Levy Musketeer
Gain Musket, Bayonet, Uniform, +1 Sh, +1 St.
EXITS: Musketeer, Horseman, Powder Carrier, Apprentice Shopkeeper, Woodcutter, Vagabond
SYNOPSIS: An infantry recruit is the lowest of the low. Levied to fight with little or no real understanding of the ways of war, the battlefields of the world are littered with such hapless musketeers. Unwieldy plug bayonets and unreliable smoothbore muskets are the tools of their trade; some survive, some desert to go in search of adventure… many have their careers cut brutally short.
Woodcutter
Gain axe, Woodsman, Woodsman’s Clothes, +2 Pw, +1 St
EXITS: Woodsman, Hunter, Army Scout, Levy Musketeer, Apprentice Craftsman, Vagrant Traveller
SYNOPSIS: Woodcutters are the roughest and least skilled of the backwoodsmen, men split off from society to live out in the wild but without the knowledge to be at one with it – yet. Some will go on to become successful hunters and trackers; for most, living out in the wilds is a constant battle with untamed nature.
Apprentice Shopkeeper
Gain +1 Nv, +1Lk, Haggle, Common Clothes, Evaluate Price, +15 crowns
EXITS: Shopkeeper, Apprentice Smith, River Boatman, Apprentice Craftsman, Apprentice Priest, Apprentice Clerk
SYNOPSIS: Few in any world dream of battle and bravery; many just wind up working for pitiful wages on shop floors around the small towns and villages. A shopkeeper’s apprentice does not live badly, and at least money and a bed are more assured than for some, but having the pluck to do well in the messy world of business is often a harder challenge than for those who go out into more risky pursuits.
Boatman
Gain +1 Pw, Knife, 4-seat Rowboat w/Oars, Common Clothes, Rope, Seafarer, +1Lk
EXITS: River Boatman, Ferryman, Message Carrier, Errand Rider, Woodcutter, Levy Musketeer
SYNOPSIS: The many rivers and lakes of the world are always centrepieces for the life of those around them. Poor fishermen, ferrymen, guides; the list is endless. The average boatman is hardly wealthy, but with a deck underneath him his specialised knowledge is always potentially useful.
Young Nobleman
Gain sabre, Noble’s Clothes, Pistol, +1Ld, +1Rn, Schooled, Ride Horse, +10 crowns
EXITS: Horseman, Minor Nobleman, Officer-In-Training, Apprentice Priest, Infantry Recruit, Apprentice Clerk
SYNOPSIS: Noblemen are, unlike almost any other social class, very free to choose their path in life. The priesthood, the cavalry regiments, land management, adventuring, mercenary fighting, politics; a young man from a noble family can work his way into many of the upper regions of society. That does not mean their life is necessarily easy. Wealth, wherever and however it comes, attracts bullets…
Apprentice Craftsman
Gain tools (Same as trade), Common Clothes, Trade(any), Evaluate price, +1St, +1Pw
EXITS: Basic Craftsman, Apprentice Smith, Apprentice Shopkeeper, Tinker, Apprentice Clerk
SYNOPSIS: Basket-weavers, potters, locksmiths; there are many crafts a young person can be apprenticed into. Many ordinary folk will live as craftspeople, working each day (and often at night) to make basic (or rather finer) handcrafted goods to sell for a few copper crowns.
Apprentice Priest (of Jupiter/Artemis/Wotan)
Gain spear, Holy Symbol, Common Clothes, Schooled, +1Nv, +1Ld
Jupiter – Gain Hatred of Non-Humans, +1Nv
Artemis – Gain Hatred of Vampires, Shortbow, 5x wooden arrows
Wotan – Gain Hatred of Oathbreakers, +1Pw
EXITS: Shriven Priest (of god), Apprentice Witchfinder, Apprentice Clerk, Vagrant Traveller
SYNOPSIS: The priesthood vary greatly in their power and influence in different regions. In the Union, most religious sects are outlawed; in Nurreich, they are legal but ignored. Beside these two nations, most southern nations and those to the Union’s immediate west would welcome a priest of one of Jupiter’s two schismatic Papal states. South of the Union the southern Papacy is governed by a consensus-based council and holds a mostly religious role in societies dominated by secular politics. The new, or Northern, Papacy has a far more interventionist influence that progressively wanes in the thickly forested mountain states of Tarrala or Kanhelm in favour of Artemis, a hunter’s deity. Further north still and Wotan, a vengeful god whose priests are bound to hunt down oathbreakers, holds sway.
