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Abilities

Universal

Abilities - Universal

Animal Ken (I)
Use ANIMAL KEN as the general social Ability for interacting with animals. Domesticated animals may follow orders; wild ones will just understand to go away. Most cultures in Near have domesticated animals that are handled with this Ability. Those cultures that train riding animals either expand this Ability with a Secret or train the rider in a specialized Ability.
Barter (I)
Most of Near has devolved into a barter economy, so the rarity of money complicates trade. Experience with trade also allows the character to evaluate the value of things to others. Use BARTER to find out whether a character’s wealth of the moment is enough to make a purchase, or what he might have to sacrifice to make the price.
Brawl (V)
Natural propensity for violence, uninformed by any finer discipline. Generally speaking a brawler will fight in a rage and limited in technique, which makes the use of sophisticated weapons inefficient and special technique all but impossible.
Charm (I)
Giving good impressions and making friends. Useful in delivering compliments and convincing others by subtle and personal means. The primary Ability for romantic conquest, should an Ability be required.
Craftwork (I)
Most cultures have traditions of creating elaborate art from wood, bone or other materials. While HOUSEWORK (R) is enough to create simple tools, this Ability is used when mere function is not enough, but beauty is desired as well. Items created with craftwork may reflect meaning and are reasonable as individual Effects that can influence people in different ways.
Deceit (I)
Delivering lies with a straight face, pretty much. Opposed by RESIST (R) when a character tries to perceive the lie for what it is. DECEIT and SPEAKING (R) overlap and support each other naturally when lies are delivered by a glib tongue. I’m not entirely consistent with DECEIT myself all the time; sometimes I allow characters to lie and mislead with CHARM (I). Caveat emptor.
Hard Work (V)
Most direct production in Near happens with human labor. Farming and related work is first and foremost about patience, measured use of force and experience. HARD WORK is used whenever characters want to support others with grunt work, or when they end up on the bottom ladder of a working group, or when they want to make their way honestly.
Housework (R)
Only the most well preserved or newly advanced communities in Near feature large degrees of specialized labor. Most of what makes people happy and comfortable from day to day is made in the home with this Ability, such as cooking, craftwork, folk medicine and so on. Essential for the functional household. HOUSEWORK may be used to treat simple injuries and illnesses.
Music (I)
A character’s skill with instruments and song. Music is beautiful and universal to life in Near, but its usefulness is a subtle thing. Choosing this Ability as a major facet for a character is to choose to chase mirages that only occasionally perform truly. In other words, it takes some work to maneuver the game into a situation where music will be useful in conflict.
Pray (V)
This Ability is used to conduct rituals and focus the mind towards a higher power in meditation. Sometimes faith can move mountains, or at least support other Abilities at critical moments.
Speak (R)
The skill of explaining yourself well. Useful for arguing a point or delivering a rousing speech. Speaking usually requires some sort of valid point to work from, though. Use SPEAK for any social conflicts where substantial issues decided with reason are at stake.
Sports (V)
Sports are an important status practice, especially for men who use them to establish prominence. The same Ability is used to resolve general athletic situations, such as swimming, climbing, jumping and so on.
Storytell (R)
All but the most civilized places have lost their literary culture. What they have instead are storytellers, the sons and daughters of people who might have been erudite in their time. This Ability is used to know the old things and tell the truth of them, as well as to combine the old stories into new ones.
Thievery (I)
Thievery is experience in casing targets, picking pockets, stealthy entrance, confidence tricks and other unsavory practices that come with societal hostility and willingness to break norms. Experts are unlikely outside major urban centers.
Vagrancy (I)
Beggars and vagabonds are common in the Near of today. They learn how to freeload and draw a meager livelihood from the gratitude of strangers. Vagrancy is also useful for knowing things about the wider world. Aside from vagrants, any well traveled character might have this Ability.
Woodcraft (R)
Most of Near is temperate, consisting of woodlands, grasslands, wetlands and highlands. This Ability concerns survival skills in these wilderness environments, such as recognizing the flora and fauna, remembering their properties, tracking and trapping them. Extreme environments, such as dense jungle or bare tundra are wont to cause penalty dice, as is simple unfamiliarity with a specific terrain.

