Mistworld

The world, mysteries, mastery and transcendence:

You live in a world infused with magic.  The sun in the sky cycles through a rainbow of colors, each of the seven moons in the sky is home to a hero-saint, and magic is real.

The world itself, seen from a distance, looks like a ball of frayed steel wool, floating in seas of mist.  People live on islands that thrust themselves out of the mist, they travel between islands on flying boats, magical pathways and trade routes that do not go too far into the mist.

Deep below, where the light of the seven moons does not reach, in the perpetual dark, are undead, of seven kinds.

There are mysteries of mastery that one can reach after a lifetime of study, or, one can gain access to matrix magic by being initiated to one of the pathways of the seven saints.  In return, the initiate has a duty, a compulsion, to travel and strive against evil for a season.  Many people choose the "easy" path to magical enlightenment, wear the colored magical shirt of their patron saint, and travel for somewhere between eighteen months and two years.

This is your world, this is Mistworld. 

But, what are mysteries, what is mastery, what is the path to transcendence?

In a magical or  heroic world view, the sort that mankind has had for most of the recorded time that there have been men keeping records, there are always societies, lodges, brotherhoods and affiliations.  They serve several purposes.  First, they bond men together by choice.  A Cheyenne Dog Soldier chose to join the Dog Soldiers, to join to them as blood brothers.  A coastal Maneater did the same.

Second, they provided a set of roles or guidelines for behavior, a human pack with rules and security of knowledge.

Third, all of them promised access to the true magic, to mysteries, some in this life (such as the Pythagoreans and musical scales and higher geometry), some in the next (Isis, Heracles).

Most fantasy role playing games and settings seem to ignore this feature of historical fantasy and life.  Both Mistworld and Shattered Norns embrace the concepts of mysteries, mastery and transcendence.

Sample Mysteries:

Mistworld actually has a human mystery, which makes it possible to live a healthy and happy life in spite of the background levels of radiation and heavy metals.

The Herdsman (one of the saints)'s light from that moon has the same effect on animal life.  To the extent that an animal is exposed to the light of that moon, once a fortnight, that animal will have resistance to poison and radiation.

A "stock" fantasy world would have racial mysteries for elves and dwarves.  Orcs are elves without their racial mystery.  Kobalds are dwarves without the racial mystery.

Shamen are a mystery path.  The required skill is Spirit Speech (also a spell casting skill as well as a language).  The route includes access to a fetch.

Mysteries exist for almost any role, and are available if there is sufficient population mass to sustain a society, from Smiths (the mystery of iron is ancient) to Sorcery to the various magical and warrior societies.

There especially are mysteries of the sword and the spear and the bow that focus on transcendence with sword skills and special abilities that come into play with those weapons and the typical use of those weapons. 

Characters may partake of more than one mystery.

Mastery occurs when a skill is perfect or close to perfect.  The Master Mason, the Master Smith, the Master Swordsman, all of those are archetypes.  In game terms mastery occurs when:

• A skill is at 95% or better.  Someone who has a skill at 95% or better is a master of that skill.
• With the appropriate five-fold mastery, a character is ready to follow his or her mystery's route (or routes) to transcendence.

Then a Mystery:

Mysteries are affiliated groups, somewhat like a RQ religion, that have a secret, a brotherhood or society organization, and a path to transcendence.  Without all three a mystery is nothing more than a social club.  To be able to join or walk a mystery one must:

• To join you must have 1-3 skills that are important to the mystery.
• Have the appropriate traits at 12 or better.  E.g. there is a torturer's guild that is a mystery, and to join it one must have Cruel at 12 or better.
• To enter the path to transcendence, one must have five skills mastered (the five-fold mastery that is required for transcendence), the necessary core skills at 95%, and the appropriate traits at 18.  Some mysteries require five specific skills, some less; some require only one trait at 18, some require more.
• In addition, one must satisfy the examiners in passing an initiation or test or challenge.

Finally Transcendence:

• Transcendence allows skills to rise about 100%.  Without transcendence the best a mortal can obtain is 100%.  Some mysteries allow only specific skills, most open the portal to transcendence and any skill can be improved.
• Transcendence also allows access to the mystery's route (or routes).
• A route usually has:
  • A knowledge.  Treat this as a language, or a power pool (e.g. in elemental wizardry, this is the elemental language).
  • Tools, patterns or aspects.  These are specific powers or abilities not usually available to mortals without the use of magic (e.g. in elemental wizardry these are the various spells; in the Wind Sylphs the aspects are Flying, Insubstantial Form and Lightning).
  • A mastery of the route, which is a modifier that applies to all uses of the route (e.g. in Fire Sons, all spells do physical damage as well as fire/heat damage to the extent of the mastery).
  • Some mysteries have more than one route to transcendence, the make-up of routes varies.
• "Mundane Transcendence" is obtained through racial mysteries, and usually does not allow improving any skill past 100%.  Racial mysteries tend to be very fixed, but to have an inner mystery that functions like a completely new mystery, except that it is available only to those who are members of the racial mystery in the first place.
• Transcendence marks the path to becoming a hero.