3rd Edition PLAYER’S GUIDE Immortal Design & Development Team Design Concept/Creation: Ran Ackels Design Development Lead: Rick Don Other Design Development Contributors Jake Kuska, Bill Wagner & Brianna Von Gries Player’s Guide Written by Rick Don Editing Ka’thryn Don (with a little help from the Immortal Mailing List) Illustrations Ran Ackels (including Cover Art), Kyle Burles, Raven Daegmorgan, Jade Hammons, and Eamon O Donoghue Published By Jikkarro Enterprises Special Thanks from Ran goes out to... Charles McCarley, The Von Gries Triad, Teknochristian, and the Immortal Mailing List for years of true faith All characters, names and distinct likenesses contained herein are owned by Ran Ackels and published by Jikkarro Enterprises. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author and publisher. This product is a work of fiction; any similarity to actual people, organizations, places or events is purely coincidental. Immortal Invisible War is mature in its themes and is not recommended for those individuals with difficulties distinguishing between reality and fiction. Immortal was created by Ran Ackels. Immortal, Invisible War and all associated logos and material, © 2004 Ran Ackels. Made in the U.S.A. Immortal and Invisible War are ™ Ran Ackels and Jikkarro Enterprises First / Silver Release August 2005 VISIT US ONLINE AT www.invisiblewar.com 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Credits 2 Table of Contents 3 THE LETTER 7 CHAPTER 1— Heritage of Eternity 8 What Are You? 8 Eternal Life 10 Your True Form 13 Serenades 15 Just In Case 16 CHAPTER 2—Perpetual Society 21 Stained Past 21 The Twelve Tribes 22 The Callings 38 Cadres 42 Atlantis and the Thirteenth Tribe 43 CHAPTER 3—Battleground Earth 46 Preface 46 Rise of the 21st Century 46 Geography 48 Entertainment and Media 49 Technology 50 Faces of Humanity 54 Sanctuary 58 CHAPTER 4—History and Heresy 61 Our Legends 61 The Enemy 66 Abzulim 67 Others 72 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Places Near and Far 75 Mystech 81 In Closing 84 BOOK II—LOREKEEPER’S NOTES 90 What is Immortal the Invisible War? 90 What is a Role Playing Game? 92 Basic Mechanics 92 Basic Terms Recap 94 CHAPTER 5—Character Creation 96 Quick Rundown 96 Expanded Character Creation 99 CHAPTER 6—Himsati and Natures 123 How Natures Work 124 Himsati Size and Appearance 125 Starting Natures 126 Master Nature Listing 128 CHAPTER 7—Attributes and Skills 139 Attributes 139 Skills 144 Master Skill List 147 CHAPTER 8—Serenades 153 Foci and Motifs 154 Secondary Elements 156 Serenade List 161 — Serenades of Destruction 162 — Serenades of Obstruction 164 — Serenades of Mimicry 166 — Serenades of Illusion 168 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS — Serenades of Protection 172 — Serenades of Movement 174 — Serenades of Sensation 176 — Serenades of Communication 178 — Serenades of Time 181 — Serenades of Control 183 — Serenades of Probability 186 — Serenades of Summoning 188 — Serenades of Transference 191 — Serenades of Transformation 192 Serenade Notes 194 CHAPTER 9—Conflict 196 Recap 197 Physical Conflict 201 Social Conflict 205 Supernatural Conflict 207 Conflict Penalties 215 Conflict Aftermath 218 Continuing the Saga 220 Conflict Examples 223 Epilogue 236 Appendix A — Master Charts 237 Appendix B — Artist Credits 243 Index 244 5 6 My young friend, I wish I could do more to help you to understand this new and different world you are being thrust into. I found this in my library the other day; it was written by someone who nearly a decade ago, experienced the same trials and tribulations you now face. Now he is a teacher of others like you, and he wrote this tome to assist them. I hope this assists you in the times to come and that you see them through with dignity and courage. Your friend, Oh, by the n way, I’v otation e added Lorekeeper s of my a few notes, own on to help these thin clarify sticky gs in some o - this boo f the insight k, prov , and t ide add in on o occasi itional some onally - interes fill yo L ting tid u bits... 7 CHAPTER 1 HERITAGE OF ETERNITY ou are not effectively born and Y human— have lived as a human remember this above all these past years, but else. Endless time will underneath that guise remind you of this fact lies your true form: again and again. Had the himsati. Our race you and the others stayed appears human on the longer, it would have outside but underneath fulfilled my fondest the human skin might wish. I know you have lie a