1

Sri Paduka Batara, that ancient king,

approached a gentle servant, cooking a
meal for her master.

“Great
servant, hearken unto me. I have traveled the lengths of these Isles,
ventured deep into the hells, and drank rice wine with the gods of the
heavens. Yet I have not found Glory. I have suffered the most
unimaginable of sufferings, yet I have not found peace."

The gentle servant did not look up, so she did not know that it was a king that
spoke to her. "Great speaker, I must tell you the truth. Glory is nothing but
what is before you." She was missing a finger, yet the pot of soup she made
was spiced beautifully.

"Pray, illuminate me upon thine sutra."

"Illumination blinds thee," replied the servant. "Glory is not illustrious, it is

liberation."

"Then how will I find liberation? Before I was a king I was a slave, and I suffered
unimaginable torture. I turned the wheel of violence."

"You will find liberation by shutting up and seeking it evermore."

"What hope is there that I will be liberated?"

"Hope is flimsy and fickle," was the retort. "Hope is fire: it burns out. It smokes.
It hurts. Nay, instead wield conviction, that blade forged in fire and
tempered by water."

"So to find glory I must wield conviction? And then what?"

"Glory is not just the sea at the end of the river, but also the river cutting
through the earth."

"So there is no reprieve from all this suffering?"

"There is," said the servant, and gave the king a bowl of soup.

The king took it. "I am at a loss," he said, and for the first time in a multiple
reincarnations. "What are you saying? Can you say it simply?"

"I already am. Ruminate upon the river. It flows in a single direction. If
there be boulders, they flow around it. If there be earth, they chip at it
until it becomes part of the river itself. Glory is an endlessly rushing
river."

"What if you cannot do it anymore? What if all the suffering has stopped you.
Even a river can be dammed."

"That is a lie constructed by mortal hands," replied the servant. "Rivers break through
dams eventually. What do the rivers do to achieve this? They continue flowing, yet very
slowly. Therefore take on step after the other, because only then can you be the river.”

“Will there ever be an end?”

“The river does not think in matters of beginnings and ends, because it is all at once the
sea and the rain and the mountain and the dam. It flows. Step by step. Second by second.
Pain by pain. Pleasure by pleasure. Sword by sword.

"To the river, anything that gets in its path is something they inflict violence
against, because what else is glory but a perpetually flowing river? To live is
struggle. To struggle is violence. To live, therefore, is violence."

"So to find glory I must live?"

The servant shook her hand, turned, and took up the pot. "You do not find Glory. You live,
fight, struggle, love, eat, suffer, enjoy, fall, and rise until Glory."
 1st Edition
Writer and Developer: Joaquin Kyle “Makapatag” Saavedra
(@makapatag)
Art Director: Dylan Briones (@illsvillainy)
Artists: Dylan Briones (@illsvillainy), Fae (@lntpblk), Noriz
Mora (@Togidemi), Tamara Catada (@tanorochen),
Xrystina Marcos (@SweetCyanid3), Ahron
(@daffonahron), Gen (@Shaolinfan1), Luisa Odulio
(@ghostprinceee), RM Banas (@rmbananas), Cams
Cabezas (@tidalbronze), Trina Laya (@tumbke), Mar
(@marmastry) Jul A. Refugia (@JuiceUrLemons) Kai
(@ClickClacKAOS), Eli (@eleidescope), Raj (@rajavlitra),
Cam Chua (@frillion)
Kasuratan Font: R- (@kathanglangit)
Gubat Banwa Soundtrack: ONEFLOOR (@hwareon)
Playtesting: Sean Chingkaw, Kate, Noriz Mora, John Erwin
Casia, Benedict Mangahas, Luisa Odulio, Aryelle Sison,
RM, Lance, Jey, artspinapl, Dylan Briones, QK, Trina
Other Credits: Shout out to all my Patreon patrons, without
whom this never could have been easy (and maybe not
possible)!
Inspirational Credits to LANCER, Dungeons and Dragons
4th Edition, Pathfinder 2nd Edition, Strike! RPG, Shadow
of the Demon Lord, Apocalypse World, Broken World,
Exalted, Sagas of the Icelanders, Dreams Askew, Blades in
the Dark, Wanderhome, Ryuutama, Heart of Wulin,
Tresspasser and ICON for inspiring mechanics and game
feel.
Copyright: GUBAT BANWA belongs to Joaquin Kyle
Saavedra/Makapatag. You can use the stuff here to remix or
make your own stuff and sell them. I encourage you to
make settings, Disciplines, and more! However, I reserve
the right to declare that something is not aligning with
Gubat Banwa’s views and principles, and to reject anything
that might want to use Gubat Banwa for bigoted means.
4
A Note on Intended Audience
This game is written by me, a Filipino living in the
Philippines, largely for other Filipinos and SEAsians as
well. But it is written in English not only for it to be
accessible to other Filipinos, but also to be able to reach a
wider audience. Especially those that don’t know much
about Southeast Asian cultures.
Let’s get two very important things clear: this game centers
us and this game’s setting is not Southeast Asia.
This game is explicitly written with us in mind, us being
Filipinos and other Southeast Asian people. Thus, it centers
us. The “default” is a broad-nosed, five foot tall, genderless
brown person. (Or better yet, remove the notion of a
default.) It centers our experiences, our ideals. Our
traditions, our weird cakes, our weird smells. It’s about us.
If you go into this game expecting it to be about you then
you will not get it. You are welcome to play our roles: that is
what an RPG is, after all. But be respectful, because even
we respect ourselves. Treat us like people.
Secondly, this game is not Southeast Asia. It is not just
Precolonial Philippines. It is its own fantasy setting. It is a
Postclassic Fantasy intensely inspired by the refulgent and
diluvial cultures and stories of Southeast Asia.
It is explictly a mythic reconstruction of a grand Southeast
Asia of Hindu-Buddhist Empires, Islam Sultanates, and
indigenous kingdoms and communities. A work of pure
love for something that has been forced away from us. I am
Pilipinhon, which means much of the writing is influenced
by Philippines, but much of my research into Precolonial
Philippines has been the joyful eradication of the “Filipino”
identity to find a more whole and complete view of
Southeast Asia, where our differences don’t divide us but
unite, where the waters don’t separate but connect.
With that said, I hope you will enjoy this deep dive and
fantastical reconstruction of Southeast Asia, as one
connected intrinsically to the rest of Asia, and as such, it
becomes a deep dive into the interplay of human diversity,
and a festival of human expression and nature.
Gubat Banwa is about us. We revel in who we are.
Everyone is welcome to the feast.
- Waks
Until Glory
My heart and soul have been burnt and tempered upon the
crucible of this project, and I have said all I have ever
wanted to say about this game within the game itself. This
is a game of pure burning passion and love for the cultures,
peoples, arts, and faiths that live and thrive in Southeast
Asia, and a rejection of “default” fantasy. It is a gamified
love letter to wuxia and hong kong martial arts films, to
Southeast Asian epics (both lost and loved). It is fantasy on
our terms.
It is a work that exalts Southeast Asia, remembers lost lore,
and seeks deeper into the past and the cultures that have
been forced from us due to colonization. I started on this
project with an ambitious objective, and I think I’ve been
able to live up to it. Not because this Core Rulebook is
everything I wanted to put in here (it’s not!) but because
this is the start of the greater project that is Gubat Banwa.
An important thing to note is that I (and this book) is not a
final word on anything. I am a Filipino writing something I
wish was more well known in the Philippines, and I am a
single person. No matter how much research I have done, it
will never be enough. Therefore, do not use this book as a
guide or anything. Use it as it is: a game made by Filipinos
to express their cultures and for others to revel with them.
Finally, please note that this is a Core Rulebook without
much financial backing. I juggled paying for this game’s art
with personal expenses, rent, buying for research, etc. This
is not the book that will be printed: there will be a more
definitive version of that soon (hopefully) with the help of
crowdfunding. I have not been able to afford an editor for
this yet, so expect inconsistencies, typos, and errors. As
well as eventual updates due to these typos as well as
appropriate balancing and wording clarifications. But for
now, this game is more than enough to revel in Gubat
Banwa.
The warring nations are beckoning. Gubat Banwa is not yet
done. We need you to complete it with us. Love and
Violence to all.
Until Glory, Kadungganan.
Waks
‘Sai ayu dira? Dili siguro ka sabot ang uban ani, labi nalang
ang katong uban na ubos ra kaayo ang pag tan’aw sa iyang
mga silingan. Lisud g’yud , labi na kabahin aning ‘Fantasy’
nga ga basi sa atong mga gipangagi. Pero sige lang, ingon
diay akong anhing papa sauna na ‘dasig lang jud dong’, wala
jud nako na kalimti. Para ni nato tanan, among
gipangtrabaho na Fantasy sa atong kaugalingong
paglantaw.
There is no reckoning with such things like heritage,history
and culture without pain. Colonization is violence after all,
apocalypse, erasure and trauma. It is pain that echoes and
ripples across history, down the generations. To deny this
pain, these tensions, would be further reduction of our
histories, our cultures, our heritages. I refer to these things
as plurals because that is the truth, to do otherwise is
reduction, the same kind the colonizers have done to us.
They have already done enough.
Violence is varied, abstract and painful. Dying languages,
regional tensions, erasure, issues of representation. We can
pretend none of these exist, we can pretend ‘Filipino’ is not
fraught with baggage and trauma in the oft forgotten
regions of the isles and in quiet rooms in the capitol. But
some of us non-default Filipinos do not have this luxury. I
never tire of correcting people who wonder why our game
is called ‘Jungle Place’, maybe it doesn't mean that, perhaps
there are other languages in the Philippines no?
This game is a labor of love, a challenge, an undertaking.
This is fantasy on our own terms, a love letter to the
forgotten heroes of the isles, our understated diversity, a
spear thrown at this idea of a homogeneous ‘Filipino
culture’, and an empty hand reaching for our shared history
among our neighbors in SEA. We are taught to view
ourselves in the lens of those who we used to bow to. If we
could see ourselves on our own terms, tensions,
shortcomings, serenity and violence all, what stories would
we tell? What dreams would we dream together?
Dyl

A Note On Due Diligence

A few notes on due diligence.
Before anything else, the Kalis or Kris that we used in our logo is based on the blade iconic to the struggles of our neighbors
in Bangsamoro. Our use of it is deliberate, as tribute and homage. The choice to have it as a logo is mainly to evoke the isles
connection with the rest of SouthEast Asia. We do not use it lightly, and thus strive to portray such things in an appropriate
context. It’s a battle-sword after all, not a cane, nor an implement. Such origins must be acknowledged, else we risk
continuing colonial mentalities.
Likewise, the inclusion of a faction inspired by our first peoples is important but we should always remember that these are
fantasy portrayals. We are in no way presenting a historically accurate representation of them. The Confederation of
Apumbukid is inspired by these enduring cultures, but it is important to draw the line. We are not meant to tell their stories,
only they can do that. However a fantasy inspired by the diversity of Philippine cultures in relation to SEA simply cannot
happen without a nod to the many many indigenous peoples that persist and thrive to this day. For those who come from
those cultures, we strive to build a space where they can play out fantasy on their own terms in a TTRPG.
A large percentage of the development and playtest team have deep roots in the regions, me included. A lot of us know what
it's like to see our cultures flattened under the brush of homogenization, to have our struggles regarding our cultures and
identities denied and consistently gaslit. In the process of building this game, we found in each other a common struggle to
exist, to build a fantasy that was ours, and to share it with the world. We owe it due diligence, to keep context in mind while
building a shared fantasy. The work is never done, and we still have a long way to go but unlearning is just as important as
learning, and there is no true reckoning with such things as heritage and culture without pain. Dasig lang gihapon.
- Dyl

5
Table of Contents

Table of Contents 7 II: PLAY 33

The Himulawan Rule 35
The Wandering Sheathe 8
The Pilak Rule 35

Touchstones 11 The Tumbaga Rule 35

Non-Fiction 11 The Vajra Rule 35

Fiction 11 The Puthaw Rule 35

Movies and Series 11 Modes of Play 37

Video Games 11 What You’ll Need 37

Solo Play 38
I: An Introduction 14
War Drama 42
The Realms of Battle 15
Honor 45
The Rise of Datu 15
Downtime 48
The Lunar Advent 16
Optional Rule: No Tactical Violence 53
Issohappa Invades 16

Eclipse Age 17 III: Violence 55

Festival of the Longest Night 18 The Rhythm 57

The Violence Cast 58

Poems of the Past 20
Violent Glossolalia 59
The Violences 21
Status Effects 60

Philosophies 22 Hit Points, Death, and Dying 61

The Battlefield 68
Time Keeping 23
Scenarios 74

What is Gubat Banwa? 24 Enemies 76

What Kind Of Stories Can We Tell? 24 Enemy Origins 94

Where is Gubat Banwa? 25 IV: KADUNGGANAN 136

A Note on Trichiliocosms 25 Kadungganan Creation 140

Alignments 141
The Five Major Mandalas 26
Folk 142
The Rajahnate of Gatusan 27
Cultures 148
The Confederation of Apumbukid 28
Gatusan 148
The Sultanate of Akai 29
Apumbukid 154
The Lakanate of Virbanwa 30
Akai 160
The Kingdom of Ba-e 31
VIRBANWA 166

6
 Ba-e 172
VII: Lore 354
Conjunctures 178
Barter Items 356
Debt 180
A Collection of Writings and Silks of the
Complications 181 Lotus 358

Convictions 183 Life In Settlements 374

Warbands 186 Faith and Religion in the Sword Isles 380

Kadungganan Advancement: Legend 192

VIII: Running The Game 383
Legend Arcs: The Glory Path 192
Umalagad Basics 384

Disciplines 194 Running The Game 386

Discipline Traits 194 Encounters 389

Techniques 194
IX: The Sword Devil 390
Discipline Styles 195
Notes For The Umalagad 391
Choosing a Discipline 196
Factions and Folk 392