Maldor

Abilities - Maldor

Demolition (R)
The revolutionary elements in Maldor have re-discovered the ancient knowledge of explosives, although they haven’t made the discovery of firearms yet. This ability allows one to create and detonate these implements of destruction, hopefully without losing a hand.
Dueling (V)
Maldorite nobility approaches personal combat as something of a harsh art form. Masterful armsmen (themselves often military) are valued as instructors, and these skills are also expected from courtiers who interact with the nobles. The Ability can be used to fight with great flair and finesse with a variety of weapons; it is weak in chaotic situations where the character is not in control, however.
Engineering (R)
While most academies have been abandoned in Maldor, the practical skills of engineering are maintained by master craftsmen. This Ability can be used to plan and direct the building of various ambitious structures, the most important of which may be the castles and fortresses of the lords.
Etiquette (I)
Maldorian upper classes live in a shifting social environment, with ancient, feudal and outright martial mores intermixed in their courtly life. This Ability can be used to recognize and present the appropriate cues for nobility, civil officials, ladies and other members of the court.
Fine Art (I)
This Ability is used to produce marble statues, oil paintings and other sophisticated art typical of the Maldor of old. The work requires highly expensive tools and materials, and specialized working conditions, but the results are also breath-taking, beyond creations of mere craft.
History (R)
Maldor is the seat of history with its ample ruins and unscathed libraries. This Ability can be used to know the truth about the Antiquity (as pre-Shadow days are known in Maldor), to operate ancient technology and to write new histories of the more recent past. Heraldry and noble genealogy are an issue of history as well.
Scrounging (I)
While most Maldorites are very poor, their land is covered with the riches of times past. This ability can be used to evaluate ruins, recognize valuable finds, comb battlefields and so on.

Sun & Moon

Abilities - Sun & Moon

Astrology (R)
The character is familiar with the ancient knowledge of the Servitors and celestial mechanics, as well as the movement of the Moon and how it affects the sidereal realm. The Ability is important today as a religious thing in Maldor, but the ability of predicting eclipses, orienteering and building calendars might be useful in practice as well. It may replace PRAY (V) in SECRET OF PROPHECY, except that the Story Guide never forces a prophecy on an astrologist.

Warcraft

Abilities - Warcraft

Melee (V)
Soldiers in Maldor are taught to fight with spears, swords and axes, depending on their role in the unit. This Ability can be used in directly violent conflicts, although it is not at its best in unarmed situations, ambushes, darkness or other exceptional conditions.
Cavalry (V)
Cavalry soldiers learn to maneuver and fight on horseback. This Ability can be used to ride well and for cavalry maneuvers on the battlefield, such as charges. A horseman stuck in close quarters still uses MELEE (V) to resolve those situations, however. Consequently Maldorian cavalry soldiers are generally expected to synergize their MELEE (V) and Cavalry Abilities.
Battle (R)
The Ability to plan and lead battles to achieve strategic objectives. A character needs a warband or more to execute such a plan, and Battle won’t protect his own person if he is attacked. Sometimes Battle can be used to win a war without conflict, should the opponent lack a similar Ability and thus be unable to prevent a defeat in detail.
Logistics (R)
The Ability concerns knowledge of the best practices of accounting and organizing major projects, such as supplying a military force on the move. It is useful for organizing large undertakings in civil engineering as well, although logistics are mostly practiced by the military sergeants in modern Maldor.

Three-Corner

Abilities - Three-Corner

Creation (V)
CREATION is to bring matter into being. The character can create a small amount – a handful or so – of a basic element (fire, earth, water, air) out of nothing.
Destruction (V)
DESTRUCTION is to make matter disperse. The character can erode materials he touches. How this looks like depends on the player, but it is obviously supernatural.
Enhancement (I)
ENHANCEMENT is to make things more like themselves, increasing order. The character can improve and strengthen items and people. The Ability can be used to support most anything else, but does not do anything by itself.
Transformation (I)
TRANSFORMATION is to change things into something else, decreasing order. The character can force naturally pliable things to take on a new shape without tools or containers.
Divination (R)
DIVINATION is to reveal purpose. The character can sense magical auras in things and people, as well as see invisible things and the disposition of animals and people.
Enthrallment (R)
ENTHRALLMENT is to control purpose. The character can force another being to bend to his will. The target is well aware of the magical compulsion.

Ratkin

Abilities - Ratkin

Litter Bond (I)
All ratkin are highly empathetic towards their litter. This Ability is useful for predicting the actions of the litter and for acting seamlessly to cooperate with it. It may also be used as a social or communicative Ability towards litter-mates.

