THE ETERNAL COURT is a tabletop role-playing game set in the walled mountain city of Kormor Kirak, in the year 1793. You play agents — soldiers, spies, physicians, artificers, and shadow-mages — navigating a conspiracy that runs from the street markets to the throne room of Torony Piros.
The politics are rotten. The messages are partial, the seals are suspect, and every bargain follows you into the next street.
The Albion Empire and the Kingdom of Terrassia have been at war for a hundred years. No one alive has known peace. Now both empires have sent delegations to Kormor Kirak for a peace wedding — and something is very wrong. The city's vampire queen is building something beneath her castle. A Lich Cult operates in the catacombs. A dying man is pursuing immortality. And the ward symbols painted on the city's doorframes are starting to fail.
You don't know all of that yet. You know someone hired you. You know what they told you. And you know you're already in the middle of it.
Every rule earns its place. If it doesn't create a decision or generate tension, it gets cut. The engine is one die. The game is everything else.
The Eternal Court is designed to run in three formats. The core rules in this booklet are the foundation for all three.
| Format | Players | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| RPG | GM + 1–4 players | Narrative assignments, campaign arc, between-assignment sequence. |
| INVESTIGATE | 1–2 (no GM) | Head-to-head case work, oracle-driven, 400-point party. |
| SOLO | 1 player (no GM) | Solo oracle, story engine, campaign framework. |
Agents have households, debts, old obligations, and reasons to risk the Queen's streets. The GM plays the city, its factions, and the consequences that carry forward.
Both players build simultaneously after seeing the case. No extra apparatus — only clues, pressure, and hard choices. Playable solo with the NPC Behavior tables.
A GM-less single-agent campaign. Uses oracle tables to generate assignment complications, NPC responses, and consequences. The narrative weight of the RPG format, without a second person at the table.
The First Shadows Affair is the recommended entry point — a guided learn-to-play tutorial that walks one GM and up to four players through every core mechanic across a single sixty- to ninety-minute assignment. Find it on p. xl.
MECH · ART. XXIV · STARTING ASSIGNMENT
The game is set in Kormor Kirak — a walled mountain city perched in the Videk range, the only viable overland crossing between two warring empires. For a hundred years it has sold to both sides of a war that neither empire can quite win.
The city is governed by THE QUEEN Kiraline Veresz Eroszakos, who has held the throne longer than historians can accurately trace. The Red Guard enforces her law. The Gatekeepers — a corrupt supernatural police force that predates the city itself — enforce everything else.
Below the streets, Terra Sotto runs its own economy: black markets, fighting pits, Lich Cult staging grounds, and things that prefer darkness.
Above it all, a comet approaches. The Queen is building something in the castle's deepest level. The ward symbols on the city's doorframes are failing. Every powerful person in Kormor Kirak is lying to everyone else.
Roll D6. Meet or beat your proficiency threshold. That is the whole engine.
Almost every action in the game resolves this way. Shoot, fight, pick a lock, staunch a wound, read a room, break a ward — one die, one number.
| Rating | Threshold | Probability | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| GOOD | 2+ | 5 in 6 (83%) | Almost always succeed. Only a natural 1 fails. |
| ORDINARY | 4+ | 3 in 6 (50%) | Coin flip. Modifiers make the difference. |
| BAD | 5+ | 2 in 6 (33%) | You need help, tools, or luck. |
Modifiers always adjust the die roll — never the threshold. Cover gives attackers –1 on their roll. An adjacent ally gives +1 when working a task. Stack all modifiers, then roll once.
Natural 6 always succeeds, regardless of threshold. Natural 1 always fails, regardless of modifiers. These are the only true absolutes in the system.
Threshold above 6. Heavy armour can push the threshold beyond 6. Only a natural 6 wounds, and deals a Flesh Wound only — armour absorbed the penetration.
Action floor. No combination of penalties can reduce an agent below 1 action per turn.
