The Ephemeral Notebook

Of the 22 Archetypes, the first 12 are The Knowledges.  They represent the accumulation of worldly knowledge and aptitude.  Each of these Archetypes has 5 ranks (as have all Archetypes and Abilities).  Each rank bestows a +1 to any skill checks pertaining to the realm of the ‘Skill keywords’.  This allows a loose interpretation of skills to fit the situation.  The GM will explain which Archetypes to add to the roll (possibly multiple).  If the player has any ranks in the types listed, he/she adds up all ranks in all the listed types for the bonus.

Many Abilities list a Knowledge Archetype as a prerequisite.

Lastly, there are the 3 Formations formed by adding each of the 4 domain Archetypes up:

• Soul = Artist + Philosopher + Trickster + Shadow
• Mind = Architect + Summoner + Scientist + Warrior
• Body = Knight + Priest + Musician + Assassin

These are common rolls to resist attacks and harmful affects, test against highly generic conditions, apply contests, etc.  In as such, Knowledge Archetypes can be thought of as a combination of

Karma - Soul – Void – Anicca – Mutable

• Artist - (Temperance, Sagittarius, Fire) – middle way, calm, beauty
  Skill keywords: visual arts, creation, imagination, painting, arts and crafts, and art appreciation, fashion
• Philosopher - (Hermit, Virgo, Earth) – solitude, mercy, research
  Skill keywords: investigation, languages, philosophy, writing, research, programming (language)

• Trickster - (Lovers, Gemini, Air) – harmonious opposites, desire, bonding
  Skill keywords: glib, bluff, acting, diversion, distract, seduce, drama, street smarts

• Shadow -(Moon, Pisces, Water) – secrets, hidden, anxiety, doubt, fear, illusion
  Skill keywords: hide, move silently, palm, sneak, disguise, acrobatics, tracking, trailing

Energy - Mind – Chaos – Anatta – Cardinal

• Architect - (Emporer, Aries, Fire) – responsibility, long term thinking, strategy
  Skill keywords: strategy, tactics, military, structure, formation, architecture, communication, communication systems, programming

• Summoner - (Devil, Capricorn, Earth) – domination, power, uncontrolled energy
  Skill keywords: demonolgy, business, finances, legal systems, haggling, merchantile

• Scientist - (Justice, Libra, Air) – intellect, reason, balance
  Skill keywords: scientific method, physical sciences, scientific equipment, medicine, biological sciences, technology

• Warrior - (Chariot, Cancer, Water) – victory, bravery, pride
  Skill keywords: melee weapons, melee weapon crafting, physical skills, climbing, running, swimming, lifting, morale, intimidation

Coherence - Body – Form – Dukkha – Fixed

• Knight - (Strength, Leo, Fire) – inner strength, compassion, perseverance
  Skill keywords: armour, armour crafting, defense systems, security systems, piloting, vehicles, navigation, drive systems, power systems

• Priest - (Hierophant, Taurus, Earth) – belief, knowledge, group coherence
  Skill keywords: social sciences, history, culture, etiquette, sociology, taxonomy, factions, occult, religion, memetics

• Musician - (Star, Aquarius, Air) – tranquility, calmness, harmony, trust, inspiration
  Skill keywords: music, musical instruments, oration, empathy, animal training, riding, psychology, interrogation

• Assassin - (Death, Scorpio, Water) – regeneration, change, conclusion, loss, inescapable
  Skill keywords: ranged weapons, ranged weapon crafting, ranged weapon identification, forensics, demolitions, poisons, traps, weapons systems

Stay tuned – next up is the 6 Sense Archetypes

Cross posted from a comment response on my LJ:

Character goals are largely factional – there are a few common goals however (often shared in a faction):

1) Spread of a given philosophy or worldview (believing makes it so) – to craft a specific utopia (i.e. gather of comrades, so hence group/view Coherence).

2) Gathering of coherence through adversity view (basically terrorism… the more people see/fear them, the more they are confirmed)

3) Gathering of energy/resources to achieve group or personal goals. Often energy or resources are in other planes/times – bringing it back is the trick, but artifacts of power are great ways of storing energy in something that’s easy to believe in / observe across shifts.

4) Gathering for collection purposes (either vanity or to power 1,2,or 3) – for example collecting the souls of the 100 Asura (demons) from the plane of Sumeru

5) Worldcrafting – basically you can never affect your own timeline – anything that happens in a time causes another probability fork/split in the tree (actually doesn’t cause it, just sort of strengthens the observation of it) – including these future beings shifting in. However, if one were to go back in time on a timeline, strengthen the path where something happened, then all branches of this ‘new’ tree are now strengthened, making them easier to shift to. Then go to one of the new branches, making another new branch and make something else happen. Rinse, repeat, until you have what you want (either a nice summer getaway location, or some meticulously crafted artifact or technology or world to harvest). Generally this works best with larger groups, as if a single person does it, the coherence of the new branch isn’t very strong (what if they forget/die?).

6) Pure destruction

7) Pure hedonism

8) Personal Growth through varied experience