Janissary Pre-release

Description

++Vigor, +Skill

“The sinews of war are not gold, but good soldiers; for gold alone will not procure good soldiers, but good soldiers will always procure gold.”

— — Niccolò Machiavelli

You are an elite shock trooper, the disciplined heart of a much larger military machine. You are an impeccable soldier, with roles to play in peacetime as well as war, though your role at the tip of the spear and relatively poor defenses leave you highly vulnerable.

Conduits designing a mission for you should provide a crisis-rich environment — with multiple challenges, both combat and non-combat, available — for you to tackle with your versatile kit. You tend to play best when being led, rather than leading yourself, so if the Conduit wants to really challenge you, they could create an anarchical setting without an established social order for you to slot into

Grounded in the real-world Janissary corps of the Ottoman Empire as well as the fanatical elite units they inspired in later media.

Examples from history and pop culture include:

Skanderbeg, Konstantin Mihailović, Hassan of Moena, and other famous historical janissaries
The Sardaukar, Anla'shok, Jaffa, Jem'Hadar, and other ultra-disciplined sci-fi military orders
The Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Salamanders, and other less-destructive Space Marine chapters (Warhammer 40k)
Grey Worm (A Song of Ice and Fire)
Barristan (Darkest Dungeon)

Challenge Level: Low

Class by Julian Meier

Edition: Advent v2

Public: Yes

Signature Gear

Base Gear

Börk

Base

Tall felt cap with an ornamental browpiece.

Authority figures will tend to trust the owner.
Swear an oath of loyalty to an authority figure to be granted a Mid amount of Pitched supplies by them.

Yatagan

Base

Ornate, single-edged short sword with an inward-curving blade and no hand guard.

Cleaving Boost: Mid

While sheathed, civilians will tend to trust the owner (Low Impact); while fighting with this sword, other soldiers will instead (Mid Impact).
An act of genuine valor will reward the owner with a Low–High amount of wealth in the form of conjured local currency, scaling on the heroism they demonstrated, when they next resheathe this sword.

Shishana

Base

Decorated miquelet lock musket, tipped with a bayonet, firing with a loud bang. Fairly slow to reload.

Ammunition: Mid
Effective Range: Mid

Moving will not destabilize the owner’s aim.
Incapacitating any enemy will automatically reload this gun.
Expend a Mid amount of wealth (causing it to vanish) to grant this gun a Pitched Low Boost to any physical property (power, accuracy, range, etc.) for the rest of the mission.

Elective Gear

Munitions Pack

Elective

Heavy military backpack.

Uses: 3x

Contains simple explosive ordnances (grenades, landmines, breaching charges) accessed via Pitches.
- These explosives are capped at Mid Impact.

Balta

Elective

Long-hafted, ceremonial battleaxe with a crescent-shaped head.

Durability Boost: Mid

The more individuals are acting in unison with the owner, the less likely bystanders are to question or interfere with their actions.
Standing in front of an entryway or route with this axe will physically prevent bystanders and lowly enemies from passing by the owner, inversely scaling Low–High on how large an area they are blocking.

Siege Mortar

Elective

Small cannon mounted on a hand cart, firing with an almighty boom. Lobs a salvo of fiery rain in a high arc. Takes a Low Duration to set up and reload.

Ammunition: Low
Effective Range: High+
Area of Effect: Mid

Deals disproportionate damage to terrain features (High Impact).
May be set to fire up to three salvos at a pre-selected stationary target, automatically reloading itself each time over a Low Duration (High Cooldown).

Abilities

Mehter

March forth to the beat of a military tune, emanating from nowhere, prompting non-enemies nearby to follow your lead.

Essence Cost: Mid
Max Duration: Mid
Cooldown: Mid

Paired Action: Call out marching orders, then advance (or perform other repetitive actions) in time to the tune. You must continue to do so or this Ability will end prematurely.

Inspires courage in the user (High Impact) as well as, to a lesser degree, those who follow them.
Greatly reduces the degree to which physical actions are impeded (by injuries, heavy burdens, or similar) for all affected (High Impact).
- Followers also have their marching speed Boosted to match the user’s.
Ending this Ability with a combat action (charging, shooting, etc.) Boosts the effectiveness of that action for the user, scaling Low–High on how long this Ability was maintained for.

Humbaracı

Pepper an area with conjured gunfire as you charge towards it.

Essence Cost: Low–High
Area of Effect: Low–High
Cooldown: Mid

Paired Action: Shout a fierce battlecry while charging the targeted area.

Effectiveness of this gunfire scales Low–High, along with Essence Cost and Area of Effect, on how much danger the user’s charge puts them in.
- The specifics of the gunfire (type of weapon, direction it emanates from, number of salvos, etc.) are all Pitched, as grounded in the user’s Backstory.

Swords to Plowshares

Transform one of your weapons into a fitting non-combat tool, gaining an Expertise in its use within a relevant domain.

Essence Cost: Low
Duration: Mid
Cooldown: Low

Paired Action: Sheathe the weapon, then unsheathe it after a few seconds in its new form.

Transformation is Pitched but does not need to be at all realistic. (e.g. A firearm could become a fire hose, its ammunition converted into a water tank.)
As part of the Paired Action, the user may instruct a few nearby allies in the use of the intended tool to apply this Ability to comparable weapons held by those allies, though this increases Essence Cost to Mid.