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Trinity Continuum: Aegis tabletop roleplaying game

Created by Onyx Path

Trinity Continuum: Aegis is a game of epic adventure and exploration set in Greece’s Iron Age.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Final Week Coundown!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Aug 10, 2023 at 08:38:21 AM

Hello Argonauts,

We're officially in the Final Week Countdown for this Crowdfunding campaign. Over this final week, I'll be sharing a handful of instructional and review-type posts about Reward Tiers and Add Ons and outlining What Comes Next after the campaign ends, so if you've got any process questions or are wondering about how the Crowdfunding steps work, I'm hoping to clarify any remaining questions before we finish. Of course, if you're still wondering about something, please ask and I'll help out as best I can.



Final Days Schedule


  • Aug 11 - Chapter 7 Preview - Antagonists
  • Aug 13 - Reward Tiers & Add Ons
  • Aug 15 - Draft Manuscript Preview #6 - Chapter 7 + Appendix for backers
  • Aug 16 - Stretch Goal review
  • Aug 17 - Final Day Checklist and Next Steps

On Tuesday, I'll be posting the final draft manuscript preview, containing Chapters 7 and the Appendix from this book. We'll get a sneak peek at some Antagonists from Chapter 7 tomorrow, but with the preview download on Tuesday, backers will be able to read the entire draft manuscript before we finish - before any pledges are processed or payments collected. With the entirety of the draft manuscript available to backers, you'll know exactly what this book contains and if it's right for you.  So, if you're still on the fence and curiously reading this to figure out if you should back, know that you can pledge now, read the entire book next Tuesday, and cancel your pledge if it's not for you.

BUT - if it is for you (and if you're reading this, I think you already know that it is), joining up now will help us maybe achieve another Stretch Goal before we review our many accomplishments next Wednesday! I sure would love to add another Stretch Goal reward on to the list!

IF YOU ARE already a backer, then an assignment for you:

Help Inspire other Talents

I know, this is something I've already said many times (and seem to say during every project!), but for this final week, you are officially a virtual ambassador for this Crowdfunding project. It's time to share your excitement for Trinity Continuum: Aegis! Drink the Ambrosia! Change your Fate! Live a Legend! Basically, we want to recruit as many interested backers as possible over this final week.

I know I end every update post with "Keep spreading the word! Invite others to join in!" - but what does that mean, and how do you do it?

Easy answer - don't stop talking about Trinity Continuum: Aegis until 2:01 PM EDT next Thursday August 17th (when the campaign has ended). You've probably been wondering what to talk about as we wind through the summer - well now we've got a topic for you! And while I'm sure that's the focus of most of our conversations, there are others around who haven't heard or don't know about the campaign.



Epic Ancient Tales

If you're trying to recruit new backers, convince your group's Storyguide that this book would be valuable for your game (even if it's not set in the ancient Trinity Continuum), or really love to collect as much info as you can about a project, here are some resources to learn more about this campaign. I'll also use this page to as my landing point when spreading the word to potential new backers, so hopefully they've read down this far and can see all of this neat stuff!


Backers are able to review the (soon-to-be) complete manuscript for this book before the campaign closes and any pledges are processed. Even if you're not exploring our slightly askew historical setting and are focused on Æon or Aberrant or Anima, you will pretty quickly find stuff that can be used for your game. From new paths and Gifts to antagonists and plot threads, no need to wonder about contents and compatibility! Know what you're getting into by checking out the draft manuscript!

And, if you join now, as I've noted, we'll be posting the final chapters of the book next week before we reach the finish line.



Podcast Discussions and Q&A

Onyx Pathcast Episode 238: Trinity Aegis <link>

This episode delves into some fun early discussions

  • What is Lauren up to?
  • Trinity Aegis!
  • A bit on the setting
  • On the gods in an ancient setting
  • Groups in Aegis
  • Themes and myths
  • Powers
  • Atlantis
  • Character concepts

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.
  • Aegis is on Backerkit!
  • A new line for Trinity Continuum
  • What is ambrosia?
  • A bit on the setting
  • Strange places
  • Culture and societies
  • Character creation
  • Differences from other eras
  • Historical differences
  • Antagonists

Trinity Continuum: Aegis Fiction

Get a sense of the world from some short stories set in the Trinity Continuum: Aegis era! These epic tales will be included in the final version of the book, but you can check them out now!



