Classes

There are many paths to power a player can choose for their character: Aberrant, Herald, Mage, Master, Monk, Orison, Sorcerer, and Warrior. They are most easily grouped into two categories: spell casters and combatants.

Spell Casters

Spell casters wield powerful magic, which they use by casting spells. They come in several varieties, depending on where their magical abilities originate.

Herald of the Integrum

These spell casters obtain their magic from the, granting them power over one of the Grand Designs of The Apparatus. They are rare and special because the Integral gods do not bestow their power lightly.

A Herald can be granted power over one of the following domains:

• Herald of Autumn: Granted power over death, poison, disease, and decay.
• Herald of Day: Granted power over light, compassion, truth, and courage.
• Herald of Destiny: Granted very limited power over divination, space, and foresight.
• Herald of Night: Granted power over darkness, cruelty, deception, and fear.
• Herald of Pattern: Granted power over thoughts, language, sleep, and memory.
• Herald of Spring: Granted power over life, healing, and growth.
• Herald of Summer: Granted power over movement, fire, passion, and joy.
• Herald of Winter: Granted power over stasis, ice, apathy, and sorrow.

There once were Heralds of Form, but this type of Heraldry was lost during The Fall.

Fury Sorcerer

These spell casters do not get their power from any external source; they are just born with it. They are rare and special because only the incredibly rare genasi race are born with these magical powers.

They start with a single elemental mastery, but develop additional elemental masteries as they mature and grow into their power.

Master of the Hidden Form

These spell casters obtain their magic through studying unfathomable mysteries at the Hall of Questions. They are rare and special because very few can study these mysteries with their sanity intact.

They have the most versatile spell list of any spell casting class, but also are the only casters that must prepare which spells they will have available each day.

Orison of the Fey Courts

These spell casters obtain their magic by forming a pact with one of the Strange Vestiges of the Arcadian Fey Courts. They are rare and special because the Fey Courts do not form pacts lightly.

There are several paths to power as an orison:

Bright Court Orisons

Bright Courts are mysterious and dangerous but are far less gloomy and sinister than the Bleak Courts.

• Orison of the Twice-Sweet Court: These orisons have formed a pack with Vestiges known as the Candy King and the Cake Queen, by offering an unparalleled work of confectionary art. Their pact grants power over perception, speed, and amplification.
• Orison of the Upper Court of Yesterday: These orisons have formed a pact with Vestiges known as the Lotus King and the Concordant Queen by consuming copious amounts of mind-altering drugs and performing Strange alchemy in thick foggy weather. Their pact grants power over wind, mist, and memory.
• Orison of the Court of Repose: These orisons have formed a pact a Vestige known as Dodona, the Oak Queen, by consuming copious amounts of soporific drugs and cultivating Strange gardens deep in the wilderness. Her pact grants power over consciousness, bodily movement, and contentment.
• Orison of the White Clad Court: These orisons have formed a pact with a Vestige known as Tand Fi, the Giving Queen by executing a complex ritual of Strange gift-giving etiquette. Her pact grants power over kindness, aversion, and questing.
• Orison of the Weeping Court: These orisons have formed a pact with a Vestige known as the Thespian by offering truly poignant works of art that usually destroys the life of the artist. Their pact grants power over illusion, emotion, and obsession.
• Orison of the Fifth Court: These orisons have formed a pact with a Vestige known as The First by offering new compositions of music performed masterfully in specially timed rituals. Her pact grants power over sequences, time, and causality.
• Orison of the Burning Court: These orisons have formed a pact with a Vestige known as The Epiphany King by a Strange ritual of discovering a dangerous secret and ensuring it can never be revealed. His pact grants power over questions, secrets, and true names.