Anting-Anting 312 The Forest 394

Forest Path Map 395

V: Divinations 318
Types of Divinations 319

VI: The Sword Isles 341

North Rusunuga 343

South Rusunuga 344

Footsteps of the Gods 345

Isles of Rajakami 346

Jamiyun Kulisa’s Arrows 347

The Graveyard of the Winds 348

Tauhaw 349

Barrier of Panlinugon 350

The Pannai League 351

Khadnala Sword Shards 352

7
 The Wandering Sheathe
A woman walked into a small village, with nothing but the
clothes on her back—long silk robes over a textile tube skirt
and wooden sandals—and an empty dragon-mouthed
sheath.
A servant man, an oripun, sprawled to his knees before her,
hands scrabbling for purchase on the muddy riverbanks.
A warrior, loyal to this settlement, walked into view, out of the
reeds. He aimed his luthang, arquebus, at the servant.
“Laki! Forgive me! I meant no harm! I was simply looking for
food!” The servant groveled, hands rising now to cover his
head.
“Silence,” snarled the man. “You dare look at my wife? Burn in
Sulad!”
“Laki!”
But he heard no more, as the luthang’s cacophony ripped
through the air. Herons flew overhead.
The manggugubat pushed the oripun’s body into the river,
where nature will reclaim what is theirs. Without a proper
burial, however, the oripun will surely toil in Sulad for
eternity, or be eaten by Siginiguran.
The woman waited for the scuffle to be over. When the man
turned around and walked back into the reeds, and
presumably back to his balay, the woman continued walking
on, deeper into the village.
The village was deserted. No, it seemed deserted. As she
walked on ahead, a pack of dogs ravaged a corpse lying on the
street.
The wind howled. The sun was still low.
A man opened his doors. “Psst!” He called on the woman. The
woman turned to him, eyes narrowed. “Don’t stay out there!
You’ll get killed!”
The woman looked about her, and in the distance saw a small
band of warriors, led by a man upon a crocodile.
She nodded and walked over and into the balay.
“What do you think you’re doing, staying outside like that?”
The man closed the door behind her. He offered for her to wash
her feet, and she did so. She removed the poor abaca slippers
she had on.
“What’s happened to the village?”
“Oh don’t worry about that. Here, sit. Have you eaten?” The
man seems to be another oripun. His shoulder-length hair
was tied up into a severe bun, and he wore nothing but a
simple cloth over his shoulders like a cloak, and a piece of cloth
tied around his waist like a sarong.
“No.”
“Here, I have some taro I left in stock. I don’t have any fish or
meat however.”
“It’s all right. I am eternally grateful for
you sharing your food.”
“Ah, you probably haven’t eaten in a long
while. Don’t worry about it!
Unfortunately, I don’t have any betel nut
chew quids right now, so please don’t
take that as a hint of non-hospitality.”
The woman shook her head. “Do not
worry overmuch about it. I will be fine.”
She looked out of the window, discreetly,
as that small band of warriors walked
through the town. Kicking rocks and
extorting whatever food or other tax they
could get from the residents living in.
“What has happened to this place, this
town, this banwa?”
“Ah, I must apologize again to the Bayi.
You’ve found us at a most inopportune
time. A Lakanate raiding party has
arrived this morning. We’re staying
inside until they finish what they have to
do.”
The Ba-e turned to look at the man as he
boiled some taro. “Why? You do not flee
inland?”
He shook his head. “Their warlord
promised that we would be slain if we
did. They brought with them
Makagagahum Miracles. They
summoned fire from their palms. Our
guns could do nothing, and we do not
have enough witches to fight back.”
The woman watched as the men passed
by. “Where is your Lord?”
“Locked up in his balay. They talk with
him, saying that they’re there to
‘negotiate’.”
“Why not just take debtors and be done
with it?” asked the woman. She gripped
her dragon-mouthed sheathe.
“Oh, you. Of course you know that the
Lakanate does not deal like the rest of the
polities in the known isles. They’re here
to expand their power by conquering
land and territories, instead of
establishing relationships.” He shrugged
as he turned the taro in the pot. “It’s
something we never thought we’d have to
suffer, as we’re just a small settlement,
and our Lord’s wife is the sister of a Lord
under Rajah Batara AmbasiÖ but I
suppose in their conquest they will not
settle until every rock is under their
jurisdiction. Come, eat.”
She nodded. She left the window and ate.
“I’m Ilu, by the way. What’s your name,
Ba-e?”
“Odyong Pitara,” she replied, as she took
a bit of the taro.
***
When they finished their meal, there was
a knock on Ilu’s door.
Ilu froze. He slowly rose to his feet and
walked over to it. He opened, it just a
small bit, and asked: “Who is it--”
“Don’t go hiding her in here old man!”
And the man kicked the door in, sending
Ilu flying backwards. Odyong Pitara
reached around and nonchalantly caught
him, placing him safely to his side.
Odyong realized that the small band of
warriors have arrived at their doorstop.
Only three of them seemed to be well-
armored: wearing baluti and bringing
with them kalasag. Upon their feet they
wore paruka, and had bamboo
shinguards. Their bahag were cloth and
had long flowing flaps, and they wore
patadyong, or a kind of sarong, over it.
The one that kicked the man in, bringing
with him a rusting kris, walked in,
without removing his footwear. He
squatted down beside Odyong, smiling.
His moustache was long, and his pudong
was large, almost like a turban, and
excessively decorated.
He smelled Odyong’s hair, which flowed
long, braided with flowers and thorns.
“AhÖ what a catch.”
Odyong sighed. “Don’t do anything you’ll
regret, Laki.”
The man paused. His eyes widened. He
turned to his lackeys and shouted, “Did
you hear this bitch? Ha! Jusko, and I
thought I was funny!” He turned and
snarled into her ear, “If you don’t want to
fucking die, you’re going to do what I
want you to.” His saliva was infused with
the stench of midday alcohol.
“Duck,” replied Odyong.
The man’s face contorted into confusion.
“What--”
Odyong’s dragon-mouthed sheath
clubbed his face, stunning him, then she
struck thrice: chest, groin, then face. Like
lightning.
The man fell backwards, knocked out.
Odyong reached over and picked up the
kris, sheathing it into her sheathe. It fit
perfectly.
“Thanks,” she replied, rising. “Ilu, I would
apologize in advance for what they’re
about to do to your house.”
“What?”
“Ha! The bitch bites! Get ‘em, boys. Tell ‘er
what happens to the dog when they
anger the crocodile.”
A melee ensued: two armored warriors
and almost ten horohan, or warrior
debtors, against Odyong and her sheathe
plus sword.
Odyong summarily dispatched of them
without much trouble. She didn’t need to
advance: they attacked her for her. She
countered, wove, struck.
She disarmed a dagger that flew and
punctured the eye of another. She
parried one attack, hit another warrior
thrice with the sheathe, and then leapt
off of that man to impale the one she
parried with the kris. One of them she
threw over and out of the window. She
sidestepped a charging attack of another
to send him flying directly into the fire of
the kitchen, slapping him on the back
with her sheathe.
This dance of swords and sheaths
happened in the length it would take one
to blink an eye.
At the end of it all, half were dead, and
half wished they could be. As those
incapacitated groaned in pain, Odyong
sheathed her blade and sighed. “Again,
apologies, Ilu.”
Ilu watched her, his eyes wide with a mix
of fear and awe.
“I’ll make it up to you,” said Odyong, as
she walked over to the door. “I’ll get rid of
the Virbanwans.”
***
That night, after an extended detour
through the docks and killing more
warriors there, Odyong made her way up
to the balay of the Lord. It wasn’t hard to
find. It was smack dab in the middle of
the town, in front of the weapon’s
storehouse, which meant that they
probably had some sort of fighting
chance.
Just that they weren’t successful.
Odyong walked over to the balay and was
immediately greeted by two warrior
men, both wielding spears. They wore a
carabao horn cuirass over silken shirts
and pants, and peaked helmets.
“I’m looking for the Lord of this village.”
The two kawal, or guardsmen, simply
looked at each other, eyebrows furrowed.
With a shake of their heads, they turned
and tried to shove Odyong away. Odyong
caught one of their hands and promptly
broke it, then used the other hand that
held a spear to skewer the other man’s
throat. Odyong then knocked the kawal
out and broke his nose with his own
spear.
Inside the Lord’s balay, a man sits on the
bamboo throne of the old Lord.
The Lord himself lay to the side, skull
blossomed into fragments upon the wall.
The man sitting upon the bamboo throne
was a man with a peaked helmet, full
armor covering him in abaca and carabao
horn from shoulders to ankles, and
wearing wooden sandals. He sat
nonchalantly, with one knee up. He held
his luthang up, butt on the ground, barrel
pointing at the door.
His legions rose, brandished their
weapons.
“Ease, ease,” said the Virbanwan
commander, raising his hand. The
legions lowered their weapons: spears,
swords, mostly. The occasional bow.
The commander rose, pushing a crying
woman from his side, who wore a golden
diadem. No doubt the wife of the now
late Lord.
“So, you’re the one that has been tearing
up this little village,” he grinned,
revealing his perfectly white teeth. The
teeth of animals.
“Ha. Your humor does not amuse me.”
“I’m not trying to make you laugh, pretty.
Now, come, then. What is it you want?
Power? Position? Wealth? You want to
become a Lord? I have power in
Virbanwa. I’m Senapati Kampiyador,
Third Warlord of Batara Lakan Huwan
Rekno, long may he live.”
“I want you to leave this village.”
“Ha!” The senapati’s grin faded. “You’re not
as funny as I thought.” He rose, his shadow
looming. He raised his sabre and said: “Get
out.”
The legions readied their weapons.
Odyong frowned. She watched the legions.
The Senapati took a few steps forward. “All
right, now you really don’t amuse me. I
said, get out.” He raised his hand and
outstretched his fingers against Odyong.
An invisible hammer slammed into her,
into the door frame, sending splinters in
every direction.
Odyong flew, backwards and out, landing
upon dirt and stone, rolling into the
bushes. The legion leapt out, then,
screaming war cries, firing arrows,
rushing with swords and spears at the
ready.
Odyong had no choice but to flee. She leapt
over to a lost hole in the ground, near the
hinterlands where the swiddens became
the wilds, and hid there until the legions
slowed their search.
It took them the whole night. Odyong fell
asleep within her hiding grove.
***
Upon a cliff, whereupon the Pak-an Galura
village overlooks vast mountains of the
Masanun Island Chain, an elder man with
hair like wisps of clouds countered the
attack of a young Odyong, wearing a
lambong and tubatub.
“Guro!” She snarled as she pushed herself
off of the ground. Her guro stared off over
to the rolling mountains. They trained at
the edge of a cliff, where the wrong step
could spell certain doom. “I cannot get
past your defense.” She rushed forward
again, exploding with a flurry of blows, but
her Guro blocked them all in a furious
exchange of strikes and parries.
At the end, he locked her striking arms,
and then pushed her away. She fell
backwards.
“Guro!” Her frustration dripped from her
words. “I have been training for most of
my life. Getting past you is impossible!”
“Nonsense, young one,” replied the Guro,
stretching his limbs. “Nothing is
impossible, not one.”
Odyong rose to her feet, dusting off the
dust from her malong. “I’m tired. Lets go
home.”
“Not until you can get past me. Tomorrow
is your final trial, remember?”
Odyong let out a slow, dangerous breath.
“How can I do that? I’ve done all the
techniques I know. I cannot get past your
defenses.”
“Then it is time for your final lesson, little
frog. If something before you seems
insurmountable,” he raised his hands in a
ready stance. “Then do not depend on ‘I’.
That is the great lie. What is
insurmountable can be shattered with the the occasional gun and bow. Off to the
power of ‘we’.” sides, standing upon balay roofs, war
drummers wrapped in drab sack cloths
*** banged upon agung.
The next morning, Odyong arrived at the Despite being of Virbanwa, their war
shore of the village to the sound of a tactics and traditions still echoed that of
bodyong being sounded. their roots. The warriors wanted nothing
but to fulfill their debt to their masters,
The sound echoed across the entire island.
while those in the ranks that were
Odyong leapt out of the foliage and met wrapped in armor and wielding shields
the incoming Biray. and ceremonial blades no doubt wanted
glory. Those richer warriors, wrapped in
“What took you all so long, mga buang?”
Odyong said, a small smile breaking out decorative jewelry, painted armors,
wearing pants and sarongs and pudongs
from her stoic face.
bespeckled with carnelians and ivories,
Upon the prow of the ship, four warriors looked almost bored--some even apalled
met her. One sat on the side: a beautiful, or disgusted--that their entire army had
rose-eyed man wielding a long kudyapi, been amassed to face this small contingent
wearing no armor but a colorful and of five warriors. Five Kadungganan.
golden-tasselled saob-saob only worn by
royalty. Five Kadungganan.
Lightning flashed and thunder crashed.
Another sat by the outrigger, a young boy
with a bow longer than him. Another sat Yet the banging of agung was louder still.
The cacophony of war.
behind the prow, a large woman with a
large iron gut. She’s the one blowing the Far behind them, standing atop the Lord’s
bodyong. Her sundang glinted in the balay, Senapati Kampiyador raised an
rising sunlight. excessively bangled hand, glinting like the
sun’s rays.
The last one was a man with an almost
flamboyant baro and sarong get up, His right hand man, dripping with jewelry,
whereupon he wore plumage upon his blew the bodyong, and its sound ripped
pudong. Using sorcerous wind, he leapt heaven.
from the ship’s prow and landed upon the
shore. At that sound, the servant that paddled the
biray that the rest of the Wandering Sword
“Ah, have patience with us, Odyong,” said Souls arrived upon paddled away, as fast as
the man, grinning. His gold-pegged teeth
they could.
made it look like his mouth was made of
sunshine. “Kara-Kara over there couldn’t Just as well, thought Odyong to herself.
help but stop by a nearby settlement to She straightened herself, readying her
have a chance at their shrimp dishes.” blade and her sheath, her saob-saob
flapping in the cold morning wind.
Kara-Kara, the boy with the sikarom, leapt
off from the outriggers and onto the shore. There, five souls stood upon the shore,
“They had buttered hipon, how could I say bodies hardened after a lifetime’s worth of
no! Bangol, come on, you’re with me on martial training, hands quicker after
this, right?” three. Weapons at the ready, sorceries
prepared.
Bangol, the iron-gut warlord, leapt down
from the biray and onto the shore. “Ah, The legions of the senapati advanced.
don’t bring me into this. I have nothing to The Wandering Sword Souls strode
do with that,” she said, grinning. forward to meet them.
“Not anymore, when you finished them
all,” said the rose-eyed kudyapi player, as
he leapt down from the side of the biray
and onto the shore. He wore a malong, as
any woman would.
“Come on I thought you were on my side
Dagna!” Bangol whined, pertaining to the
kudyapi player. Dagna shrugged.
Odyong couldn’t help but let out a small
laugh. “Tandayag,” spoke Odyong,
referring to the man with plumage upon
his pudong. “Thank the spirits that you got
the message quickly.”
“Of course,” said Tandayag, smiling. “It is
destiny. And liberating villages is part and
parcel for the Wandering Sword Souls.
And it looks like the fight has come to us!
Grand. We don’t have to waste time
looking for them.”
Odyong nodded. She unsheathed her kris,
then, and turned to face the village.
The legion faced them. It was an entire
army, rows and rows of spear and swords,
Touchstones
gubat banwa is inspired by a large slew of media and real life folklore. its foundation is filipino martial arts
and southeast asian mythology. however it very equally draws from video games, other literature, and movies.
Non-Fiction
0 Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture
and Society by William Henry Scott. One of the easiest to
consume and most complete picture of 16th Century
Prehispanic Philippines. Bar none, if you want to get into
Pre Colonial Philippines, Barangay is one of the best
starting points.
0 History of the Bisayan People in the Philippine
Islands/Historia de las islas e indios de Bisayas of
Franscisco Ignacio Alcina. An integral deep dive into late
15th - early 16th century Visayas, where the locals still
remember their old ways and practice them, with Alcina
recording all of it down. Here you see shamans climbing
trees to be possessed by gods, details about shipbuilding,
the blossoming of flowers that detailed their seasons, how
they wove, and their numerous gods and spiritualities.
0 Philippine Folk Literature Series by Damiana
Eugenio. Integral to deep diving into Filipino Culture, and
a great resource for fantastical adventures.
0 Raiding, Trading, and Feasting: The Political
Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms by Laura Lee Junker.
Important to grokking how prehispanic Philippines
worked and how increasing violence led to further trade
and intensified war.
0 Ancient Southeast Asia by Geok Yian Goh and John
N. Miksic connects Philippines back to Southeast Asia. The
borderless look into Classic Southeast Asia inspired Gubat
Banwa’s final form: as a mythic Southeast Asia of mixed
religions and cultures.
Fiction
0 Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi. This novel focuses
on the relations of men with nature, and is an integral part
to viewing how nature gods might be viewed in the setting,
as well as the political upheavals from messing with nature.
0 Malazan: Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. An
epic fantasy novel series that focuses on the tragedies of
war, the military, and the sins of the past, complete with
shapeshifting dragon gods and skeleton fantasy
neanderthals. The themes of Malazan greatly inspired
Gubat Banwa’s exploration into culture, violence and evil.
0 Legend of Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. Jin Yong’s
genre defining wuxia work is a huge inspiration to Gubat
Banwa’s fiction: to descriptions of combat, to violence, to
spirituality.
0 Shri-Bishaya and Margosatubig by Ramon
Muzones. Once serialized in Hiligaynon, English
translations now abound. Great way to look at precolonial
Philippine fantasy and with all the mystic fantasy that
entails. Muzones mixes this with myth and folklore and
traditions of the Hiligaynon people Balu are inspired from
Margosatubig!
0 Tigana, Under Heaven and Lions of Al-Rassan by
Guy Gavriel Kay. Great and absolutely poetic Fantasy
novels both based on different time periods (Renaissance
Italy, Song China, and Moorish Spain respectively) that
manage to create a beautiful and intricate fantasy setting
from the flesh of historical periods. Filled with equal parts
action, drama, tragedy, and touching themes, these are
great novels to get in the mood of Gubat Banwa’s brand of
historical-esque fantasy and tragic drama.
11
Movies and Series
0 Amaya from GMA. Unfortunately currently only in
Tagalog, this series is a glimpse into 16th Century
Philippines with a costume design to match. It’s great,
although suffers from all the trappings of being a
Philippine telenovela.
0 Princess Mononoke by Studio Ghibli. One of the easiest
touchstones to understand how diwata and yawa are like.
The seminal Spirited Away is also perfect for trying to
visualize weirder diwata, or perhaps ninuno ancestor
spirits.
0 Hero. One of the seminal wuxia films, where fights are
the narrative. Influences much of Gubat Banwa’s combat
mechanics and dramatics. It’s high-flying kung fu is a great
visual inspiration to ground fiction on.
0 The Raid. An Indonesian martial arts film that
showcases brutal kinetic fights, usage of the environment
to survive large swathes of enemies, and a plot that feels
like a constant moon that the hero Rama must survive
against to return home to his family, the Raid is a perfect
example of Gubat Banwa’s violence.
0 RWBY by Monty Oum. I first became enamored with the
idea of team-based, role-focused tactical combat after
watching Team RWBY fight that Nevermore in Season 1.
While Gubat Banwa doesn’t exactly emulate RWBY’s high-
flying combat scenes, it does aim for that ballistic back and
forth, that multi-hit combos, that setting up environmental
pieces for slick combat maneuvers, and the philosophy of
“No movement wasted”. Every move flows to the next. This
informs Discipline design, combat feel goals, and role
design.
Video Games
0 Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together and Final Fantasy
Tactics. Both games helmed by the seminal Yasumi
Matsuno, these intricate war narratives blend together
fantasy with hard hitting political narratives. Gritty
without being grimdark, and mixed in with a good sense of
adventure and action. The most important things you can
get from these games are the politically focused narratives
(which make for great war drama) and the encounter
design. Maps are not huge, and they are vertically diverse,
which is what you want to make combat not boring and
dynamic.
0 Samurai Warriors, Dynasty Warriors, and Sengoku
Basara. Less so on the one vs. 1000 gameplay and more on
the high fantasy, stylish action take on historical periods
and the focus on the different warriors, pitting them
against each other. This series made me wonder what a
Warriors game based on our own ancient heroes and
warriors would look like, and helped me fantasize or make
easier for consumption the many details of Precolonial
Philippines.
 The Sword Isles
The Isles of Ritual and Violence
Thousand Thousand King Archipelago
The Region Impaled by God
The Heart of the Trichiliocosm

The Sword Isles. The Pearl of the World, from where the lotus
blossoms, where the Thunderbolt strikes. The isles where every
region of the Warring Realm struggle over dominion and
conquest. Every culture can be found here, the center of the
Nirvana Route, the great sea-based marketplace that connects
everything in the world together.
It bleeds. It is the end of the Eclipse Era, a period of great change
and upheaval.
The Sultanate of Akai has begun its Divine Striving: it has the
strength, of course. And thus it begins a conquest to spread its
power, to strengthen its mercantile reach.
The Lakanate of Virbanwa has begun its Ashen Colonization, to
conquer others and bring them under a single culture and religion.
The Rajahnate of Gatusan revels in bloodshed, and interpolity war
escalates as a new God-King must be declared.
The Kingdom of Ba-e rallies under a single Woman Chakravarti.
Their own great Avalokitesvara. They must spread the
righteousness of Ba-e to the world, to save it from the toils of
samsara.
The Confederation of Apumbukid is pushed to violence, traveling
across the world to rid it of rising demon hordes as more people
are killed indiscriminately and their souls become demons.
All of these are about to clash against each other in a great violence.
The Eighth Star Era, otherwise known as the Festival of the
Longest Night. Find Glory Beyond Heaven.