Trinity Continuum Discussion Zones

And finally, you may also be able to get further insight and possibly some in-depth conversation at these Onyx Path discussion zones:


I know there's been a thread or two around the web, and the Discord for Aegis has been very active! Lots of great conversations to dive into and get more information and perspectives.



Share the Links!

1) Don't forget to share a link to the Crowdfunding page in any discussion you have (where appropriate) - and feel free to pass any of the long list of links above to those who may need more info (or, just point them to this post!)

2) Don't forget to tell us about any post or review or discussion you write! Come to the comments section and let us know so we can all go and contribute! I know I keep saying it, but really - these last days are key. Keep the enthusiasm high (hitting stretch goals certainly makes that easier!) and keep on inviting others to join in, either directly ("Come see...") or just by setting an example of your enthusiasm and interest.

Final Week

We've got one week to go, everyone! Thank you all so much for your support! Exploring this book is like unearthing some ancient ruins or finding a new perspective on some legendary tales! There's always more to see, but we can do it all together! Let's finish strong! And let's continue exploring this great setting supplement for the Trinity Continuum together, creating new characters and dreaming up new scenarios and situations, and let's see if we can't get another Stretch Goals before we review next Wednesday!

#TrinityContinuum

#Aegis

Preview: Ancient Stories, Modern Tales
over 2 years ago – Wed, Aug 09, 2023 at 07:42:39 AM

Aegis as a setting and structure contains incredible potential to open up huge, epic stories which can span years of in-game (and real-life) time. By planning a little bit ahead of time and being open to change, adapt and adjust as stories, people, and intentions change, Storyguides can create lasting narratives with both sweeping arcs and small, intense interactions between characters.

The vast majority of Chapter Seven: Storyguiding Aegis is intended for Storyguides specifically, but we recommend all players read the advice included here; cooperative storytelling works best when everyone reads from the same page, both metaphorically and literally. Storyguides may find it much easier to discuss setup and boundaries with everyone once everyone has read this chapter, and players may feel more secure knowing that there’s nothing in this chapter which they’re not supposed to read. When players and Storyguide work together to create compelling narratives, there’s no limit to the complexity and intensity of those stories.


Common Genres of Aegis Stories

Aegis stories can exist within many different genres; whatever you do with your chronicle going forward, defining its essential genre up front will permit you and your players to share expectations and build a collaborative story together. When planning your Aegis chronicle, consider the following non-exhaustive list of possibilities:

Adventure

By default, an Aegis game almost certainly contains elements of this genre. Whether your characters are weaving their way through a labyrinth and clinging to a thread metaphorically or literally, an adventure removes them from their everyday life, placing them in circumstances they never would have encountered save for the events of the story. Whether placed on their path by a series of unforeseen random events or by divine intervention or anything between, adventure stories send them to places they’ve never been before, putting them into contact with strange and unusual people, situations, and events. Whether the character runs headlong into the adventure or finds themself coerced or forced into the story, they must eventually take control of the narrative and face facts before the facts face them instead. Characters in an adventure leap into action, whether that happens the first time the challenge is placed before them or the third. Some adventure stories have room for a reluctant hero, but most adventure stories work best when the characters have a solid motivation for engaging the events actively: adventure focuses on action, not reaction.
  • A local leader displeases a god, having lost an important relic. The characters, tasked with retrieving the relic, must navigate a literal labyrinth to bring it home.
  • Fallen from the sky, a strange mechanism literally lands in the lap of a character. What does this artifact do, and more importantly, what will happen if the people chasing them get their hands on it?
  • Unknown forces have captured the sister of a player character. The characters must not only discover who has their sibling, but also the sinister motivations driving these forces, in order to bring her home.