Ammeni

Abilities - Ammeni

Anatomy (R)
Ammeni knowledge of bodily functions is the most extensive of the nations of Near. This Ability can be used for surgery, torture and bizarre piercing arts sometimes inflicted on decorative servants. Practitioners tend to be respected and wellpaid craftsmen.
Assassination (I)
The art of silent, sudden death. The Ability is not so much concerned with martial skill as it is with a compartmentalized mind necessary for cold-blooded killing. An encyclopedic knowledge of the instruments of murder follows. Use this Ability for any exotic, pre-meditated killing, such as leaking poison into a sleeping person’s mouth via a string.
Bladework (I)
This Ability is used for all sorts of intricate knife skills from tricks to fighting to crafts. It is typical to both high and low classes in Ammeni, where men display bravado with knives and women are expected to hide their protective blades intimately. The Ability may support in many sorts of social, craft and violent situations and even be the main Ability of a focused turning-point.
Sex (I)
Ammeni culture takes sex somewhat seriously as a craft and art form. Practice is not entirely egalitarian; women, especially house slaves and professional entertainers, are expected to be better at it. The Ability is useful accompaniment for CHARM (I) in seduction, and in general usable as a sort of artistic and knowledge Ability related to sexual performance, reproduction biology and sexual hygiene. Despite their purposeful sensuality, Ammeni are no smarter than others over what sex means; expression ranges all over the place, even more so than in less sensual cultures.
Dance (I)
Others may know how to dance, but the Ammeni entertainers are the best there is. The Ability is useful as an artistic thing, which, as we know, means that the player needs to make it useful by playing towards that sort of content.
Bamboo Warrior (V)
Most weapons and armor in the metal-poor Ammeni are made of bamboo, a flexible, common material in the area. This Ability is good for creating weapons and armor out of bamboo, as well as using polearms and such made of the light material effectively. Originally this was a peasant art of defense, but today independent peasants are few and bamboo is cut for professional soldiers.

Alchemy

Abilities - Alchemy

Herbalism (R)
The Poison River watershed provides a rich library of flora ready to be exploited. This Ability covers recognizing the appearance, growth habits and properties of both rare and common herbs useful for food, poisons, drugs and cures. The practitioner may even try his hand at cultivating herbs in controlled conditions. WOODCRAFT (R) is simple and shallow in comparison, the Story Guide may require Herbalism for any truly impressive endeavor.
Alchemy (R)
Ammeni alchemy is a cynical science with little in the way of preconceptions and expectations; the alchemist rarely expects anything, in good or ill. He does, however, usually believe in the immortality of the body, achievable by the enforced balance of bodily forces. This combination of passion and cold calculation has driven Ammeni alchemy to great heights among the adepts.
Cooking (I)
Ammeni are superb cooks, thanks to the rich array of spices and exotic ingredients their lands supply. While HOUSEWORK (R) may make tasty food, Cooking is a superior art. Of course, it is not a given that tasty food will be much of an issue in a given campaign. Cooking may also be used to deliver herbal and alchemical poisons orally.
Taste Poison (I)
Ammeni learn to distinguish poisons and drugs by sight, smell and taste, which is useful in a land infested by dangerous plants and animals. The Ability might be used in creating and trading drugs, but most valued it is in avoiding poisoning. Normally a character would support his ENDURANCE (V) check against poison with this Ability, to see how much he imbibed before noticing the poison.

Trade

Abilities - Trade

Wealth (R)
The skill of handling and using wealth. This is somewhat different from BARGAIN (I) in that the character knows how to preserve, increase and spend wealth efficiently over the long term; Wealth presumes a moneyusing economy, or nearly so. It’s useful for hiding wealth, trading it, turning it into money, moving it, buying things with it, tracking it in accounting and so on.
Slave Driving (V)
Ammeni Houses employ a considerable number of slavers and slave managers who deal with human property on daily basis. This Ability can be used to socially dominate any acclimatized slaves, and to train newly captured subject people into slavery. It is also used to direct slaves in work; normal labor is not so much a matter of the slave’s competence as that of the slave driver.
Trade Routes (R)
Established House trade routes and speculative trading by independent merchants make for unequaled geographical knowledge base in Ammeni. The Ability can be used to know and recognize far-away places and things. It is also useful in practical travel.