12
 ind
W Iphag
N H
Timog

ab

Dagat Habagat Pasina

a g at

NW NE

| Eastwind Sea to
Foreigners
W E

SW SE
Ipo
i han S
Am Kanaway

The 8 Direction Winds

13
 INTRODUCTION

I: An Introduction

14
14
 INTRODUCTION
The Realms of Battle
You can scarcely imagine it. A Sky of a Thousand
Thousand Worlds.
Let us not speak of beginnings: that is a question
whereupon there is no answer. A Wheel hath no
beginning: it only turns, constantly broken and then
remade, by different gods and bodhisattvas. To transcend
it is to find Glory.
The grand Warring Realm, that is, Gubat Banwa in local
tongues, has undergone innumerable eras and periods.
People and cultures have been created and destroyed in an
endless cycle of creation and destruction. There is no end.
This is the Paradox of Multiplicity: only in the acceptance
of the many, the absurd, the uncountable, can one find
true tranquility.
Let us therefore sight along the lines, that single and
continuously slicing action, the great spear that has been
thrust by our ancestors and their ancestors. Let us sight
down history through the eyes of Violence, which is
markedly differently from Killing and Murder. Take note
of the difference.
The Spear pierces through.
In the distant past, before rulers, before gods, there were
communities and families that worked together to help
each other. This era ended eventually when Folk invented
ownership, and then invented weapons to enforce that
ownership. This was the eventual downfall of the Sixth
Cycle, with the 6th Tuig Bituon being brought to an end
only by the First Rajah, who managed to bring all into
Concordance. A huge feat.
The Rise of Datu
The 7th Tuig Bulan marked the rise of Datu in the Sword
Isles. Datu was the local term that meant “chief”, “ruler”,
or “superior”. It did not mean “King”: the people of Gubat
Banwa were too fresh from an overlord to make that
mistake again. However, where there is power, there are
the power-hungry, and soon they would abuse the
position of the Datu to taste the same kind of power
Rajaraya Pintas once held.
The various cultures, states, and societies that arose in the
7th Moon Era all hearken back to the 7th Sun Era, with
royalties and tripartite social orders built upon the shape
of Rajaraya Pintas’ grand society. This is, of course, built to
fail. This did not stop them, however.
The First Rajah, Rajaraya Pintas, brought Gubat Banwa
into the 7th Tuig Adlaw, and it was the greatest of all the
Tuig Adlaw. 50,000 Years of progress, of passion, of
power, of enlightenment, most of those in Concordance
practiced the Teachings of Wajrasatta the Thundering
Makinaadmanon, who arose during the wars of the 6th Era
after experiencing Suffering all his life.
This Sage of Sages adopted the Teachings of Ashinin, the
Thousand Thousand God Faith of the Far Eastern Raya
Confederation, and the Teachings of Annuvaran, the
Tranquil Faith of the Far Southern Raya Confederation,
and infused it with indigenous folklore, spreading far and
wide tenets that would eventually become Anitu, the belief
in the consciousness of every thing, working in concert in
accordance with The Hiyang, commonly translated as The
Concordant, The Harmonious, or The Agreeableness, a
metaphysical concept of pure harmony with nature.
The 7th Tuig Adlaw ended gradually and completely due to
infighting, not to mention the ire of the gods, as Rajaraya
Pintas and other such God-Kings would challenge the very
Sky and Sea themselves, leading to many land formations
in Gubat Banwa today, such as the Footsteps of the Gods
and Jamiyun Kulisa’s Arrows.
The golden age is a myth.
What followed was the 7th Tuig Bulan, the Moon Era, and
it presented the greatest change. More importantly, it
began with Rajaraya Pintas being violently overthrown
from his throne, and his world-empire of Samrat cast into
the depths of the Jade Sea, never to arise.
Rajaraya Pintas was overthrown by the same violence he
instigated. He never found Glory in the same way
Himayanon Nawara, the great Sage of Violence, did.
Thus is how the spear continues to pierce.
A thousand years pass, and a thousand settlements,
empires, kingdoms, rise and fall. This was a time of
incessant war and never-ending violence. The 7th Tuig
Bituon, or the 7th Star Era, was also known as The Sidereal
Wars, for there were many and many, so many that they
were impossible to be written down, and they now only
live as songs and traditions. Paper can be burned but the
people must live and learn.
The rise of rulers brought nothing but war and killing. So
many people brought away by the tides of time. We have
brought this upon ourselves. A cruel ruler leads to cruel
people. If there must be a leader, then it must be a master
chosen by servants.
15
 INTRODUCTION
The Lunar Advent
One of the most powerful faiths that managed to survive
The Sidereal Wars was the Lunar Faith, or Bulanism,
named after the Moon.
This religion believed in the sovereignty of the Moon, for
there lived Baginda Sumongsuklay, the grand Lunar
Goddess who cleaved away the darkness to bring about
the world, as said by their sacred texts. The First Prophet
of Baginda Sumongsuklay herself was said to have fallen
from a comet sent from the moon, and traveled from a jar
and arrived upon Jamiyun Kulisa’s arrows.
Issohappa Invades
Around the same time the Lunar Faith arrived in Gubat
Banwa, so did the Issohappa, to the Far West, become
colonized by a parasitic, vampiric folk of fey-demons
known as the Pale Kings, Bleeders of the Fivefold
Universe, Conquerers of Royalty, ancient and towering
alien beings with pallid and dead alabaster skin, leonine
claws, and crimson eyes. When they died, they burst into
pools of slow flowing blood.
Upon flying frigates, goblin-slave-manned galleons, and
great lion-ships, arrived the Empire of Issohappa upon
The Sword Isles, and plunged the Gubat Banwa ever
deeper into darkness. This was the darkest era of the 7th
Tuig-Bulan, for the Pale Conquest succeeded, and they
claimed the island of Rusunuga under their empire.
Issohappa turned the exalted ancient state of Tundun,
the City of Warlords and Sages, Third Heir to the Raya
Confederation, and turned it into the grand Imperial City
State of Virbanwa. The Crown City, loyal to the Crown of
Issohappa. It was forever different: folk were enslaved,
given the Red Eyes of Slaves when the Pale King
Aristocrats Enthralled them. They brought in their
construction methods, their stone bricks, their silvers
and sweet potatoes from the Near-Western Continent
across the Eastern Vastness. They introduced carriages
and plows, just so that the slaves can use them to create
vast farmfields to fuel the Imperial Economy.
16
There she began her Holy Quest, to spread the truth of
Baginda Sumongsuklay far and wide. Her faith was
widely accepted.
The Lunar Faith brought a certain stability to a broken
world, but it also brought with it the strength of zeal.
Warriors collaborated together under the banner of a
single faith, and waged war against others.
The Pale Kings were not adept at governing faraway
kingdoms, and thus they left most of the governing to the
Mendicants. Pale King friars and priests who spread the
glorious word of the Almighty, Lion of Lions, Lily of the
Valley. They preached the Almighty Commission, the
Penitence for the death of the Son, the Everlasting Love of
God, the Burning Bloody Daystar.
But the spirit of justice and violence broiled in the Lakan
of Tundun. They rallied their revolutionary force, with
vast amounts of reinforcements from surrounding
polities: from Sonyoh, Gatusan, Ba-e, Apumbukid, Akai,
Iyamat, Malirawat, and even Baik Hu, and managed to
siege the Cathedral of the Sidereal Spoke in the middle of
the city of Ananara, Virbanwa’s inner city. There they
killed El Kampiyador, the Governor-General, and
overthrew them. The old rulers of Rusunuga banded
together and pulled allegiances from across Gubat Banwa
to band together and repel the invaders. This was the only
time the disparate and warring settlements have ever
fought together in complete concert. inst others.
 INTRODUCTION

Eclipse Age
There was no 8th Tuig Adlaw nor 8th Tuig Bulan. Instead those were replaced with the Tuig Bakunawa, the Eclipse Era, the
only Eclipse Era in the aeons that have spanned Gubat Banwa. It was an Eclipse because no true enlightenment and peace was
achieved. Virbanwa liberated itself but fell into the trap of emulating their colonial masters, becoming nothing but a semi-
feudal, semi-colonial shadow of its former glory.

During the Tuig Bakunawa, the five major mandalas rose to power and became the most well known of the cultures across
The Sword Isles. The Rajahnate of Gatusan, established during the 7th Tuig Bituon by Sri Maharaja Bishaya. The Sultanate of
Akai, established by Sultan Jaris Akai, who arrived upon a bejewelled jar. The Confederation of Apumbukid, a loose
connection of settlements across the archipelago that fight to protect Hiyang. The Kingdom of Ba-e which holds to its old
power and to the broken memories of an ancient state. And finally The Lakanate of Virbanwa, a victim of its invaders, now a
burgeoning empire hellbent on unifying the Sword Isles under the Ashen Star.

At the end of the Eclipse Era, the world is plunging into the greatest war Gubat Banwa shall ever see. A strife that will last for
a thousand thousand years, across various realms and dimensions of existence. There will be a great gnashing of teeth, and
swords shall cut until nothing is left.

There will be no 8th Tuig Bituon. It shall be with the final Era of Gubat Banwa: The Festival of the Longest Night.

17
 INTRODUCTION

Festival of the Longest Night

This is the Song of Rage, sung by Himayanon Suga Nalamdagan.

1 - Find Harmony.
2 - Sunder the world with your sins. Rejoice in the glory of
combat. The darkness chokes the stars. The world shall end
after Eight Cycles.
3 - The final number, perfection of divinity. Two squares
interpolated, 8 triangles within. 4 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1, perfection of
glory, of royalty, achieving harmony with Diwa, the essential
flow of reality. There is no escape from the ancient of days, as
the cause-effect crumbles in on itself, and love becomes
evisceration becomes love.
4 - We shall be divided infinitely, to the point where we are one.
What shall come after? A new world, a different one. Will it be
better? That is up for us to decide. Evermore we’ve held the
destiny of the world in our hands. Now it is time to accept
responsibility.
5 - Shirk power, for what is power but irresponsibility? Use
pride, for what is pride but a ladder? Craft swords, for what
are swords but crude manifestation of truth?
6 - Therefore, listen to my plea. The center of the world is the
Sword Isles, and that is where the final battles shall take
place. From every region of Gubat Banwa, warriors shall arrive.
They will revel, in this Festival of the Longest Night.
7 - Damn my eyes, they fail me now. Sight without seeing. But sight
is not something I need, when darkness chokes the stars.
8 - How will one save this world? Or how will one change this?
It is up to you. Is it worth saving, or should one create a better
one from its wretched ashes? How will one change the world?
9 - The Answer is thusly.
10 - Take The Thunderbolt.
11 - Only Violence Can save this world.
12 - Find Glory Beyond Heaven.

18
 INTRODUCTION

You are Kadungganan, but that’s nothing special. The gods of the trees and the
mountains have seen more of your kind than you have seen blades of grass. They
grant you power, sure, through your incantations, and you harness ancient
blasphemies with your sorcery, but that is nothing to them.
What does make them interested is the fact that your footfalls heralds the end.
The Festival of the Longest Night arrives, of the Addawa Year 1001, the beginning
of the final days.
Even the gods and the spirits shall revel in this Festival. There is no more time
for hesitation: Gubat Banwa comes to fulfill its name. It will become the lands
of violence. None shall escape. All shall revel. Where will you be, at the end of
the world?
Choose your Conviction, Kadungganan, and light your Flame of Want. Guided by
Rumination, you must change the world. Death? Harmony? Power? Hegemony?
Empire? Wealth? Annihilation? Become God-King, to change Gubat Banwa’s
destiny? Or tear all God-Kings down, and create something different?
Unsheathe your sword, and then raise it. Do not forget to cut, a sword is used
for cutting.

19
 INTRODUCTION

Poems of the Past

I’ve always hated this part, so I’ll keep it brief. You
live here, so you shouldn’t have to be taught this. Your
fathers and mothers would have repeated these tales
to you every night, under the rictus grin of the moon.
The Sword Isles, otherwise known as The Isles of
Violence or the Ritual Archipelago, is situated in the
center of the world, crafted when an ancient war god
stabbed the world’s navel. The kris shattered into The
Sword Isles, while the world’s blood became the
shallow waters.
Wisefolk have recently begun to reckon Eras: periods
of time made up of multiple harvests. There are three
kinds of Eras:
Adlaw Tuig or Sun Eras are times of glory and peace.
Stability and comfort. Sun Eras are followed by...
Bulan Tuig or Moon Eras are times of change,
innovation, and dynamism. Change here can be for
the good or for the worse. Moon Eras are followed by.
..

The Sword Isles is an exonym, meaning it is what
other nations call it, particularly the dragon empire
of Baik Hu. For the natives, they refer to their own
islands, and they do not have a particular name for
their cloister of isles, save for the five major polities,
who have a stake in ruling over all of the isles.
Bituon Tuig or Star Eras, that time when the
darkness overpowers the sky and only a few motes of
light can be seen, is the time of darkness, danger,
violence, atrocity, hate, and sin. It is the time when
witches and demons are most active. When a Star
Era ends, it is said to become a Sun Era once again.

While peace and trade settles in the other nations,
the isles of The Sword Isles only intensify their
violence, vying for heirloom wealth, status, servants,
and revenge.
But first, a brief note about time. The way Sword Isle
Folk reckon time is as thus:
The hours of a day is measured in the Movements of
the Sun. There are 16 Movements: starting from dawn
and ending at the time when it is so dark that one can
hardly see in front of them. They do not reckon time
at night, for that is the domain of witches and
demons.
However, Wajrastra, the Thundering
Makinaadmanon, the Golden Bodhisattva of the
Isles, has stated that the Eighth Star Era, should it
come to pass, will be the Longest Year. By the Eighth
Star Era, the stars will have been almost snuffed out
by the darkness between the stars, and thus shall
begin the Festival of the Longest Night, where the sky
and sea become the color of the blood spilled of the
eternal strife.
The final Wars are upon us, and with it the end
of Gubat Banwa.

The passing of days is measured in Moons. Every Full

Moon constitutes the midpoint of a Moon. There are
7 – 12 Moons a year. Every moon consists of 29 days.
Weeks are not differentiated from Moons, they are
one and the same. The islanders of the Sword Isles
measure of time through Moons are more precise
than clocks.

Years are measured in harvests. A year is the length

of time between one harvest and the next, which
necessarily means this is not set in stone, as
conditions for harvest can differentiate and fluctuate
in time. Harvests are what measure age: being 15
Harvests old is equal to being 15 years old, more or
less.

