The Blessed

Danu, the Great Mother, provides. We need only learn her secrets: the names by which the trees call each other; the mark made with redberry juice to ward off impure spirits; the language of the wolves. A thousand such secrets Danu keeps, to share with only her true children. Her Blessed.

Damage: d6 · HP (max 18)

Stat-less — there are no stats to assign. When a move says "roll," you push your luck (see 00-core-loop/dice-and-moves.md).

Background (choose 1)

Initiate

Your steading has long been home to a sacred order, keepers of the old ways and speakers for Danu. You are one such initiate, the most gifted in generations. You gain the Rites of the Land move.

There are other initiates in your steading, serving the goddess and its folk. They aid you as followers — see the Initiates of Danu insert. Who are they? Choose 2 or 3:

Raised by Wolves

Maybe not by wolves, but you grew up in the wild. Beasts of land and air were your siblings. The sighing wind taught you language. The trees and rocks were your home. Were you one of the Forest Folk? Abandoned or orphaned? Lured into the Wood?

Regardless, you get the Trackless Step move (mark it now). Also, when you Forage, you have advantage.

For some reason, you've made yourself known to your steading and perhaps you even call it home. But the ways of humans are still strange to you. Once per session, when your wild ways offend or alienate you from someone, mark 1 XP.

Vessel

A seed of Danu's power has taken root in your soul. Perhaps it has always been there and only recently sprouted. Or maybe it was planted in you during some portentous event.

Regardless, your dreams have been haunted by strange markings and symbols. You feel the mystic power in plants, stones, and soil. And you've felt the growing wrath of the Earth Mother as foul things begin to move about. Take the Danu's Grasp move (mark it now).

Danu's power flows through you, but at great cost. When you would spend 1 Stock from your sacred pouch, you may choose to lose 2d4 HP instead.

Instinct (choose 1)

Appearance

Choose 1 on each line, or make something up:

Place of Origin & Name

Your steading is your home, or close enough. Pick one region and a name to match (or make up something similar):

Moves

You start with Spirit Tongue, Call the Spirits, 1 from your Background, and 1 of your choice (four total).

★ Spirit Tongue

You can speak with beasts and spirits. You can always ask the GM, "What spirits are active here?" and get an honest answer.

★ Call the Spirits

When you spend 1 Stock and perform a short rite, the spirit(s) of a place or object manifest and hear you out. What they do next is up to them. (Requires Spirit Tongue.)

Amulets & Talismans

When you craft a protective charm for someone, spend 1 Stock and name a source of harm (fire, stabbing, etc.). When they would suffer such harm while bearing your charm, roll.

On a success, they suffer only half the damage or effect. For each 6, they ignore the harm entirely. On a bust, the harm lands normally and the charm is spent.

One can benefit from only 1 charm at a time, and it loses its potency after 1 use.

Bands, plainly: a success with no 6 = half; a success with a 6 = ignore; bust = normal.

Barkskin

When you are touching the earth, you have 2 armor. When you mark another with 1 Stock, they gain this benefit so long as the mark remains.

Big Magic

Each time you take this move, choose an additional remarkable trait for your sacred pouch and increase your max Stock by 2.

Borrow Power

When a spirit or beast loans you power, ask the GM for one of its tags or moves. Store it in your pouch in place of 1 Stock. When you use the borrowed tag or move, roll.

On a success, you do it — but the power is spent. For each 6, you retain the power and can use it again. On a bust, it's lost and something goes wrong (the GM says what).

(Requires Spirit Tongue.)

Danu's Grasp

When you call on the world itself to bind a spirit or a perversion of nature, spend 1 Stock and roll.

On a success, the earth grips them — pick 1. For each 6, pick an additional 1:

If this brings them to 0 HP, they are pulled into the earth and bound in rune-etched stone.

On a bust, the world doesn't answer the way you want — the GM makes a hard move.

Bands, plainly: a success with no 6 = 1 pick; a success with a 6 = both.

Healer's Arts

When someone Recovers under your care, they recover extra HP equal to your level + 3. If you also spend 1 Stock, they heal an extra 5 HP and their wounds/injuries are stabilized.

Heed My Words

When you Persuade by talking sense or warning against foolishness, you have advantage.

