Native Rules

Characters

A Native Rules character is a Calling, seventeen rated Skills, two Strengths, two Techniques, and three narrative anchors. Nothing else is required to play.

Open Rules Finder

Creation budget

One Calling, chosen from the ready-made Callings or built as a Custom Calling.
Four Skills from the Calling: one Expert and three Trained.
Two further Trained Skills chosen freely.
Every remaining Skill is Familiar.
Two Strengths.
Two Techniques.
Background, Bond and Burden as narrative anchors.

A ready-made Calling supplies two fixed Skills; choose exactly two more from its flexible list. Make one of those four Expert and the other three Trained, then choose two additional Trained Skills. For a custom Calling, name a coherent approach and choose its four Skills from the full list, with the same remaining budget.

For a fast start, copy an Initial Build from the Native Rules PDF, pp. 18–27, add a name, Background, Bond and Burden, and choose suitable equipment. Those are complete starting characters. You may change non-fixed choices before play begins; the choices and catalogues below also support building from scratch.

The seventeen Skills

Athletics
Covers
Strength, climbing, swimming, forcing movement, grappling, and other exertion.
Mobility
Covers
Balance, acrobatics, controlled falls, evasive movement, and difficult physical positioning.
Close Combat
Covers
Melee weapons, close fighting, weapon control, and trained combat manoeuvres.
Firearms
Covers
Aiming, firing, handling, and using personal firearms under pressure.
Observation
Covers
Noticing immediate details, watching movement, detecting obvious threats, and keeping lookout.
Fieldcraft
Covers
Tracking, scouting, survival, camouflage, terrain, and field living.
Stealth
Covers
Moving unseen, concealment, quiet entry, and avoiding observation.
Command
Covers
Orders, morale, coordination, discipline, and directing people under pressure.
Influence
Covers
Persuasion, negotiation, mediation, etiquette, and open social pressure.
Deception
Covers
Lies, disguise, cover identities, misdirection, and concealed intent.
Investigation
Covers
Searching, evidence, reconstruction, inconsistencies, and physical inquiry.
Scholarship
Covers
Formal knowledge, history, languages, research, theory, and learned interpretation.
Engineering
Covers
Machinery, repairs, mechanisms, pressure systems, and Éterlumin equipment.
Medicine
Covers
Diagnosis, stabilisation, treatment, surgery, and recovery.
Navigation
Covers
Charts, route-finding, position, weather reading, and overland or maritime navigation.
Seamanship
Covers
Rigging, deck work, ship handling, small craft, and ordinary vessel hazards.
Fortera
Covers
Deliberate Fortera analysis and Workings. Performing Workings still requires Fortera Practice.

Skill	Covers
Athletics	Strength, climbing, swimming, forcing movement, grappling, and other exertion.
Mobility	Balance, acrobatics, controlled falls, evasive movement, and difficult physical positioning.
Close Combat	Melee weapons, close fighting, weapon control, and trained combat manoeuvres.
Firearms	Aiming, firing, handling, and using personal firearms under pressure.
Observation	Noticing immediate details, watching movement, detecting obvious threats, and keeping lookout.
Fieldcraft	Tracking, scouting, survival, camouflage, terrain, and field living.
Stealth	Moving unseen, concealment, quiet entry, and avoiding observation.
Command	Orders, morale, coordination, discipline, and directing people under pressure.
Influence	Persuasion, negotiation, mediation, etiquette, and open social pressure.
Deception	Lies, disguise, cover identities, misdirection, and concealed intent.
Investigation	Searching, evidence, reconstruction, inconsistencies, and physical inquiry.
Scholarship	Formal knowledge, history, languages, research, theory, and learned interpretation.
Engineering	Machinery, repairs, mechanisms, pressure systems, and Éterlumin equipment.
Medicine	Diagnosis, stabilisation, treatment, surgery, and recovery.
Navigation	Charts, route-finding, position, weather reading, and overland or maritime navigation.
Seamanship	Rigging, deck work, ship handling, small craft, and ordinary vessel hazards.
Fortera	Deliberate Fortera analysis and Workings. Performing Workings still requires Fortera Practice.

Callings

A Calling is what the character trained to be. Each ready-made Calling fixes some Skills and offers choices; a Custom Calling builds the same budget from scratch. A Calling is a starting point, never a restriction on what the character may learn.

Soldier

Weapons, discipline, and pressure without giving up investigation, command, engineering, or Fortera.

Fixed Skills: Close Combat, Firearms
Choose two from: Athletics, Fieldcraft, Observation, Command, Mobility
Could represent: Musketeer, marine, mercenary, guard, duelist, veteran sailor, military Fortera trainee.

Officer

Lead, coordinate, negotiate authority, and make other people more effective.

Fixed Skills: Command, Influence
Choose two from: Observation, Firearms, Investigation, Scholarship, Fieldcraft
Could represent: Army or naval officer, expedition leader, ship captain, quartermaster, chaplain, missionary leader.

