Loremaster

This is one of the eight Character Backgrounds in The Age of Decadence.

Lore

Preserving and understanding pre-war knowledge and technology is a lucrative business. An increasing number of people see their salvation in the ashes of the past and thus the market is becoming saturated with icons and objects from the Old Empire, most without any real value. Always on the lookout for something of real worth, cataloging and appraising items, loremasters remain at the front line of this trade.

Intro Text

As a child, you loved listening to stories about the old days, filled with gods fighting alongside men, power-wielding magi - more demigods than human, and monsters conjured by the cowardly Qantari. So when an opportunity presented itself, you signed up as an apprentice to a local loremaster named Feng.

Loremasters have always been in demand. While the future offers little, the past is rich and ripe for the taking. You just need to know where to dig and what to do with it, and that's where loremasters came in. To master their craft, they dug through ruins, copied ancient manuscripts, often without understanding them, traded bits and pieces of pre-war knowledge, and appraised anything that looked old. While the magi are long-gone, the machines they built still remain and loremasters are the only ones who may have the knowledge to bring them back.

Character Creation

Loremasters may seek employment with (and protection under) powerful patrons, or be itinerant investigators of whatever ruins or artifacts cross their path, or practically withdraw from society to experiment and study. As Act I begins, you are informally apprenticed to Feng, a relatively independent scholar who settled in Teron some years back.

Default Stats

Strength 5 Dexterity 5 Constitution 7 Perception 8 Intelligence 9 Charisma 6

Preferred Skills

Lore is, of course, the obvious front-runner for the authentic professional, while Streetwise is both an alternative for the crafty charlatan (or lazy researcher) and a supplement for the serious scholar (who has learned not to trust just anyone with the ancient mysteries). Crafting and Alchemy also a favorites for those who embrace function and practical application (over or alongside the theory and "book-smarts" of Lore); somewhat related are Lockpick and Traps, especially for those who chance upon protected artifacts and ruins long undisturbed. Peripherally but crucially, Throwing is handy for those emergency practical applications of those Crafting and Alchemy products. And Persuasion is especially helpful in cases where one needs permission (legitimate or otherwise) to access restricted areas, or seeks an investor for a resource-intensive project.

Initial Faction Rep

Charisma -->	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
House Aurelian	2	2	3	4	4	5	5
House Crassus	2	2	3	4	4	5	5
House Daratan	2	2	3	4	4	5	5
Boatmen of Styx	1	1	1	2	2	2	2
Commercium	1	1	1	2	2	2	2
Imperial Guards	1	1	1	2	2	2	2
Forty Thieves	1	1	1	2	2	2	2

Starting Equipment

• 96g
• Bronze Sefet
• Bronze Hasta
• Iron Khanjar
• 2 lbs Bronze
• 1 lb Iron
• Buckler (unless Dodge Skill is higher than Block Skill)
• 1 portion Cassava Root
• 1 portion Sulfur
• Loremaster's Garments

Starting Location

The back room of Feng's House

Loremaster Quests

Teron

1. Guildless
2. Vignette (Loremaster)
   • Prospector's Amulet (Quest) (if you agreed to talk to the prospector immediately after visiting Gracius. If you do not, the prospector cannot be found afterwards)
   • The Map
   • Loremasters' Rivalry
     • Galbo's Ring
     • Mysteries of the Abyss