Zaru

Abilities - Zaru

Serve (I)
Servitude concerns anticipating a master’s needs and remaining servile while interacting with him. It is also useful in misdirecting the master and being invisible to his eyes.
Clandestinity (R)
The Ability of planning and implementing secret networks, resistance cells, cipher codes and other such subterfuge. Useful for both resistance and counter-resistance activities.
Clay-Moulding (V)
This Ability can be used to build anything from houses to pottery out of the rich clay of the Zaru delta.
Poetry (I)
Poetry is the foremost art form among the modern Zaru, who often cannot own much but their words. Zaru poetry is most often long and non-rhyming, with strict syllabic patterns for each stanza. It is emotionally powerful, and can make even an Ammeni master stay his hand.
Uptenbo (I)
Uptenbo is the underground Zaru martial art. Because of the traditional non-violence of the Zaru, Uptenbo is purely a defensive art, and can be used to drive off, humiliate, or subdue an enemy, not to kill. It consists of strong locks, throws and sweeps, using the enemy’s attacks against her.

Zu

Abilities - Zu

Zu (R)
Zu is the magical language of Zaru. The Ability itself concerns rational understanding of the syntax, grammar and vocabulary over that of the native user. It is mostly useful in supporting language-related tasks, and in uttering words of power.

Khale

Abilities - Khale

Spearfighting (V)
Spear is the favored weapon of the Khaleans, who use it with great skill not only to strike in the crowded woods, but in movement as well. The spear is supposed to be for hunting, though.
Female Rites (R)
Some things in Khale are tied strictly to gender. Violence is for men, while creating life is for women. The life rites are useful in religious acts, but also in midwifery, contraception, abortion and treating women’s and children’s diseases.
Carousing (V)
Khalean parties can be brutal affairs, especially as the men start competing to establish a pecking order. This Ability helps in holding the liquor, as well as holding your wits and not offending anybody.
Genealogy (R)
A necessary Ability for knowing your ancestors, determining moieties within the tribe and finding kinship relations with outsiders. The Ability also covers tribal history and mythology, which is useful in figuring out the correct greetings when interacting with ancestors and outsiders.
Guerrilla Warfare (I)
This is a similar Ability to BATTLE (R) in that it concerns planning and executing combat operations. The difference comes in the means: Khaleans have learned to deal with asymmetric force warfare, meaning that this Ability is good for ambushes, attacking soft targets, avoiding decisive combat, false flag operations, misdirecting the enemy and so on. Honorable battles between tribes are not resolved by these means, however; this is for foreign intruders.
Tree-bond (I)
Khalean ancestor worship is closely tied to this peculiar ability. Aside from ritual use in recognizing and worshipping ancestor spirits, the Ability can be used to enter the Green World from a suitable tree.
Woodworking (I)
Khaleans create most of their tools out of wood, often to highly exacting standards of beauty and utility. This Ability can be used to create both art and tools, such as weapons, buildings and even ships.
Lunar Forging (R)
This Ability is used to craft moon-metal by projecting psychic force on the heated substance. It might be useful for other similar shaping tasks as well.

Qek

[[Abilities-_Qek?|Abilities- Qek]]

Knotwork

Abilities - Knotwork

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.

Spiritwork

Abilities - Spiritwork

keine

Goren

Abilities - Goren

Skirmishing (V)
All Gorenite men are to some degree fighters, but the best are usually fighting carls in direct service to their chief, or members of a town guild that hires out to those who need protection. In either case the carls are expected to be ready for immediate bloodshed at a moment’s notice, and be quick to charge and retreat in serious combat, following their leader’s cue. Carls fight with swords and axes, or spears when defending a position.
Mining (V)
Most of Near’s metals come from Old Goren, either sold by clans or taken by force when Lords of Maldor come calling. Nowadays Gorenites despise mining work for religious reasons, preferring to leave it to the unblooded. Having goblins infest the mines does not help, either. The Ability itself is useful not only for mining, but also for understanding and utilizing mine architecture in moving in mines, or even siege warfare.
Smithing (V)
Gorenite smiths are the best in the world due to the mineral wealth of the land. The Ability can be used to work all metals, making and repairing various tools. Either this or MINING (V) can be used to smelt ores into usable form.
Troll-lore (R)
Most Gorenites have seen a goblin, or at least know someone who has. Few really know them, but some have made it their business to know and be prepared for them. This Ability is useful in figuring out a goblin’s adaptations and addictions, its likely mindset and habits. It’s psychic profiling for creatures Gorenites fear and hate.