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| D6 DICE | A handful. You roll one at a time. |
| MINIATURES / TOKENS | One per agent. Anything works at this level. |
| MEASURING TAPE | Everything measured in inches. |
| PLAYING SURFACE | 3 × 3 feet minimum. Larger is fine. |
| TERRAIN | 8–12 pieces of hard cover. Market stalls, barricades, columns, wagons. Open tables get people killed. |
| PRESSURE TOKENS | Earned during play. Poker chips, coins, or dice work. |
| WOUND MARKERS | Track FW and MW per agent. Dice alongside base works fine. |
Any figure you already own is correct. A historical soldier, a fantasy rogue, an old miniature from a dead shelf — give it a name, a calling, and a place in the city. The figure was already in Kormor Kirak before you put it on the table.
The lore was written around what already exists. No conversion required.
Every agent has six attributes. Five are rated Good, Ordinary, or Bad. One (MOBI) is a fixed number in inches.
| Attribute | Used for |
|---|---|
| SHOOT | Ranged attacks with pistols, muskets, crossbows, thrown flasks, and other city weapons. |
| FIGHT | Melee attacks. Blade, brawl, knife work, polearm. |
| CRAFT | Physical and technical tasks. Pick locks, force doors, climb, navigate terrain, throw alchemical contrivances, work machinery, break wards. |
| OBSERVE | Attention and inference. Spot ambushes, read a room, examine a scene, decode ciphers, identify supernatural dangers. |
| NERVE | Grit and composure. Hold under shot and steel, resist horror, recover between assignments, push through wounds and fear. |
| MOBI | Movement in inches per turn. Not a roll — just distance. |
Every calling fills a place the company cannot survive without. You are not picking favourites. You are choosing who can endure the errand.
Each calling has one Signature Ability (always available) and three Specializations — choose one per assignment. Specializations can be swapped between assignments.
Each calling has a Doctrine Bonus — a reward triggered by successful use of the calling's signature ability. Doctrine Bonuses are always active and do not need to be chosen.
| Calling | Bonus | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| SOLDIER | Forward Momentum | Both actions on Shoot or Fight: next turn ignores the wound-state action penalty (act with 2 actions regardless of wound state). |
| SHARPSHOOTER | Sightline Discipline | On a successful ranged attack beyond 18", the mark is pushed 2" in a direction you choose (no Reaction), OR your next Hold Watch this assignment triggers on 2 marks instead of 1. |
| SHADOWBORN | Alley Discipline | Kill from Stealth: re-enter Stealth without a CRAFT check. |
| OCCULTIST | Hinge Point | Veil Touch action within 3" of a structural or warded element: +2 to the CRAFT roll. |
| PHYSICIAN | Triage | When you treat an agent at 2 MW, their next turn gets 2 actions regardless of wound state. |
| ARTIFICER | Clean Break | On a successful Tinkerer's Key, move up to 3" free (no action cost). |
| Format | Points | Min. | Restriction |
|---|---|---|---|
| STANDARD PLAY | 1,000 | 3 | Must include 1 Fighting, 1 Scouting, 1 Aid. |
| INVESTIGATION | 400 | 2 | No composition requirement. |
| ADVANCED PLAY | 1,200 | 3 | Max 3 of any single calling. |
| SOLO PLAY | 400 | 2 | No composition requirement. |
| Station | Callings | What they do |
|---|---|---|
| FIGHTING | Soldier, Occultist | Close with the enemy. Hold ground. Force doors. Break wards. Create openings. |
| SCOUTING | Sharpshooter, Shadowborn | Shape the approach. Control sightlines. Get the party through the city before anyone knows they are there. |
| AID | Physician, Artificer | Keep the company alive and moving. Without a Physician, wounds become doom. Without an Artificer, every locked mechanism is a wall. |
Each agent carries 1 main weapon, 1 sidearm, and up to 4 useful tools or parcels. Alchemical flasks and blades do not count against this limit.
