Criminal Record - you have committed some transgression in the past of note, while you may have another career, if your criminal charges are serious enough, it is likely being a crook is your main pursuit.
Item: Compressor OR vial of poison and switchblade
Roll on Poor Man’s Chart
Council Associate - You live on a salary guaranteed by the Council and assist with whatever ‘business’ the Council might need done. People off the street steer clear of those in the Council’s employ for the most part. People who cross the Council’s agents have a habit of being harassed, or disappearing entirely.
Rite: Council Patronage
Automatic Talent: Notorious, gain +2 to MIGHT checks to intimidate
Roll on Poor Man’s Chart
Barrister - You work to solve contractual disputes and other issues of Magisterial law, that is law that does not broach questions of morality but of commerce. You may be a well-heeled representative of some Burj concern or a meager apprentice, scribbling notes on inkstained scraps over the huge volumes of case law of Tellus Athera.
Item: Marq Juris, a vellum letter signed by the Gran Magistercertifying the right to practice Magisterial Law. You can sue people
Choose to roll on Poor or Rich Man’s chart.
Op Farmer - The vast majority of people in Tellus Athera eak out their living maintaining and harvesting from the vast array of hydroponic agricultural operations around Tellus Athera. Whether tending the Kelp Towers or rows of cabbage or mushrooms growing in the undercity, you make ends meet by working the ancient machinery of Tellus Athera and tilling some corner of the great iron and dirt city.
Item: Geiss extractor
Malus: Illiterate
Roll on Poor Man’s chart
Acolyte - You have been raised by the church, perhaps humbling yourself from a wealthy background or getting a leg up from a life on the streets. You have been educated in the history of the Gods of Earth, and likely see yourself as called in some way to embody their essence and wisdom - a being of action, of controlled power, of invention, of faith, or perhaps sculpted by the gods as a manifestation of beauty in being or art.
Item: Illuminated Manuscript, a book you handmade during your religious upbringing containing the major stories of the Gods of Earth. With it, you can give sermons, prove yourself to be a member of the church, and at 2nd level, begin taking knacks in one of the priesthoods.
Choose either Poor or Rich Man’s chart
Technician - The machinery of Tellus Athera is not well-understood by most who man it, and yet it must be kept running. Technicians are those who solder the wires, who direct the Laden on projects, and respond to critical failures.
Automatic Talent: Machine-Sense
Roll on Poor Man’s Chart
Thatcher - Thatcher is the catchall name for the thousands of artisans and craftsmen that crowd the storefronts of the Porticia district and the stalls around Tellus Athera. While the ancient machines cough up the raw outputs - boards, yarn, and sheet metal, it is the hand at the auto-loom or at the table saw that fits and joins the clothes and furniture of everyday life.
Automatic Talent: Handy - advantage on checks related to a specific trade
Item: Masterpiece item (non combat) that comes from your trade
Roll on the Poor Man’s Chart
Merchant - The product of Tellus Athera’s machines must be matched to its artisans and that to its consumers. Merchants great and small crowd the clearinghouses and storefronts of Tellus Athera. From great Burj-connected mag-lev industrialists to lowly prosthetic-wallas - the traders of Tellus Athera are known far and wide.
Item: 10 Bone Coins
Choose to Roll on Poor or Rich Man’s Chart
Physician - From the church-blessed Intercessory, to blood-stained combat surgeons, to the court doctors of the stewards, physicians in Tellus Athera come from many backgrounds and means. Nonetheless, technology allows for a basic understanding of human anatomy and some tools to deal with the maladies of life on Adreinn.
Automatic talent: Field Medic
Choose to Roll on Poor or Rich Man’s Chart
Item: If you roll on Poor get 1 Bandage, if you roll on Rich get 1 TRIAGE KIT
Harv Initiate or Descendant - The Harvs are one of the only respected institutions in Tellus Athera, and you are either born into the profession or have joined it willingly. Harvs are well-trained and fed, and their markings are signs of pride and brotherhood - even though that brotherhood is usually well-earned from harrowing service.
Harv Medallion (works as a compass)
Rite: Harvester Errant
No Malus
Steward Adjacent (Lt, Consort, Personal Servant) - You serve directly or are intimately connected to (or both) a Steward family. You are privy to the personages of Tellus Athera’s ruling class and have the ear of one of its ruling families. However, your position is not so good that you were not shielded from the possibility of emergency service to the Gran Doyen.
One Favor owed by House of your choosing
Select a House - gain a Rite to that house
Roll on the Rich Man’s Table
Steward Blood - The blood of one of the great houses runs through your veins. You likely have done something very dumb or naughty to get your name on the rolls of those being considered for emergency service. Maybe your time as a black sheep is only temporary.
Rite of Legitimation (can request a Trial of Legitimation, basically a quest into the Undercity, where the individual + compatriots fights to the control room for their House’s fusion reactor and proves they are of the blood by entering the room through the DNA scanner - success means they enter the line of succession as a legitimate member of the House - only 20 or so of these per House, would set up a PC to become a major political player, especially post-retirement from adventuring)
Select a House - Rite to that House
Roll on the Rich Man’s Table
Bohemian - You make your living as an artist outside the official heralds of the Gran Doyen. Perhaps you are a recorder of tales, a session musician for a smoking den, or some other performer or artist.
Performance: Talent that allows individual to spend an hour, make a MANNER or BALANCE roll (depending on if using spoken/sung words or an instrument, respectively) to try and make Leveld10 doyens with a public performance.
Item: instrument or costume associated with your act
Roll on the Poor Man’s Table
Guard - You work either in the constabulary or for a private concern as legitimate muscle. You might have other policing or investigative duties as well. Perhaps you once served in the military or cracking heads for the state or some company with Doyens to spare seemed like the best option.
Item: Secured Doublet (+3 armor)
Roll on Poor Man’s Table
Beggar - You are the scorned of society. For whatever reason you’ve had to make your way on the streets without steady employment or housing. In all respects, you are starting from the bottom.
No benefits
No shoes
Hard Knock Life: -1 to ALL rolls
Engineer - While technicians merely keep things going, it is in the engineering class that seeks to regain the knowledge of more enlightened eras and to forge ahead, expanding humanity’s knowledge of science and survival on Adreinn. Engineers may be naturally interested in Enigmas, or other pieces of high technology.
1. SELECT BACKGROUND