Detective/Mystery

One might not immediately pick Aegis as a vehicle for detective stories, but humans have done wrong by other humans for the whole of history, and with the addition of superhuman powers, aliens, and valuable technology literally falling from the sky, there’s plenty of grist for the detective mill. This genre revolves around some sort of criminal events, the collection of evidence, and the unraveling of a villain’s plans to dramatic ends. Many historical mysteries and detective stories exist to provide a framework for Aegis detective tales. Within the framework of Aegis, a detective story likely features a powerful person attempting to preserve that power, or a desperate individual trying to gain power. Detective stories generally revolve around protection or acquisition of power, with the detective characters standing in as protectors of the powerless and vulnerable. Detective stories focus on facts, and on how those facts can be manipulated by perception; they can also cross over with adventure when antagonists begin to directly act against the investigative forces.

Mystery stories overlap with detective stories, with subtle but crucial differences. In detective stories, the antagonist inevitably begins to act directly against the protagonists; they may try to directly harm them or act against witnesses or informants instead. Mystery also focuses more on the setting itself, focusing on the wonder and strangeness of that setting, where detective stories lean more heavily on the procedural aspects and the interpersonal elements of intrigue.
  • The characters arrive at a temple of Aphrodite immediately in the wake of the priestess’ mysterious death. As events unravel, they must race to find the perpetrator before the murderer frames them for this blasphemous act.
  • A strange shape wanders the forest outside of Athens, glowing subtly. The characters suspect several conflicting groups of staging these sightings for multiple reasons, but could the shape truly be a god, or one of their servants, walking the earth?


Fantasy

Aegis provides a wonderful framework for telling fantasy stories. Oracular powers, strength granted by gods, and fantastic phenomena lend themselves to focusing on the supernatural elements of the Aegis world. The key to telling a fantastic story in Aegis is, of course, keeping the Trinity Continuum’s science fiction underpinning.
  • A strange crystal grows from the skin of residents of a small town shortly after a stone falls from the sky, breaking the statue of Hephaestus in the town’s center. What has caused this bizarre malady?
  • A traveling show claims to have captured both mermaids and unicorns, displaying them as they move from place to place. Are they real, or a fantastic conjuration of illusion, and what of the odd illness which follows the show as they travel?


Romance

Romance as a genre focuses on interpersonal relationships primarily. While this genre does not generally form the backbone of Aegis stories, human interaction, including romance, provides strong drivers for these plots. The Siege of Troy is, at its heart, a story of love, loyalty, and romance. Well, sort of. Nobody asked Helen what she wanted.

Love, longing for family, and seeking the epic highs and lows of romance can provide more emotional meat to a chronicle, but as with all other genres upon which an Aegis game can focus, it should be discussed thoroughly with other players up front. Without buy-in from everybody, romance isn’t romance, it’s just stalking.



War

The epics of ancient Greece focus on war stories above most others, and even those stories which don’t directly focus on war were informed by them, and by the martial culture of ancient Greece. Even in the story of Medea and Jason — not a war story per se — we see the ever-presence of soldiers and the idea that outsmarting soldiers or directing them was a necessary skill for a hero. A war story need not actively involve the war itself for war to play a large part in it; the conflict may have just ended, or may loom large, laying its shadow over everything the players do. Do the characters seek to avoid the fires of war or to stoke them? Or are they merely trying to survive?
  • Recruited to the army to help a neighboring city-state, the characters begin to suspect that those fomenting the war do so for their own financial ends. They must take evidence of this to an important figure who can help them end the war before it begins.
  • In the aftermath of a war, residents find strange mechanisms buried all over the former battlegrounds. What do they do, and why have the people who find them started disappearing?


Manuscript Preview #5 - Gifts
over 2 years ago – Tue, Aug 08, 2023 at 04:46:49 AM

Hello Argonauts,

I've got a real gift for everyone today. That is, I've got Gifts for everyone today. Because today's manuscript preview is for Chapter 6 - Gifts!

Chapter Six: Gifts provides rules for the powers Champions, Oracles, and Olympians wield. In addition to presenting new Gifts across all three character types, this chapter introduces Universal Gifts which can be taken by Inspired characters at any level.

I've been excited for this one since the beginning! Although, I've loved each chapter that's come out, so it hasn't been hard to be patient. But here we are!

STRETCH GOALS

A reminder as we finish up our middle portion of the campaign - we've got a fun Stretch Goal target ahead of us. With one more manuscript preview set to deliver next week, it'll be great to hit this target and unlock additional content that'll come our way in a supplement!



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.



International Shipping – Collected in the Pledge Manager

And our regular reminder 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.