Pressure tokens are earned through risk and spent for advantage. They carry between rounds but reset at assignment end. No GM approval needed — only choices count, not forced actions.
| Push voluntarily into necromantic terrain. |
| Use your last expendable. |
| Make a Pressed Shot while at 1 MW. |
| Complete a crucial Interact action while at 2 MW. |
| End your turn inside an enemy's declared Hold Watch arc and survive. |
| Make an honest call that costs the agent something (narrative, GM-granted). |
| Re-roll any die. |
| Auto-pass a NERVE check. |
| Recover 1 FW at the start of your next turn. |
| Delay a consequence by one round. |
Each agent caps at 3 Pressure Tokens in their own hand per assignment. Pressure is earned by leaning into danger. Hold it for the moments that matter most.
MECH · MAX 3 IN HAND · RESET AT ASSIGNMENT END
Before each assignment, check the party's Patron State. This determines what expendables agents carry and how Battlefield Surgery works.
| State | Expendables | Battlefield Surgery |
|---|---|---|
| WELL SUPPLIED | Full satchels, clean bandages, paid informants. | Unlimited uses. |
| PINCHED | Max 1 flask or artifice + 1 healer's satchel per agent. | Once per agent per assignment. |
| DESPERATE | Nothing reliable at assignment start; acquire or improvise in play. | CRAFT 4+ to improvise a healer's bundle, then OBSERVE 4+ to treat. |
Patron State shifts with Patron Loyalty. Patron Loyalty –1 or below drops Patron State one step. Exceptional success, useful leverage, or a pleased patron may raise it one step.
| Phase | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. INITIATIVE CHECK | Both sides roll D6. High roll picks first or second. Ties reroll. Lost Initiative: the loser's first agent to act this round gets 1 action instead of 2. |
| 2. COMPANY PHASE | Players alternate acting with one agent at a time. Each agent gets 2 actions (except the first agent who lost initiative). Choose agents in any order. |
| 3. OPPOSITION PHASE | GM acts for NPCs, patrols, reinforcements, and environmental effects. Each NPC unit acts once. |
| 4. CLOSE PHASE | Resolve ongoing effects. Check tasks. Remove expired Sustain effects. Start a new round. |
Each agent gets 2 actions per turn. No combination of penalties can reduce you below 1 action.
| Action | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| MOVE | 1 | Walk up to your MOBI value in inches. Movement can be split around another action. |
| SPRINT | 2 | Move up to MOBI × 2 inches. No other actions this turn. |
| SHOOT | 1 | Make a ranged attack against a mark in sightline within weapon range. |
| FIGHT | 1 | Move into contact (base-to-base, or within 1") and make a melee attack. Fight triggers immediately. |
| HOLD WATCH | 2 | Hold position. Make one free ranged attack against the first enemy that moves into your sightline. |
| ABILITY | var. | Use your calling's signature ability or Specialization. Cost listed on your agent card. |
| INTERACT | 1 | Work a task, pick a lock, plant an artifice, lift a seal, search a desk, or disarm a trap. Usually CRAFT or OBSERVE. |
| BATTLEFIELD SURGERY | 1 | Adjacent ally at 1+ MW. Cannot self-treat. Roll OBSERVE 4+. Success: remove 1 MW. |
| HIDE | 1 | Roll CRAFT 4+. Must be in cover and outside all enemy sightline. Success: enter Stealth. |
| TAKE THE MEASURE | 1 | Roll OBSERVE or CRAFT 4+. Choose: Find the Weakness, Name the Mark, or Read the Street. Nat 6: two benefits. Nat 1: a misleading sign. |
| PRESSED SHOT | 2 | A second SHOOT attack at –2. Nat 1 on the second shot misfires, jams, or fouls the string (1 action to clear). |
| SUSTAIN | ongoing | Hold a door, rope, ritual circle, signal, or mechanism. Half MOBI. Take a wound while Sustaining: NERVE 4+ or Sustain breaks. |
| STAND UP | 1 | You are Prone. Stand up at the end of this action. |
When marked by a SHOOT attack, declare your reaction before the attacker rolls. Cost: lose 1 action on your next turn. One reaction per agent per round.
