Chapter Text
Appendix
Reference:
Character Sheet: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Charisma, Instinct
Font of Intellect: Revacholiére, Torque Dork, Mundanity, Recollection, Kimball, Cunning
Lieutenant: High Standards, Interrogation, Competitive Streak, Kinship, Detective, Raison D’Être
You: Mort du Coeur, Tenderheart, Joie de Vivre, Gravity, Independence, Volta Do Mar
CHARACTER SHEET
level 43 paladin
STRENGTH
C OOL FOR: LUNKHEADS. JAR-OPENERS. GRAVITY-HATERS.
Strength encourages you to throw your weight around. Not every door can be opened by your dulcet tones. Sometimes, doors can only be reasoned with by using yourself as a human projectile. That’s not even getting into the wonders of lifting things!
At high levels, no flimsy container or fistfight will present an obstacle – and you’ll be able to appreciate and analyze that quality in others. At low levels, you’ll need to find alternate solutions to your brawn-based woes … and you might get picked on in the Precinct 57 schoolyard.
DEXTERITY
COOL FOR: ACROBATS. LOCKPICKERS. FIDDLERS.
Dexterity emphasizes a control over your hands and body. Your work requires a certain finesse (if you want to maintain your dignity, that is). Pivot that crowbar, maintain your balance, and see how many small spaces you can shove your fingers into!
At high levels, you have the skill-set of the world’s finest cat burglar (and you look damn fine while doing it). However, at lower levels, you’ll be prone to a variety of comedy-based situations wherein you fall on the ground and can no longer find your glasses.
CONSTITUTION
COOL FOR: CONCUSSION-HAVERS. HUMAN PEOPLE. FUSSY EATERS.
Constitution reflects your physical health. If this were a tabletop game, your health could be divided into neat, easy ‘hit points’. Depending on where you hit, most people have only one ‘hit point’ before they keel over. Try not to die!
At high levels, you’ll be able to work through the pain (of a possible concussion you may or may not have suffered in Martinaise) without passing out, throwing up, or displaying weakness. At low levels, rest in peace.
WISDOM
COOL FOR: KNOW-IT-ALLS. MATHEMAGICIANS. STRATEGISTS.
Wisdom raises your ‘connect-the-dots’ meter, your ability to draw conclusions from two seemingly unrelated facts. You can also draw on your past experiences to make inferences about the future, as well as strategize and prioritize your assets.
At high levels, you’ll be an insufferable pedant who really needs to curb his nuggets of wisdom … but they may take your words to heart. At low levels, you’ll be a bumbling detective who can’t find the murderer looking him in the face.
CHARISMA
COOL FOR: COOL KIDS. CASANOVAS. DISCO ENTHUSIASTS.
Charisma allows you to navigate the social world with ease and maintain your facade of being calm, cool, and collected. You’ll find that people will treat you better and be more willing to cooperate with the investigation if they happen to like you – just don’t be a dick, okay?
At high levels, you’ll be nigh-on untouchable and your rays of coolness might scorch passersby. However, at lower levels, you’ll find that people will not only dislike you, but may actively work against you and your investigation.
INSTINCT
COOL FOR: SURVIVALISTS. SOLDIERS. SHARPSHOOTERS.
Instinct has a high investment in keeping you alive. Your muscle memory, your desire for survival, your primal fear of snakelike objects – all of this to keep this electrical meat sack moving around for just a little longer.
At higher levels, you’ll be a paranoid wreck, ready to fight or flee at the slightest provocation (but, you’ll live). At lower levels, you’ll walk carelessly into danger without the hairs on your neck ever rising (and, you’ll die).
FONTS OF INTELLECT
not your encyclopedia
REVACHOLIÉRE
COOL FOR: REVACHOLIANS. MIDDLE-AGED GUYS. HISTORIANS.
Revacholiére contains the sum total of all you know about Revachol – and your juicy opinions about the Revolution, the participants, and the current state of the city. You’ll be able to tap into this knowledge, whether to persuade other Revacholians to join your cause or prove to certain close-minded individuals that anyone can be born here.
At higher levels, you’ll stop being able to see the faults in your great love – or the ways it hurts you. At lower levels, you’ll become jaded, bitter, and looking for the next aerostatic flight to Sur-de-Clef.
TORQUE DORK
COOL FOR: SPEEDFREAKS, TORQUEHEADS, FLYBOYS.
Torque Dork is your knowledge of the mechanical variety: namely, motorcarriages and aerostatics. Everything from the rules of the road to the schematics of that one aerostatic which was instrumental in winning that one battle in ‘09.