Feedback Form

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

DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEWS - BACKERS ONLY

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...



Feathers in the Waves
over 2 years ago – Mon, Aug 07, 2023 at 08:59:10 AM

Feathers in the Waves

The old man dreamed of the broken child: Limbs twisted and features fragmented almost beyond recognition, the boy felt no pain. Pain, the man remembered in his dreaming state, had fallen from him, as surely as he had fallen from the sky. The dreams came each night, coaxing memories the old man wished he could forget. He had spent half a lifetime healing, and another half trying to bury the child he had been.

Waves. It was, in the absence of pain, the sea’s movement which brought sensation back to the child. Unsettled blue, swirled with muddied crimson, babbled at gray pebbled sands. In his dreams he barely remembered the fall, but he remembered the sea and shore.

“Hello?” beckoned a voice.

The old man rubbed his eyes, still weighty with dream-sand. He sat up in bed. The sound of waves came unbidden, intrusions from his slumber bleeding to a faint rumble from the nearby sea.

Another rattle sounded against the cottage door. “Sire, might we speak?”

The tang of salt and copper stirred in his mouth. The old man probed a loose, rotting tooth and spat. “I’m not decent,” he replied.

“We’ll wait,” came another voice. This one was higher, more eager.

Like a child’s, he thought. Impetuous. He stood, shaky. Somewhere below his knee, some rough southerly place between cartilage and joint complained. It had never been the same since that day. In his dream the memory was clear: the leg shattered, twig-cracked. He couldn’t feel the agony, not with his neck equally twisted, but he could feel the sea’s caress. That, and the taste of salt and copper, and the sight of feathers bobbing on the waves.

He pulled a shawl around his waist. The fabric didn’t protect him much from the winter’s chill, but the inclement wind at the bay during colder seasons bothered him little. He opened the door.

“Are you him?” asked the first youth, before the old man gathered his thoughts. There were three all told, perhaps between twenty and thirty seasons. Two had a native look and Athenian cut to their clothes while the third, darker-skinned and by far the younger of the three, stood at the back exuding anxiety.

He stared.

“They say you died,” said the eldest.

“Do they?” asked the old man. Striding back into the cottage, he lit a thin tapered lantern with a shaking hand and set it on a bare wood table. A waft of scent from the candle, or perhaps the sea, stung his senses: honey. “Is that what they say?”

“Yes,” said the eldest, voice a-tremble. “We don’t wish to intrude.”

“Yet you are!” He rummaged on his shelf, rattling clay pots and bowls before he thrust a jar into the youngest’s hand. “Help by milking the cow. I don’t have enough breakfast for the four of us.”

They scurried off, and he walked toward an outcropping to wait for them to finish the task. He had died, the old man decided, in the sea, on the shore. Died fifty seasons before, maybe more, tasting the waves and pebbles and tiny sand-crawlers trespassing across the skin of his lips. A lone gull screeched its call, breaking his daydream, but still the feel of water lingered. No, more than water; a wavering, rolling sway, lapping at him as the sea on the shore. He felt old and cracked, like driftwood.

The eldest of the students, whose name was Heron, returned. “The cow is milked,” he stated, holding the jar in offering. The student’s posture reminded the old man of the Athenian priestesses from a memory half-forgotten, broken, weightless. “Now, will you tell us?”

“I have nothing to tell,” the old man said.

“But you lived!” the youngest student argued.

The old man snorted. Clutching his stave for weight, he sat on the roundest and most well-worn of the rocks to watch the sun’s reflection in the sea.

“Damn you,” hissed the student. He threw down the jar. It smashed on the ground. Bitter milk twisted its way through lax grass threads. “We came all this way to hear your words.”

He could have looked up. For the longest time, the old man thought, I could have looked up. If he did so now, he’d see the eyes of the child. He’d see the person he once was staring back at him, defiant, earnest, light as the wind. He’d see himself, before the fall, before the waves, before the light.

“Fine!” the student said. “We three mean to take the ambrosia, and sought you as a teacher. If you will not, we will do so without your wisdom.”

The three stepped back, one pace, another. Sandals scuffed against small pebbles, and the old man said, “I would give you all I know, had I any to give.”