Diplomat

Institutions, negotiation, reputation, leverage, and access.

Fixed Skills: Influence, Observation
Choose two from: Deception, Command, Scholarship, Investigation, Navigation
Could represent: Embassy secretary, court envoy, treaty negotiator, merchant factor, noble intermediary, church representative, colonial liaison.

Scout

Terrain, observation, navigation, pursuit, and field knowledge.

Fixed Skills: Fieldcraft, Observation
Choose two from: Firearms, Mobility, Navigation, Investigation, Athletics, Stealth
Could represent: Guide, naturalist, surveyor, hunter, explorer, navigator, field scientist.

Field Investigator

Physical evidence, witness patterns, terrain, and reconstruction.

Fixed Skills: Investigation, Observation
Choose two from: Fieldcraft, Scholarship, Influence, Mobility, Medicine, Navigation, Firearms
Could represent: Field investigator, survey inspector, magistrate's examiner, archaeological investigator, forensic natural philosopher, expedition examiner.

Operative

Infiltration, deception, investigation, covert access, and concealed violence.

Fixed Skills: Deception, Stealth
Choose two from: Investigation, Observation, Influence, Firearms, Close Combat, Scholarship
Could represent: Spy, thief, intelligence agent, private investigator, church agent, smuggler, infiltrator.

Engineer

Machines, pressure systems, weapons, structures, Éterlumin equipment, and technical failure.

Fixed Skills: Engineering, Investigation
Choose two from: Observation, Scholarship, Fortera, Firearms, Fieldcraft, Close Combat
Could represent: Shipwright, gunsmith, airship engineer, chemist, inventor, Éterlumin specialist, Fortera researcher.

Physician

Injury, diagnosis, biology, care, and keeping people alive under pressure.

Fixed Skills: Medicine, Observation
Choose two from: Investigation, Influence, Fieldcraft, Fortera, Firearms, Close Combat, Scholarship
Could represent: Surgeon, anatomist, apothecary, expedition doctor, missionary healer, medical researcher.

Strengths

When a Strength directly applies, roll 3d6, keep the highest two, then add Capability. Only one Specialist Die can apply to a roll.

Before adding the die, identify what makes that mastery central to this approach. If removing it would not materially change the approach, roll normally. If a Strength would fit most rolls with a Skill, it is too broad; the GM settles unclear cases before rolling.

When a Strength applies, roll 3d6, keep the highest two, and add Capability. The extra die is the Specialist Die. A Strength applies only when its narrow mastery is genuinely decisive, not whenever it is adjacent to the action.

Marksman
What it does
Called shots, target discrimination, narrow openings, or an identified firearm weak point is decisive. Ordinary shots do not qualify.
Veteran Fighter
What it does
Holding a chokepoint, protecting an ally, or controlling several close threats is decisive. Ordinary one-on-one attacks do not qualify.
Duelist
What it does
In one-on-one melee, measure, feints, weapon control, or a duelling opening is decisive.
Skirmisher
What it does
Crossing threatened ground, disengaging, pursuit through difficult terrain, or flanking movement is decisive.
Commander
What it does
Synchronising 3+ people, restoring a disrupted group, or making orders work through noise or panic is decisive.
Sailor
What it does
Dangerous rigging, heavy weather, confined-water handling, or emergency seamanship is decisive.
Navigator
What it does
Dead reckoning, incomplete or conflicting observations, adverse weather or current, or altered terrain is decisive.
Engineer
What it does
Interacting faults, live repair, or modifying machinery beyond intended use under constraints is decisive.
Gunsmith
What it does
Non-obvious faults, precision repair or tuning, or firearm modification beyond routine maintenance is decisive.
Physician
What it does
Stabilising Wounded, Broken, or Unstable patients, surgery, or ambiguous diagnosis is decisive.
Investigator
What it does
Reconstructing from multiple traces, testing explanations, or separating planted or misleading evidence is decisive.
Infiltrator
What it does
Active security, watched-space movement, or restricted access without raising an alarm is decisive.
Operator
What it does
A cover identity under scrutiny, multi-part operational deception, or clandestine procedure while observed is decisive.
Diplomat
What it does
Formal protocol, 3+ competing parties, or institutional obligations and leverage are decisive.
Scholar
What it does
Choose one field. Specialist interpretation or source work inside that field is decisive; general knowledge does not qualify.
Resonance Reader
What it does
Overlapping patterns, subtle residue, weak Source links, or ambiguous resonance are decisive. Does not grant Workings.