At higher levels, you’ll be disinclined to focus on the investigation in favor of your (less depressing) hobbies. At lower levels, you and Lieutenant Du Bois will have to walk.
MUNDANITY
COOL FOR: ADULTS. PESSIMISTS. TAXPAYERS.
How much does a bus ticket cost? 1 reál 50. Do you know how to cook a potato? Yup. The concept of rain? 100%. You would never have thought it would be an asset until you met a man who did not know any of these things, and now you realize how valuable it really is.
At higher levels, you’ll take a hit to your emotional well-being upon encountering anything that doesn’t square with your perception of reality. At lower levels … well, Harry seems to be getting by okay.
RECOLLECTION
COOL FOR: PEOPLE WHO PEAKED IN HIGH SCHOOL. OLD GUYS. SCRAPBOOKERS.
Recollection gives you decades of memories at your disposal: the hell of the ‘10s, the gray slog of the ‘20s, the roaring disco party of the ‘30s … and so on. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It might give you some advantage on a professional level, and as for your personal … what are you, if not your past?
At higher levels, you’ll be a hopeless nostalgia addict unable to move on from the horrors of your past. At lower levels, again, Harry seems to be doing fine, so maybe there’s something to it.
KIMBALL
COOL FOR: DORKS. DELINQUENTS. OVERWORKED LIEUTENANTS.
Nine months is a long time. People make children in nine months. You made yourself into a pinball expert. This is another font for you to tap into, as much as you try to forget it: common techniques (and their variations), common machines, and various tournaments in the area. It might come in handy one day. Either way, you’ll be remembering it forever.
At higher levels, you’ll never shirk off your Kimball moniker. However, at lower levels, you might be granted a singular day of peace – one where you don’t think of pinball, at all, in any form.
CUNNING
COOL FOR: NAUGHTY BOYS. UNDERCOVER AGENTS. THE DESPERATE.
Cunning allows you to access the tips and tricks you’ve gathered over two decades of being put into dangerous situations with nobody coming to save you. Methods of de-escalation, convoluted decision-making, and outright lying are all routes … just not ones officially endorsed by the RCM.
At higher levels, you’ll break protocol completely and fly by the seat of your pants through situations. At lower levels, you might find yourself facing a metaphorical/literal brick wall in your investigation.
LIEUTENANT
precinct 57 – GRIH
HIGH STANDARDS
COOL FOR: PERFECTIONISTS. GOOD BOYS. FILING CABINETS.
High Standards grants you the level of professionalism you wish everyone else could be: no stone left unturned, no form left unfilled, no eyebrow left lowered. If every RCM officer was just like you, you might have a fighting shot in Le Retour. As it is … probably not.
At high levels, you’ll be a golden boy who is never tempted by corruption or vice – though you may find yourself so insufferable as to push away everyone else. At low levels, you’ll become what you fear most – a lazy crooked cop.
INTERROGATION
COOL FOR: EMPATHS. JOURNALISTS. MANIPULATORS.
Interrogation not only lets you ask the right questions, but acquire the right feelings. Let’s get down to the heart of the matter and really pick apart people’s emotions … and recognizing your own emotions is a strength in all its own.
At higher levels, you’ll be treating every interaction like a formal police interrogation – and you might not have anyone by the end of it. However, at lower levels, you’ll find that you’re hitting brick wall after brick wall. Might want to pass this one to Du Bois.
COMPETITIVE STREAK
COOL FOR: THE INSECURE, IMPOSTORS, SCHOOLBOYS.
Competitive Streak activates your need to succeed – maybe you’re wildly insecure about your own abilities, maybe you’re so secure that you think everyone else is shit. Either way, this allows you to push yourself just a little bit more in order to edge someone else out. Completely healthy.
At higher levels, you’ll be a little try-hard who ends up pushing his friends away … but you’ll win that game of marbles. At lower levels, you’ll just stand by while your illustrious coworkers shamelessly try to cut you down … but things will look nice from that moral high ground.
KINSHIP
COOL FOR: BEST FRIENDS. PARTNERS. PALS.
Kinship enables you to bond with your fellow man – you too, lieutenant, can have friends! Not only can you understand where they’re coming from, but you’ll be better equipped to defend them against words or bullets.
At higher levels, not only will you have friends, but those friends will be able to trust and rely on you when things get tough. At lower levels, you’ll mostly be working solo – and relying on only yourself.
DETECTIVE
COOL FOR: DETECTIVES. NOTE-TAKERS. INVESTIGATORS.
