Kaladora

To talk about the beetles of Lyx is to talk about connections. If you can find one common thing among them, it is that they are people ever-entangled with others.
Most know this by way of their reputation as traders. Any given market of enough size will inevitably find some of them populating a stall or two, peddling whatever wares they’ve gathered in their travels. There are no set prices for their goods; there is only barter.
The majority of goods otherwise precious to the people of Lyx are of little to no interest to them. Weapons, steel, fabrics, even food and water will only tip the scales if they need them to make their way in the world. A Kaladora only has eyes for two things of true value: slightly-wanted gemstones and ever-desired gold. Put gold on the table, and you’ll have whatever goods they have to offer at prices far, far cheaper than you would elsewhere in the market, as much as you could name.
You’ll see that same gold traced on their bodies and horns, whorls and dots and lines carved into their shells and filled with the metal. Were they ever dressed in something other than practical, simple clothes, it would be garish and grandiose. Here, it is something other.
To understand that something other, to understand those marks, you need to understand the Path of Gold. You need to understand the other connections that the Kaladora hold. You need to understand their families. You need to understand the places from which they come.

Communities

Kaladoran settlements are organic things, squat blocky buildings of sun-hardened mud brick assembled by steady necessity, each brick symbolically laid by a passerby. The people that populate these towns are sparse and ever-changing; even here they do not linger for long. That is, with few exceptions.
The first are those who keep the vaults of the town safe, the stores of gold and jewels given to the care of the settlement.
The second and most well-known of these are those beetles that linger to watch over the nurseries, fields of gently-tended soil that hold the eggs and grubs that are left behind by the many souls passing through.
You see, family to a Kaladora has never been a thing of blood. A family is a thing of purpose, a thing of bonds and circumstance. Family is a thing chosen, and family is a thing earned.
This is where the third lingering kind of Kaladora comes in. In every settlement lingers at least one carver-smith, one of the souls responsible for extending the Path of Gold.

Families and the Path of Gold

When a Kaladora finds a true family, they’ll seek out one of these carver-smiths. The craftsperson will come up with a pattern for the bond, a unique thread of marks and signs to signify it. Then, with practiced care, they’ll carve it into every soul present, filling the channels thereafter with some amount of the titular precious metal. This glittering channel is known as the Path of Gold, and each family bonded in it is a Step upon it.
These marks are more than decoration. From the moment they are set, the people so-marked in the Step can speak to each other in a kind of loose telepathy. Their paths are inextricably crossed, and so is something more and deeper. The members of a family can speak to all the others they have before, so long as the others still live and their Paths are still intact and whole. Through this, in islands of bonds, the whole of the Kaladora are ultimately connected.
The markings on any given Kaladora speak to their experiences, at a glance. Some have gold that has lingered for an age, a steady history and a steady life. Some have lines traced and retraced again, a sign of regular gatherings and a renewing of vows. Some carry a wild variation of colors and textures, an unspoken truth that they’ve been everywhere.
A Kaladora child grows up unmarked, carrying a shell slowly taking on the shimmer of the gemstones crushed to powder the part of the grub-field from which they rose. With their final molt, before the shell sets, they’ll have a solid gem worked into their shell, traditionally (but not necessarily) the start and end of one’s Path. Quite often a young beetle’s first Path is with those they grew up with, bonded as soon as their final shell sets enough to do so.
These young souls are now ready to leave the settlement they grew up in, and will likely do so with the first eager traveller to take them on. It is always a privilege to help another Kaladora out into the world.

The Continuation of the Path

The Path is never, necessarily, a continuous thing. Some parts, some ages, some areas may be not filled in, skipped over, a sign of a lonely period in a Kaladora’s life. Some may grow silent, with the wear of distance and time and life.
Terrible damage, injury, or scarring may even cause the dreaded Broken Path, which proves to silence a Kaladora’s connection to the others they’ve gathered through their life. It’s a sudden, horrible event that erupts as a spike of pain and shock to all those connected, knowing suddenly there’s part of their world they’ll likely never be sure of again.
This is the same reason the beetles make a terrible target for greedy travellers. You would think the precious metals they carry would make them tempting targets, but only the naive would dare. To kill a Kaladora or to pry away their Path of Gold is to come to the attention of all who were connected to that single soul. All those people will know where you are, and likely know your voice, your face. All the people they’re connected to will know, from there. And from there, and from there, ad nauseum. There will be eyes on you at the next market, at the next town, in a chance encounter on the road. Eventually, you’ll have to sleep somewhere they know about.
Gods help you from there if you leave that original Kaladora alive, too. You’ve torn them away from that connection in a way they’ll never know again.
As goes an old Kaladora legend: “The gold was long gone by the time they found the thieves. Their bones would have to do.”