“You lived!” insisted the middle student.

“Lived?” asked the old man.

Live, the voice had said to the broken child.

The old man could scarcely remember the voice, yet he remembered the words, and the light. The taste of the light. A light which filled him, moving from outside to within. He absorbed it, drawing heat and life, renewal. The dreams always ended before the memory of the light, so vast and full, like the sun, burning away the taste of the sea salt.

The light had made the boy whole, and it had offered more. The old man shut his eyes, feeling the age in his body, the weight on his joints. Some days, he wished he could fly.

The taste of ambrosia lingered on his tongue, as did the image of the woman kneeling beside the broken child, copper cup in hand, cradling his broken head. Live, she’d said.

“I lived,” said the old man to the students, “if you can call it that.”

The eldest turned his head this way and that. “Here,” he asked, spreading arms wide. “Why in this cottage? A man like you, you could be...”

“A what? A teacher? A governor? A warrior? Which life should I lead with this gift? I made my choice: I’m a farmer and a hermit. I tend my sheep and grow my crops and spend the evenings watching the waves and the sun. Is that not enough?”

“It could be more,” said the student. “Could it not?”

Could it not, thought the old man. Could we not soar higher, sail upward, reach ever further? “Aye,” said the old man, “I guess you could. You very well could.”

He could indeed.

In his memories, the broken child stood. His unsteady legs, like those of an old man, adjusted to his weight once again. He stood among the waves, and the driftwood, and broken springs and strands of leather and feathers. The woman held his hand. The boy’s head blazed with the light; his body burned with it.

Light engulfed him once more, only now it brought renewal, not death. It seared him, momentarily, his mouth contorted to a scream. He had not screamed as he fell, but his father’s scream had followed him down. That cry had been so keen, searing through the boy, piercing him like a blade, he could scarce remember any word his father had spoken before.

“You could be more,” said the old man, “but I could not.”

“Please,” said the student, “I seek only your wisdom.”

“Then seek out my father’s pupils. Turn the gifts the light of the gods, this ambrosia, grants you to some good. But speak not of me, nor of my life here.”

Nor, he thought, of the woman. He recalled someone tall, clad in a gown of white, watching the boy as he rose once again. When he tried to remember her face, though, her features changed every time. Perhaps that was her gift. For years since, he had sought her. Tales led him far from home, far from where he’d died and rose again. He wondered, did she toy with them? Perhaps she truly was one of the gods, for all the curses he could spit at her.

It had been so long since the old man had seen the face of his mother. Perhaps it could have been her.

The student bowed his head. “Is there truly naught you can teach us?”

Stiffly, the old man rose. Wrinkled fingers brushed loose gull feathers from the rock. A young bird, more fluff and beak than wings, gave a raucous caw from where it sat on the ground, alone. It pecked needle-like, at the man’s calloused hand. “They’re abandoned, sometimes” he mumbled, scooping the bird up in his palm. It jabbed at him again, more hungry than aggressive. “Or they wash up on the shore. Sometimes they learn to fly again. Other times they stay grounded, living here by the rocks.”

The small bird bit down on his finger. Small serrations brought memories to the surface of wooden splinters, sharp and cracked. They smelled of melted honeyed glue, stitched to leather, basted in sunlight. Pain, hot like sunlight, jammed through his nerves. The old man ignored it. He’d felt pain before, from the sun’s fire, from the golden liquid which had stitched the boy’s torn limbs back together into the strongest they could be.

“Will you fly, little one?” he asked, cupping the small bird. “Even if you fall, will you get up and fly again?”

The student turned, walking back to his fellows. Tension bunched in his brow. “We traveled far!” he shouted back.

The old man shook his head. “I wasn’t asking the bird,” he whispered. He knew the power of the gods. He’d grasped it twice and felt its burn like sunlight on bare skin. It had seared his wings. He muttered a silent prayer for the students, who thought the goodness in their hearts, or the strengths of their will, would keep them safe through the fall. The fall all who took the power of the gods into themselves experienced.



As the students left, the old man reached out, uncurling fingers. The small gull sat, bundled and still.

The bird would not fly, the old man realized. Even when cared for, even when nursed back to health, it refused. Its eyes scanned the distant horizon, yearning, but unwilling. Instead it nestled, home.