| Reaction | Trigger | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| ANSWER SHOT | You're shot at | Immediately make a ranged attack against the shooter. Normal modifiers. Cannot Answer Shot if Pinned. |
| TAKE COVER | You're shot at | Reposition up to 3" into the nearest cover. The triggering shot resolves against the new position. |
| DUCK DOWN | You're shot at | Go Prone. The attacker takes –1 on the triggering shot. Standing is a normal action. |
| BODY SHIELD | Adjacent friendly is marked | An adjacent agent or NPC becomes the mark instead. Resolve as if they were the mark. |
| Condition | Modifier |
|---|---|
| Mark in Light Cover (low walls, stalls, foliage) | –1 |
| Mark in Heavy Cover (stone, wagons, iron gates) | –2 |
| Long range (beyond half weapon's max range) | –1 |
| Close Quarters weapon within 6" | +1 |
| Mark Prone | –1 |
| Attacker has 3 FW | –1 |
| Attacker Pinned | –1 |
| Elevation advantage | +1 |
| Assisting agent in sightline of same mark | +1 |
| Surprise Attack (first shot from Stealth) | +2 |
| Shooting into a fight | –2 |
| Pressed Shot (second shot) | –2 |
| Sharpshooter's Still Hand active | +2 |
No single ranged attack may benefit from more than +2 total from calling abilities.
Shooting Into a Melee. Roll SHOOT at –2. Modified result of 1 or 2 hits your ally instead. Natural 1 always hits your ally.
Threshold Above 6. Heavy armour can push the threshold beyond 6. Only a natural 6 wounds, dealing Flesh Wound only — armour absorbed the penetration.
Each additional friendly in contact grants +1 to Fight roll. Maximum +2 from allies.
Throwing an alchemical flask or small artifice costs 1 action. Declare a mark point in sightline within range. Roll CRAFT 4+. Burst radius: 3". These effects ignore cover modifiers.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| Natural 6 | Perfect throw. Lands exactly on mark. All marks in 3" suffer maximum effect. |
| 4–5 | Contrivance lands on mark. Apply normal effect. |
| 2–3 | Contrivance scatters D3" in a random direction. |
| Natural 1 | Contrivance scatters D6" in a random direction. May endanger friendly agents. |
Scatter Direction. Opposing player nominates direction, or roll D6: 1 = toward thrower, 2 = left, 3 = right, 4 = long left, 5 = long right, 6 = away from thrower.
| Contrivance | Effect |
|---|---|
| ALCHEMICAL FIRE VIAL | All marks in the burst take 1 FW. Terrain in the burst counts as Difficult and forces NERVE 4+ each round spent in it. |
| SMOKE VIAL | 3" radius cloud of acrid smoke. Blocks all sightlines through it. Lasts until Close Phase. |
| CONCUSSIVE VIAL | All marks in the burst: NERVE 4+ or Pinned until start of next turn. |
| WARD-BREAK COMPOUND | Breaks one ward, seal, or minor necromantic construct within 3". Roll CRAFT 4+ to apply without backlash. |
| Terrain | Movement | Cover | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| OPEN GROUND | Full | None | You are exposed. |
| LIGHT COVER | Full | –1 | Low walls, market stalls, foliage, fences. |
| HEAVY COVER | Half (difficult) | –2 | Stone barriers, wagons, iron gates, sandbags. |
| DIFFICULT | Half (2" per 1") | None | Rubble, mud, cobblestones, crowd, dense vegetation. |
| ELEVATED | Full | –1 from below | Rooftops, balconies. See over Light Cover. |
| IMPASSABLE | Blocked | Blocks sightline | Solid walls, locked gates, deep water, cliffs. |
Draw a line from the centre of your base to the centre of the mark's base. If solid terrain blocks it, there is no sightline. Elevated agents can see over Light Cover. Heavy Cover still blocks.