20
 INTRODUCTION
The Violences
At the end of Eighth Moon Era, as the Eighth Star Era is
heralded, the Eight Indomitable God-Kings rise, each
wielding a Violence, sometimes rendered as
Mahapintas (great violence).
The Eight Indomitable Devaraja (eight because 8 is the
perfection of divinity) have followings that toil about
them. They are the crux of the world, the Greatest of the
Kadungganan. These Violences the ones they have
chosen to enact, and these have been condensed into
items of power, their Godly Treasures. Sometimes, a
single Violence is not enough.
At the Center of the world is Apu Dayaw, the God of the
Holy Mount Apu, protected by the Confederation of
Apumbukid. They wield the Violence of Harmony,
condensed into a waling-waling flower. Whoever
wields the Violence of Harmony shall create the world
anew.
To the northeast of the center is Lunar Sultana
Yarashgara XII, Consort of the Crescent, who leads the
Sultanate of Akai. They wield the Violence of Striving,
condensed into a taming shield. Whoever wields the
Violence of Striving shall have the strength to overcome
every adversity and find God.
To the Southwest of the center is Raja Batara Ambasi,
appointed leader of the Rajahnate of Gatusan, once
simply Rajah. They wield the Violence of Conflict,
condensed into a crimson kalis. Whoever wields the
Violence of Conflict shall change the world.
To the Southwest of the center is Batara Lakan Huwan
Rekno, the Greatest Monarch of the Lakanate of
Virbanwa. They wield the Violence of Conquest,
condensed into a penitent veil. Whoever wields the
Violence of Conquest shall subsume all below them.
To the far South of the center is Sangpamegat Dayang
Kalangitan, the Bodhisattva of the Kingdom of Ba-e.
They wield the Violence of Righteousness, condensed
into a gold-tasseled parasol. Whoever wields the
Violence of Righteousness shall lead all of her loved
ones to Glory.
To the southeast is the Empress Zhu Que Liu, the
Vermillion Phoenix who is chained to wield the
impossible Hegemony of Baik Hu. She wields the
Violence of Empire, condensed into her 12-dragon 9-
phoenixes coronet. Whoever wields the Violence of
Empire shall never be conquered.
To the far west is the Bleeding Star Emperor, the
bringer of the Empire of Issohappa. He wields the
Violence of Annihilation, condensed into a bleeding
star asterix. Whoever wields the Power of Annihilation
shall destroy all things in their path.
Finally to the far east is the Chakravarti Samrananda
Varsha, the Herald of the Wheel, who leads the Varsha
Empire, locked in combat with the Empire of Auraska.
He wields the Violence of Wisdom, condensed into a
fulminating vajra. Whoever wields the Violence of
Wisdom shall lead their loved ones to enlightenment.
Heed the words of the Blossomed One: a violence need
not belong only to a ruler, or a king. They have these
Violences because they have exploited the system. A
violence can belong to anyone, to any group: from a
disenfranchised group of farmers to a lone peasant
girl. Violence can arise from anyone. And anyone with
a Violence can become harmonious and change the
world.
21
 INTRODUCTION
Philosophies
Gubat Banwa’s setting is one of Hyper Southeast Asian
fantasy. It will be difficult to grok, and there is a lot of
material. It can be overwhelming, but you do not need to
know every little detail about the setting. As long as you
follow the following Setting Assumptions, or Philosophies
you are playing in Gubat Banwa’s setting.
A Violent World
The word violent and consequently, violence, is a powerful
word that is used by this game to denote strength of
emotion. Violence is often used to mean physical force,
usually in an adverse manner. Occultists and the Bible has
used Violence as a manner of superlative: to showcase
intense emotion. “The kingdom of the heavens is taken by
violence” meant a large flock of people are filled with an
overwhelming joy and feeling to enter into heaven. To take
by force what we have not by nature, such as love and glory.
Violence in the physical manner is also just as important in
the world of Gubat Banwa. The world itself has been
fraught and torn apart due to incessant violence, and the
lack of response by better men. Violence is a tool, as with
any human creation, and there is such a thing as justified
violence. The violence of the master is different from the
liberating violence of the slave.
Inspired By Southeast Asia
Gubat Banwa is a fantasy setting, but it seeks to re-evaluate
and revamp what “Fantasy” means. It starts its foundations
and assumptions upon Southeast Asian folklore and
experience, instead of any fantasy literature or pop-fantasy
crafted by many Western Fantasy conventions. If you wish
to play Gubat Banwa, you must center Southeast Asia. Old
Fantasy conventions might be found here, but only because
of the inherent similarities of Southeast Asian stories with
other stories. It is important to remember that Gubat
Banwa is not Southeast Asia. It is inspired by it, and in turn
uplifts it, but it is not it. This is an important dichotomy.
There are five major mandalas in the Sword Isles, each one
inspired by a different period of Southeast Asian History.
0 Gatusan - Inspired by Maritime Hindu-Buddhist
Kingdoms (Srivijaya, Sugbu, Majapahit)
0 Apumbukid - Inspired by Hinterland and Highland
Indigenous societies. (Sama, Balinese, Maranao)
0 Akai - Inspired by Islamized Sultanates and Kingdoms.
(Sulu, Maguindanao, Ternate, Aceh)
0 Virbanwa - Inspired by Colonial Era settlements, cities,
and villages. (Batavia, Malacca, Manila)
0 Ba-e - Inspired by Chinese Influence in Southeast Asia and
Mainland Southeast Asian kingdoms. (Champa, Ma-i,
Ayutthaya, Khmer)
The World Is in its Final Days
The world of the Warring Realms is on the verge of death. It
is destined to be destroyed by burgeoning empires and
mercantile dreams. This era of decay is beautiful, in the
same way a sunset is beautiful. The world must end, but
what is important is what the people within it are doing to
make a better world from its ashes: they must bring about
22
the violence needed to bring about something better than
this one. Kings must be torn down, gods must be
dethroned.
Embrace Diversity
There are a thousand thousand kingdoms within a
thousand thousand islands. Even the larger continents are
made up of an excessively diverse collection of cultures and
ethnicities. This fact is inspired by the inherent and vast
diversity found in the real world. Use this to your
advantage: no single religion is correct, there are a million
gods, no single polity type exists, you can create truly
unique and weird cultures that embrace the truth of the
world.
No Single Ruling Body
There is no single ruling empire across The Sword Isles, and
especially none through Gubat Banwa. There might be
some kingdoms that have a larger stretch of control over
others, but there is no single ruling body that warrants a
single hegemonic culture. Revel in this diversity, all become
unique. Consequently, interstate war is more likely in this
setup.
Culture is Magic
Magic here is not simply fireballs and magic hands. Gubat
Banwa approaches magic through what it is: culture and
religion. Magic is the little hand gestures we do before
walking into a dark spot in the forest, the reverence we do
by avoiding certain rocks, the worship we do by placing rice
balls upon a tree stump altar. Don’t be fooled, there are still
fireballs and such, but that is squarely within the purview
of martial arts.
Exalt the Martial Arts
We reject the Western pop culture definition of martial arts
being simply “kung-fu”, or anything that looks like a
“Monk”. Martial Arts is an important art of any culture as
much as visual art or performance art is. Martial art is an
expression of humanity and culture, and so we do the same
here. Any fighting style is a martial art (because they are),
whether it be the sword and board or the bow and arrow.
Divinity in the Uncanny
Gods live within every single thing. You can speak with
them, and they will speak with you. Large concentrations
of them gather in the divine wilds, deep outside the limits
of civilization. They do not care for you, so be careful with
them. The dark is holy through them, for that is where they
live. They live in the cold and the dark, in the uncanny, in
the supernatural. They do not and will never think like us.
Nature is not us, nature is not human. Reverence, Respect
and Awe are all children of Fear.
Glory Through Conviction
To enact proper violence, one must have proper conviction.
Violence without proper conviction is bloodlust. Violence
with harmful conviction is evil. Violence with proper
conviction is the path to Glory. Only by achieving Glory will
one find true enlightenment, and the path to Glory is not
something that can be chased after. One must become
Glory.
 INTRODUCTION

Healing Through Violence

The world is old and aged. It must

change. It is wounded and scared. A
sickness cannot be spoken to, it must
be purged. Therefore violence is not
inherently evil. In fact, in the face of
the end of the world, in the face of
incessant and cruel force, one must
enact proper violence to be able to
achieve healing. The storm must
always come before the rainbow.
Therefore, attain healing.

Time Keeping
In general, we follow the usual time
keeping as with other Tabletop Role-
Playing Games. However we have
different names for it, to help hew close
to the mood of the game:
A Scene is just that, a dramatic scene.
When it ends is up to the players. A fight
is almost always a scene.
A Fight is a moment of kinetic action.
How long it takes is variable. Each Fight
has Flurries, bursts of violence and
movement that showcase the back and
forth of combat between two to three
sides.
A Session is 2-4 hours of play time,
composed of several scenes in
succession.
An Arc is a series of Sessions that
have a single, self-contained story
that starts and wraps up. In a long
running serial or show, this might be a
particular number of episodes, chapters,
or issues that focus around a single issue,
problem, or situation. Arcs are usually
self-contained story, with their own
beginnings and endings.
In Gubat Banwa, an Arc is a discreet
mechanical way of providing progression:
all Kadungganan begin at Arc 1. The
number of Arcs in mind is how long a
Kandu might go: the usual length of a
Kandu is 3 Arcs.
Particularly short games might only last a
single Arc, made up of a few Sessions.
A Kandu is a series of Arcs that interconnect
and build to a grand final climax, whether it
be confrontation or destruction. In pre-
colonial Visayas, Kandu are ancient heroic
epics showcasing the greatest virtues of
their culture and tradition. They are notable
for their repetition of important things,
such as violence and drama. Kandu
singers, Parakandu, perfect their craft by
crafting more succinct yet beautiful
metaphors for each repitition.
Other Role-Playing Games might call this
“Campaigns”.

23
 INTRODUCTION

What is Gubat Banwa?

Gubat Banwa. The Warring Nations. The Lands at War.
Is this all we must be? I am one to talk. My aging hands fail
me, but they are more at home with the dragon-shaped
hilt of my kris than the arms of my husband.
Truly, the question resounds. In Gubat Banwa, martial
artists fight in deliberate, tactical violence, moving in
accordance with the eight-fold principle.
In Gubat Banwa, warriors have intricate, complicated
relationships. Sometimes so complicated that it can be too
hard to keep track of at once: but that is the way of politics,
the game of debts and bonds.
Sons having to kill their fathers for defecting to an enemy
nation, daughters having to flee to the mountains to
escape misogynistic responsibilities, loved ones killing
each other slowly due to orders and/or emotions, and best
friends dueling at the top of a mountain in the midst of a
storm as their ideologies bring them to a head.
GUBAT BANWA is a Martial Arts Tactics and War Drama
Tabletop RPG, where you play as martial artists poised to
change the world in the face of its end, known as
Kadungganan. The game is made for 1-6 players for the
optimal amount of players. Tabletop RPGs are a medium
of games wherein you (and perhaps a small group of
friends) take on specific roles and set out to play through
particular situations. You play a role, defined by the game
you play, with the game also defining the mechanics with
which you play your role through. Very often the
mechanics are ways to interact with the world, or perhaps
with the narrative, or with the genre/feel the game is
trying to convey.
If you like the tactical combat of games such as D&D4e,
LANCER RPG, Tactics Ogre, and Fire Emblem, then this
game is for you!
If you like the dramatics found in various Asian Dramas,
wherein we imagine and revel in a dramatic hyperreality,
this game is also for you!

There is an attainable name for those that wish to be more

than just warriors. More than just Kadungganan,
prestigious. It is Barani, Hero. But you are no hero. Not
yet. Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. What is a hero
anyway? It is up to you to find out. War, hurt, kill,
blaspheme, and seize heaven’s thunderclaps. Wet your
steel with blood to birth a better world.

What Kind Of Stories Can We Tell?

This is up to your group, of course. Gubat Banwa is a flexible game; it is best suited for a large variety of stories that deal
with themes of oppression, empire, slavery, freedom, violence, honor, society, love, friendship, and the like. Here’s a few
examples of stories you can play with Gubat Banwa:

0 A Freewheeling Adventure Across Diverse Lands! Similar to adventure stories like Avatar: The Last Airbender and
One Piece, you can play Gubat Banwa if you want to play a game where you are encouraged to travel across vast
distances, usually by sea, to explore other locales, make friends, and find or perform a specific task, such as defeating
an evil overlord or finding (or returning) a special treasure.
0 Intense Political War Story. Similar to games like Fire Emblem and Tactics Ogre, you can engage in war stories that
deal with heavy political issues, such as genocide, racism, slavery, labor, mercantilism, and the nature of war. Similar
perhaps to Ramza traveling across large swathes of land collecting warriors in a guerrilla fight against a corrupt
religion, or Denam marching across a continent to find the truth behind an ancient empire. This is most potent across
the larger mandalas with imperial goals, such as Virbanwa, Ba-e, and Akai.
0 Intense Interpersonal Drama. You can center the stories to be a bit more personal: revolving around the politics and
relationships of the Kadungganan with the Folk around them, similar to a large number of dramas. There is a robust
system for dramatic mechanics and social debt for this.
0 Wandering Heroes of Martial Prowess. From Legend of the Condor Heroes to Dragonball Z, this is inspired by the
wandering vigilantes of wuxia. Gubat Banwa is particularly well suited for these kinds of stories, where violence and
martial skill are the turning points and emotional beats of a story.
0 Rise Against. Popular in stories such as Star Wars, Iron Council, Les Miserables, and of course Revolutions across
history: you can imagine worlds and stories that have the Kadungganan rising against a terrible hegemony, who holds
power and exploits the poor, the working class, and farmers. This is especially viable in stories set in the Festival of the
Longest Night, where autocrats and datu have risen to grasp for authority.
0 The Idyllic Green and Blue. The deep forests, the grasslands, the holy mountains, the vast oceans, the cold river
springs... These are the things we fight for. To preserve the world from atrocity, to achieve hiyang. Inspired by stories
such as Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Breath of the Wild, this is a more peaceful and cozy kind of
story that focuses on community building, wherein most usually the Kadungganan take the role of caretakers and
cultivators of the land, guardians of their communities (which include the spirits) to keep them from succumbing to the
bloodshed. A soft violence.

24
 INTRODUCTION
Where is Gubat Banwa?
The Earthly Realm of Gubat Banwa, Poetically: Yutadagat
Gubat Banwa means warring lands. This is the term used
across the world, with various translations to Warring
Lands depending on the place. It is the top realm of the
Lower Shell of the world.
The center of the world is the great Mountain of Apu, the
Central Pillar of Space, which is a sword that pierces
through all 14 Layers of Kalibutan, the cosmos. The line
bisecting the map is the Sun Path: that is the path of the
Sun at it arcs over the Cosmos, living in the First Layer of
the Upper Shell. It rises right beside the Far Eastern Pillar
of Fire, burning sand dunes into azure dust, and sets
beside the Far Western Pillar of Water, where the water is
boiled into sunmilk. All the lands under the Sun Path have
tropical or subtropical climates.
The coldest areas of Gubat Banwa are in the corners of the
shell: where it is the furthest from each of the Pillars. The
Far Northern and Southern Pillars themselves provide
some modicum of heat, absorbed from the Sun, though it
is not strong enough to prevent snowstorms. Civilizations
huddle about the Pillars to heat up against the absolute
zero storms.
A Note on Trichiliocosms
Gubat Banwa is the center of an ever-unfolding hibiscus
made of three billion billion realms.
The cosmos of Gubat Banwa is vast and large. Imagine a
giant coconut floating in a vast sea of wine (though others
ask you to imagine a lotus instead). The cosmos itself is
called Kalibutan. The higher layer of Kalibutan, residing
on the upper shell, are the Seven Upper Realms, and the
bottom shell of Kalibutan are known as the Seven Lower
Realms. Each Realm is stacked on top of each other in
layers. Denizens of the two Shells can usually move in
between each banwa more or less freely. However, each
layer of the upper layer is guarded by a garoda, giant birds
of smokeless flame.
The Upper Shell are made up of the following realms, or
lands.
Haribanwa, the Realm of God-Kings, the 7th Realm,
farthest from us mortals, where Creators watch from
void.
Himayabanwa, the Realm of Glory, the 6th Realm, where
rescued souls go to rest, and where the angels of various
cultures serve.
Buhibanwa, the Realm of Life, the 5th Layer, where the
highest mountains reach, and where the Tree of Life
resides.
Langitbanwa, the Realm of the Sky, the 4th Layer, land of
the Sun, Moon, and Stars
Balahalabanwa, the 3rd Layer, Realm of the Gods.
Warriors that die in combat are brought here by the
rainbow.
Apobanwa, the 2nd layer, Realm of the Ancestors, who
stride freely between this and the land of the Gods, for
they become Gods themselves.
The borders of the map are the borders of the world itself:
at the edges of the world, the continents rise up into
massive mountains, known as the teeth of the world. Past
the teeth is the Endless Sea of Wine.
We live upon the Sword Isles. Five major polities of power
have emanated from five major nations, and in the midst
of them all are one million polities fighting in never-
ending war.
The islands of The Sword Isles are populated by tawo, you
and me. Alongside tawo live foreigners, whom you call
sina. These include humanoid beings from outside the
Sword Isles, all the way to the Pale Kings and Tiger Gods in
the furthest reaches of the middle world.
The Sword Isles is a vast place, home to a million polities
living in a million islands. Do not presume to be able to
grasp them all.
Hanginbanwa, the 1st layer, Realm of the Wind Spirits.
The Lower Shell is where earthly mortals reside. The 1st
Layer, the one closest to Hanginbanwa, is ours, where
mortals and spirits thrive, known as Gubat Banwa.
The 2nd layer is the abode of the tree and mountain spirits,
and guardian spirits, known as Kahoybanwa, Realm of
Wood.
The 3rd layer is the realm of the sea, the oceans, saltwater,
which stream in past the World Jaws from the endless
Ocean of Wine. Here the sea gods dwell in their mighty
kingdoms, known as Kadagatan.
The 4th Layer is the layer of freshwater spirits and
waterspout spirits, known as Kasubanan. Here the
ancestor spirits, in the form of crocodiles, rule the earth.
The 5th Layer is the layer of subterranean spirits: the gods
of the lower soil, of caves, of lost things. This is the layer
where Sulad is, floating in an underground ocean. Sulad,
the afterlife of many Sword Isles folk, is owned by
Sumpoy, Slaver of Souls, who forces folk not saved by
Iraon Daron to toil as they did in life.
The 6th Layer is the layer of punishment, known to many
as Nerak, or Inferno. Adherents of Bulanan and
Sampalataya fall here when they die and did not follow the
tenets of their faith. Other folk fall here if they must be
cleansed of misdeeds in their past life.
The 7th Layer is the Empty Layer. It has no name. The four
pillars of the world uphold the rest of the layers here,
where no sound can be heard. The world shakes when the
Abyssal Boar or Abyssal Serpent shakes the world pillars.
Sometimes chains rattle impossibly in its vaunted halls.
25
 INTRODUCTION
The Five Major
Mandalas
Out of the million polities of The Sword Isles, five are
known to be the most powerful, or greatest. The
Mahamandalas.
They have constant trade with the Continents, giving
them a monopoly on foreign prestige goods, as well as
facilitate immense trade both domestically within the
archipelago and outside of it. The Sword Isles is a huge
place—as it should be, being the center of the world.
However, remember that it is exactly that: huge. While
the five major mandalas of the Sword Isles stretch far,
they are still simply just five of the One Million Polities in
the Archipelago.
There is more than enough room for other empires to be
within the Sword Isles, trading and raiding. In the
present era, however, they might not possess a Violence
that positions them to be the herald that will change the
world.
Some examples of the million other polities that
permeate the Sword Isles are thus: Sinuku of the
Thundering Dragonbird, Ibalnong of the Monster Slayers
and Tamers, Asinan of the Iyamati Concordance, Vuyu of
the Ice-Capped Mountains, Naksuwarga of the One
Thousand Gods, Barungsai of the Fated Divinity, and
Sonyoh of the Rising Blades. There are many, many more.
And so our eyes fall to the five, like rays upon the sun, or
petals upon the lunar blossom. Five is a holy number in
the isles: 4 + 1, perfection of divinity. A square with the
single point in the middle, a symbol of Hari-Balahala
Rakan Malaun, the most Ancient of Primordials, whose
name means God-King Chief Eldest, the first ancestor of
the Gods, the Giants, the Aswang, and the Demons.
In the creation of the Gods, Malaun—who was duality in
unity and therefore, both—manifested their masculine
and feminine self and birthed unitarily the first of the
gods, and became the First Ancestor.
Malaun is gone now, either dead or having left Gubat
Banwa, their corpse (or perhaps, what’s left of it) can be
found in the deepest reaches of Mount Laon, in the isle of
Naplas. Some Apunon priests have said that Apu Dayaw
is Malaun.
26
It is important to note that these 5 Mandalas are inspired
by the entirety of Maritime Southeast Asia, but are not
them. Gubat Banwa is not Southeast Asia, and we are not
writing the actual cultures of these people into the game.
Instead, these cultures are intensely and fundamentally
based on our cultures. This means that if you play this,
you are not inherently disrespecting any culture: Gubat
Banwa is a fantasy game. Instead, please do appreciate
the vast diversity of our cultures, how similar we are to
each other, and maybe we can all realize the violence
inflicted upon us by colonial borders (and colonialism in
general).
Additionally, there is a slight Philippine-centric focus,
but that’s simply because we are Pilipinhon. We write
Gubat Banwa with the paradigm of “Philippines-as-part-
of-the-Malay-Archipelago”. “Precolonial” means before
colonial borders, after all.
A Quick Note on the Mahamandalas
The Sword Isles is filled with a huge number of
settlements, villages, cities, and states. “State” in the
Sword Isles functions differently than what is usually
understood when talking about states. Instead of states
having strict geographical borders, there is instead a
powerful center, and then that power emanates outward:
those closest to the center are more influenced and
connected to the center, while those farther from the
center are more prone to having their own bespoke
cultures and only answer to the mandala out of trade
agreements or out of acknowledgement of their power/
bonds. The center plus the surrounding power it exerts
over other places are known as a mandala.
This term was coined by Multiplicitous Missionaries that
arrived in Ba-e (monks of Ashinin), and has since
proliferated across the Sword Isles. Some villages can be
powerful enough to have mandalas, but most of the time
only powerful cities have mandalas.
 INTRODUCTION