Bleak Court Orisons

• Orison of the Court of Half Tomorrows: These orisons have formed a pact with Vestiges known as Queen Morrigan and King Oberon by offering children (especially babies) of mortals with unusual qualities. Their pact grants power over diminishment, foresight, and hunting.
• Orison of the Lower Bone Court: These orisons have formed a pact with Vestiges known as the Porcelain Queen and the Crimson King by offering a large number of corpses prepared in Strange rituals. Their pact grants power over decay, the ground, and obscurity.
• Orison of the Court of Genuflection: These orisons have formed a pact with a Vestige known as The Lady of the Web by seizing power from someone and offering symbols of that power in a ritual involving rare spiders. Her pact grants power over spiders, fear, and obedience.
• Orison of the Gilded Court: These orisons have formed a pact with a Vestige known as Mammon, the King of Greed, by offering rare forms of wealth and precious items. His pact grants power over attraction, wealth, and collections.
• Orison of the Laughing Court: These orisons have formed a pact with a Vestige known as Iggwilv the Maeve by way of a Strange ritual involving elaborate pranks and an offering of birds. Her pact grants power over deception, shame, and birds.
• Orison of the Court of Three: These orisons have formed a pact with a triplet of Vestiges known as The Crones by way of cannibalistic rituals. Their pact grants power over travel, dreams, and weapons.
• Orison of the Bleeding Court: These orisons have formed a pact with a Vestige known as Spider Queen by a ritual that involves inflicting enormous amounts of pain and offering copious amounts of blood. Her pact grants power over pain, blood, and willpower.

Cypher of the Order of Dreams

These spell casters are monks who obtain their magic through extreme rituals of sensory deprivation and mental torment that drive most insane. They are an offshoot of the orders of monastic masters (see below). They are rare and special because very few survive the initiation rituals.

Their magic gives them power over dreams, thoughts, and memories. They are often feared for their power to control people's beliefs, desires, and actions.

Shadow Mage

These spell casters are masters of illusion and learn their magic by studying from demonic tutors. They are rare and special because very few people have access to a demon that aren't in its thrall. They usually have to practice their arts in secret, because the source of their magic is so controversial.

Their magic grants power over entirely false illusions but can also conjure semi-real shadow illusions.

Combatants

Combatants are dangerous in battle because of their personal strength, skill, or physical traits. They come in several varieties, depending on where their combat abilities originate.

Aberrant

Aberrants are people who have been physically mutated by some form of magic, usually Fury or Strange magic. They are rare and special because very few people exposed to these forms of magic to a degree that would manifest power survive the corruption.

They gain access a large variety of mutations that enhance their combat ability and other adventuring skills.

• Astral Adept: Aberrants who have been mutated by exposure to the Fury energy found in broken pieces of The Apparatus, especially stars (hence the name). Their mutations grant power over elements, such as fire, earth, water, or wind.
• Eldritch Horror: Aberrants who have been mutated by exposure to the flesh-twisting corruption of the Obyrith Masters. Their mutations grant eldritch traits, such as tentacles, extra eyes, or terrible claws.

Warrior

Combat masters have developed such a keen understanding of their bodies and the tools of war that their abilities border on the supernatural. They often fill the role of battlefield tanks, front-line damage dealers, ranged archers, or stealthy assassins. They are rare and special because very few people are born with the gift to attain mastery as well as the opportunity to train their ability to its full potential.

They gain access to a wide variety of combat abilities that let them build a customized fighting style.

Monk

Monastic masters are members of organizations who discover power through imposing extreme restrictions on their behavior. There are four orders of monks. Three are listed below, while one The Order of Dreams found above in the spellcaster section. They are rare and special because very few people can survive the initiation process.

• Ascetic of the Order of One: The original order of monastic masters, Ascetics are able to gain tremendous power over their bodies and their immediate environments through harsh abnegation of basic necessities. They are deadly hand-to-hand fighters and are incredibly resilient to harm.
• Ardent of the Quanfei Order: Monastic masters of Tonwei Unchained discovered that they could incorporate powerful elemental energies into their mastery through harsh dedication to the elements, such as burning themselves, freezing themselves, or burying themselves in earth. They combine deadly martial arts with elemental magic.
• Sybarite of the Order of Many: A group of monastic masters discovered that they could gain power through obsessive indulgence instead of asceticism. Through compulsive indulgence in urges like gluttony, lust, and pride, they are able to manifest great power in physical combat and mental fortitude.

Playable Classes by Race

Due to the cosmological origins of each player race and each class, not all classes can be played by every race. Table 1, below, provides a summary of what classes are available to each player race.

Table 1. Classes by Race Origin

Class	Mortal	Arcadian	Genasi
Aberrant (Astral)	✔	×	×
Aberrant (Eldritch)	✔	✔	×
Herald	✔	×	×
Mage	✔	✔	✔
Master	✔	×	×
Monk	✔	×	×
Orison	✔	✔	×
Sorcerer	×	×	✔
Warrior	✔	✔	✔