Gradually, the old man set the bird back down on the rock, knowing it wouldn’t move. Knowing he, too, wouldn’t. His mouth pulled itself to a smile. Damn those students, he thought, they won’t learn. How could they, when he himself had not?

The old man looked back at the cottage, his home for so many years, a brick birdcage from which he couldn’t fly. A gift wasted, he thought. He’d been burned twice by the light, once felled and once reborn. His refusal to take flight again pulled the memories of the broken boy to him nightly. He closed his eyes; fragments of a half-buried past washed to the shore, speckled with driftwood, broken wings and feathers.

Quietly, he wept, turning his face toward the sun, hoping the light would burn away the tears and the long years that had passed. He stepped through the grass, still wet with morning dew, fingers unfastening his robe. It fell, sunlight folding across skin. Muscles, unused for ages, flexed, and for a moment the old man was a boy again — not broken on a shore, but standing alongside his father, atop a tower and ready to soar. Stepping forward, wings unfurled from his back, feathers upturned. He would not fall into the waves. The sun lifted him up.

Feathers lifted him into the sky. They felt so unfamiliar to the old man, like an arm, half-mended, stiff from underuse. An ache settled heavily into his back, forcing him to push against it, straining against the years and the waves. A cry broke from his throat, a bellow of renewal. A broken boy, whole again. A fledgling gull breaking from its nest. The sky, the ascendancy of the gods, and a sun as golden as ambrosia. With one great beat of his wings, the old man pushed himself upward, and flew into the sun.

Preview: New Gift Keywords for Aegis
over 2 years ago – Sat, Aug 05, 2023 at 07:43:11 AM

Hello Argonauts!

We're pretty much in the middle of this campaign, with an amazing first half behind us and, I'm sure, an exciting second half ahead of us. To help keep our enthusiasm and momentum as we get to the final manuscript chapters and final crowdfunding days, I've got a little preview for you from our next backers-only chapter.

That's right - backers of this crowdfunding campaign will be able to read the entire current draft manuscript before we end and before any pledges are processed or collected. In addition, backers have access to a Feedback Form so they're able to share comments directly with the developers, writers, and editors to help steer this manuscript through the next stages of development.

If you see any bits that may need some clarification or contradict part of the Core Rules or could be misinterpreted, make sure you share your feedback with the team! And if you're not sure... it's better to share and then realize your issue is sorted in another chapter than to not share and have a potential issue linger in the manuscript.

So, please look for the Feedback Form link when the next manuscript preview becomes available on Tuesday.


And the next chapter coming is all about Gifts! Here's a sneak peek to get us through the weekend...


Gifts

Transformed by ambrosia, the Inspired of the Trinity Continuum: Aegis era display powers that far surpass those of any baseline human. Whether they consider themselves blessed by the gods or believe their dedication and training have granted them superior abilities, they use their unique abilities to explore, to learn, to protect the people and communities they love, and to vanquish monsters. Priests, philosophers, scholars, scientists, and physicians all have their theories as to the powers’ source, but no matter their origin, ambrosia’s effect on the age is undeniable. 

New Keywords

In addition to the Constant, Momentary, Luck, Attribute (type), and Skill (type) keywords introduced in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook, the following keywords are used for Gifts in Aegis: 

Ambrosia: Gifts with the Ambrosia keyword require a source of ambrosia, such as a pool or a jar of it that a character previously collected from one.

Champion: Gifts with the Champion keyword represent the Champion’s physical prowess, exceptional intelligence, and deft social skills. Only Champion characters may use these Gifts.

Creation: Gifts with the Creation keyword require the Oracle to create a simple food or drink, or perhaps a liquid to boil to produce steam. In all cases, the substance the Oracle creates is an essential part of using this Gift. All Creation Gifts require at least a minute or two to use, since creating the food, drink, or scented liquid is part of doing so.

Olympian: Gifts with the Olympian keyword represent the Olympian’s innate ability to wreak changes on their environment or their own body. Only Olympian characters may use these Gifts.

Oracle: Gifts with the Oracle keyword represent powers of divination, weather manipulation, and transformation. Only Oracle characters may use these Gifts.