The Rajahnate of Gatusan

The grand rajahnate, led by the great Raja Batara Ambasi, ancestor of the tiger-lord Shri Bishaya,
who was once an Auraskan Prince in the far Southeast. They are royal raiders and fierce competitors,
who seek to get the most out of life and create poems out of living. From the dead they create gods.
They are inspired by the Hindu-Buddhist Maritime Kingdoms across Southeast Asia: including
Sugbu, Butuan, Ma-I, Java, Pasai, Srivijaya, Langkasuka, Mataram, Kediri, Singhasari.
Five constants about them are:
0 Has 999 Chiefdoms united in alliance to a single overlord, the Raja Batara, who controls the largest
foreign trading seaport, Kangdaya. Raja Batara Ambasi bears the Violence of Change, condensed
into his Dawneater Kalis, passed down through generations starting from his legendary forefather
Raja Sri Bishaya.
0 Tattoos are rites of passage either in love or war. Are never not singing, like to insult and mock as
a war tactic and are prone to putting family over others. Raiding is a way of life, a way of revenge.
0 Taught poetry (that is, singing and oral literature) at a very young age. A poetic culture. Have their
own reading and writing system, mostly
used for messages. Traditions
and rites are passed down
through songs.
0 Worship and uphold the
religion of anitu, the
spirits. These range from
the gods, to the nature spirits,
to the ancestor spirits, to the
guardian spirits. While they
seek Hiyang, they are also
prone to atrocity.
0 Bolstered by the Violence of
Change. Raja Batara Ambasi
seeks to unite the one million
polities of The
Sword Isles to
enact the most
potent ritual
raid: The Great
World Raid,
where they will
war against all of
Gubat Banwa and triumph.

27
 INTRODUCTION

The Confederation of Apumbukid

The protectors of Diwa, the spiritual essence of truth, sometimes known as God, other times
known as “Energy” . They uphold hiyang, and travel to places wherein hiyang might be
broken and destroyed, and they quell places of atrocity, expunging Scourges, manifestations
of Di Hiyang. In accord with Apu Dayaw, they have been granted the ability to tap into the
Root Paths, which let them travel instantaneously across Gubat Banwa by walking into
strangler figs. This has caused Apumbukid to have settlements all across The Sword Isles, and
many other hinterland settlements are protected by them: a practice they have only begun
doing recently, in the face of the Eighth Star Era.
They are inspired by the various living traditions of Maritime SEA, who still practice much
of their indigenous religions: the Maranao, the Kalinga, the Bagobo, the Yakan, the
Subanen, the Dayak, the Balinese, the Sundanese, and the Batak.
Five constants about them are:
0They are a Confederation of Five Principalities, known as Kedatuan, each one swearing
divine allegiance with Apu Dayaw. Each of the five Timway bear a Shard of Apu Dayaw’s
Violence, the Violence of Harmony, which can change the world. The Five Principalities are
as follows:
1 Niyawa, the Principality of Priests, Bearer of Apu’s Ritual Spear.
1 Samring, the Principality of Sages, Bearer of Apu’s Ceremonial Robes.
1 Pagariwara, the Principality of Warriors, Bearer of Apu’s Ritual Keris.
1 Diwangga, the Principality of Travelers, Bearer of Apu’s Wooden Sandals.
1 Barahanda, the Principality of Traders, Bearer of Apu’s Gold Balance.
0Every warrior performs a pilgrimage to Apu’s
Balete in Usambangsa, to pay respects and
stay for five days to align themselves with
Diwa, and achieve Hiyang for a moment.
0They are fiercely dedicated to protecting and
keeping their settlements: they have since
adopted a more aggressive approach to
stewardship, realizing that they cannot be idle as the
world crumbles. They travel in bands searching for
places of atrocity, or Scourge, or to seek out and counsel
chiefs and rulers.
0They perform ritual fights within Apu’s territory, but they
do not go out and raid other settlements outside of
Pumirang.
0Warriors perform ritual killing to realign places into achieving
Hiyang: very frequently these are the Scourge themselves: undead,
demons, and the like. Sometimes however it is a particularly evil
person, who is very commonly the cause of such atrocity.

28
 INTRODUCTION

The Sultanate of Akai

The exemplars of Divine Striving: chivalrous warriors that live in one of the largest
monarchies in Gubat Banwa: a series of principalities across the hundred islands of the
Foosteps of the Gods, recognizing and paying fealty to a single Sultana in the island of
Siga.
Inspired by the various Sultanates of postclassical Southeast Asia: Sulu, Maguindanao,
Brunei, Maynila, Aceh, Johore, Gowa, Banten.
Five constants about them are:
0 Has a number of kingdoms under them, each one led
by a Panglima or a Ratu/Datu. They are all led by the grand
lunar monarch Sultana Yarashgara XII, Her Lunar
Majesty, Consort of the Crescent Moon, sometimes
known as Maharani, empress. She is bolstered by the
Violence of Striving, and wishes to bring all of the
Sword Isles into it, so that they may all reach Lunar
Heaven. Her Violence is condensed into her Lunar
Taming, a crescent shield that bears the Moon
Burning Into Darkness.
0 Seek to expand their power in the name of
their Divine Striving, especially in retaliation to the
threat of the Reconquest of the Pale Kings and the
imperialism of Virbanwa.
0 Worships the moon, and the moon has angels and
devils and the Palace of Baginda Sumongsuklay. Their
zeal is nigh unmatchable.
0 Are known for their Knights, which ride on
horses, elephants, and even sarimanok. Sometimes
they ride upon manta rays. All of these in service of
divine striving.
0 Their growth in strength is unparalleled, and
they are one of the most powerful polities in the
Isles, possessing a large swathe of the Footsteps of
the Gods under their domain.

29
 INTRODUCTION

The Lakanate of Virbanwa

Conquerors and imperials. Those who seek to bring the “light of civilization” upon all of the lands of the Sword Isles.
Virbanwa was once the crown city of the Issohappan West Indies, the seat of the Governor General, and the primary
source of Issohappa’s gold. With the success of the Lakan Conspiracy they have managed to beat back the Pale Kings, but
they have subsumed the worst part of their invaders’ cultures: imperialism, mercantilism, and zealotry.
The peasants and the workers that toil under Virbanwa’s Dons and Donyas survive and celebrate. They syncretize Ashen
Star concepts with local folk religions. Their King is a Kind God, one that is the Father. Those of mixed blood must choose
to either benefit from the predatory system, or take their identity into their own hands.
It is up to them to eat the Elite and establish a kinder Lakanate. The Lakanate cannot exist without them.
Inspired by the colonial cities of Southeast Asia: Spanish/American Manila, Dutch Batavia, and Portuguese Malacca.

Five constants about them are:

0 Their ruler is Batara Lakan Huwan Rekno, said to be the grandest son of the late
First Lakan. He believes his penitence is that his ancestors did not unite the
Sword Isles together, and thus it is up to him to do it, to save the world from the
Eighth Star Era. He does this by asterix and bayonet: the Virbanwan faith in
the Ashen Star and their Issohappan-style military regiments. He is
bolstered by the Violence of Conquest, condensed and taking form as a
crimson silk Penitent’s Veil, his and his ancestors’ atonement for failing to
unite the isles.
0 Their peasants toil in eternal penitence for being born poor.
Unlike their island neighbors, Virbanwa has access to vast plains
for wet rice cultivation. They create canals and irrigation systems.
In the past, rice was only planted for the community. However
now rice is planted for profit.
0 Their religion, the Ashen Star, states that Makagagahum [ma-
ka-GA-ga-hoom] the Almighty is the Distant Star in the darkness,
so far that He is so small, but watches us from His Empyrean
Abode. He has tasked Huwan Rekno, who wields the Violence of
Conquest, to create the Millennium Kingdom, uniting all of the
million-million islands of the Sword Isles together. The Ashen
Star Faith is an indigenized version of the Issohappan Bleeding
Star faith, which comes from outside of the cosmos.
0 They have conquered numerous chiefdoms and
kingdoms, and turned them into villages or cities,
the rulers into mayors, who all pay tax to the
Virbanwan Government. Tax Collectors are also
mendicant priests of the Beggar Saint Ayala,
who promotes mercantilism as justice.
0 They believe that most of Rusunuga is already
theirs, but much of Rusunuga has begun to
conspire against them. Their strength does
however reach from Rusunuga’s northern tip
with Gibankaw to the southern coldwind isles of
Vetani.

A Note on Virbanwa and Colonialism

Gubat Banwa is inherently and violently anti-colonial. We reject colonialism as anything beneficent, and anything good
that comes from colonialism is not a consequent of it but of the efforts of people trying to survive within its system.
Virbanwa is a scathing indictment of the neo-feudal structures of modern Philippines. It is intensely based on my lived
experiences as a Filipino living in the Nation’s Capital. It is a place of dirty racism and crooked politicians. The only good
thing here is the people that have to depend on each other to survive. Gubat Banwa realizes that the Filipino is a product
of colonization, but we still have our own indigenous ethnic roots that we can celebrate. We celebrate surviving
colonialism, not having had it. Virbanwa has heroes that see beyond the confines of their own system: that includes
those that might be products of the system. Those with mixed blood, or those that revel in beloved syncretized
traditions. Virbanwa is not a blade against those born because of colonization, nor of those of mixed blood. It is a bladed
critique against the systems and structures that oppress us to this day.

30
 INTRODUCTION

The Kingdom of Ba-e

The oldest polity in the Sword Isles. They have been galvanized due to trade with Baik Hu, and the strength of
their tenacity. They have the greatest connections to the past—they are heirs to Kadanay lineages, the oldest
people in the Sword Isles—as well as to the future: they have many Ashinin and Annuvaran missionaries in
their shores, and many Baikhan officials have begun to stay in their cities. Their Sangpamegat is also their
Chakravarti, their Avalokitesvara, who exudes great merit and righteousness, a true bodhisattva that will
lead her people into Glory.
Inspired by the Hindu-Buddhist Kingdoms of
Southeast Asia or the ones with common Chinese
connection: Butuan, Ma-I (as Precolonial Laguna),
Champa, Funan, Majapahit, Ayutthaya, and Khmer
Five constants about them are:
0 Ruled by the Sangpamegat Kalangitan, once simply a
dayang, who lives in mind and consciousness, a near-
Goddess. Wielding the Violence of Remembrance,
she seeks to establish a righteous kingdom that
will lead others into Glory through
righteousness. To this end, she seeks knowledge
and power, and to bring Ba-e’s name across all of
Gubat Banwa’s eight corners. The Violence of
Remembrance is condensed into a gold-tasseled parasol
of eight angles, a promise to fill the eight directions with
Ba-e’s righteousness.
0 Has the most Baikhan influence, and many Baikhan
colonies can be found in their shores. Their jungles and
grasslands are pocked with giant statues of the
Tranquil Sage, the Gentle Aspect of Annuvar Buddha, the
Originator of the Annuvaran Faith. Pagodas and
temples are created intertwined with strangler figs.
0 Ashinin and Annuvaran religions have arrived
here, brought by Tranquil Missionaries from
the Southern and Southeastern Continent
regions. Many of them have been
syncretized with indigenous anitu,
creating Ba-enon Anitu, which has
subsumed much of the other gods brought in from Ashinin
and concepts on metaphysics from Annuvara. It is heavily
rumored that the Sangpamegat is in her current state
because she was taught by Annuvaran monks, and that she
is now a bodhisattva, a being poised to become a
Himayanon (Blossomed), but has chosen to stay to lead
others into enlightenment.
0 One of the richest nations in all of the Sword Isles,
having access to vast sources of gold and access to
constant trade with Baik Hu, which has recognized it as a
tributary state and named Kalangitan as Queen. They
have created various gold items and turned them into
weapons through peerless craftsmanship. Kaiyumi, one
of the Sangpamegat’s sons, was said to have sorcerously
created this Ba-enon Gold Alloy, which makes gold as
strong as steel. Kaiyumi Gold is highly sought after. They
also have access to vast rice fields, letting them perform wet
rice cultivation and creating vast amounts of rice.
0 Monastic schools are prevalent here, especially the House of
Wisdom, crafted by the Sangpamegat to forge Swordscholars that will exalt
the violence of remembrance. These Swordscholars travel the isles etching
down traditions, stories, and song upon imperishable copperplate so
that none of them may vanish in the Eighth Star Era.