Strength	What it does
Marksman	Called shots, target discrimination, narrow openings, or an identified firearm weak point is decisive. Ordinary shots do not qualify.
Veteran Fighter	Holding a chokepoint, protecting an ally, or controlling several close threats is decisive. Ordinary one-on-one attacks do not qualify.
Duelist	In one-on-one melee, measure, feints, weapon control, or a duelling opening is decisive.
Skirmisher	Crossing threatened ground, disengaging, pursuit through difficult terrain, or flanking movement is decisive.
Commander	Synchronising 3+ people, restoring a disrupted group, or making orders work through noise or panic is decisive.
Sailor	Dangerous rigging, heavy weather, confined-water handling, or emergency seamanship is decisive.
Navigator	Dead reckoning, incomplete or conflicting observations, adverse weather or current, or altered terrain is decisive.
Engineer	Interacting faults, live repair, or modifying machinery beyond intended use under constraints is decisive.
Gunsmith	Non-obvious faults, precision repair or tuning, or firearm modification beyond routine maintenance is decisive.
Physician	Stabilising Wounded, Broken, or Unstable patients, surgery, or ambiguous diagnosis is decisive.
Investigator	Reconstructing from multiple traces, testing explanations, or separating planted or misleading evidence is decisive.
Infiltrator	Active security, watched-space movement, or restricted access without raising an alarm is decisive.
Operator	A cover identity under scrutiny, multi-part operational deception, or clandestine procedure while observed is decisive.
Diplomat	Formal protocol, 3+ competing parties, or institutional obligations and leverage are decisive.
Scholar	Choose one field. Specialist interpretation or source work inside that field is decisive; general knowledge does not qualify.
Resonance Reader	Overlapping patterns, subtle residue, weak Source links, or ambiguous resonance are decisive. Does not grant Workings.

Background, Bond and Burden

Every character writes three narrative anchors. They carry no mechanical bonus and they are not optional: they are how the table knows who this person is and what can be used against them.

When an anchor materially changes what is possible, dangerous or effective, use normal permission, Risk and Effect. It grants no automatic dice or modifier.

Anchors

Background — where the character comes from and what shaped their competence.
Bond — a person, crew, or place the character will not abandon.
Burden — the thing that follows them: a debt, a reputation, an injury, a name.

Next, choose Techniques from the Technique catalogue, and if the character practises Fortera, read Fortera.

Growing your character

Characters have no levels. Earn Growth Tokens in play and spend them on the advances you want. Your Calling never blocks learning, and unspent tokens can be saved indefinitely.

At the end of a session

Give each character who meaningfully participated 1 Session Token.
Each player explains in one sentence how their Background, Bond or Burden materially changed a decision, consequence, relationship, objective or problem. If it did, award 1 Character Token, at most once per session. Mentioning an anchor alone is not enough.
Decide together whether the group reached or resolved a major campaign milestone: an expedition objective, decisive battle, major discovery, faction resolution, completed act or another lasting change. If so, every participating character gains 1 Milestone Token. Irreversible failure can count too.
Add the awards to saved totals: no more than 3 Growth Tokens per character per session.
Spend only between sessions or during genuine downtime, never in the middle of a Scene or Combat.

Growth rewards participation, character-driven play and campaign development. Do not award it for kills, damage, high rolls, winning or surviving fights, finding treasure, being the loudest player, choosing a particular Calling or following the GM's preferred outcome.

Familiar (+0) → Trained (+1)
Growth Tokens
2
Trained (+1) → Expert (+2)
Growth Tokens
4
New Technique
Growth Tokens
3
New Strength
Growth Tokens
4
New Fortera Working
Growth Tokens
4
Significant Asset
Growth Tokens
4–6
+1 Fortera Capacity
Growth Tokens
6
Expert (+2) → Master (+3)
Growth Tokens
6

Advance	Growth Tokens
Familiar (+0) → Trained (+1)	2
Trained (+1) → Expert (+2)	4
New Technique	3
New Strength	4
New Fortera Working	4
Significant Asset	4–6
+1 Fortera Capacity	6
Expert (+2) → Master (+3)	6

When buying an advance, briefly explain how you learned, practised, discovered, acquired or developed it. Ordinary advances need a plausible explanation. Master, increased Fortera Capacity, major Assets and similarly exceptional advances need clear support in the story.

Two purchases in play

Sofia has repeatedly helped the expedition physician treat casualties. Between sessions, she spends her 2 saved tokens to raise Medicine from Familiar (+0) to Trained (+1), whatever her Calling.

Isabel earns 3 tokens after recovering the missing Receiver records and confronting her Burden. With 1 already saved, she has 4. Between sessions she buys Deadeye for 3 and keeps 1.

Common questions

Several anchors mattered? That still earns only one Character Token. No advance in mind yet? Keep the tokens; they do not expire.

Could a Strength replace Master more cheaply? Master applies across the whole Skill. A Strength's Specialist Die applies only when its narrow trigger is decisive; if it fits most rolls with a Skill, narrow the Strength instead.

Native Rules, printed pp. 34–35; appendix summary p. 91. Examples condensed from the rulebook.