Horoscope

Everyone is born under a sign: the animal and the element of the year they were born. You do not choose yours; the stars decide. When you make a character (see Your character), the game tells you right after you choose your race when you were born, under which sign, and what the stars gave you (Born under the stars).

The summary and the character screen (@) show it again, for example Age 34 · born 29 Greenleaf 1410 · year of the Water Basilisk. The character screen also lists your sign’s gifts by name on its Stars line.

The Great Race

When the world was young, the years had no names, and the Keeper of Days could not tell one from the next. So she called every beast of legend to a race. It would run from the Ash Peaks in the north, down across the Glass Waste, over the Wide River, and through the Mistwood to the Gate of Dawn by the sea. The first twelve through the gate would each have a year, in the order they came.

The Salamander was the smallest racer of all and could not swim, so it asked the Hydra to carry it across the river. The Hydra was the strongest swimmer there and agreed. Its heads were busy arguing about the way, and none of them noticed the Salamander climb up the middle neck. As the Hydra reached the gate, the Salamander leapt down and through, first. The Hydra came second.

The Manticore ran the whole course without resting once, and every racer who saw it coming left the path; it came third. The Unicorn crossed the river leaping from stone to stone without wetting a hoof, and came fourth.

The Wyvern could have flown in first. But it saw that the Mistwood was so thick that the racers on foot were lost in it, so it stopped and burned a path through for them, and came fifth. Then came the Roc, the mightiest of fliers, who had soared so high that it lost sight of the gate and had to come down to look for it. It never knew that the Basilisk had been coiled around its talon since the Ash Peaks. As the Roc landed, the Basilisk slid off in front of it, and so the Basilisk came sixth and the Roc seventh.

The Griffin landed on every hilltop along the way to make sure that no one was after its gold, and came eighth. The Sphinx stopped every racer it met to set them a riddle. Those who answered went on ahead, and the Sphinx lost the whole morning; it came ninth. The Phoenix burned to ash in the noon heat of the Glass Waste, rose again from its ashes at dusk, and flew on to come tenth. The Kraken could not leave the water, so it swam the long way round, down the river and along the coast, and came in on the evening tide, eleventh.

Last, at midnight, came the Barghest, the black hound. It had been fast enough to win, but it had run behind the others all the way, to see that no racer was left behind. The Keeper of Days was so moved that she gave it the last year, and set it to guard the gate between one great cycle and the next. It stands there still.

So that no year would be lonely, the five elements, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water, agreed to walk beside the animals, one each year, in turn. The year of the race itself was the year of the Wood Salamander. It is Year 1 of the reckoning.

The great cycle

• Every year has an animal and an element. Both change on the 1st of Frostmere, the first day of the year.
• The animals follow the order of the Great Race. After the Barghest comes the Salamander again, so an animal comes back every 12 years.
• The elements follow the order Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, so an element comes back every 5 years.
• Together, every animal meets every element exactly once in a great cycle of 60 years. The first great cycle began in Year 1, the year of the race; the latest ones began in 1381 and 1441. The year 1444 is a Metal Unicorn year.

Your sign is the sign of the year you were born in, so the day matters at the turn of the year. Someone born on 30 Deepwinter is a sign earlier than someone born the next day, on 1 Frostmere.

What a sign does

Your animal gives you two gifts and a flaw. Your element gives you two gifts; elements have no flaws. These are talents of their own tree, Stars: given at birth, never picked, and never lost. The game tells you what they do in words (“you move and act a little faster”); the tables below give the exact rules. Some animals’ gifts are still to come, and the tables list only those already in the game.

Some gifts are things you do rather than rules that hold. You use them from the abilities menu (a), under Birth sign:

• Fire’s Blaze. Afterwards you are Burnt out for a while, and cannot use it again until that passes.
• The Unicorn’s Horn’s grace and the Basilisk’s Transfixing stare. Each then rests for a while (a status that wears off) before you can use it again.

The abilities table lists them with everything else you can use.

Your animal also nudges where your alignment starts. The Alignment column is what it adds to your starting score; elements add nothing. The game never shows the number, only the band you start in.

Picks for your sign

Every animal and every element also has one talent of the Stars tree that only those born under it may pick. You pick it at a level-up or at character creation, like any other talent whose prerequisites hold. Most ask for a level as well; a few ask for a stat or a weapon skill. The Talents page and the level-up screen show only your own sign’s.

Most of these picks make one of your gifts stronger. The Hydra’s Another head heals even while you starve, and the Phoenix’s Second rising rises from the ashes once more. Two are things you do, used from the abilities menu under Birth sign: the Wyvern’s Fire breath and the Barghest’s Hound’s bay. Each rests a while after use.

The Phoenix’s Rise from the ashes comes once in a life, twice with the pick Second rising. Once you have risen, the gift is spent (the character screen says so), and the next death is your last.

Hound’s nose tells you in a word on the eat list how fresh food is: fresh, turning, or rotten. Food that is turning is still fine to eat; rotten food is not.

Gatekeeper strikes a foe that steps up beside you only sometimes, depending on your stance (see Free blows):

Your animal and your element also each change your starting stats a little, and both count. The changes are in the tables at the end of this page. They are added to your race’s, gender’s, and class’s (see Your character). The changes are small and fixed: the horoscope rolls no dice.

Lucky days

Five signs have a lucky day: one animal for each element, born in its year and on one day of the month (any month). The day is the animal’s place in the Great Race. The Salamander came first, so its day is the 1st; the Manticore’s is the 3rd, the Phoenix’s the 10th, the Kraken’s the 11th. The Barghest, who guards the gate between the cycles, has the 30th, the last day of the month.

Someone born on a lucky day has a title after their name (“Brakka, the Iron Scourge”) and one gift more, an unfair one. The game never mentions lucky days until a character is born on one.

How likely a lucky day is for each race, for a run that starts on 11 Darkening 1444 (the showcase’s start; another start date moves it). Every age in the race’s range and every day of the year are equally likely.

A short-lived race reaches fewer years at a given start date, so its chances differ. A human or a half-orc is likelier to be born lucky than an elf, and only the long-lived can be born the Racer at the default start.

Your birthday, your month, and the full moon

The calendar and the moons touch a few gifts, a little:

• On your birthday you heal faster.
• In the month you were born, your sign’s actives rest sooner.
• While the moon is full and up, the gifts that reach out reach farther.

The game shows nothing new for them; the status bar already shows the moon’s phase. Here are the exact rules.

Your age and birthday

Your starting age depends on your race. A human starts between 16 and 35 years old, an elf between 90 and 300 (see Races for every race). Your birthday can be any day of the year.

Your birth date is counted back from the day the run starts, so you are exactly that old on it. You get a year older on every birthday, and the character screen shows your age on the day you look.

Animals

Stats: St Strength, Dx Dexterity, To Toughness, In Intelligence, Wi Willpower, Pr Presence.

Elements

Every sign

Every sign of the great cycle in order, with its years in the cycles that began in 1321, 1381, and 1441. Add or take away 60 years for any other cycle.

See also: Your character, Your story, and Talents.