wolf, raven, your own path to carve, living fire or perhaps a your destiny calls you as stunning rose bush. it does us all. How old you truly are does not The majority of us matter; neither does the weren’t “born” as you knowledge of what you were, but we are all once were. Don’t himsati nonetheless. become obsessed with In short, you are an your past as it will make undying, shapeshifting you the anachronistic creature of habit creature whose song can lull the fabric so many of our kind become. of reality to change at your whim. We have had many names over the ages: I volunteered to train you so that you gods, myths, legends and monsters to wouldn’t suffer the way I did when I name a few. In this modern world those first discovered the truth a decade ago. few mortals that know of us have There is still paranoia and distrust commonly called us Immortals; it is among some of our people concerning easier to identify us as a people, rather your recent “reappearance”. As you than as a dangerous race of beast- begin to acclimate to the truth, I hope creatures. this tome provides guidance, insight and advice to help you prosper. They say every legend has a grain of truth to it; our race is that grain. At the Enough of my rambling; let us begin true origin of all mortal tales you’ll find again at the beginning... us. We are the werewolf, the sasquatch, the zebra that found its stripes and the WHAT ARE YOU? bear that lost its tail. A wise Immortal once said that to say myth is a lie only Okay my friend, if you aren’t human, shows how deep ignorance and fear can then what are you? You are Himsati: it reach into one small soul. It is history is the name of our race. You were 8 that is the lie — written and rewritten by the victor of every conflict. Mythology is our story, the symbols of what we are, shard it transformed, traveling within why we fought, how we loved and never you like liquid until it came to rest kneeled to the darkness. If man listens within your throat. There it formed the to our life story, he comes to us and vox, the mature form of the shard after becomes a participant in his own its metamorphosis. It is your true brain redemption. That is our greatest gift, to and vocal chord. It stores all your both him and ourselves. experiences and re frequencies to build supernaturalsonates certainpower The Shards in the physical world. Our legends tell of by any means known toIt isour indestructible people and from before time began,Sanguinary, both alien a beast and undetectable to human technology. godlike even to us. It crashed into this Though you still use your organic mind, world ages ago and shattered like glass, the war between it and the vox takes a raining slivers and fragments around the heavy toll on your soul and sanity my globe and even beyond. young friend. These shards lived on, bonding with The Human Guise those creatures that Ages before mankind walked upon this You are one such creature.encountered Ignore them. the world, we were beholde modern creature you may change into of Immortals — a dragon-racen to the known first race as today; in ages past you were its ancestor. the Abzulim. They altered us, giving us The shard is the common trait that binds the ability to assume slave-forms and us together as a race. Its gifts and curses perform our duties in their vast empire. are yours to bear. When we encountered humanity in its Living Elements early stages, the collective faith and In ancient times the Earth was likened to belief of mortal man reached out to our a living being; the entire race; it wiped away our slave- spirit filtered through powerthe wind, of thesoul rocks and forms. Instead we were made into their and even the water. Primordial image — human — with the ability to elemental essence flowed between our transform back to our world and a place we call the Thus began our time as theoriginal rulers offorms. this Maelstrom, drinking in world, worshipped and empowered by the world. On rare occasion the life-force the shard of mortal man. would bond even with this, giving it the equivalent of an organic mind and other ere are humans who organs, creating an elem T h is in this same way the entalperpetually himsati. rare It c onsciously wield their faith. plant himsati were created as well. T hey are actively sought by us and our enemies. The power to The Vox n this way is When you came into contact with that use one’s faith i known as Religarum. - L 9 There is a danger in this gift though, for environment.