The End of the Path

The worst way for a Path to end is for it to be severed, cut away in an act of deliberate or incidental violence. Even if carved again, such souls will never hear the voices of bonded family from that point on.
Sometimes, the end of a Path may be a functional thing, a voice that reaches out to family that reacts with silence in a functional shunning. If the disconnection is strong enough, sometimes the others will meet up, sever the old bond, and have another painted in the same channels minus the wronged party.
The rarest end is in the shape of a banishment, an extreme punishment where a community or smith will mark someone in a way that silences their path or warns others against their Path. This has led to a saying that treads the same symbolic lines, in that selfishness is sometimes known as “being bonded only to yourself.”
The most common end, though, is death.

Death and the Kaladora

A Broken Path is a tether that snaps with a terrible echo, followed by the heaviest silence. A path Broken by death gives some brief impression of the connected soul’s final moments of senses, and approximately where they fell.
What to do with the fallen is a matter as varied as the Steps and Paths themselves. These are some witnessed in the world, though far from exhaustive:
Some more pragmatic Kaladora will seek out their fallen family, melting the gold of their Step for later use. Some will give it to another community, to keep travelling the world. Others will use it to trace the same lines bonded long ago, to keep that family ever with them.
Some communities keep tombs, deep within their vaults. The bodies of the dead are left here to tread their stories time and again in peace, their Paths eventually standing as fragile latticeworks over the space which once held the soul they were traced upon.
There is rumor of a travelling scholar, stripping the Paths from fallen Kaladora to line the pages of thus-illuminated manuscripts, lovingly kept in a library of autobiographies unlike any other.
There is another legend, too, of death. It is said that no matter how greedy the thief or unkind or obscure the death, some smallest fleck of every Path of Gold settles back into the familiar dirt it once knew as a grub. Somewhere deep, deep in the core of the world, they gather. It is said that one day a great golden golem of known lives, All Paths Ever Walked, will burrow its way to the surface of the world. There, it will wait and tally every story woven into its shape: all that ended in peace, all that ended in sorrow, all that ended in joy, all that ended in pain. Thus it will judge the world and decide its ultimate fate.

The Path and Others

The Path of Gold is not exclusive to the Kaladora, though they are naturally suitable for it given their easy access to carver-smiths, thick shells, and general cultural understanding.
Given the huge range of travel that the average beetle finds themselves doing, they frequently wind up bonded with the other peoples of Lyx. A carver-smith will see no reason not to connect these souls in the same way, though it may prove difficult, painful, and the careful oversight of a doctor in the case of those with only flesh and fur. A Path will take just as well to any mechanical limbs or parts as it would flesh (in fact, sometimes even better given the conductivity of gold), and it has been more than once that a Step has wound up with a member more through an Activated Machine or Conveyance marked in such a matter. Potential roles: Regular ol’ Kaladora Someone seeking revenge (your path was severed, or your step was severed) Someone banished A smith / guard / caretaker? Someone born outside of a community, pathless
Potential mechanics to be figured out later: The path itself Probably a soft narrative thing. Someone you’re connected to gives you some relevant knowledge/information/warning or you bump into a friend of a friend etc The Breaking of the Path When you would die, choose: You die. Your Steps will know how you fell and the last things you felt and saw. You lose this and all other Path-related abilities, and can never get them again. Your Steps will know the shock of your severance and a vague impression of where you are, but nothing detailed.
Here begin proper mechanicsybits —-----------------------------------------------
The Path of Gold (INDEPENDENT of the Kaladora, since anyone can take this): A new Step: You can add to or begin a path with a new Step by spending (2? 3?) xp. You gain the following benefits: “Contact” as the long-term advancement, (albeit with a small group of people?) Maybe this is just a discount to contacts? You and the people in your Steps can wordlessly communicate with each other. In short range, this allows wordless, soundless communication among yourselves. 1/rest, you can reach anywhere in the world and hear back (slower than instant, probably) Can’t communicate in words, only abstracts. Images, emotions, colors, directions, etc. Steps develop codes for these. “Red means danger” etc Justification for spending XP to acclimate to nearly any skill (someone in your Step shares the knowledge) ???: Your steps will answer when you call them, and you are expected to do the same. GM intrusions related to the well-being of people in your Steps are free, though you can still spend 1 XP to refuse them. Refusing or denial (or something else) means the GM can outright imperil a connection with danger or ostracization. If you don’t come through or refuse again, you lose the contact/communication (cutting off any secondhand Steps). If they survive, you permanently have an inability in communicating with them after that. The Last Fork in the Path (this is why things need to be mostly negative or soft, above) When you would die, choose: You die. Your Steps will know how you fell and the last things you felt and saw. They will be called to action. (Hey look it’s a link for a potential new character wow) You lose this and all other Path-related abilities, and can never get them again. Your Steps will know the shock of your severance and a vague impression of where you are, but nothing detailed. Lasting inability in social roles related to connecting to people. You’ll never know family as deep and close like that again, and if this didn’t last, how could they?
Base/regular Kaladora: Thick-shelled: +1 armor Better friends than enemies: trained in positive, equitable social interactions/ avoiding negative ones Inability in situations where someone becomes the aggressor on you/realizing that They Aren’t Going To Be Peaceful/Equitable About This? An eye for value: Trained in determining the relative worth of things Worth more than its weight: inability in matters of barter, haggling, purchases, transactions where the other party is paying in gold ???: Heavy inabilities in any place that hasn’t seen you any significant experience or gain for a while (encouragement to Keep Moving) A well-trod Path: You start with a path of gold with two steps Give some options for steps “The people you grew up with”
“Goldseeker” Basically your standard merchant-sort of Kaladora? As a base Kaladora, but: (Something with leads and rumors? Need to know where to go next) (Something with resourcefulness, you’re making due with minimal supplies and are good at improvising)
“Walker of an Empty Path” Someone ended your Path. Maybe they pried the gold from you, maybe they destroyed or imprisoned or otherwise denied your Steps. You’re left with a void, and you know the people responsible for that. As a base Kaladora, but: Lose: Better friends than enemies Worth more than its weight ??? (from base, the idleness thing) A well-trod path Gain: The Empty Path: Someone or something severed you from the closest people in your life. Their faces and presences linger in your thoughts. You cannot ever gain the Path of Gold again. Lasting inability in social roles related to connecting to people. You’ll never know family as deep and close like that again, and you couldn’t stand another loss of that caliber. A certain distinct person or group has wronged you. Name them. Every other intrusion the GM makes from this group is free, and you may not refuse it with XP. You are trained in recalling, tracking, or discovering information about this group. XP discount to introduce knowledge or weaknesses about this group? Some kind of penalty on lingering a place that they haven’t been. You need to keep chasing them (like the base ??? but different) A Latticework of Scars: The carvings on your shell are now more old wounds than lingering history. You are trained in actions related to intimidation or getting others to leave you alone. (Something related to forcing a final confrontation, and if you win things fundamentally change? Maybe circumstantial, but a thought.)
Carver-smith: You’re one of the skilled and respected artisans responsible for creating the Path of Gold for the people of the world. Most carver-smiths are stationary (or at least less mobile than a lot of Kaladora), so you probably have some particular reason for being out and about. As base Kaladora, but: Lose: Worth more than its weight ??? (from base, the idleness thing) Gain: Pathmaker: You know the art of creating a Path of Gold. People will seek you for this purpose. You can add to or start a Path for others (BUT NOT YOURSELF). You can always find lodging and sustenance in a Kaladora community, which will in turn want your services. People will do things in return for your effort. (If you help another PC establish a Step, you get one of the XP they spend?) Craftsgild: You were trained by a grandmaster, who you have as a contact. You are expected to assist them when they need you. Optionally, you have an apprentice you once trained. They are also a contact, but you are expected to assist them when they need you. I know where you came from: Some kind of social bonus for reading people/surprising them with guesses about their history or what motivates them? (You’re basically as savvy as a bartender who’s heard a billion stories coming through) Trained in matters of precious metallurgy & jewelrymaking & tattoos/carving Idle hands: “your work is your purpose”, some kind of restlessness-penalty?