Transformation: Gifts with the Transformation keyword make permanent alterations in the Olympian’s body and often make them appear visibly nonhuman.

Universal: Universal Gifts may be purchased by any character type. They represent either advanced training that any Inspired individual can receive or common powers unlocked by exposure to ambrosia. Some Universal Gifts have Variations that reflect how they manifest for different types of Inspired characters.

Here are some example Gifts with these new keywords.

The Mists of Sleep

Keywords: Momentary, Attribute (Manipulation), Oracle, Ambrosia

The Oracle insists that her companions — or her enemies — rest for just a little while.

System: By spending a point of Inspiration, your character conjures a faint ambrosia infused mist that causes sleep. This mist has no effect on anyone in combat, a heated argument, dealing with any sort of emergency, or in any tense situation that could easily become violent. The mist is visible in bright light, but not in shadows or dim light. The Oracle herself is immune to the Gift’s effects. She can use this mist on targets up to Medium Range, and can use it to affect everyone within Short Range. 

Anyone affected must make an Integrity + Stamina check with a Difficulty of 2. Failure means that the target falls asleep over the next minute, while success causes them to be a bit drowsy and distracted, but still very much awake. Subjects sleep for up to an hour or until awakened. Harming or roughly handling anyone put to sleep by this Gift instantly awakens them. 

Anathema

Keywords: Momentary, Luck, Champion

The world is vast and full of beings invulnerable to all but a single metal, herb, or incantation. Luckily, the Champion is well-read and even better prepared. 

System: Spend an Inspiration. The Champion takes a round preparing an attack against a creature of myth. During this round, the player must tell the Storyguide and other players what this mythical creature’s weakness is as he applies it to his weapon or prepares to strike the foe. On the following turn, if the attack hits and deals damage, the damage dealt is a unique Injury Condition called Anathema that applies a 3-point penalty to all actions that use supernatural power. This Gift does not function against other Inspired humans. 

Brewing Weather

Keywords: Momentary, Skill (Science), Oracle, Creation 

He can brew up a storm in a pot. 

System: Your character can make tea or simply boil herbs in a cauldron, and spend a point of Inspiration to infuse ambrosia into this brew in order to affect the weather. This Gift affects the weather for a radius of several miles, but your character does not gain precise control of the events. He could call or banish a thunderstorm, but could not cause lightning to strike particular locations. If they occur locally, she could even create a tornado or hurricane, but cannot direct them beyond determining the general direction in which the wind she summons blows or the approximate heading of a tornado. 

The Oracle can only create weather that is at least minimally possible in the location he performs this Gift. She could cause a gentle rain in Aegyptus, despite the fact that it rarely rains, but could not brew up a blizzard there. Also, regardless of what weather conditions your character creates, she can only create the sorts of arctic cold or desert heat that actually causes damage if the weather is already at least moderate cold or hot. 

Your character can remove up to 2 levels in Difficulty or a Condition of up to +3 by transforming bad weather to good. If she does the reverse, she can slow movement by making the affected region into Complicated or Difficult terrain with a maximum Difficulty increase of +2 and a maximum Complication of +3. Typical Complications include howling wind that makes other sounds difficult to hear, or icy weather that creates slippery terrain. If the weather is already hot or cold, she can create extreme heat or cold that has a Damage Rating of up to 2 and the continuous (hour) tag. Weather your character calls in this fashion requires up to a scene to arrive, and lasts for at least several hours, up to the rest of the day.

Put On the Beast’s Shape

Keywords: Momentary, Attribute (Cunning), Olympian, Transformation

The Olympian borrows an animal’s shape, climbing with the ease of a mountain goat or swimming like a dolphin.

System: The wondrous power of ambrosia allows your character to transform his flesh into that of another animal. However, your character can only transform into a single animal, which you must select when choosing this Gift. This animal must be a mammal, and it must be Size 0 (wolf), Size 1 (human), or Size 2 (horse or dolphin). Depending upon the animal, it may increase its Speed Scale by +1 for running, or perhaps, like dolphins or seals, it may swim at Speed Scale 2. In addition, it may possess a single melee attack with a number of points of tags equal to your character’s Destructive Facet. Suitable tags include Brutal, Deadly, Piercing, Pushing, or Quality 2 or 3. This animal could also possess up to two points of soft armor, but the total of all Weapon Tags and all points of soft armor cannot exceed your character’s Destructive Facet. This transformation lasts until your character wishes to transform back to their normal form, or until they sleep or fall unconscious, in which case they automatically return to their human form.