31
 II: PLAY
In this section of the book, learn how to play the
game with the rules. Keep in mind that Gubat Banwa
is a particularly involved game, and it demands your
attention.
The Play Manuscript has three sections: Seasons,
War Drama, and Tactical Martial Arts.
Before learning about how to roll, here are the
following General Rules that you should keep in
mind when playing a game of Gubat Banwa.
PLAY

34
 PLAY
The Himulawan Rule �
Bulawan, Bisaya for Gold or pure gold.
The Bulawan Rule is this: fiction and drama over
everything else. If it makes sense in the fiction or if its
particularly dramatic, it happens. Let the story being told
take precedence over rules. In combat, if someone is
Incapacitated, they obviously would not be able to
perform effects or keep an effect going, because they’re
unconscious. Additionally, this is an endorsement for
players (specifically the Umalagad) to create rulings.
Rulings over rules.
The Pilak Rule �
Pilak, Tagalog/Bisaya for Silver.
The Pilak Rule is this: specific trumps general. A specific
rule from a Discipline or item is what will happen instead
of a general rule. If a general rule tells you that you suffer
damage, but a specific rule says that you do not suffer
that damage, then you do not suffer that damage.
The Tumbaga Rule �
Tumbaga is Bisaya for Copper.
The Tumbaga Rule is the rule of rounding. Whenever you
must halve something, unless otherwise stated, round
down.
The Vajra Rule �
The Vajra is the Thunderbolt or Diamond.
As much as possible, the mechanics presented here in
Gubat Banwa is injected with the high-flying, ballistic
martial arts melodramatic fiction that can be found in
many Philippine Epics, Southeast Asian stories, and
Wuxia dramas. However, for this to work best, it requires
the buy-in from the players.
One of the most important rules of Gubat Banwa is to
describe martial arts and drama through the mechanics.
In general, if you describe what you are doing in the
fiction in a melodramatic or badass way (describing your
Stride as wuxia-style bounds, acting out a speech with another
warrior that you must betray but you have begun having feelings
for) you gain a Thunderbolt Token! Whenever you Cast,
you can spend any number of Thunderbolt Tokens to reroll
any number of dice in the dice pool.
Both Kadungganan and Umalagad begin each Session
with 1 Thunderbolt Token.
When you try to stop a flood and gain a Full Success
through Water, perhaps you can describe that you manage
to meditate and unlock a hidden connection through
extreme meditation, and you manage to stop the flood
with telekinetic prowess.
When you try to intimidate a warlord and gain a partial
success, you can take hold of the interpretation. After a
booming speech against the warlord, perhaps the warlord
is simply even more agitated, and this in turn caused your
warriors to be agitated as well, and so you start
improvising and say: you actually invoked an ancient clan
war between the settlements, and now you must fight it
again to seal it once and for all.
When you Stride, say out loud that your Kadungganan is
rushing across vines, vaulting over fallen trunks, running
across ruin walls. When you inflict violence, say out loud
that your Kadungganan is unleashing a flurry of strikes, or
is striking 6 times in a span of a second (works best if you
roll 6 Attack Teeth!)
The Puthaw Rule �
Puthaw means iron in Bisaya.
The Puthaw Rule is this: follow your responsibilities.
These are:
0 Agree on a Theme and Tone
0 Care about combat
0 Play into the melodrama
0 Make every fight meaningful
0 Learn to fight together
0 Make sure everyone is safe
0 Make sure everyone is having fun
0 Portray a fantastical feudal world embroiled in war
0 Fill the Kadungganan’s life with war and drama
0 Play to find out what happens
The Sword Isles is not a nice place. In fact, it is a horrible
place. It is a place that is directly horrible because of the
actions of those that have gone before. They who have
perpetuated this never ending war, this endless cycle of
blood and vengeance. This can only be achieved if
everyone is on the same page. This world is a world
primed for the kinds of stories Gubat Banwa wants to tell,
and you must play into your role as Kadungganan that
must suffer it.
35
 PLAY
Agree on a Theme and Tone
And stick to it. As a Kadungganan, you have an equal
amount of work needed to do to make sure that the entire
game fits the tone that your entire table has agreed upon.
Make sure you hew closely to it, so everyone can have fun.
If you agreed on a lighthearted game, maybe don’t inject
torture into it. If you’re going for a gritty war story, try
not to stray too far from it and try to marry a dragon to
create crocodile eugenics.
Care About Combat
As a Kadungganan, your primary mode in life is to fight.
You will get into fights eventually, so operate with this in
mind. In that sense, this is a combat heavy game. What
did you expect from a war drama game set in Fantasy Late
Porcelain Period Philippines, which was characterized by
intensifying violence? Remember your stats, your rules,
your abilities, so everyone can have fun when the
battlefield music plays.
Play Into the Melodrama
Siblings locked in eternal war. Once lovers now enemies.
Once enemies, now lovers. Play into the melodrama one
would see on Filipino Telenovelas, K-Dramas, and even
Chinese Dramas. This elevated sense of drama is what
makes these mediums so entertaining, and it is pretty
entertaining to see on the table as well. Play into them.
Don’t shy away from them.
Make Every Fight Meaningful
Gubat Banwa fights last long. It’s made to be that way:
they are made to be interesting and major. But the only
way for you to get invested into such fights is if you made
it meaningful. The Umalagad will help facilitate this:
maybe the current combat has your long lost brother in it,
or maybe the footsoldiers are people you once respected.
However, it is still up to you to make it meaningful to your
Kadungganan. In fact, this can lead to some interesting
emergent storytelling, if even during a combat you
realize that your Kadungganan might sympathize or
what have you with their enemy’s plight, making it a
grueling dance. Pick up the slack: the Umalagad may be
singing the song, but you are still the subjects of it, you
are the ones guiding the song.
Learn To Fight Together
Gubat Banwa is also inherently a team-based game.
Despite the war torn land, you find a little slice of family
with your allies. Thus, your objective is not to make
yourself stronger than them, but rather, find out how to
make yourself stronger for them. Gaining abilities and
skills that would help the entire party. This is a benefit as
well in combat, since much of the player and enemy math
is centered around the buffs and debuffs and abilities that
can only be attained if the players play off of each other.
You will never be able to survive alone.
Make Sure Everyone Is Safe
Always use safety tools and establish boundaries. Use
tools such as Lines and Veils, X, N, and O Cards, and
Script Changes. If you look up TTRPG Safety Tools on
Google, you will find a whole slew of them. Choose
whichever one you think fits well with your group. I
personally am a huge advocate for Lines/Veils, X/N/O
Cards, and Stars and Wishes.
Here's a good article for safety tools: https://optionalrule.
com/2021/01/29/safety-consent-rpg-checklist/
36
Make Sure Everyone is Having Fun
This is probably the most important one, on par with
having everyone be safe. Make sure everyone is having
fun. It is not only the Umalagad’s job to reach out and ask
if people are having fun (the Umalagad is no lord or
master) but also the Kadungganan’s. Remember that this
is a social activity, it is telling stories around a bonfire. It
is singing an improvised song. Sometimes it might not
get fun, or something might spoil the fun. Be open, be
communicative, and always remember that at the end of
the day, this is only a game. And games are supposed to be
fun. Not just for you, but for everyone else at the table.
Portray a Fantastical Feudal World Embroiled in
War
Not just a fantastical world, but a world where Datu rule
settlements, fight over manpower and not just land, and
raid those that have slighted them. A world where insults
are taken personally and can lead to wars, where wives
and husbands are sought for by powerful chiefs. A world
where malevolent forces of nature--which only appear
due to the actions of the mortals themselves--arise and
try to kill the Kadungganan. A dangerous and daring
world that needs those that are willing to look past
themselves. This need not be a Precolonial Philippine-
inspired setting either: you can make up a loose feudal
society of Island Kings and Sea Queens on the spot if
you’re inspired enough by the lore of the game.
Fill the Kadungganan’s Life with War and Drama
A Kadungganan’s life is always going to be embroiled in
interpersonal conflict, relationship melodrama, and
violent combat in a setting such as The Sword Isles, where
states are at war, prides are at stake, and families are at
risk. Play this up for the group. You want players to be
agonizing about an NPC that they’ve grown attached to
but might have to kill, or being intensely protective of a
certain NPC. Even better: if the Kadungganan become
intensely protective of each other. Use their connections,
their old lovers, brothers, fathers against them. As the
Umalagad, you are cruel fate.
Play To Find Out What Happens
The best thing about Tabletop Role-Playing Games is that
you don’t know what will happen at the table. Even if you
have an adventure planned out, or are following a
scenario or module, that kind of structure can only take
you so far. Let the Kadungganan’s actions blossom and
snowball, push their actions to the logical limit. Have
whatever structure or idea you had in mind stuck there in
the background, let it happen while the players work, and
then when you get a golden opportunity in the fiction, use
it. Then, let the players react. Find out what happens
when they do.
Play to find out what happens is one of the best
innovations of Tabletop Role-Playing Games: it’s a
principle and mindset that Video Games cannot
replicate. Lean on it. You don’t have to prep a beginning,
middle, and then ending, like you would a novel.
Instead, prep events that showcase more of the world,
characters that have hidden motives and agendas, and
ancient spirits and gods that have set in motion plans
since the end of the Seventh Sun Era. Then, put the
Kadungganan within them and play to find out what
happens when you do.
 PLAY

Modes of Play
Gubat Banwa is a tabletop role-playing game that can be played in a number of ways. These play modes are: Solo Play,
Co-Op Play, and Traditional Play. Before playing, you can choose which version of Play you wish to do. These modes of
play can be interchanged at any point: if from Solo Play you want to transition into Co-op Play, you can!

0 Solo Play is exactly that: you control a single Kadungganan and go through the Sword Isles by yourself. You can even accrue
companions, but they will not be as powerful as your own Kadungganan. You usually need just 1 player, yourself,
0 Co-op Play (short for Cooperative Play) is when a group of players play as Kadungganan, but without an Umalagad. You
travel through the Sword Isles in troupe-play everyone playing NPCs and the like, as they fight enemies, solve mysteries, and
overthrow thrones. You usually need 2-5 other players with you.
0 Traditional Play is the default mode of play common in traditional RPGs, wherein a group of players play as Kadungganan
while one plays as the Umalagad, a sort of master of ceremonies or arbiter who facilitates the revelation of the world. You
usually need 3-6 players here, with one player taking the role of the Umalagad.

What You’ll Need

The following rules will cover Solo Play to Traditional Play.

Kadungganan
The river of life ever flows. Rejoice in the glory of battle…
Kadungganan.
Those who bear the Steel of Conviction, the Flame of Want, the
Burden of Rumination, and the strength of Conviction.
Stand, now. Stand, and never let the world bring you to your knees!
Kadungganan! Fulfill your blasted name!
In honor and legend, let your name be writ across the eternal stars!
Stride upon the bloody lands of GUBAT BANWA and change the
course of history!
Sunder the world with your sins so that we may build a better one.
Kadungganan in Gatusanon, Hulubalang in Akainon, Bayani in
Ba-e, Kabalyero in Virbanwa, and Vwiraya in Apu-apu.
Kadungganan means Honor and Prestige. It is what you are. If
we are to translate it to this tongue, it can be Gallant or Knight.
Kadungganan is the Trade Mataram term for the various
esteemed and honorable warriors across all of Gubat Banwa. It
is a lingua franca term for martial artists who are the best and
most skilled of all the warriors of their culture, whether they be
the Mahavira of the Varshan Empires to the Xia of Southern Baik
Hu.
In Gubat Banwa, you play as these Kadungganan. As a
Kadungganan, the world around you treats you with a certain
respect. Warrior cultures might look upon you as a folk hero, and
treat you with the same respect as nobles. Others, such as
powerful states and hegemonies, might look upon you as a true
nuisance, an evil upstart, threats to their absolute authority.
As a Kadungganan, you play to uphold your Conviction and to
fulfill your Want. While in Gubat Banwa the cultures mostly look
upon Kadungganan as these unblemished heroes who are
worthy of places in their songs and genealogies, this cannot be
any farther from the truth. Kadungganan, by virtue of their
Want, are capable of exalted highs, but also are prone to falling
to the lowest of lows.
As a Kadungganan, you can change the world. But are you
willing to lose yourself in the process?
Umalagad
O faithful guardians, gods of this world, hear our calls and our
hearts
Find us true and pure and clean and cleanse us from any impurities
Guard us from all things that wish to bend us.
In the darkness of the Eighth Star Era, where the Goddess of the
Blackest Night brings impenetrable darkness:
Be our only guiding light.
Umalagad means Guardian Ancestor. Very often known as
Umalagad across many cultures, known as Ferandal in
Apumbukid, Kiraman in Akai, Katutubo in Ba-e, and Anghel in
Virbanwa.
In Solo and Co-Op Play, the Umalagad is a guiding force, and not
a player role. When things seem uncertain, the Kadungganan
Look to the Umalagad to keep the game moving.
In traditional play, it is the role of the Umalagad to see that a
Kadungganan goes on their journeys, and work toward their
Convictions and Wants. To this end, you facilitate the revealing
of Gubat Banwa to the Kadungganan, to the players. Whenever
the Kadungganan acts, the Umalagad dictates how the world
reacts. As a Umalagad, reveal that the world of Gubat Banwa is
bloody and visceral, fraught with violence, infighting, but also
reveal that it can be saved, that there is always good, and that
that is worth fighting for. The Umalagad’s role is to establish
fiction, and then react. The Kadungganan will act, move through
the rivers of the fiction, and the Umalagad reacts to it.
In Traditional Play, the Umalagad’s responsibility is roleplaying
as the world, as the world of the mortals, Gubat Banwa, as the
various NPCs, or Non-Player Characters, that the umalagad have
deemed fated to be complicated and entwined into the hearts
and drama of the Kadungganan. The Umalagad influence the
movement of the world, after all, and the Kadungganan pay
respects, revere rites, and worship the umalagad to bring them
good tidings.

37
 PLAY

Play Accoutrements Then, create the

Grab the supplied character sheet on the itch or
drivethrurpg page. Then you will need one of each kind of
polyhedral die: (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, and Percentile
dice/d100). It will be a good idea to have multiple (around
10) d8s and d10s.
For stranger dice, such as “d2, d3 and d5”, simply roll d4,
d6 or a d10 and half the result. Or count every 2 numbers
as 1 (for d3, roll a d6. 1-2 is 1, 3-4 is 2, and 5-6 is 3).
Finally, if you choose to play with Tactical Martial Arts,
you must have a battle grid and any sort of tokens. This
can be anything, as long as you can use it to symbolize
enemies on a battlefield, as well as players on a
battlefield. Gubat Banwa prefers the use of square grids,
but can easily use other grids as well, or even gridless,
counting each square as 1 inch.
Kadungganan and their
Warband.
The Umalagad will be focusing on building the world and
creating NPCs, those destined to meet with the
Kadungganan, along with any combat rules they might
need when violence inevitably breaks out.
To help with this, the Core Rulebook contains a bunch of
easily usable starting points below the Character
Creation section, as well as easily digestible lore for the
Umalagad to use.
Those that will be playing as the Kadungganan will be
creating their own warriors to fight against whatever
happens in their lives. They will fight against in both
physical wars as well as social bouts and mental violence
to seize the day and survive in this land of constant
conflict.

Solo Play
Recommended for beginners and those that don’t have Gubat Banwa’s mechanics down, you can start trying out Gubat
Banwa for mostly free, without the need for someone to run for you, through its Solo Play mode!

Solo play uses your own imagination, divinations, and a robust tactical martial arts system to create diverse narratives,
compelling storytelling, and intricate situations that you can immerse yourself into, to experience the vast world of
Gubat Banwa, and to pave in blood and metal the legend of your Kadungganan. What songs will they sing of you?

Things You Need

Solo Play requires you the same things needed with traditional play, with some other things. Notably, one thing you don’t
need is another player that takes on the role of an Umalagad.

0 Something To Record Your Ventures: You need a paper and pencil. Ideally this is some sort of notebook that you can use as
a journal, that you can use to track down what happens on your Kadungganan’s journeys. Writing down what happens to you
is known as Inscribing. Of course, you can also write this down on a computer or some other sort of document.
0 Divinations: This Core Rulebook has a large Divination section. Divination is the term used for oracles or the tables used to
create randomized outcomes to help facilitate the movement of the narrative. You can use other books for Divinations! In
fact, you can use resources outside of RPGs, such as academic papers or books, to find more inspiration.

Solo Principles
Here is a general list to keep in mind for Solo Play. These Guidelines must be followed if one wants an optimal play
experience.

0 Surrender yourself to the fiction. Give yourself to the fates. Revel in the dramatic, do not revel in trying to win every single
argument. If you want an interesting story, fail and accept consequences.
0 Think Outside Yourself. While in a situation, think about how the other characters might speak with your own
Kadungganan. Do not think in terms of how your Kadungganan might be benefitted. Think instead of the wants and needs of
each character, and play into the fiction of that.
0 Think of your Kadungganan’s Feelings. Emotions and feelings are the most important parts of this game. Kadungganan
tend to have larger than life emotions, and you are welcome to play it up. Always keep their emotions in mind.
0 Keep Track of Combat. Use a notebook or some such if you are opting to play Solo with tactical martial arts, which is
configured anyway to be able to run perfectly well with solo games, although it does require the player to have a larger grasp
of Gubat Banwa’s martial intricacies.

38
 PLAY

How To Play Solo The Venture

There are a myriad of ways to begin playing solo. Very When you leave a Point of Peace and travel through the
often you can put down a map and then be on your way, Sea of Conflict (that is, any unfamiliar place, dangerous
but of course this is easier said than done. For those that waters, hazardous locales [which might include parts of a
want to start playing Solo, follow these! city]) define the Venture’s Threat (below).

0 Choose a Region. There are five major regions in the Threats

Sword Isles, which cover vast swathes of the Sword Isles
that have similar geographic makeup, cultural aesthetics, 0 Risky Venture: A 5-Crescent Moon.
and are usually close to each other.
0 Challenging Venture: A 6-Crescent Moon.
0 Either choose an Area from the Region or make your
0 Dangerous Venture: A 7-Crescent Moon.
own. There are a large number of areas within each
region to start your work in, or you can choose to make 0 Formidable Venture: An 8-Crescent Moon.
your own region or settlement by following the
0 Legendary Venture: A 9-Crescent Moon.
Divination for creating a settlement.
0 Decide whether you’re within a settlement or
outside of one. This can influence how you start your
Every time you further your Venture (in the fiction by
game: if outside a settlement, ask yourself why? Are you
travelling, or fighting through a jungle), make a proper
in the midst of a raid? A fight? Maybe you’re out hunting?
Cast. Usually this is something like Sensitivity, Judgment,
Or maybe you’re adventuring?
Poetry, or Toughness. When a Moon becomes Full, you
0 Record Your Starting Position. Inscribe your first reach your Destination.
touchstone, as stated in the Inscribe Your Song mechanic
detailed below. Then, you can begin. Either roll on a 0 Partial Success: either fills in 1 Crescent or remove a
Divination, or describe how your Kadungganan is carried Tooth.
by their heart to venture.
0 Full Success: Fill in 2 Crescents or Fill in 1 Crecsent and
remove a tooth.
0 Legendary Success: Fill in 2 Crescents and remove 2
Look To the Umalagad Teeth.
When you want to answer questions, determine how a 0 Failure grants 1 Tooth.
character might respond, discover details about Gubat 0 Dramatic Failure grants 2 Teeth.
Banwa, you may Look To The Umalagad.
0 If the Venture Moon is Consumed, you become
When you Look to the Umalagad, choose one from below: hopelessly lost: lose all Crescents except 1, raise the
Venture Threat by 1 if possible, you face a Danger, then
0 Conclude: Decide an answer based on the most gain 1 XP.
interesting or dramatic result. Perhaps use a Catch.
0 Likelihoods: Choose 2 options for the question. Then,
assign a likelihood rating for them each within 10.
Example: Option 1 might be true on 1-3, while Option 2
might be true on 4-10.
0 The options can even be what your Kadungganan
does, to keep things interesting, but making sure it’s
in line with their Principle, Want, and Conviction. This
can be, for example, “Do I kill him or spare him?” For a
more benevolent Kadungganan, the “Kill Him” option
might have a 1-2 chance of happening, while the
“Spare Him” option might have a 3-10 chance of
happening.
0 This can also be used to answer more uncertain
things. For example, when trying to find out where
something might be, you might ask: “Is it deep in the
forest or out in the sea?” Both which might have a 1-
5 chance and 5-10 chance of being true. Whatever it
may be, you must get this answer from within the
fiction.
0 Something Wicked Happens: Think deep and true for
something interesting, or roll a Divination.
0 This is where you can ask: What happens now?
What do they want? And the like. You can answer
this on your own, whichever might be the most
interesting, or you can roll a Divination.

