Ikiry0

I'm working on some stuff for Through The Breach and run into a question when it comes to evaluating what someone wants to do: They're wondering how it would be possible to add the effects of being a Vehicle (Ala: Dr Beede's Calypso in the wargame) to a construct, rather than it being purely autonomous. My thoughts is 'That would cost some construct points for abilities rather than skills' but I'm not super sure how many would be fair to cost them, as construct points are not a cheap resource to spend at 5/each. The alternative is, of course, to let them get a Steam Harness for a similar sort of effect but it's got no price so weirdly enough the engineer doesn't really have any clue how to make it.

Is there any interesting pilots for Calypso outside of Beebe themselves? They're obviously designed to be the best option for a pilot but I was curious if anyone has worked out if there was anyone else with interesting effects for shoving into the bathybot.

I must admit, that would be very surprising/more of a change than the soulstones part. Ethiopia has been very Christian since like...4th century AD and during the 1900s (When TOS is happening) is in the 7th straight century of the Solomonic Dynasty, who claim to be descended from...well, the name sorta says it. Which is sort of why I made the thread/was so curious. The mix of 'Country so heavily influenced by Christianity' and 'Big Soulstone Users', alongside the military leader of the faction, Prince Unathi being...a prince. So presumably he's Solomonic Dynasty/claims decent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. But yeah, thanks for confirming they mostly stay away from Christian/Jewish/Islamic mentions (Something I'll admit I personally find a bit of a pity. I mean, Shinto and Hinduism are currently followed religions with millions of worshippers, so it's not really a 'dead religions only' thing). Thanks

Mind you, it's also a setting where most spellcasters can be dealt with via a sword or counterspelling and blessed (We see it in the bows of the Ten Thunders) objects can punch straight through mystical protection. Mind you, for most of it's history the Catholic Church's opinion was 'There is no such thing as Witches', with the Inquisition generally being more about Heresy than Witchcraft. 'There are spellcasters, they can often be jackasses' wouldn't really change much overall I think. There were plenty of Christian Alchemists, after all. The idea of witch trials is honestly really overstated in pop culture views of the church. For example, the Spanish Inquisition wasn't really about Witchcraft. It was about 'So we forced Islamic and Jewish people to convert at sword point and we think they might not be loyal Christians' in large part. Witch Trials are more of an Early Modern thing, long after the Inquisition. I think part of is that gods in many religions and mythologies are not Omnipotent/Omnipresent. For example, Ra was supplanted by Isis when he went senile and got his true name tricked out of him (Which kinda makes the mention of Egyptian Burning Man Cultists calling him Ra kinda a bit funny).

Vampires are not part of Catholic Dogma. They're often seen as supernatural beasties but that's not really the same thing as being part of the religion itself. It would be more like...confronting something that seems to be an Angel, something that would cause massive religious debate/require some opinions by most faiths impacted by it. Most modern vampire stories don't touch on religious implications by simply...not making them religious related (Much like the depictions of zombies more as a plague than a supernatural threat). I'm aware of the Satanic Panic but Malifaux is an alternate history set in a time period when religion was very prominent and is behind a lot of major events. So being able to tell if they're still going as normal or if they've been altered by said alternate history is important for the RPG. For example: The Kings Empire is a major faction but it was only in 1871 that parliament eliminated religious requirements for attending university. Testem benevolentiae nostrae was written in 1899, arguing against 'Americanism', 'Individualism' and the 'Free Press', things that would link very interestingly into the Guild's oppressive nature. Quaker abolitionists were also a major group in America's anti-slavery movements. We know that slavery went on there longer than it did in actual history (Since it was ended in exchange for the arrest of Ramos only recently) but not much about what happened on that front when several denominations were very, very anti-slavery. Would the guild have declared Quakers to be criminals? I don't think it's really possible to decouple religious implications when making an alternate history with notable supernatural elements and new factions. But yeah, I think I've gotten my answer about if more details exist in canon sources and I'll just have to deal with 'Make it up'. Still, that's the nature of RPGs! Thank you.

Sorry, I'll amend: Sandeep has a being called an Asura by the narration shoved in a mace. Which I feel is one of those things that likely should have some amount of in-universe religious implications even if it's just religious scholars saying 'Yeah, that's not an Actual Asura, just an elemental spirit with an ego'. Much like I feel like there should be some amount religious implications for 'Hey, we're kinda Using People's Souls as Fuel, or at least something commonly called souls that pop out when people die'. Hence trying to find something in-setting that examines how various religions are interacting with Soulstones, Ghosts etc. In particular about Abyssinia due to the interaction of 'Lots of Soulstone Stuff' and 'Originated from a country with a strong religious history'.

Actually: A friend has mentioned one area where religion is touched on to a notable degree. Malifaux has Actual Literal Asuras. Sandeep has one stuffed in a mace.

It's understandable but also gets a little weird when so many of the cornerstones of the setting would have Major Religious Implications that I can't find really addressed anywhere. Soulstones eating up souls, ghosts being a confirmed thing, the Burning Man, An alternate Ethiopia (A country with a strong religious history) being a major world power etc.

Sorry if this is a silly question (I'm more a Malifaux player but I've ended up with questions about TOS) but outside of the obvious stuff with the Burning Man, do we have much info about various faiths and what they're up to on The Other Side? I got pondering because I was debating playing an Abyssinian character in Through The Breach but ran into an issue of...I don't know what religion is like in Abyssinia. Abyssinia originates in Ethiopia, which has strong Christian history and the timeline should put the Solomonic Dynasty (With it's claims of being descended from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba) in charge but...well, Abyssinia is also one of the most divergent parts of the setting. Do we have any books/podcasts/online releases that go into much details about the culture of Abyssinia on a non-military front/the faiths in it? Or The Other Side in general.