Sky God Faith

Abilities - Sky God Faith

Valor (V)
Valor is the natural virtue of daring to stand up for your beliefs. It is mostly used to support decisive action, but it may be used directly in simple tests of courage as well. VALOR is a Passive Ability.
Compassion (I)
Compassion is the natural virtue of caring for your fellow man. It is mostly useful for supporting empathic action, but direct use might be feasible in some social situations. COMPASSION is a Passive Ability.
Honesty (R)
Honesty is the natural virtue of truthful word and action. It is mostly useful in supporting earnest action, but direct use might be possible in certain social situations. HONESTY is a Passive Ability.
Justice (I,R)
Justice is the civic virtue of caring for the rights of others. It is mostly useful in supporting legal procedures or similar truth-seeking, but direct use might be possible when gripped by righteous fury. JUSTICE is a Passive Ability.
Sacrifice (V,I)
Sacrifice is the civic virtue of daring to give for others. It is mostly useful in supporting daring actions for good causes, but direct use might be possible when faced with certain loss. SACRIFICE is a Passive Ability.
Spirituality (V,I,R)
Spirituality is the virtue of believing in principle before consequence and moral good over material good. I can imagine using it to support other Abilities now and then. SPIRITUALITY is a Passive Ability.
Book of Light (R)
The character’s knowledge of the holy texts of the Sky God Faith. This Ability is useful for mastering the teachings, comparing editions, distinguishing apocryphic content and teaching the book to others. Albeit called a “book”, the holy texts are actually still plural and mutating by the moment.

Witchcraft

Abilities - Witchcraft

Maiden-Ways (I)
Knowledge of the role and tasks of the unmarried woman. Useful for enamoring and dissuading men and beasts, and for understanding the wilds.
Mother-Wit (V)
Knowledge of the role and tasks of the mother. Useful for household chores, raising children and leading with authority.
Crone-Wise (R)
Knowledge of the role and tasks of the old woman. Useful for scaring people, knowing the spirits and giving good advice.
Herbalism (R)
Gorenite women use many herbs and natural remedies in their everyday life, which reflects on their witchcraft as well. The Ability is useful for finding and preparing herbal cures, drugs and poisons of various sorts. The Gorenite lands are relatively bare, though, so the number of plants is not infinite; usually there is just one for each distinct purpose.
Ritual Magic (R)
Gorenite witchcraft does not involve rituals in its everyday application, but they take precedence at covens and actual worship. This Ability can be used to support other magical Abilities when they’re applied in a ritual context: deliberate tools, environment and action help to focus the magic. The Ability is also useful in interpreting strange rituals, developing new ones and might support PRAY (V) in some situations as well.

Vulfen

Abilities - Vulfen

Scent (I)
The character’s Ability at interpreting and modifying scents in the form of deliberate markings and natural residues. The Ability is useful for tracking, recognizing social cues and other uses where an inhumanly keen sense of smell and scent memory would be helpful. For Vulfen this is one of their primary senses, if not the most important.

Vulfland

Abilities - Vulfland

Hospitality (I)
Hospitality is a necessary skill for people who have to be able to band together regardless of familiarity. The Ability is used to encounter strangers, explain your customs and expectations to them and make sure you both feel richer by the interaction. It is also useful in support of other social abilities
Harpoon (V)
Inuk are not allowed to hunt by the Vulfen, but they’re not prevented from doing it on the glacier and in the water. Use this Ability to fell prey with the Inuk weapons.
Local (Glacier) (R)
Some Vulflanders outright live in the glaciers, hunting and fishing and setting up temporary camps on the coastlines. This Ability reflects their unique survival skills: building structures out of snow and ice, protecting their eyes from the glare of the sun, finding their prey through the long dark winter, avoiding crevasses and so on.
Carving (I)
Inuk have little in the way of material possessions, so practically everything they own is beautifully carved and decorated, from tent poles to shovels. Wood, bone, stone and even ice are used. This Ability is useful in making tools both beautiful and usable.

Dreaming

Abilities - Dreaming

Dream-telling (R)
This Ability is used to explain what dreams mean and distinguishing prophetic or sent dreams from idle fantasies. A character may enter a LUCID dream with a successful check while sleeping. Other uses are remembering dreams and distinguishing dreams from reality. This Ability may well replace PRAY (V) for the SECRET OF PROPHECY.
Possession (V)
A spirit can possess another with this Ability through their dream. A receptive target can be possessed in reality as well.

