Adapted from Clinton’s book with original additions.
Near is home to many different peoples, of which humans are just one, albeit a common baseline. Other Old Species, such as elves, goblins, dwarves and giants, have always been with humanity in one way or another. What is not common knowledge is that all of these Old Species are in some fundamental manner human. Their differences, while considerable, are all to some degree surmountable.
Humans are the default species of the game, they don’t have any special rules attached to them aside from some optional crunch on the facing page. Other species, however, do: each has a mandatory Secret they need to take to belong to that species. (It costs an Advance, too.) In addition, each species has various other specific crunch the player may sample at their pleasure.
The Old Species have a special place, as they are all long ubiquitous in all parts of Near. Thus all civilizations have had to form some sort of stance on them. Even the rare elves and giants are known as something other than pure fantasy to all but the most ignorant. The Beastkin, meanwhile, tend to be local to certain parts of Near. Partially this is because they’ve been in the world for such a short time, partially because their instincts are adapted best to their home terrain.
As with everything else, the species are very much optional content that should be introduced deliberately; each of the Old Species can have some sort of role in every land of Near, but it’s up to you to decide what. In this case I’m not even close to joking. This material can have a huge impact on the nature of the game; if you haven’t already, throw out that need to have an unitary canon reality where all setting material is under consideration all the time. For instance, consider this: the original TSoY book by Clinton featured a tri-partite, “classical” Human Equation where all creatures of Near were interpreted as either elves, humans or goblins. This is a beautiful and uncomplicated model, and I do not for a moment consider refuting it by merely including other species. Rather, consider the expanded Human Equation as an alternative model that intentionally breaks the metaphysics: the group has to actively work to figure out how these beings, and these only, fit into the Equation.
As a general rule of thumb, the species crunch of each species addresses how each Old Species can become human. This seems to happen through Key buyoff, incidentally. How humans become those creatures, if they do – that is for play to find out.
It is practical to make humans the baseline of “people” in Near, as that’s what we are. Humans of Near come in all colors, shapes and sizes we know from Earth. Most distinct ethnicities seem like one or other people from the coasts of the Indian Ocean, but everybody seems to be in there somewhere, such as the Caucasian nobility of Maldor, for example.
What makes humans distinct from other peoples of Near is their passion – humanity, simply put. Humans commit to values, beliefs and ideologies, make them part of their own identity. They find differences and similarities with each other and stranger beings. No other being is as responsive to religion or as prone to fear as humans are. Each and every one of them thinks on some level that he is special.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the fact that non-humans are to a degree archetypal and one-dimensional as individuals when compared to the immense individuality of humanity. That is what they are there for: if you didn’t want your character to have the weight of a whole racial destiny as part of his identity politics, then a non-human was a weird character choice to begin with. The one thing humans have that distinguishes them from others is the ultimate passion, Love. In fact, it is such an important part of their being that the Human Equation runs mostly on it. Other Old Species do not know Love – whether anybody but humans does is an open question.
| (Species)-lore (R) |
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| These Abilities are most likely for a scholar or sage of some sort, depending on what the given culture supports. In each case the player chooses one non-human species his character has studied and specialized in. The Ability can be used to predict and understand those creatures and their ways, and to know about their history in areas familiar to the character. |
| Secret of Sociopathy |
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| A sociopathic character is, properly speaking, not a member of any species. He cannot take any species crunch. The sociopath can ignore any social conflicts he did not initiate himself; he simply doesn’t have those strings to pull on. |
| Red String Secret (person) |
| The two characters are fated to be together. Either player or the Story Guide can activate this Secret to introduce a coincidence to benefit their love. |
| Cost: 1 Pool appropriate to the coincidence, cumulative through a session. |
| Secret of the Power of Love |
| The character’s love is so sweet and pure that it actually influences events. Either member of the romance may opt to pay Pool (or even share the cost) to improve an Ability check result by one step when either acts to preserve their love. This may make a result TRANSCENDENT (7). I’d be leery about using this Secret without some sort of songand-dance number or such, myself. |
| Cost: Points equal to the old check result, from the Pool pertinent to the check. |
| Requirement: Appropriate KEY OF LOVE |
| Secret of Reincarnation |
| The character has the reincarnated soul of a lover. He may purchase crunch related to the old relationship whether he’s met the object of the love yet or not. Should they meet, the character may have a flashback scene to their past life when the two are together. |
| Cost: 2 Instinct per flashback |
| Key of Species Identity (specify) |
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| The character idolizes a certain non-human species. |
| 1xp: Talk about the species and their ways. |
| 2xp: Emulate the creatures you adore. |
| 5xp: Gain the respect and friendship of a member of the species. |
| Buyoff: Accept yourself as you are. Requirement: Be human. |
| Key of Love (person) |
| The character loves another person. |
| 1xp: The other person is present in a scene. |
| 3xp: Express the love in action. |
| Buyoff: Break the relationship up. |
| Key of Unrequited Love (person) |
| The character is romantic towards another person who doesn’t return his love. |
| 1xp: Make a choice influenced by them. |
| 2xp: Attempt to win their affection. |
| 5xp: Endanger yourself for the love’s sake. |
| Buyoff: Win their love. |
| Star-Crossed Key |
| Fate itself stands between the lovers. |
| 1xp: Angst about the love. |
| 2xp: Struggle to fulfill the romance. |
| 5xp: A new obstacle presents itself. |
| Buyoff: Succeed in love. |