Detective consists of the core skill set of your profession: how well you investigate and, most importantly, notate your crime investigations. It isn’t all shoot-outs and stake-outs – sometimes you just have to buckle down and use your trusty pen to draw conclusions. Just easier to think that way.
At higher levels, you’ll be able to reliably record relevant, useful evidence to help you with your case. At lower levels, you wouldn’t be able to find the murder weapon (or suspect) even if it was staring you in your face.
RAISON D’ETRE
COOL FOR: SAINTS. MARTYRS. INNOCENCES.
Raison D’Être asks you the big question: why are you here? You, Lieutenant Kitsuragi, know why you’re here – it just depends on how strongly it motivates you. Make decisions to help people, serve justice, and make the world a little better for having you in it.
At higher levels, you’ll be the hero of legend (saving cats from trees, helping old women cross the street, finding child murderers) no matter the cost. At lower levels, you’ll grow disillusioned with the whole process and how much impact you can really have.
YOU
Hm.
TENDERHEARTED
COOL FOR: POETS. BLEEDING HEARTS. SAPS.
Tenderhearted wants you to be soft. To yearn. To write delicate poetry on your lover’s eyelids. You are a touch-starved man, lieutenant, and Tenderhearted advocates we fill that void by any means possible – even if it means casually brushing fingers with a stranger at the grocer’s. However, as the old urban legend goes, if you love too much, you’ll go blind.
At higher levels, you’ll be able to tap into your sensitive soul and really feel the world around you. At lower levels, you’ll find yourself putting all those childish emotions aside, thank you very much, there are things to do.
JOIE DE VIVRE
COOL FOR: SKYDIVERS. OPTIMISTS. NAUGHTY BOYS.
Why does everything have to be so negative all the time? Joie De Vivre encourages you to take it easy, man. Look at the brighter side of life! Have a little fun every once in a while, do something impulsive, really let your hair down! Let’s lower our inhibitions. Together.
At higher levels, you find you’ll be experiencing l’appel du vide – unable to say no to even patently terrible ideas, all the in the name of St. Fuck It. At lower levels, you’ll be unable to take any risks… and, for that matter, be able to unclench your ass.
GRAVITY
COOL FOR: UNDERTAKERS. THE EMOTIONALLY UNAVAILABLE . DISTANT FATHERS.
Gravity gives you the most important tool for the job: stern detachment. There’s no need to allow your emotions to rise to your face – only poets and lovers regret not being hasty in their words. Gravity lets you take a second, collect yourself, and speak only in the calm, collected tones of someone who’s seen and done everything.
At higher levels, you’ll be able to deliver the most devastating of news and attend the most devastating of scenes with calm ease. At lower levels … you’re going to be crying.
INDEPENDENCE
COOL FOR: ONLY CHILDREN. PRIVATE PEOPLE. INTROVERTS.
Independence is more than your natural proclivity for isolation: it’s your ability to successfully accomplish tasks alone if your partner is, for example, a prime suspect in a murder investigation. Multi-tasking, heavy lifting, and general running around – the world can be put upon your narrow shoulders if you just let it.
At high levels, you won’t even need Harry – let yourself free to solve the case and arrest the perpetrator. At lower levels, you’ll find yourself relying on others more than you would like (to varying success).
MORT DU COEUR
COOL FOR: THE TRAUMATIZED. THE STRESSED. THE DISORDERED.
You think you’re so smart, don’t you, lieutenant? Mort du Coeur shows you the truth of who you are – the coward, the pedant, the villain. Every mistake you’ve ever made or ever will make, every flaw of your heart and mind. An RCM psychiatrist once diagnosed you with Trauma and Stressor Disorder, but what do they know? Only you know you, right?
At high levels, you’ll trust nobody and jump at every shadow, certain that the world is closing in around you. At lower levels, you might have a singular positive, unrebutted thought about yourself.
VOLTA DO MAR
COOL FOR: INTER-ISOLARY NAVIGATORS. SENSIBLE PEOPLE. YOU.
Volta Do Mar was a technique first used by navigators to keep from losing their minds as they traveled through the Pale. It still has its modern uses: mostly as a meditation and calming technique. You utilize Volta Do Mar to keep yourself in careful orbit around the life you know: in short, to keep yourself sensible.
At high levels, you’ll have slayed the ultimate dragon: killing your imagination. No fanciful ideas or risk-taking for you, my friend. At lower levels, you’ll lose your sense of self entirely – and doesn’t that sound just like someone you know?