Adapted from the Finnish edition of Clinton’s book.
Some Qek need to leave their families and travel long distances for fare or necessity. Should they share their knowledge of the dangers and opportunities within the jungle, they become known as knotbinders, TSAFARI. Such travelers are highly respected even among strangers for their knowledge of the jungle and distant events.
Game-wise I handle the jungles of Qek a bit differently from other places in Near: the jungle has no defined geography for my purposes, and I draw no traditional maps even for adventure-oriented play. Instead, the jungle geography consists of familiar places called KNOTS, connected by known paths into a web-like topology.
Knots are the ROHO of the land itself given form. A knot is a place in the jungle, wherein “place” comes into being by the perception and naming done by a person, the tsafari. Without tsafari there would be no knots, and the Qek would be as lost in their jungle as outsiders are when they try to penetrate it.
Knots are connected to each other by PATHS, naturally enough; knowledge of these is essential as well. Paths limit different AREAS of the geography, which concept may also be used by knotwork Secrets.
Knots themselves are simply Effects that describe the place they tie to: “Knot of Birdrock 3/R” might be a knot, as well as “Knot of the Death River 4/R”. A character can learn about a knot from another just by listening to their stories. The teacher’s STORYTELLING (R) check determines the Effect level for the pupil’s knot Effect – however, the pupil’s Effect can only get higher than the teacher’s if the two are on location at the knot. A character that already knows a knot may renew his knowledge by visiting the place and making a LOCAL (R) check.
For knotting purposes we sometimes need to distinguish between “terrain” and ephemeral elements of a location. The Qek say that anything that has not left the knot since its creation is part of the terrain – even the people.
Knots are created by tsafari – indeed, being able to knot a place is what makes a tsafari. A once knotted place cannot be reknotted without dissolving the existing knot, which of course destroys the Effect from any characters that’ve learned it. Knots dissolve naturally when the sasha of the knotting tsafari is forgotten.
A character with a knot Effect can find their way to a nearby known knot with a simple LOCAL (R) check, even when lost. They can also use any paths between two known knots to travel without having to make an Ability check at all.
Characters can also create new paths between known knots with LOCAL (R) checks. Keep track of known paths under the pertinent knots to remember how the knots connect together. Creating a new path is more difficult for knots that already have many paths and knots that seem like they should be far away from each other. A new path may not be created at all if the character’s known paths for the knot already number more than his knot rating for the knots in question.
Tsafari can create knots outside Qek as well, but doing so requires gaining LOCAL (R) knowledge for the new area. For knotwork encompassing several areas, check all pertinent LOCAL (R) Abilities. It’s largely up to the tsafari how he parses the non-jungle roho; a single house might be a knot, or a single town might be one. This needs to be discovered in play.
Tsafari can create knots outside Qek as well, but doing so requires gaining LOCAL (R) knowledge for the new area. For knotwork encompassing several areas, check all pertinent LOCAL (R) Abilities. It’s largely up to the tsafari how he parses the non-jungle roho; a single house might be a knot, or a single town might be one. This needs to be discovered in play.
A pretty big part of this whole knot thing is what happens when characters get lost in the jungle. This happens when they fail their LOCAL (R) Ability checks; characters without pertinent knot knowledge get lost pretty much automatically when they leave the coast or other landmarks behind.
Getting lost is like having a refresh scene in that it opens the door for the Story Guide to control where the game goes next. The character has only two choices: to WAIT or GO ON.
A waiting character will encounter an interesting secondary character introduced by the Story Guide, probably by happenstance (dramatic coordination, that is): an animal, stranger, enemy, friend… a chance meeting that opens up new directions for the story.
A character that continues wandering ends up at the most interesting knot currently available. Again, dramatic coordination – the jungle is featureless and nigh-endless, the Story Guide does not worry about where the character would “likely” end up.
In a word: getting lost is losing control of story direction. It might also mean trouble: I typically have the lost character check WOODCRAFT (R) to see if the fatigue, disease or other fun things get to him while lost, causing some Harm and thus raising the tension for the next scene with people.
| Local (Qek) (R) |
|---|
| Knowledge of the jungle is a living, crucial thing for the Qek. This Ability can be used to know things about distant families, remember legends about wonders hidden in the jungle and be aware of the common dangers. |
| Secret of Knot Lore (area) |
|---|
| The character has lived in an area for a while and has collected knowledge of several knots therein. Collect all known knots from the area into a list under this Secret. These knots do not require upkeep as Effects. |
| Cost: 1 REASON to bypass upkeep |
| Secret of Tsafari |
| The character can create knots. A PRAY (V) check tells the character whether a given place is already or can be knotted. A new knot is created by staying in the place until the end of the month and making a LOCAL (R) check. An existing knot can be unmade with a similar ritual and a successful PRAY (V) check. Creating knots challenges the spirit of the place: the Story Guide introduces a mortal hazard to the character during his stay in the place. The character buys the SECRET OF KNOT for his new knot when he finishes the creation. |
| Secret of Knot (knot) |
| The character has a special relationship with a particular knot, which becomes a free Effect for him. He has no Pool spend cap for Ability checks when utilizing the terrain of the knot to his advantage. When using the terrain against an opponent, he may spend the Pool to give penalty dice to the opponent as well. This does not work against an opponent with a better knot rating. |
| Requirements: the best current knot rating for this knot in the campaign. |
| Secret of the Hermit |
| The character may refresh his Vigor and Reason Pools by spending a day alone in a knot he masters. Cost: 2 INSTINCT. |
| Requirements: SECRET OF KNOT |
| Secret of Area (area) |
| The character has all the benefits of the SECRET OF KNOT and it’s associated Secrets anywhere within the defined area. He also cannot get lost within it. |
| Cost: 2 INSTINCT. |
| Requirements: SECRET OF KNOT for all the knots that define the area. |
| Secret of Jungle Travel |
| The character may make a WOODCRAFT (R) or LOCAL (R) check when lost to skip an encounter the Story Guide is trying to frame for him: the character avoids the encounter or simply never comes upon it. Then the Story Guide reframes with something else. The player has the right of refusal on scene ideas equal to the check result before he has to accept the next scene. This may allow a character to get where he was going in the first place, depending on what the Story Guide decides to offer. Should the Story Guide run out of ideas, the player gets to choose the scene himself. |
| Cost: 2 INSTINCT |
| Key of Knot-Master |
|---|
| The character can’t settle in one place for long, and wants to learn the essence of everything. |
| 1xp: Visit a new place. |
| 2xp: Learn a new knot. |
| 5xp: Bind a knot. |
| Buyoff: Unbind a knot. |