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Inscribe Your Song

In Solo or Co-Op Play, inscribing your song upon your journal is an important procedure that you must always go
through. Writing it down anywhere can help crystallize what happens in the fiction. Think of these as points of no return:
once you write them, you cannot undo them.

You can choose the frequency of when you inscribe what happens in the fiction. A common choice is
inscribing when Casting the Crocodile’s Teeth, as Casting is often a decision point that you
cannot turn back from. Another common choice is during important events,
which can help you decide what you write down as important as
things come to a head.

When you inscribe your song while in a Point of Peace or in

Downtime, crystallize the events upon the copperplate of
your soul. Then, answer one (1) of the following questions
and write down the answer, explaining particularly how
your Kadungganan feels about it. Gain 1 XP afterwards.

0 Am I the same person that I was?

0 Did I suffer horrible consequences?
0 How do I feel about my Conviction being tested?
0 Did my Conviction bring me to a worse place than
before?
0 Has violence brought me love?
0 Has love brought me violence?
0 Have I done something that honors the
ancestors? How?

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War Drama
War Drama is one of the two modes of Gubat Banwa, the other
being Tactical Martial Arts. In War Drama, you eviscerate
yourselves and others upon the altar of war, to change and
shape upon yourself a Gubat Banwa that you wish to live in.
As Kadungganan, you are poised to change the world. As
freemen, you can choose which Chief to follow. As warriors,
you are free to take the world by its reins. As non-nobles,
or as petty aristocrats, you are closer to the earth that
you walk upon than the actual regents and vassals
that walk the land.
As Kadungganan, you look upon the world with a
shattered heart. Is this all there is? Constant war
and bloodshed?
Claim your sword, Kadungganan. Rise.
Sunder the world with your sins, so that you
may pave the way for a better one.
War Drama has a slew of rules, and many of
them are important mechanics to drama.
The portions of War Drama are:
0 Casting the Crocodile’s Teeth explains
when you roll your character’s narrative
skills, that are not connected to Tactical
Martial Arts.
0 Honor and Barter, explains how commerce works in
the isles: that is, each polity values items differently, and
your honor might give you leverage on the things that
you can gain.
0 Debt is the most important aspect of Sword Isle
social networks. It is the primary way connections are
made, and how Social Classes are enforced.
0 Downtime is how you spend your times of rest. You can
only Downtime in Places of Peace, and cannot downtime
elsewhere. While not in Downtime, you are venturing.

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Casting the Crocodile’s Teeth

The Sword Isles is full of uncertainty. In Role-Playing
Games, you can do almost anything you wish your
character will do in the fiction, as long as it makes sense
with both your established character and the established
fiction. However, some things might be uncertain, or have
a dramatic outcome. When these things happen, we cast
the crocodile’s teeth, that is to say: we roll dice and
interpret what it means, and then apply that
interpretation to the fiction.
Uncertain might mean: “I try to stop this boat from
crashing into the river with my bare ability. I don’t know if
I’ll be able to do it, so may my forefathers bear witness.”
Dramatic might mean: “I want to try and persuade this
aristocrat to my side, to create a blood compact. Should I
fail, I will incur their ire. Should I succeed, I will gain the
favor of a harbor prince, and gain access to international
riches.”

If attempting an action that is uncertain or Collect a number of d10s equal to [2 + Alignment], your Alignment
dramatic, you must Cast The Crocodile’s Teeth. Teeth. If there are any items, subcultures, lineages, social
Find out how you are approaching the action to standing, or convictions that would give you some sort of help or
determine what Alignment is to be used. advantage, gain +1d per advantage, to a max of +3d.

Collect 3d8 to represent the Difficulty Teeth. If Roll them together. 6+ on the Alignment Teeth are Hits.
it is particularly difficult, then add +1d8. If it 10s are 2 Hits. Any 6+ on the Difficulty are Misses, which
seems like a godly feat, add +2d8. cancel out Hits 1-for-1.

If the final result has...

1-2 Hits 3-4 Hits 5+ Hits No Hits 1+ Misses
Reading The Teeth Partial Full Success Legendary Failure Dramatic
Success Success Failure

Interpretation Catches Consequences

Partial Success means you get what you
want, but there’s a catch.
Full Success means you get what you
want as stated by your action and
alignment.
Legendary Success means you get what
you want in a feat of peak human
excellence. Explicitly supernatural
effects might come from Legendary
Success. (Example: Stopping a landslide
with a Legendary Success might have the
Kadungganan achieve temporary true
transformation into their meditational
deity to stop the success.)
Failure means you suffer some sort of
consequence to your action. This might
not mean you do not do your action.
Dramatic Failure means suffer a
consequence as with a Failure, but also
with a catch that will change the course
of the fiction.
0 Threaten the Kadungganan
with either violence or drama.
0 Show something awe
inspiring.
0 Let the spirits play and dance.
The spirits can fuck with the
Kadungganan, as they are wont
to do.
0 Place the Kadungganan into a
high stakes situation.
0 Spotlight one of the
Kadungganan.
0 Exploit weaknesses or
complications.
0 The environment threatens to
shift.
0 Give the Kadungganan an
opportunity to showcase their
strength and skill.
0 Introduce a new aspect to the
current scene that might change
how they view it.
0 Introduce something that the
Kadungganan must react to
immediately.
0 A twist of fate, Look To The
Umalagad and consult
Divinations to see what might
happen next.
0 Wound. Take away something
important from the Kadungganan as
a consequence, whether it be a
Consumable, an Anting-Anting, a
Technique, or give them an Injury.
0 Complicate. A Complication or
Debt arrives to take the
Kadungganan away from the scene.
0 Accusation. Accuse the target of
an honor-shattering deed, earning
the ire of others, potentially lowering
their Honor.
0 Reveal. Force one of the
Kadungganan or one of the NPCs to
reveal something they don’t want to.
0 Shift. Change the environment
forcefully, whether it be climate,
mood, or even the place where the
scene is taking place.
0 Impair. The Kadungganan is
impaired in some way, they suffer
Penalty on a roll that is related to the
impairment. This Penalty lasts until
they can heal the Penalty.
0 Heaven Moves Without You.
Showcase something that happens
away from the Kadungganan, which
they usually cannot do anything
about.
0 Revel in Love and Lightning.
Throw the Kadungganan into
violence.

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Bakunawa Eats The Moon

Bakunawa is a creature--some say a diwata, others say a demon--who night
after night conspires to eat the moon. It almost succeeded once, but the
collective noise and effort of the diwata and the tawo managed to fight it
off.

The Moon is a tool used to gauge accumulated progress to a certain goal. Use this
when something takes some time or if it requires a lot of work put into it. In this
sense, they are Progress measures. Essentially, you would use these to track an
endeavor that takes several actions to overcome.

Each Moon should be named with the eventual goal in mind. When trying
to infiltrate a stone fortress, call it that: “Infiltrate Stone Fortress”. This lets
you remember what the Moon is for.

When the rules tell you to create a moon, doodle a circle and separate it into
crescents. The most common is 5-crescents. If a certain activity is
difficult or takes a long time, it might be 7-segments. If it’s extremely
hard and/or takes a really long time, it might be 9-segments.

Saniogo seeks to outrun a rushing tigbalan. The Umalagad states that this is
a moon with 4-segments. The Bakunawa begins to eat the Moon.

Anything that furthers the accomplishment of the goal of the Moon fills a crescent. This can come from things
accomplished in fiction, but is also commonly done by succeeding on Casts whenever you attempt an action to further
the Moon. Merit can cause you to fill more than 1 Crescent at a time. When all crescents are filled, then the moon is Full,
and whatever you were making progress toward or attempting to do is achieved.

However, whenever something bad happens in the fiction, when the fiction changes into a more precarious situation due
to what the Kadungganan do in the fiction, the Umalagad draws a single triangle on the perimeter of the Moon. Very
commonly this is brought about by Failing Casts.

This represents the Teeth of the Bakunawa. Once you get three triangles, the Moon is Consumed, and consequences befall
you, and your progress is either stalled for the meantime or lost completely, whichever makes most sense in the fiction.
Gaining Merit on a Cast might be used to remove Teeth if it makes sense in the fiction.

Saniogo attempts to leap across a chasm to escape a tigbalan. The Umalagad asks what Saniogo does, and Saniogo says that
he leaps up to grab a vine that was hanging about. The Umalagad nods approvingly--he says that Saniogo leaps across the
chasm, catches a loose vine, and swings safely to the other side. No Teeth yet, the Umalagad thinks. Saniogo shades in a
segment of the Moon. Three left.

However, the Umalagad states that the tigbalan can cross chasms with its bird wings easily. It closes in on Saniogo, and the
Umalagad points out that there is a rushing river before him. Saniogo cannot think of a way to cross the river quickly, and
decides to power through it. He makes a Might Cast to power through, but fails. He is carried away by the river, and the
Umalagad says that the tigbalan is closing in. A single Tooth circles about the Moon now.

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Honor
In the Archipelago of The Sword Isles, there is no proper coinage. Due to the inherent and
vast interconnectedness of the Sword Isles, there is no single currency.
Instead, warriors and kings deal in honor.

In the Sword Isles, goods are exchanged for either other goods or
services. As Kadungganan, your main form of gaining goods is
rendering service to rajas, especially if you are still a new
warrior who has not yet made name for themselves.

Honor is your social status: the higher Honor you

have, the more dependable people find you. Only
those with high honor can become kings. Only the
most honorable warrior can become chakravarti.

As a Kadungganan, your Honor starts equal to

your current Legend. You cannot have more Debt
from a single being than your Honor. If you ever
gain Debt more than you Honor, you will be forced
into their servitude.

Your Honor can fluctuate, though it cannot go

higher than your Legend.

You lose Honor when you...

0 Break a promise.
0 Kill someone meritorious.
0 Defeated in Violence.
0 As a Consequence.
0 Break a social taboo.
0 Blaspheme someone important.

If your Honor ever hits -1 or lower, you become a true villain:

your character becomes an NPC. This means that Kadungganan
can lose all Honor while being at high Legend: that is what makes
for true infamy.

Bartering
Honor lets you barter. Often, people will want something exactly
equal in value (in their eyes) when you want something. If you want a
sword, then you must trade something equally important back,
perhaps like a slave. However, if you have Honor, you can haggle. If
you have Honor of at least 1, you can spend that Honor to add +1d to
any cast related to haggling with the person. (Example: Haggling
with a merchant for a cannon might necessitate some kind of Cast.
You can spend whatever Honor you have to gain +1d to try and succeed
that Cast, as the merchant contemplates upon your place in the Sword Isles.)

Mountain settlements for example might consider fish and salt essential items, but they
might consider rice--something they harvest and export--as abundant items. Gaining
abundant items are easy, but things that are commonly considered valuable or treasure in
the isles require specialized merchants and traders to gain, but are signs of wealth. Richer
datu might want to establish good connections with you if you showcase treasure on you,
such as foreign armor.

Foreigners would usually count what is just commodities to the tawo as necessities. Pearls in
the Sword Isles might be abundant (pretty ones nevertheless, and used as jewelry), but they
are treasure in Baik Hu and Iyamat. Clay pots are abundant in the isles, but Iyamat folk treat
them as essentials due to their ability to store tea leaves.

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Debt
Debt is used to denote someone’s personal obligation to
someone else for doing something for them. In The Sword
Isles, Debt is such a ubiquitous concept that entire polities and
villages are formed around Debt, and social classes are created
from it: slaves and servants are usually nothing but people who
owe Debt to their masters.
Debt in Gubat Banwa is a social value and mechanic to show
how much leverage you have over someone or how much
leverage someone has on you. You usually gain Debt to
someone when they do something for you, such as give you an
item, grant you protection, food, or even interact with you
romantically.
Debt Actions
The following Debt Actions must follow the fiction. An
important note on this is that both Non-Player Characters can
also gain Debt from Kadungganan, which means they can also
influence you with Debt.
Accruing Debt
When a character does an entity a solid, help them when
they’re in dire straits, give them gifts, or otherwise both
parties agree that one of them owes the other... the character
gains the Debt from the entity they did a solid for, marked as X
Owes Me, with X being the character.
46
Example: If Sampong Baha saves Bakong from an execution,
Sampong Baha gains Bakong’s Debt. As long as Sampong Baha
has Bakong’s Debt, Bakong is considered as owing Sampong
Baha.
A character cannot have more Debt to a single entity than their
Honor. (Example: if you have Honor 3, you can only have up to 3
Debt from a single being. Sampong Baha with 3 Honor can only
have up to 3 Debt from Bakong).
You can accrue (or owe) Debt not just from a person, but also
even from organizations, communities, groups, or even ideals
and convictions. Debt to a conviction means that that
Conviction can manipulate you by using Debt.
Using Debt
When you wish to pull on your Debts, spend 1 of their Debts and
choose 1 below:
0 You can ask them to do a single thing. If they choose not to,
you gain another Debt from them. If they cannot gain anymore
Debt, you must do that thing.
0 If you’re attacking a target that owes you, gain 1 Hit.
0 If you’re defending against a target that owes you, gain 1
Defend.
 PLAY
Paying Off Debts
When you wish to pay off your Debts, speak with the
person you wish to pay off. They can choose one from
below:
0 They can ask you to do something for you.
0 They can ask something from you that you must pay.
If you do it, the one you have Debt to discards 1 of your
Debt to them. If you remove all your Debt from someone,
gain +1 to your Honor.
Transferring Debt
When you wish to transfer the Debt someone owes to you
to someone else, say your reason and how much Debt you
wish to transfer, and then transfer that much Debt that
the person owes to you to the other person. You can use
this to feasibly gain goodwill from others, as Debt can
also be used as a form of currency in the Isles.
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Downtime
Downtime is exactly that: times of respite. You can only go into Downtime when
you are not venturing: you must not be in a Raid, and you must be in a Place of
Peace. In Downtime, you can do up to 2 Downtime Actions.

You do not need to use up all your Downtime Actions, these are simply
suggestions. If you wish to freely roleplay, otherwise known as freeplay, during
Downtime, feel free!

Places of Peace are rare in Gubat Banwa. Additionally, Downtime Events still
should follow the fiction: you should feasibly be able to do the Downtime Event you
want to do in the Place of Peace you’re in.

Legend
Downtime is where you find rest and your deeds catch up to you, as well as when
you can train yourself.

When you enter into Downtime with 10 XP, your Legend Grows, and then you lose
10 XP. Do the following below:

0 Gain a new Technique from any Discipline.

0 Add +1 to any of your Alignments (max 6).
0 Add 1 point to your Martial Abilities (max 7).
0 Gain an Anting-Anting at Legend 1, 3, 5, 7. You can gain Anting-Anting out in the
world. You have 2 Anting-Anting Slot at Arc 1, 3 at Arc 2, and 4 at Arc 3. You cannot
equip more Anting-Anting than you have Slots.

You can keep playing past Legend 8, though you do not gain more Legends.
Instead, every 10 XP, you can spend the XP during Downtime to gain a new
Technique. However, going into Violence, you cannot have more than 10
Techniques at your disposal. You can choose which of your 10 Techniques you’re
bringing at the start of Violence.