Beggar/Petty Thief
Lose 40c, Gain lockpicks, rags, +1Nv, +1M, +1Lk, Skill (theft) OR Skill (Begging)
EXITS: Wandering Helper, Thief, Ferryman, Errand Rider, Vagabond, Vagrant Traveller
SYNOPSIS: Pickpockets and stragglers in a hostile world, the beggars and waistrels of the cities nevertheless manage to eke out a living for themselves. A good knowledge of escape routes, gutters and sewers is enough to mark a successful petty thief or beggar out from a failure – that and the fact that the failures are hanging from a nearby gibbet…
Tinker
Gain Tinker’s tools, +1Int, Trade (tinker), Common Clothes, Schooled, Knowledge (Basic Mechanics), Tinker, +1St, d3+4 small machine parts
EXITS: Apprentice Engineer, Apprentice Smith, Powder Carrier, Apprentice Clerk, Apprentice Craftsman
SYNOPSIS: A tinker is a craftsman of sorts. Jackdawish collectors of any machinery they can find, they fix broken items and work with screws, saws and bolts to build little flights of fancy. Their work is unskilled and shoddy, but amid the bric-a-brac and mess lies a mind often more fertile than those around it.
Vagabond
Gain Fighting knife, Rags, 2handed club, Clear Head, Intimidate, +1Nv, +1Pw, +1 St, lose 40c
EXITS: Wandering Entertainer, Bandit, Thief, Levy Musketeer, Woodcutter, Petty Thief
SYNOPSIS: Thugs and tough guys, a few vagabonds can be seen at the door of any country or city inn as they leer at strangers or ogle the local girls. Specialising in brute force requires more than strength; a vagabond knows how to hold their nerve, and their heavy weaponry almost conceals the fact that they have the accuracy to do a lot of damage with it in a fight.
Errand Rider
Gain Ride horse, Cavalry horse, Battle Club, Common Clothes, +1St
EXITS: Message Carrier, Scout, Horseman, Levy Musketeer, Vagrant Traveller, Boatman
SYNOPSIS: Often the son of a stablehand or retired cavalryman, an errand rider is employed to do menial tasks that require speed. It may be as little as getting a forgotten item of shopping for a local noble, or carrying a message to someone their master wishes to snub, but such riders have a lot of skill with their horses. That said, the average errand boy is hardly trained at much else…
Apprentice Clerk
Gain +2 Int, Schooled, Pen & Paper, +1Nv, Common Clothes, Knowledge (Geography) OR Knowledge (History)
EXITS: Clerk, Apprentice Scribe, Apprentice Engineer, Apprentice Priest, Tinker, Apprentice Shopkeeper
SYNOPSIS: Spilt ink and badly-cut quills are the hallmarks of a clerk’s apprentice. Downtrodden and spat upon, such people are nevertheless necessary of the running of businesses and military regiments across many states. Their work is not back breaking, but nevertheless little food and much writing leaves their physical state in a less than perfect condition. The intellect required of a clerk can be useful in many situations, however.
Vagrant Traveller
Gain Dress Wounds, Drive Carriage, Common Clothes, Beast Care (Horses), Fighting Knife, +1Pw
EXITS: Wandering Helper, Wandering Entertainer, Woodsman, Errand Rider, Woodcutter, Boatman
SYNOPSIS: Gypsies, dropouts, the homeless; vagrants and wanderers are found on many roads leading to just about anywhere. Often travelling by cart, their skills are those needed to survive in a world of foraging for food, of scrapes and scratches, and of caring for the horses that are often their only lifeline.