Improved Trait

Each time you take this move, choose one of your traits and work with the GM to make it more powerful — lean into the fiction. (A trait that says "increment one die" becomes "increment two dice"; narrative traits take real creativity — that's the fun.)

Into the Lion's Den

When you approach a beast calmly and show no fear, it will not harm you (though it may threaten you and test your nerve). When you lay your hand gently upon a beast, it calms to your touch.

Lightning Rod

When you Defend while touching the earth, you can spend 1 Readiness to intercept a nearby magical attack and redirect it harmlessly into the ground.

Rites of the Land

Once per season, when you oversee the sacred rites, hold 1 Favor. If you also sacrifice 1 Surplus, hold 4 Favor instead. Spend Favor in lieu of Stock, 1-for-1.

When you publicly sacrifice something or someone much-loved, either clear a steading debility or gain advantage when the steading next rolls +Fortunes.

Trackless Step

When you move through nature with care and patience, you make no sound, leave no trace, and can ignore any hindering or treacherous terrain (briars, mire, scree, etc.). When you spend 1 Stock and mark others, they each gain this benefit so long as the mark remains. 1 Stock can mark a number of individuals up to your level.

Veil

When you wrap yourself or another in a subtle veil, spend 1 Stock and choose 1:

When your deception comes under scrutiny, roll.

On a success, the veil holds. For each 6, no one is the wiser — no further scrutiny, no complication. On a bust, the veil slips.

Wards & Bindings

When you mark a boundary with sacred signs, spend 1 Stock and describe who or what they affect (using no more words than your level). Also, choose whether the affected beings are repelled or trapped by the signs. When your wards are first tested, roll.

On a success, they hold. For each 6, they hold as long as the signs remain unmarred — the affected creature can do nothing to affect them directly. On a bust, they are overcome through might or will.

Wild Soul

Each time you take this move, gain a Ranger move of your choice for which you qualify. (You can't take Improved Trait or Superior Trait.) (Requires level 2+ and the Blessed.)

Nature's Wrath

Danu's Grasp gains the area tag and can affect any creature. A mortal reduced to 0 HP is subdued or killed (your choice) rather than bound in stone. (Requires level 6+ and Danu's Grasp.)

Potent Workings

When you craft a protective charm, you may spend 1 additional Stock to choose 1:

Shared Souls

When you mark a beast with 1 Stock, you can direct its actions and perceive through its senses no matter the distance between you. Treat it as a follower with 3 Loyalty; when you spend its last Loyalty, the effect ends. (Requires level 6+ and Into the Lion's Den.)

Suck the Poison Out

When you draw a malady from a patient's body, mind, or soul, spend 1 Stock and roll.

On a success, you remove it. For each 6, you can safely discard it — or store it in your sacred pouch (taking the space of 1 Stock) to study or inflict on another. On a bust, it comes out wrong — the GM makes a hard move.

(Requires level 6+ and Healer's Arts.)

Superior Trait

Choose a trait you have already Improved, and work with the GM to boost it even further — a significant, fiction-driven leap that should feel like a real capstone. (Requires level 6+.)

Voice of the Earth Mother

When you speak on behalf of Danu, natural beasts and spirits of the wild respect your authority. All but the most headstrong will do as you command, even against their instincts. (Requires level 6+ and Spirit Tongue.)

Special Possessions

Pick 2, in addition to your sacred pouch.

Sacred Pouch

Your sacred pouch (magical) doesn't take up space in your inventory. It can hold up to 3 Stock (sacred herbs, powders, stones, pigments, chalks, clay, and so forth). Each time you gain an even-numbered level, your pouch can hold +1 Stock. When anyone but you looks inside your sacred pouch and touches the materials therein, the Stock is ruined.

When you have a few days of downtime in familiar terrain, you may replenish your Stock. When you Forage, you can produce Stock instead of provisions.

Your sacred pouch is...

(choose 1 on each line)

What remarkable trait does it possess? (choose 1)

The Earth Mother

Danu has long been revered by all peoples, though not always worshipped or served by priests. In your steading's temple, Danu's shrine is... (choose 1)

What do the folk of your steading leave as offerings? (choose 2–3)