Vault-watcher: The Kaladora that are specifically responsible for the care and protection of their communities. Also tend to be less mobile than most, even the carver-smiths.
A vault-watcher is a Kaladora that specifically chooses to avoid the Path, as their realm of service is to locations and communities rather than specific individuals. Instead, their shells are studded by the carver-smiths with some of the gemstones kept by the communities, as a precious sort of medals of honor. As a base Kaladora, but: Lose: Better friends than enemies Worth more than its weight ??? (from base, the idleness thing) A well-trod path Gain: The Path of Brick: You have been voluntarily, ritually marked. You may never gain The Path of Gold or its associated benefits. You can always find lodging and sustenance in a Kaladora community, which will in turn want your services. Bonus on interactions with those who recognize and respect or fear your “medals of honor” You are trained in matters of construction, maintaining buildings, and the working of clay. Jewelshell: Ritual, careful diet, and martial practice have turned your body itself into a weapon. When you make an unarmed attack (such as by using your fists or horn), you can choose whether it is considered a medium weapon or a light weapon. Enabler. You Go Through Me: While you are impaired on the damage track, you function as if you were hale. While you are debilitated, you function as if you were impaired. In other words, you don’t suffer the effects of being impaired until you become debilitated, and you never suffer the effects of being debilitated. You still die if all your stat Pools are 0. Second wind: You halve the time it takes to make a recovery roll (minimum one action). ???: You are a glittering, mighty, unsubtle presence. Inability in matters of stealth, going unnoticed, or otherwise not being the center of attention. You grew up living and thriving in silent company. The world outside moves quicker and is more involved than the slow days that you're used to. Inabilities in initiative (and some flavor of general social interaction?)
??? This is actually a path for any NON-Kaladora. It’s for those who were adopted, rescued, bonded with, or otherwise just wound up with travelling beetles and kept with them as family for a while. As your base sort of people, but add: A well-trod Path One of your Steps is the merchants you travelled with ??? (the idleness thing) An eye for value