Human Equation

Abilities - Human Equation

(Species)-lore (R)
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.

Elves

Abilities - Elves

Past Lives (R)
This is the Elven Ability of remembering useful information from their countless past lives. It can be used to remember personal history and knowledge long lost. With time, an elf might even dredge up some useful Secrets or such.

Goblins

Abilities - Goblins

Adaptability (V)
Goblins can change their body structure and even their mental build over time, although for most it is more of an instinctual than intentional process. The Ability can be used to perform feats of contortionism, both actual and metaphorical. The goblin might even be able to change his hair or skin color with enough motivation.

Dwarves

Abilities - Dwarves

Familia (R)
Knowledge of family history and values is of utmost importance to a dwarf. Aside from knowledge checks, this Ability is used to determine ORDINATION within a dwarven family. Ideological issues and family policy are also debated mostly with this Ability.

Giants

Abilities - Giants

Stature (V)
This Ability reflects the giant’s size, and his skill at using his size effectively. We don’t usually measure giant size in feet or meters; rather, a check of this Ability can be used to find out if a giant is “large enough” for a given purpose. I’m thinking of things like ripping trees from their roots or lifting a person on a rooftop. The Ability is also useful as support in anything where large size and strength would be of use.

Beastkin

Abilities - Beastkin

Bestiality (V)
Practically all animals have this Ability, depicting their ferocious, unthinking nature. It is useful when the animal has to overcome obstacles with pure force and speed. It’s not so much that this is the only important facet of being an animal; rather, we decide that dramatically the only reason animals are going to triumph in conflict is due to their being “good animals”, represented by this Ability.
Training (R)
A trained animal can support a person with this Ability. It can also try to understand human intent and fulfill tasks set to it by using its training.

Orania

Abilities - Orania

Kalderonite

Law (R)
Kalderon is one of the last societies in Near to be truly ruled by a civil law that is punctually followed in drawing the line between right and wrong. This Ability is useful in knowing the old imperial laws and applying them to cases, although SPEAK (R) is still needed to make the case convincingly.
Diplomacy (R)
“The art of living with others” is a cornerstone of Oranide life. The magistrates of Kalderon put great stock to understanding their friends and enemies, and inventing means of avoiding needless strife. Life is difficult enough as it is.

Skironite

Archery (I)
Tribesmen supplement their diet with hunting, in which they use short bows suitable for horseback. Archery is also the tribe’s favourited discipline when they go to war; it is one of the three manly skills.
Wrestling (V)
Skironite tribesmen are masterful wrestlers, using submission techniques as well as close-range strikes after breaking the opponent’s guard. Wrestling is the second manly skill.
Horsemanship (I)
The most important skill of a Skironite man is the care, training and riding of his horse. The Ability is most of the time a support for others Abilities, although the Skironites tend to synergize it with all sorts of things.
Falconry (I)
The Horse Lord skill of taming and training hunting birds. Despite the name, feel free to go fantastic with the large eagles some tribesmen work with. The Ability is useful for recognizing birds and interpreting their flight patterns as well as hunting with birds and such.
Stargazing (R)
Stars are nowhere as visible as they are on the plains through the winter night. Knowing the stories and lore of the constellations is today a Crop Woman task, while men use these skills to orient themselves on the dark plains at night.
Cloud-reading (R)
The Skironite Crop Women can read the sky for signs. The most important purpose for this is in predicting the weather, but other things might be seen as well: the Ability may replace PRAY (V) in SECRET OF PROPHECY.
Female Rites (R)
Skironite women give birth when the men are away, in rites that are severely restricted from male knowledge. The Ability is useful for knowing about reproduction, midwifery, contraception, abortion and treating women’s and children’s diseases.

Inselburg

Abilities - Inselburg

Glass-blowing (R)
The fortress of Inselburg produces glass, a rare substance elsewhere. It is one of the few native products shipped by the trade flotilla of Inselburg.
Signaling (R)
Vadenite islands are in many places close enough to see each other, or at least hear. An elaborate system of light, flag or sound signals is used, conditions permitting, to communicate with other ships and islands. This Ability can be used to compose and interpret these messages, to recognize who sends a particular message and to understand the various shorthand expressions used on the islands.
Dueling (V)
Inselburg is very peaceful in comparison to most of Near, but there is a martial tradition upheld by the few Fleet officers, some collegiums and hot-headed youngsters. The preferred weapons are knives and short swords, often dual-wielded with a coat or cloak. A Vadenite fighter is very certain of his feet, as he expects to fight in or from his boat.
Demolition (R)
Fleet crews in Inselburg are trained to handle the black ship cannons and other explosives; specialist marines are trained as grenadiers as well.

