Arbiters - Player Characters

A strange side effect of an even stranger phenomenon, there are many born into Requerm or thrust into it from the The Effects of the Dawn that find suspicious marks on their bodies. These marks are creatively referred to as "The Mark," and it takes on many different forms, coming in all shapes, sizes, colors, and locations on the body, with no discernable pattern other than a radiant aura with a special quality that can be detected and differentiated with magic. Those that bear this strange mark are known most often as Arbiters, although other names are used as well, including "The Marked," "Vessels," "Heroes," "Champions," etc.

Those bearing The Mark often find themselves in the midst of conflict, using it one way or another to find success in Requerm. Many at the top of their respective fields are Arbiters due to their skill and their uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time, leading many to revere them as symbols of the divine and many others to despise them as nothing more than lucky crooks. One thing most people can agree on is that there is some mystical power at work, manipulating arbiters into achieving their destinies, whatever those may be. Some arbiters embrace these ideas, choosing to have faith in their marks to lead them down the right path, while others are bitter about the idea of being controlled by a higher power. Many others believe this to be coincidence, that Arbiters have been elevated too highly for too long by society, so of course they're more likely to succeed when they have access to the most resources and support. There is no tangible pattern to go off of, so many different beliefs and faiths have spread to fill in the logical gaps. All in all, Arbiters almost always are forced into a life in the spotlight or a life in the shadows, with little room for nuance, as those that are publicly arbiters always have eyes on them, leaving many arbiters to instead choose a more secretive life, revealing to only those that they trust that they bear The Mark.

All player characters are Arbiters. Mechanically speaking, The Mark represents a character that can be mythic. This is not the only requirement, however. All mythic characters are arbiters, but not all arbiters are mythic. In order to ascend, an arbiter must complete an arbitrary objective, typically unknown to them until the moment of ascension. Except in specific cases, an arbiter is unable to convey their mythic status to others, as to the common eye, there is no notable distinction between a regular arbiter and a mythic one. There is no in-game knowledge of the "mythic" subtype, or anything relating to mythic adventures. Mythic characters are simply arbiters that have achieved great things, granting them all sorts of other descriptors depending on what they have accomplished. Effects that affect mythic creatures still function in the same manner, but a character has no way of knowing if another character is mythic except by guessing. Generally speaking, the more powerful or talented a character is, the more likely they are to be mythic.

There is another mechanic behind Arbiters that, in character, has baffled scholars for as long as Arbiters have been around. Arbiters have a strange tendency to randomly teleport to where they need to be, when they need to be there. There is no rhyme or reason to when and where these teleportations occur, only that they only happen to Arbiters, and are seemingly out of the Arbiters' control. A belief has cropped up amongst many circles that it is the gods themselves that are teleporting Arbiters to where they need to be, which is really the only explanation since deities and their plans are so unknowable and incomprehensible to the typical mortal mind. Due to this speculation, this phenomenon has been aptly named "The Arbiter's Call." Out of character, however, there is a much simpler explanation. In order to maintain a believable flow to the campaign, player characters are only questing while the player that controls them is at the session. Players will generally have a good idea as to what quest they intend to do before the session even begins, so if the player ever leaves for whatever reason, their character will randomly teleport safely back to Krakonia City until the player returns, at which point they will randomly teleport back to the rest of the party. If the party has split up, the GM will roll randomly to see which part of the party the returning player teleports to. If multiple player characters are temporarily allowed due to party size, these PCs will come and go as per the Arbiter's Call as well (See "Multiple Characters" in Character Creation/Advancement). There may be other scenarios where the Arbiter's Call may occur depending on which quests are simultaneously occurring on the same in-game day, but I do not anticipate this happening, at least not anytime soon. The sheer scope of the campaign demands that this Arbiter's Call mechanic be flexible enough to adhere to any significant shifts down the line in terms of scheduling. One thing I can say for certain is that players themselves have no control over the Arbiter's Call. For example, they can't simply teleport back to Krakonia City to level up or purchase gear, then teleport back to the party on a whim. Players can, however, use the fact that they teleported home temporarily for roleplay purposes. If a player doesn't show up to session, then shows up the next session, they can say their character did some roleplay in the city (i.e. the party uncovers a conspiracy, then one of the PCs happens to teleport home. That PC very well could have warned an NPC in the city that there's a conspiracy). Depending on how long the PC was in the city in-game, it can be reasonably said that they had time to purchase/craft gear, but they will still not level up regardless of how much rest they received until the entire party officially comes home to Krakonia City. This goes without saying but please don't skip session just so your character can do stuff in town. Abuse of this system will result in the removal of this system.

It is up to players to choose the descriptions of their marks. There are, however, exceptions to this rule: Players with multiple characters must have the same shape and color marks between all their characters, and players are not allowed to share shapes and colors. For example, if one player chooses to have a small red mark in the shape of a lightning bolt on their character's forehead, and then later makes a second character, that second character must also have a red lightning bolt mark of any size located anywhere on the body. In addition, another player cannot then have any mark that is red, nor in the shape of a lightning bolt, on any of their characters. These symbols represent the players themselves, and will be used in various notes for organization purposes, as well as in-game roleplay concerning attempts to discover a pattern between arbiters.

Currently, these are the colors and shapes for each player character:

The Black Kraken - This mark represents the GM's "characters", aka the more notable NPCs of the world. It is estimated that roughly 1 in 100 individuals bear this mark, making it by far the most common mark known to those in Requerm.

The Navy Blue Scar - This mark represents the Tempered Great Beasts that have survived long enough to develop additional strengths compared to other members of their species. Unlike the other marks on this list, this particular mark may or may not be an actual Arbiter's Mark in the traditional sense, since it only ever appears on Great Beasts that have already proven their worth, rather than appearing the moment the holder of the mark appears in Requerm before having accomplished anything.

The Pearl White Heart - This mark represents Heemoshnaba's characters. These characters currently include Nyveria R'vara , Nadé R'vara , and Ko R'vara .

The Rust Red Starburst - This mark represents Lord Falkenrath's characters. These characters currently include Obsidian Flint , Sister Lucia , Khaldun , and Drewan .

The Royal Purple Walrus - This mark represents SirBites'nTights' characters. These characters currently include Bofilandr Grustlebarge .

The Magenta Lily - This mark represents Blurp's characters. These characters currently include Neoma

The Silver ??? - This mark represents Shank40's characters. He's electing to keep the shape secret for now, not that it's actually a secret, frankly, but Shankie be doin' his Shankie thing. These characters currently include Braxford Hopeheart .

The Sage Green Quiver - This mark represents Spacey's characters. These characters currently include Juniper of the Crooked Branch .

The Golden Sword - This mark represents JCards' characters. These characters currently include Artemis, "The Hexed" .