Any terrain can carry the Necromantic tag — the GM marks this before play. Hallaset Fields, Terra Sotto passages, the castle's lower levels, and active ritual sites commonly carry this tag.
If you end your turn in Necromantic terrain: baseline — NERVE 4+ or take 1 FW; Old World ancestry (Physician or Occultist with the trait) — NERVE 3+; Undead or Construct — ignore the effect entirely. Passing through without ending there has no effect. Salvage looted from Necromantic terrain always arrives Stressed (–1 on first use).
MECH · END TURN · NERVE 4+ · FAIL = 1 FW
| CLIMBING | Costs 2" per 1" vertical. Ladders/stairs: 1" per 1". No clear handhold: CRAFT 4+ or no progress, action spent. |
| FALLING | 1 FW per full 3" fallen. |
| UNLOCKED DOORS | Costs 1" of movement to pass through. |
| LOCKED DOORS | Requires Veil Touch (Occultist) or Tinkerer's Key (Artificer) to open. |
| WINDOWS | Sightline as Light Cover. Entering costs 2" of movement. |
| Condition | Effect |
|---|---|
| FULL DAYLIGHT | No penalties. Standard rules. |
| OVERCAST · FOG · RAIN | All ranged attacks beyond 12" at –1. Stealth detection reduced to 6". |
| DARKNESS | All ranged attacks at –1. Max Shoot range 12". Stealth detection 4". Without a lantern: –1 to CRAFT and OBSERVE. |
| LANTERN | Illuminate a 6" cone. Negates darkness penalties in cone. Reveals Stealthed enemies inside it. |
| ELEVATED POSITION | See over Light Cover within sightline. Heavy Cover still blocks. |
Track where the Red Guard, Gatekeepers, and useful witnesses are on the attention scale. Most assignments start at Level 0. The company wants to keep it there — or survive what follows when they cannot.
| Lvl | Status | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | UNAWARE | Normal patrol. No active searching. Agents can move freely in non-sightline areas. |
| 1 | SUSPICIOUS | One guard investigates. Others continue patrol. Something seemed wrong. No confirmation yet. |
| 2 | ALERTED | All guards move to search posture. No one leaves their post. They know something is here. |
| 3 | SEALED GATES | Gates close. Red Guard reinforcements summoned. Every exit has eyes on it. |
| 4 | HUE AND CRY | Bells, boots, shouted warrants, and no hesitation. You are no longer hidden. |
| Loud pistol, musket, or blunderbuss shot nearby | +1 / +2 |
| Guard finds evidence of intrusion | +1 |
| Guard goes missing from patrol (after 2 rounds) | +1 |
| Failed CRAFT check in enemy sightline | GM call |
| Supernatural creature publicly revealed | +2 |
| Create Distraction (CRAFT 4+) | Redirects one guard for 2 rounds. No change. |
| Artificer Tinkerer's Key at lockwork ward | Hold or reduce by 1. |
| Silent takedown + body hidden | No change. |
| Gatekeeper bribed (5–10 Krone minimum) | Hold at current level for 2 rounds. |
| Status | Wounds | Penalties | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
| CLEAN | None | None | 2 |
| WOUNDED | 1–2 FW | None | 2 |
| HURT | 3 FW | –1 all rolls | 2 |
| DESPERATE | 1 MW | –1 all rolls | 1 |
| FAILING | 2 MW | –2 all rolls | 1 |
| DOWN | +1 hit at 2 MW | Out of Action | Removed |
When you take a MW (conversion or direct hit), clear all current FW. MW penalties replace FW penalties — they don't stack.
3 FW + hit. Converts to 1 MW. All FW cleared. The wound track resets to the MW state.
Mortal Wound removal. Physician Battlefield Surgery (OBSERVE 4+, 1 action, adjacent) removes 1 MW on success. Apply updated wound state after treatment.
