout. They fell like stunted trees broken in thunderstorms. Only as the band pushed inwards did they meet true resistance.

A young fighter, Biriam did not truly remember his name, fell first to the empowered. The man who slew him wielded might unlike any mortal; he was muscled like an ox, blazing each step with impossible speeds. Several of Biriam’s kin turned to flee as the air within the hallways turned thick and black as night, enshrouding them in panic.

“Hold firm!” he yelled, clutching the throat of one who ran from the Lions.

In that moment, Biriam was ready to slit the man’s throat. His combatants needed to fear him more than they feared those who’d claimed the god’s might. It’d take fear for those who trusted him to hurl themselves into death itself; this was the price his ambition demanded.

As the fortress burned, the band met the Lions. Biriam heaved, clefting atwain those who stood against him, but only after they’d first broken themselves against the warlord’s brothers. As the ground grew uneven with the bodies of felled fighters, Biriam wondered how many mortal lives it’d take to drown those touched by gods.

The weight of lives ended balanced on either side of his axe’s edge: his family on one side, those of the Society of the Lion on the other. A cost to be paid, souls to outweigh those who’d stolen the bounty of the starfall. Yes, the Society claimed to protect it; Biriam knew their claims. They’d shuffled away the gifts of the gods, hidden it in vaults like this to study and understand. Yet they’d keep what secrets they’d found from him.

He brought his axe down again and again. He imagined he was hacking apart the lies, bringing mortal judgment to these Lions who thought themselves the gods’ equals like Prometheus stealing the flame. A fire which, as far as the warlord was concerned, should be his.

Few of his family survived the onslaught. Amidst ruin, ashen ground, and bloodied, crumbling walls, the warlord emerged to walk, step by aching step, to the vault. The door crunched and shattered, its guardians rent apart. He laughed, shoving masonry aside. In the center sat several oaken chests, anointed with carved sigils. He pulled a lid open; it resisted to the last. In spite, Biriam tore at it, splintering the wood, twisting the locks. He wouldn’t be denied. Not after coming so far. Not after having paid such a price.

Within were flasks, ornately decorated and hewn from fine calf leather. They smelled slightly of sunlight and honey.

Here, he thought, the nectar, beverage of the gods. He clutched one flask, pulling at the lid. The might of the gods swirled within, the power to do as he willed. He drank in his dreams. With his ambition realized, he’d be the one to divide life and death on the edge of his blade; not the Fates, not the gods.

He drank thirstily, eager to absorb his destiny.

Heat burned within, raging like a fire, like his fury. It swelled to a crescendo. He stumbled, dropping the flask. His body became power itself, shifting, might and strength combined. The roof of the chamber broke apart against the bursting corona of his might. Searing flames ignited in his eyes. Biriam — or the man he once was — evaporated. In an eternity lingering for a fragmented moment, he felt the greater part of himself seared away.

Instead, there was only his purest sense: a singular thought, the center of the flame which had been him. In that moment, he was reborn.

As he stumbled free from the ruins, survivors fled. The faces of those he couldn’t remember fully turned to him in horror, their bodies small, fragile. He brought one of his hooves down upon them. Any kinship he’d once shared with them was half-forgotten, the memory of a dream. He looked into the night and, for a moment, tried to remember what that word which sat on his tongue — ambition — had ever truly meant. Whatever it was, it was meaningless now. All that mattered was appetite.

He howled. Somewhere in the mists, the Fates laughed.

Hello Argonauts!

Great news! We've just achieved our 3rd Stretch Goal!


ACHIEVED! - At $30,000 in Funding - Aegis Atlas - A digital supplement spotlighting and expanding on some of the locations in the world of Aegis, with additional People of Interest and potential plot hooks. This PDF supplement will be automatically added to the rewards list of any backer receiving the Trinity Continuum: Aegis PDF as one of their rewards. 

This is amazing news! I had figured that our Stretch Goal targets thus far would take us into the weekend, but we're on a fast pace and moving quickly! Great job everyone!


With the first week's worth of goals already taken care of, it's time to set up our next batch! In theory, these are to carry us through the middle weeks of the campaign. Let's get 'em set up!


At $33,000 in Funding - Trinity Continuum: Aegis Digital Wallpaper - Exciting Aegis artwork will be used to create a wallpaper for your computer desktop. This digital wallpaper will be added to the rewards list of all backers supporting this project.


At $36,000 in Funding- Trinity Continuum: Aegis Mobile Wallpaper - Exciting Aegis artwork will be used to create a wallpaper for your mobile device lockscreen. This mobile wallpaper will be added to the rewards list of all backers supporting this project.