Doom From On High

Keywords: Momentary, Attribute (Cunning), Oracle

Prerequisites: Inspiration •••, Cunning ••

To anger an Oracle is to invite visions of wrath visited upon one’s head, but few are prepared for how sudden their displeasure can manifest in searing doom or killing light from above. 

System: Spend 1 Inspiration while your character forecasts death and ruin for a target they can perceive within Long range. Dire portents of swirling auroras, gathering clouds, and dancing sky-fires appear across the local sky. Next round on their action, your target is subjected to a sudden environmental hazard as the sky rains fire, lightning, or searing light upon them with a Damage Rating of your character’s total successes. They may attempt to avoid it, their Athletics roll reducing the damage for each success rolled. 

Repurchase at Inspiration 5 to target up to your character’s Cunning in targets. 

Repurchase at Inspiration 7 to allow a second point of Inspiration to be spent, increasing the Power Scale of this effect by +1.


Proteus’ Gift

Keywords: Momentary, Attribute (Stamina), Olympian, Transformation

The Olympian has true control over her form, appearing in any shape that pleases her.

System: Your character can transform her body to appear to be any other person, or even a humanoid monster like the minotaur or a satyr. Your character can even change her Size, growing to almost three meters tall or shrinking down to the size of a Size 0 child. To use this ability, you roll your Intuitive Facet + Stamina and spend successes as indicated on the table below. All such changes you make last until you either sleep or choose to undo them, whichever comes first.

Successes and Change
  • 1 - Change skin, hair or eye color, face shape, or other relatively minor features.
  • 1 - Moderate changes in height or weight that don’t alter Size Scale
  • 1 - Change sexual characteristics
  • 2 - Change Size Scale by -1
  • 3 - Nonhuman features like horns, hooves, or other features, but your body plan is still humanoid
  • 4 - Precisely duplicate someone you have observed closely

Sacred Animal

Keywords: Constant, Luck, Universal

The Inspired imbues an animal companion with the power granted by their ambrosia, linking their fates.

System: The character possesses a special link with an animal companion imbued with ambrosia. Use the characteristics provided below to represent all companions. Typical animal companions include dogs, cats, snakes, birds, deer, or panthers.

Variations: The Inspired may gain access to unusual companions.

Automaton Companion (Oracle): The Oracle possesses an automaton companion, a machine created from wood, metal, and other materials that resembles an animal and is powered by ambrosia. The companion gains the Unliving Anomaly Power.

Monster of Ambrosia (Olympian): The Olympian’s animal companion is suffused with her mighty ambrosia, appearing more like a monster than an animal. The companion gains the Enormous Size Anomaly Power.

Animal Companion

These characteristics represent a wide variety of animals suffused with ambrosia. Even diminutive animals demonstrate these traits, possessing traits far beyond what are typical of their species.

  • Primary Pool: 7 (Two of Combat, Senses, Survival or Tracking)
  • Secondary Pool: 5 (One of Combat, Senses, or Tracking)
  • Desperation Pool: 3
  • Enhancement: 0
  • Defense: 3
  • Health: 4
  • Initiative: 3
  • Source: 3

  • Anomaly Powers: Natural Weapons, Hardened Skin, Heightened Reflexes (or Flight, if flying) 



Of course, the actual Gifts chapter contains many, many more amazing abilities. We'll have more context and more info about all of these on Tuesday, when the next chapter drops.

In the meantime, we've achieved another Stretch Goal milestone!


ACHIEVED! - 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.

That means our next Stretch Goal target expands our previously unlocked Aegis Atlas supplement to add even more new content for backers!

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.

With the crowdfunding campaign at the halfway point, please continue to spread the word in your social circles and on your social media and let's see if we can't get to some new areas in the world of Aegis by unlocking another Stretch Goal!!

Have a great weekend! I'll be back with a final piece of fiction on Monday, and then Tuesday we'll have our current draft of the Gifts chapter! See you then!

#TrinityContinuum
#Aegis