NarateerForging legends together
  1. 01Choose a Bloodline
  2. 02Compare 3 Origins
An Ashborn man and woman with ash-grey skin and dark soot patterns recover a bronze ritual bowl from broken temple stone and timber.
Ashborn Bloodline

Bloodline Traits

  • Vitals Adjusted: Gain +1 to either Cognition or Resilience.
  • Popular Classes: Fighter, Ranger, Primant.
  • Languages: Old Norse, Trade.

Elemental Imbuement

Once per round, when Elemental (Fire) or Elemental (Cold) harm would cause an Ashborn to suffer Wounds, they ignore 1 Wound from that harm.

Ash Surge

Once per Rest, before making a Skill Check, choose Cinder or Rime. Make that Skill Check with Advantage.

  • Cinder — Success: Fire and ash blaze through your blood. If the Skill Check can cause Wounds, add +1 to its Wound Margin. Any Wounds it causes are Elemental (Fire).
  • Rime — Success: Ice and ash armour your body. Gain +1 Protection Rating until the start of your next turn.
  • Failure: Immediately move 1 Ready AD to Used, if able.

The Surge then ends.

Physical Characteristics

  • Height: Males commonly stand 155–190 cm; females commonly stand 145–180 cm.
  • Weight: Males commonly weigh 55–110 kg; females commonly weigh 45–95 kg.
  • Maturity and Lifespan: Ashborn reach physical maturity around 16 years and typically live 80–100 years.
  • Eye Colour: Most commonly grey, pale blue, or deep black. Their eyes may glow faintly when Ash Surge activates.
  • Hair: Most commonly ashen white, silver, or faded brown.
  • Unique Traits: Ashborn skin has a dry, ashen texture, often traced with dark patterns resembling soot or smoke. These patterns may glow faintly along with their eyes when Ash Surge activates.

History and Current Status

  • After the Sundering, the Eternal Ashfall engulfed Midgard on the Yggdrasil fragment, transforming many of the survivors into Ashborn—infused with magical ash.
  • The ash reshaped their bodies and culture, allowing adaptation to the desolate Midgard Wastes.
  • Today, Ashborn form tight-knit communities, scavenging and trading in ash.
  • They work as mercenaries or guides, drawing resilience and elemental magic from the Eternal Ash—while managing its risks.

Personality Traits

  • Survivor Instincts: Resilient and resourceful, Ashborn excel at improvising, especially in harsh environments.
  • Emotional Volatility: Tough but unstable, they act recklessly when chaos surges through their ash magic.

Cultural Traits

  • Values: Survival and adaptation are vital. Ashborn prize self-reliance, quick thinking, and endurance. Community bonds are strong, but all must contribute.
  • Social Dynamics: Leadership goes to those who master elemental surges. Tribes gather around scavenger camps and ruins, relying on ash for sustenance and spellwork.
  • Traditions: Rituals invoke the Eternal Ash, believed to hold ancestral memory. Markings honor the past.
  • Religion and Beliefs: The Eternal Ashfall is seen as a conduit to ancestral spirits. Ash is sacred—guiding their vision to rebuild Midgard.

Relationships With Neighbours

  • Igdrasans: Cautiously cooperative—shared reliance on ash trade brings occasional tension over resources.
  • Acacians: Pragmatically neutral—limited trade in necromantic goods, with mutual caution.
  • Ceibans: Respectful but distant—shared reverence for nature’s power keeps peace, though interaction is rare.
  • Necrokin: Practical allies—both value resilience, forming wary partnerships despite discomfort with the undead.
  • K’aan: Tense respect—territorial clashes balanced by mutual recognition of strength.

Step 2 of 2

Choose your Ashborn Origin

Your Bloodline establishes what you inherited. Your Origin establishes the life you lived before adventure. Compare these three, then open one for its complete starting package.

01Scavenger KinI grew up in ash-covered ruins, where survival meant finding value in remnants and recovering fragile salvage from old mechanisms and traps.
  • Background: “I grew up in ash-covered ruins, where survival meant finding value in remnants and recovering fragile salvage from old mechanisms and traps.”
  • Narrative Prompt: “What piece of the world’s past do I keep with me as a reminder of survival?”
  • Starting Skills (Level 1 each):
    • Finesse: Handling delicate salvage, mechanisms, and traps.
    • Observation: Discovering hidden items in ruins.
    • Survival: Finding resources in harsh areas.
  • Starting Equipment:
    • Patchwork Clothing: Reinforced clothing that removes Disadvantage caused solely by ordinary ash, grit, or abrasive debris; it is not armour.
    • Rudimentary Tool Set: A prying bar, fine picks, and compact salvage tools, enabling simple prying, delicate salvage, dismantling, and repair tasks without improvised-tool penalties.
    • Foraged Rations: Three days of dried roots and preserved food.
  • Starting Resources:
    • Trade Items: Salvaged fittings and semi-precious stones worth 4 Dritch to an appropriate buyer.
    • Basic Currency: 8 Dritch.
  • Role-Playing Traits: Values practicality and survival, distrustful of polished environments, prefers self-reliance.
Open in Chapter 8
02Ash WalkerRaised by wandering Ashborn, I learned to drive ash-sledges, read the ash winds, and survive on minimal resources.
  • Background: “Raised by wandering Ashborn, I learned to drive ash-sledges, read the ash winds, and survive on minimal resources.”
  • Narrative Prompt: “What draws me to the constant movement of life as an Ash Walker?”
  • Starting Skills (Level 1 each):
    • Athletics: For long travels in harsh environments.
    • Piloting: Operating ash-sledges and carts through hazardous terrain.
    • Survival: Survival in desolate areas.
  • Starting Equipment:
    • Traveler’s Cloak: Layered clothing that removes Disadvantage caused solely by ordinary ashfall or cold wind.
    • Compass: A reliable navigation tool; ignore Disadvantage caused solely by poor orientation when making Survival checks to navigate.
    • Dried Rations: Seven days of lightweight provisions.
  • Starting Resources:
    • Barter Trinkets: Interesting finds worth 4 Dritch to an appropriate buyer.
    • Modest Currency: 11 Dritch.
  • Role-Playing Traits: Feels at home in open spaces, wary of large settlements, values independence.
Open in Chapter 8
03Ashbound AcolyteI grew up in an order revering the Eternal Ash, learning rituals connecting me to heritage.
  • Background: “I grew up in an order revering the Eternal Ash, learning rituals connecting me to heritage.”
  • Narrative Prompt: “What ancient teachings drive my connection to the Eternal Ash?”
  • Starting Skills (Level 1 each):
    • Artifice: Creating and maintaining ritual tools.
    • Occult: Interpreting the rites and mysteries of the Eternal Ash.
    • Performance: Leading ceremonial remembrances and invocations.
  • Starting Equipment:
    • Ceremonial Ash Vessel: An ash-filled ritual focus that enables rites requiring a vessel; it grants no bonus by itself.
    • Ash-Stone Amulet: A recognised Eternal Ash holy symbol that can establish the bearer’s religious affiliation.
    • Herbal Poultices (2 uses): During a Rest, expend one use to make a Medicine check to aid Wound recovery with Advantage.
  • Starting Resources:
    • Sacred Trinkets: Ritual tokens that function as holy items or are worth 4 Dritch to an appropriate believer.
    • Minimal Currency: 6 Dritch.
  • Role-Playing Traits: Devoted to ash rituals, contemplative, values tradition and spiritual resilience.
Open in Chapter 8