Roll NERVE vs. 4+. Success: you hold. Failure: lose 1 action on your next turn.
| A friendly agent in your sightline goes Out of Action. |
| You take your first Mortal Wound this assignment. |
| You begin your turn with 3 Flesh Wounds. |
| You are the last active agent on your side. |
| You witness an active necromantic working — corpses moving, trellis frameworks, ritual animation (GM call). |
In assignments with a declared supernatural danger (Necrotic Bulk, Vampire Spawn, Lich Cult Necromancer mid-ritual), the GM may declare a Horror Threshold for the assignment. Agents must pass an additional NERVE 5+ check when first encountering these entities. Failure = Pinned until next turn. Applies once per entity per assignment.
MECH · FIRST SIGHT · NERVE 5+ · FAIL = PINNED
These are the enemies agents are likely to face in Kormor Kirak. All NPCs follow the same D6 rules — they have proficiency thresholds, AR, and wound tracks just like player agents.
Everything you need to get four agents on the table and the city running. A meat vendor named Istori Keln was found dead at his stall in the Kereskedo Market at dawn. No witnesses. No obvious motive. The Red Guard wrote it off as a district dispute and moved on.
Your patron says it wasn't.
Three days ago, Keln told his neighbour he had found something beneath the market — a passage, recently cleared, leading somewhere he wouldn't describe. Yesterday he tried to reach Red Guard Captain Harrow with a word. Harrow never received it.
By sundown tonight, someone is going to kill Captain Harrow. Your errand: find who, stop it, and learn what is under the market.
The Clock. Captain Harrow keeps court at the market watch platform until sundown. The killer makes his move 6 rounds after the party enters the market — unless the party spoils the arrangement. GM counts from Round 1.
Set up a 3 × 3 table representing the Kereskedo Market. Three main areas:
Additional terrain: 8–10 pieces. Include the Red Guard Watch Platform (elevated, Area A south), at least 4 Heavy Cover pieces (stone barriers, iron gates, stacked goods), and the wine merchant's cellar door as an Impassable entry point to Area C.
The party arrives at the Kereskedo Market. Keln's stall is marked with a Red Guard seal.
A locked tin box is hidden under the counter. It contains Keln's notes — a rough grease-pencil sketch of a passage entrance behind the drainage grate in the south cellar.
Find the box: OBSERVE 4+. Open it quietly: CRAFT 4+. Read the sketch: automatic (no roll).
Bella has been standing at her cart for 20 years. She saw Keln arguing with a spice merchant named Vadim Solh two nights ago. Solh threatened him. Bella will share this freely if anyone asks — she's been waiting for someone to ask.
No roll required. She volunteers it.
Captain Harrow is here. He received no message from Keln. He is dismissive but not corrupt — he writes off the vendor's death as a market dispute. He does not know he is the mark. He will become a reluctant ally if the party warns him credibly (OBSERVE 4+ to read the room correctly before approaching; failure means he treats the warning as street superstition).
Rozito knows Solh works for someone above him. He won't say who. OBSERVE 4+ to read that he is scared — not angry, scared. He will not help further and will be gone if the party returns in the same session.
The drainage grate opens to a narrow stone passage, recently cleared. It was cleared from both ends — Keln cleared it from the market side. Someone else cleared it from the castle side.
Cannot be opened with available tools in this assignment. The Occultist's Veil Touch will confirm it is sealed with something significantly older than standard ward-work. This is a campaign hook.
MECH · NOT OPENABLE · ART. SEALED
Two Acolytes guard the staging area. Their orders are to protect the secret, not to fight a war — they will attempt to silence the party and flee if a third agent is still standing. They fight with NERVE 2+.
Place the Acolytes at the far end of the staging area, one on each side of the trellis framework. The trellis framework is Horror Threshold terrain. First time any agent sees it: NERVE 4+ or Pinned. Tell the players plainly: whatever made this is not a person.
Vadim Solh is the killer. He serves the Lich Cult. His charge: keep Captain Harrow from asking what lies below the market. Keln was killed because he found the passage. Harrow is next because he might follow.
Solh's plan: a concealed crossbow, a perch on the market's upper walkway above Area B, and a prepared rooftop way out. He acts on Round 6 (or when alerted by a loud shot, screams, or obvious fighting in the passage).