Pere-di-Fey

Abilities - Pere-di-Fey

Hospitality (I)
The Kairakau have built their current welfare by being willing to trust. This Ability can be used to judge intentions, give a good impression, bring strangers to your home and waste no more on precautions than necessary.
Swim (V)
People of Pere-di-Fey are skilled swimmers and divers, capable of retaining their breath for a long time underwater. The most skilled ones may even replenish their lungs from Talalag air-shells living under the islands. This Ability can be used to swim and dive skillfully and safely.
Ecology (R)
The Kairakau have a very keen sense for the struggling dual ecology of their isles. This Ability can be used to know about and understand biological processes, and to support attempts at farming plants or sealife. It’s mostly a religious thing for the Kairakau, which use it with the SECRET OF PROPHECY.
Land-Speech (I)
The land-speakers of Kairakau learn to feel and see the subtle signs of the Halatu. This Ability can be used to get vague impressions about people and events on the same island, to orient oneself on the island and to immediately know when something threatens the island’s biosphere.
Use Symbiont (V)
Laymen who get symbionts by accident or design aren’t usually that facile in LANDSPEECH (I); instead, they learn by doing and develop this Ability. It can be used to take care of a character’s symbionts and to use them facilely.
Throwing (V)
The Kairakau are not much of fighters, the boys learn to wrestle and brawl at young age, while all children, but especially girls, learn to throw stones with a mean accuracy, mean enough to make almost all Talalag retreat. This Ability can be used for all sorts of throwing activities, including games, spears, stones, boomerangs and the like.

Seafaring

Abilities - Seafaring

Boating (I)
Smaller vessels that do not require a large crew are operated with this Ability. Such vessels are easier to procure and keep than larger ones; they also have benefits in stealth and coastal operations, being able to reach places larger ships couldn’t. Fishermen, smugglers and such would probably use this Ability for their hijinks.
Sailing (R)
Large ships that mostly rely on a properly trained crew are operated with this Ability, and perhaps suitable social Abilities used in commanding the crew. In comparison to boats, a ship can handle larger cargoes and longer journeys, making it appropriate for greater endeavors.
Navigation (R)
Most captains of Near navigate based on memorized coast profiles. This Ability can be used to tell where you are and where you should be going.
Command (I)
A larger ship will often have disciplinary issues, which are largely sorted by the captain using this Ability. The Ability is useful for gaining respect and getting obeyed; however, it rarely works on people who have not already decided to trust your lead.

Nine Celestials

none

The Horned God

Abilities - The Horned God

Man-Will (V)
Knowledge of and confidence in male supremacy. Useful in keeping women in line, making other men like and respect you, and in giving orders.
Theurgy (R)
This is the sort of “heroic” exceptional Ability that comes up now and then in specific scenarios. It’s not generally known in Near anywhere; it might have been concertedly practiced in ancient Hamouad, the Land of Cynics. The Ability allows the character to rearrange divine mythology by introspection, by mastering symbolic logic and universal aesthetic laws; this is mostly useful for poetry, but combined with magic, it can be used to mess with existing magical systems to create new ones. Elaborate theologies such as the Gorenite pantheon and the Khalean Green World are especially vulnerable, while something like Three-Corner magic could only be affected in exceptional circumstances.

Sireap Valley

Abilities - Sireap Valley

Footwork (V)
Sirepani, and especially ushers, train constantly to be quicker, stronger and more exact in their footwork. This Ability can be used to run fast, to run long, to jump high or far and to maneuver with great dexterity in general.

First City

Abilities - First City

none

Going Out

Secrets - Going Out

Secret of the Unknown
The character can use EXPLORATION (I) or STORYTELLING (R) to establish KEY ELEMENTS (as per the SOLAR SYSTEM) with total experience value equal to the check result. These are always things about which the character knows nothing certain, such as the lost valley of Sireap or the Gharialin Templars.
Cost: 1 REASON per check.

Define external redirect: Abilities- Qek