At $40,000 in Funding - Aegis Atlas: Additional Locations and Devices - The Aegis Atlas bonus supplement will be expanded to include additional non-Greek locations, along with some Aegis-appropriate super-science gadgets and devices.



Amazing job, everyone! And lots of fun still in store for Aegis!

Hello Argonauts & Olympians!

Are you ready for some more Aegis? Now that we've had a chance to read through the propulsive first chapter that introduced the setting, it's time to delve into the organizations that the characters may be a part of, or at least encounter within the game!

Chapter Two: Colleges presents the Colleges and counter-societies active in the world today that the characters might join or interact with, and the antagonists who provide challenges along the way


Before we get into the next Draft Manuscript Preview, I've got a few reminders and another way to help out this project!
 

First up, a reminder about our current Stretch Goal targets. We're *so close* to unlocking our second Stretch Goal, and then onwards to the Aegis Atlas!


At $28,000 in Funding - Trinity Continuum: Aegis T-shirt on Redbubble - An Aegis-themed Backer shirt will be hosted on Onyx Path’s Redbubble store for a limited time. Only backers will be notified when the shirt becomes available for purchase.

At $30,000 in Funding- Aegis Atlas - A digital supplement spotlighting and expanding on some of the locations in the world of Aegis, with additional People of Interest and potential plot hooks. This reward will automatically be added to the rewards list for all backers who have the Trinity Continuum: Aegis PDF as part of their reward tier.

One quick note about International Shipping before we get into the manuscript previews. Unlike many previous Onyx Path projects, we won’t be collecting funds to cover International Shipping during this Crowdfunding campaign. Instead, we’ll be charging for shipping in the Pledge Manager once the books are being printed and we can deal with the actual shipping charges rather than using our best-guesses this far out. We’re still anticipating pretty hefty costs to ship the book internationally (see our current guesses on the front page) so be forewarned, but we’ll cross that enormous bridge when we get to it.



And finally, another way that you can help this project.

Throughout the campaign, I'll be sharing a new update whenever we've got the next section of our Draft Manuscript available to preview. Before the conclusion of the campaign, you'll be able to read the entire draft manuscript for Trinity Continuum: Aegis and know exactly what to expect and exactly what you're helping to build.

In fact, you can help build it even better! The Onyx Path team has created a special Feedback Form that you can use to provide feedback on the draft manuscript to help guide the writers and developers through the next stages of work on this project.

Share your Feedback directly with the writers and developers using this form: Trinity Continuum: Aegis Feedback Form

Remember, thanks to BackerKit magic, these download links are visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Read This Update" or "Reply to this Update" link on the bottom and I'll see you below the title treatment...

Hello Argonauts!

I shared some of the fiction for Trinity Continuum: Aegis earlier today, and like Amya from that great story, we've achieved our quest only to discover there are many mysteries and adventures still ahead!



Our first and most important victory was funding the book itself! Now that we've discovered the island and mysterious wreckage, our adventures continue. And already we've got another success to talk about around the fire this night!


ACHIEVED! - At $25,000 in Funding - Trinity Continuum: Aegis Reference Screen – A three-panel Storyguide Reference Screen with charts and information for running a game set in the Aegis Age will be created and offered as an Add On to any hardcover reward tiers for +$25.

In the next few days, I'll be adding a new Add On reward option for those backers who'd like to add the Reference Screen to their hardcover book reward shipment. While I work on getting that set up, let's set up our next few Stretch Goal challenges!


At $28,000 in Funding - Trinity Continuum: Aegis T-shirt on Redbubble - An Aegis-themed Backer shirt will be hosted on Onyx Path’s Redbubble store for a limited time. Only backers will be notified when the shirt becomes available for purchase.

 

At $30,000 in Funding - Aegis Atlas - A digital supplement spotlighting and expanding on some of the locations in the world of Aegis, with additional People of Interest and potential plot hooks. This PDF supplement will be automatically added to the rewards list of any backer receiving the Trinity Continuum: Aegis PDF as one of their rewards. 



The classic backer T-shirt, an Onyx Path tradition. But just beyond that, our first foray into additional Aegis material with the Aegis Atlas supplement! While the Trinity Continuum: Aegis book covers a lot of ground and touches on a ton of locations and people, there's always more that we'd love to know about! If we unlock this Stretch Goal, we'll give the writers space to explore some of the wider world in the Aegis age!

So, let's keep up the good work and please continue to let your friends and friendly gamers know about this project! Remember to share on your social media and in your social circles, and let's see if we can't unlock another Stretch Goal or two ... or more!