In all three outcomes: the passage exists. Someone cleared it from the castle side. The pendant points to the Lich Cult. And the violet light behind the locked iron door is still there, pulsing faintly, like something breathing. The passage leads toward Castle Torony Piros.
MECH · CAMPAIGN HOOK · CARRY FORWARD
Four ready-to-play agents for The First Shadows Affair.
| ALBION EMPIRE | Industrial, parliamentary, sent a peace delegation that may not want peace. |
| KINGDOM OF TERRASSIA | Ancient bloodlines, clockwork technology, fighting the same hundred-year war. |
| QUEEN KIRALINE'S COURT | Vampire ruler, absolute authority — Torony Piros is her body and she is its disease. |
| THE LICH CULT | Operating in catacombs and the city underground, wants the power the Queen monopolises. |
| THE RED GUARD | The Queen's crimson garrison — loyal to her absolutely, not to either empire. |
| THE GATEKEEPERS | Ancient supernatural enforcement, answerable to no one, bribable but never reliable. |
| THE OLD WORLD | Pre-human peoples living in the margins — they understand what the newcomers don't. |
| THE BASTION INN | Party home base. Violence prohibited inside. Eppy Flinder knows more than she says. |
| KERESKEDO MARKET | The city's commercial heart. Bella knows everything. Red Guard watches everything. |
| TERRA SOTTO | Underground market. Lich Cult stages here. No law. Things worse than criminals. |
| CASTLE TORONY PIROS | The Queen's keep. The Blood Gate. The Comet Chamber somewhere in the deep. |
| HALLASET FIELDS | Sky burial cemetery. Necromantically saturated. The Hallaset flowers smell wrong. |
| GILLIKOI WOODS | Secret meetings. Dangerous after dark. Ancient things in the deep trees. |
| ERDO POOLS | Healing hot springs. All weapons surrendered at the entrance by tradition. |
| KOSS'S CURIOSITIES | A clockwork shop and Terrassian message-house. Things not on the city plan in the back. |
Krone (silver, bears Kiraline's profile) — standard. Groats (copper) — everyday commerce. Gold Imperials — rare, command premiums, used by empires.
Bribery: minor official 5–10 Krone. Red Guard 100+ Krone. Audience with the Queen: 600+ gold.
It is approaching. THE QUEEN is building toward something in the castle's deepest level. The ward symbols on the doorframes of Kormor Kirak are starting to fail.
The party doesn't need to know what that means yet.
They will.
MECH · CAMPAIGN CLOCK · SEE ESCALATION TRACK
NPCs follow the same D6 rules as player agents. When in doubt: Good (2+) for their specialty, Ordinary (4+) for their calling, Bad (5+) for everything outside their competence. NERVE reflects institutional loyalty and battle hardening.
Each NPC unit acts once. Give them clear practical goals:
At Level 0–1, NPCs patrol fixed routes. At Level 2, they converge on the last known disturbance. At Level 3+, they seal exits and ring for reinforcements. Track Suspicion openly — let the party know when it rises.
The campaign runs on a five-phase timeline. Time is a resource.
| Phase | Visible Sign | GM Truth |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · QUIET | Normal city. Ward symbols intact. | The Comet Chamber is under construction. |
| 2 · TENSE | Ward symbols fading. Guards doubled. | 43 prisoners in the castle. Bone preparation underway. |
| 3 · ALERTED | Public arrests. Curfew declared. | Musicians coerced into the ceremony composition. Szeret imprisoned. |
| 4 · SEALED | Castle closed to visitors. Red Guard citywide. | The ritual framework is complete. The eclipse approaches. |
| 5 · THE CEREMONY | The comet is overhead. The city goes silent. | What comes through the door is not Queen Kiraline. |
Every week of party inactivity advances the phase. Specific player actions can delay it: preventing a public execution drops to Phase 1; fouling the Comet Chamber drops to Phase 2.