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Downtime Actions
Mingle
You go out and meet someone you want to meet. This can
either be someone you already know or someone you
haven’t met before. When meeting with someone in this
way, make sure it makes sense for them to be there in your
area.
If it’s someone you haven’t met before, roll a d6.
0 1 – They are fiercely hostile to you.
0 2 – They are wary of you.
0 3-4 – They are neutral: they don’t know you yet.
0 5 – They are receptive to you.
0 6 – They are enthusiastic in meeting you.
Town Talk
Go around and listen to the town talk. This can also
be used to poke your nose somewhere where it
doesn’t belong, or somehow be a fly on a wall for
some important information. Use this to find
information, but spiritual knowledge can only be
found through meditation or if there are
spiritual leaders in the area (balyan, sages,
guro, panditas, saints, priests, and the like.)
State your method and what
information you’re looking for
and then cast the Crocodile’s
Teeth.
Full Success: You get info.
Partial Success: You get info but
attract unwanted attention.
Failure: You do not find what you
were looking for, but perhaps you find some
other information.
Change Discipline
Other than a specific story beat, you can also
willingly change your Discipline by using
this Downtime Event. As always, keep in
mind that switching a style also means
having to recalibrate muscle memories, as
well as having to deal with any fallouts
from your previous guro. Most Disciplines
require a Guro to learn, which sometimes
only come when you have enough Honor
for the Guro to find you worth it to teach.
When you Change Disciplines, choose a
new Discipline and take that
Discipline’s Traits and Inflict Violences.
You keep any Technique that you already
know. However, you must already have a
Technique from that Discipline to change into it.
50
Market
You travel to the settlement’s marketplace, looking for
something specifically. State what you’re looking for, but
you must roll an Alignment then look below:
On 1-2 Hits, choose 1 below, On 3+ Hits, you get the item no
strings attached. On no Hits, choose 2 below.
0 The Item is not exactly what you thought it would be.
0 The Item took a bit more haggling to get. You owe someone
powerful: give them your Debt, meaning you owe them
something. The Umalagad can choose to hide who this is.
0 Getting the Item took a lot of time. You can only gain the
Item when you next return to Downtime.
0 The Item is dangerous somehow, physically: it might blow
up, or corrupt you.
0 The Item is dangerous societally: you have attracted
dangerous attention.
Hunt
Whether with the datu or not, you can go hunting for
food and game. This is usually for ritual sacrifices
and items for a Feast. Make an
appropriate Cast as to where you’re
hunting (or fishing): this is usually
Observation, Grace, or Sensitivity.
With an appropriate difficulty
depending on what you’re trying to
hunt. Each Kadungganan on the hunt
makes a Cast.
Full Success: Gain 2 hunting loot.
Partial Success: You find 1 hunting loot
but you lose something: an item, your
Conviction (change it), someone’s Debt to
you, something important to you.
Failure: You attract unwanted attention, either
the spirits of the forest or the wrath of the gods.
If you choose not to give any of your hunting
spoil to the gods of the forest that you hunted in,
you incur the wrath of the gods, which will befall
you at the worst possible time.
Doing this Event with royalty is a popular way
of bonding with them: Hunting with Chiefs
and Kings is a popular pastime in the islands,
and is an important way for a datu to
showcase his skill, as well as his warrior
vassals to prove both their loyalty and their
strength to their ruler.
 PLAY
Dance With Hearts and Thoughts
When you want to spend some intimate time with
someone, play it out. You, the other party, or the
Umalagad sets the scene of where it takes place.
Once the scene and context have been laid out, one of the
participants in the dance chooses 1 from below. Once
they’ve chosen and it has been resolved, move to the other
participant and they get to choose 1 below.
0 Ask them a hard question. This should lead to an in-
character conversation. Hard question is of course
contextual, but it should be whatever either the one being
asked or both of the characters in the conversation don’t
want to ask or hear.
0 Recall something they did before. This can be an event
during a venture, leading to an in-character conversation.
0 Bring up a topic. This can be any topic: the warlord you
killed in your last violent encounter, the new weapon you
created, the meaning of debt, if love is real, etc. Try to bring
up topics that will bring your character into entanglements.
0 Reveal a vulnerable part of you. Show them something
you don’t usually show people. A soft side of you. Perhaps
your love for music, or a natural affinity to dogs. Whatever it
is, it should be something that changes their perception of
you.
0 Irritate them. Do something bad, something they don’t
like. They get to tell you what it is they do that they don’t like.
Once both participants have chosen, move on to the
Climax of the scene. During the climax, both of the
participants choose 1 from below, whichever makes most
sense according to the ongoing fiction.
0 Things get heated. An argument erupts. Things don’t look
good for the both of you. Play out how you resolve this. If you
don’t, that’s still okay.
0 Things get hot. Something good happened along the way.
Suddenly one of you is pinned against the wall, staring at
each other, feeling each other’s hot breath. Play out how this
ends.
0 Things get soft. The participants open up, becoming
emotional and finally, accepting whatever comes out of the
scene. Play this out to find out what happens.
0 Things work out. The scene ends up fruitful for both
participants: maybe they find a new resolve, change their
conviction, they find a new bond, or maybe they just learn
something new about each other in general. Play it out to
find out what it is.
After the Climax, both characters give each other Debt, no
matter how it goes down. According to the fiction, this
might create another Complication.
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Retrain
You can reevaluate one of your own Techniques. If you do, spend a downtime Action to change any number of your
Techniques into the same number of Techniques of your choice (retraining 3 Techniques means you replace 3
Techniques). Keep in mind the prerequistes of each Technique.
Dive Into Complications
Choose yourself and two more people. Following the fiction, the three of you fall into a Complication. Define what it is.
The context of your Complication might have been because of something that happened outside of Downtime.
Feast
When going into a feast, you can sometimes choose to hold the feast itself, in which case you might get some prospects
and connections. Whatever happens in a Feast, roll a d10
1. You find someone that is interested in you, and they might give you help.
2. You drank a bit too much. Something unfortunate happened during the Feast, tell the group what it is.
3. You impressed or helped a person or a group of people: you know them now, and they give you their Debt.
4. Someone helped you during the Feast. Give them your Debt. What happened? Who were they?
5. You traded with another person: give up one of your items or equipment and get another one of equal value (ie. If
you give up a commodity in that area, you gain something that is also a commodity in that area).
6. You attract attention that you really didn’t want. What is this attention? How is it a detriment to you?
7. You blasphemed or otherwise offended an important person during the feast. Who was it? You must make amends:
you gain their Debt.
8. You did something you immediately regret to someone in particular. What was it? Give them Debt.
9. You revealed something to someone that you should not have revealed anything to. What is it and who?
10. You have no idea how but you are suddenly entrapped in obligations with another person from the feast. Perhaps it
is marriage, perhaps it is work. Whatever it is, deal with it.

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Raids
Raids are an integral part of a Kadungganan’s life. Raids
are bursts of action and drama that have you traveling
deeper into a place that you are Raiding to gain wealth,
treasure, something important, or prestige. Why you’re
doing it is up to you.
Raids are the equivalent of dungeon delving in Gubat
Banwa: structured approaches to journeying into
dangerous places. Usually these raids are other
settlements, but sometimes larger raids can take place in
mass ritual burial cemeteries, ancient forests, cave
complexes, cities, and even heaven and hell themselves.
Dungeons and large ancient abandoned temples of course
exist: the constant cycles of violence create ruin after ruin
that pock the islands.
Roll a d8 if you need inspiration on where the Raid will
take place.
1 – Settlement. A small settlement, usually an easy Raid.
Sometimes these can be ruins, places where undead or
yawa walk.
2 – Large Town. A larger settlement, with various datu
within. Usually an average raid.
3 – Abandoned Cave Complex. Ancient demons and
monsters walk within. Usually average.
4 – Mass Burial Complex. Starts above ground and usually
ends up underground or even within mountain cliffsides.
Usually average, and usually encounter Undead.
5 – Ancient Forest. Forests are filled with gods and other
spirit societies. Usually average, and filled with Spirits.
6 – City. An even larger settlement, filled with many goods.
Might not be a metropole, but close. Hard Raids, usually,
but might not have a lot of combat encounters.
7 – Metropole. You are raiding one of the largest
settlements in The Sword Isles, the centers of political and
economic power. Would-be empires and states. Very hard
raids.
8 – Heaven or Hell. You travel using skybarges into the
depths of the earth or the heights of the sky. The hardest
raids to do, and usually one that will never go well, even if
you achieve your goal.
Optional Rule: No Tactical Violence
If you do not like the prospect of playing on a grid and wish solely to engage with Gubat Banwa through their Skills and
Moons.
They can gain Techniques and choose Disciplines as normal, but they can use Techniques to gain Merit Dice in combat if
it gives them a benefit in fiction.
You can choose how to handle combat: whether it be a simple gauntlet of Casts, or dealt with through Moons.
Before going on a Raid, you must dictate your Raiding
Objective. This is almost always singular. Some examples
are below! You can even roll a d10 on it.
1-2 Wealth. You’re looking for as much wealth as
possible, and the objective area has it.
3-4 People. You want to recruit as much people as
possible, and you must do it by force by killing their leader.
Maybe perhaps you want to liberate the people from a
tyrannical leader.
5-6 Revenge. This is a revenge raid. You want to kill
and destroy as much as possible.
7-8 Trial. You’re doing this to prove something to
yourself or someone important to you, and you must get
something from the objective area.
9-10 Artifact or VIP. You’re looking for a legendary
object, or a particularly important person.
Raids are a gauntlet of Encounters, both combat and non-
combat, that a Umalagad puts you through to test your
mettle.
Designing Raids is something an Umalagad can think of
in advance or prep it, or they can choose to go with the
flow and play it out.
In that case, the Umalagad will always begin the Raid with
an arrival encounter, whether it be violence or not, and
then roll a d10, adding +1 until they reach the “goal area” at
12.
1-3 A Non-Martial Encounter
4-5 A Martial Encounter
6-7 Something interesting.
A twist in the Raid, something that might
8-9 upend the understanding of the Raid, or
recontextualize the objective.
10 An item, or treasure. Perhaps Anting-Anting.
Penultimate. You find something harrowing.
11 Something that is connected to the goal
perhaps.
Objective Area. This is where the raid will
end. It might have a boss encounter, or you
12 might simply find what you’re looking for.
Play it out
53
54
 III: Violence
“Violence for violence’s sake is
not the rule of beasts but the
nature of divinity.”
Gubat Banwa is a game of rapid kinetic martial
arts, violent sorcery, heartrending convictions and
bouts of will. Warriors that channel gods face
sorcerers that master black arts, martial artists
who have unlocked a new form of cultivation clash
swords with those that perfect the night alchemies.
When the crocodile’s teeth are cast, convictions are
unsheathed, and steel sparks: the Umalagad must
declare:
“Only Violence Can Save
This World. The
thunderbolt strikes:
Rejoice in the Glory of
Combat!”
55
 VIOLENCE
BATTLES ARE A MAJOR PART OF GUBAT BANWA. PARTICULARLY IT DEALS IN MARTIAL ARTS, AS VIOLENCE IS HOW ONE WILL
CHANGE THE WORLD HERE, AND IN GUBAT BANWA THAT IS VERY OFTEN PHYSICAL VIOLENCE. VIOLENCE IN GUBAT BANWA IS
STYLISH, BALLISTIC, RHYTHMIC AND NECESSARY.
Fights in Gubat Banwa is an abstracted affair, played out
in a grid, crafted in such a way to model the chaos and
kinetic quickness and back-and-forth of martial arts films
and wuxia novels. It is not meant to be realistic or a
representation of physics in the game world.
Gubat Banwa’s combat system is known as the
Thundering Tactics Battle System (TTB): it focuses
on blisteringly quick martial arts in a grid environment,
where every attack is a flurry of blows and every defense
are perfect parries, all framed by the steady of beat of
thundering drums known as the Rhythm, meant to evoke
the war gongs played during combat in Classical
Southeast Asia. Only the thundering gongs reach the Gods.
TTB uses a dice pool for attacks and defenses. This is to
mechanically represent the fictional ballistic exchange of
attacks and parries: each Attack Tooth is an attack
launched, each Defense Tooth is a parry or dodge
attempted. Many special effects are also generated by the
die results (such as inflicting Stun for every 8+ on the
Attack Teeth). This represents how well each hit is: a 6+ is
a Hit, but an 8+ is a particularly effective hit that
discombobulates the target. Attacks are commitments,
exchanges, a proving of conviction. TTB has small HP
pools, representing the number of clean hits you can take
before succumbing to the soul-and-body-wracking
martial arts. Martial Artists must actively be defending
(their Postures and Resistances) to be able to survive
attacks.
TTB is not needed to play Gubat Banwa. It is there purely
for those that want to interface with it. If you want to run
quick combats within the system, using Moons and
Casting the Crocodile’s Teeth should be more than enough
for this, and the use of fiction. In general, one wants to use
Tactical Martial Arts for either narratively important or
dramatic fights, or if your table enjoys tactical grid-based
combat.
But what about the Techniques, etc.?
Each square in Gubat Banwa is an abstraction of space.
When in abstract combat, you can assign a fictionally
appropriate unit of distance for each square (for example,
5 ft. = 1 sq.) to be able to translate distances easily.
The Rule of Rosy Gold
This is the Rosy Gold Rule, so called because it is the
Bulawan Rule tinged with the color of blood. It is this:
even in violence, fiction first. This means if something
happens that doesn’t make sense in the fiction, that
doesn’t happen. If a fighter makes an attack that deals fire
damage against a fighter that is soaking wet or swimming
in water, they cannot deal fire damage.
56
Find Glory Beyond Heaven
Put down the battlegrid (often a 10x10 to 16x16 grid). Mark
out a starting zone that is 4 squares long and 2 squares
wide. Then, each Kadungganan places down their token in
the starting zone. Then, mark out another starting zone
(up to 3, as is proper in the fiction) of the same size. The
Umalagad puts down a number of enemies equal to the
intended Violence Score (p. 76).
0 No fighters of opposite sides should be closer than 6
squares from each other.
0 Gubat Banwa uses the square grid, but one can use hexes
without problem, or even play this without a grid or a battle
map.
Objectives
After declaring battle, the Umalagad asks the
Kadungganan what their Win Condition
Some examples of Main Objectives are:
0 Kill a target
0 Stop a ritual from being performed
0 Break down the stone wall
0 Get all allies to the specified location area
0 Activate all traps or contraptions
0 Incapacitate the enemy team
0 Convince them to take your side
0 Ensure an escape route
0 Survive until end of Strike 6
0 Protect a particular important person or thing
0 Destroy a target's ship or armor
Loss Condition
With all of that done, the Umalagad then sets the Loss
Condition. Usually this is something like: “If all the
Kadungganan are Posture-Broken or Defeated at the
same time”. Some example Loss Conditions are shown
below. Whatever it is, if the Loss Conditions are met, the
Kadungganan are considered as having lost the battle, and
suffer consequences afterwards. Defeated Kadungganan
lose all Conviction they currently have.
0 A leader is killed.
0 A place is breached.
0 An enemy falls in love with an ally.
0 An ally reaches the enemy.
0 An ally attacks an enemy.
 VIOLENCE
Martial Abilities Styles
Each Martial Ability (except HP) starts at 3, and you begin with 2 points distribute among Each fighter has a Style, which
them during Character Creation, and then gain +1 every time your Legend Grows. is one from 5. Raiders deal
BRV (Bravery): Represents for physical attacks and weapon attacks. Always rolled against damage and move quickly,
POS. Sharpshooters deal damage
from afar and blasts large
FTH (Faith): Represents mystic attacks, from gods, from magick, from spirits, from the soul. areas, Sentinels take the heat
Always rolled against RES. and take damage, Witches
inflict debuffs and forced
POS (Posture): Parries, deflects, and dodges. Always used to defend against Bravery Attacks. movement, and Mediums
RES (Resistance): Represents enduring the strength of explosions, magical lances, mental support their allies and heal.
trauma, and soul-rending strikes. Always used to defend against Faith Attacks.
SPD (Speed): Represents how quick you can travel across the battlefield. SPD is the number of
squares you can move when you Stride.
HP (Hit Points): Is how many hits you can take before going down. This is dictated by your
current Discipline.

The Rhythm
Gubat Banwa has a turn order known as The Rhythm. The steady beat of war drum that dictates who Fulminates (“Turns”
in other games), letting their Glory explode through sword and song. The Rhythm is split into
Strikes (rounds in other games), because to make a gong sound you must strike it. Example: Suppose there
are 3 Kadungganan
At the start of violence, you begin at the 1st Strike! At the beginning of every Strike, an NPC Acts (Sam’baha, Dagna, and
first, then a Kadungganan, then an NPC, then so on and so forth, until all fighters have Acted. Bakong) against 5 NPCs.
Then, that Strike ends and a new Strike begins. This goes on until the Objective or Defeat When the Strike begins,
Conditions are met. Eg: NPC > Kadungganan > NPC > Kadungganan, and so on. NPCs always the first NPC fulminates,
Fulminate first on every Strike. then Sam’baha, then the
2nd NPC, then Dagna,
then the 3rd NPC, then
Generally, each fighter can only Fulminate once, unless all fighters of their side have already Bakong, then the 4th NPC,
Acted, and the Strike is not yet done and their Side still gets to Fulminate, then a fighter that then Dagna decides to
already Fulminated may Fulminate again. Fulminate (he can
because all the fighters of
If you want to place a hard cap on fights, very often you can make this a Defeat Condition: his side have already
“Victory is not achieved by the 8th Strike”. When it is your side’s turn to Fulminate, talk amongst Acted). When all fighters
your side who the most optimal fighter to Fulminate will be, as a tactical consideration. When have Acted at least once,
you Fulminate, you follow the following steps. then we cycle Strikes.

At the start of your Fulmination, end any effects that

START OF FULMINATION end on Start of Fulmination, and then perform any
effects that can be done during Start of Fulmination.

BEATS You have 3 Beats on when you
Fulminate. Beats are units of effort and
time. Most things are 1 Beat, but sometimes it might cost
more if it takes more time, usually put in Brackets [X].
DEFLECT [1]: Gain 1 Defend until the start of your next
Fulmination. End your Fulmination.
INFLICT VIOLENCE [1]: Unleash one of your Discipline’s
Inflict Violences, the fundamental strikes of your art.
INTERACT [1]: Interact with an item you have. You can also
use this as a general technique for any improvised actions
(such as sharing items, etc.)
Leap [1]: Rush equal to half of your SPD, but only in a straight line.
If you move across any kind of terrain, you can jump off of it to
rush 2 from the terrain, but you must end in normal terrain.
Make Vulnerable [1]: Spend 1 Debt from an adjacent fighter and
force them to choose: suffer Sunder or they gain 2 Debt to you at
the end of Violence.
Raise [1]: Heal 1 to one Critical ally adjacent to you.
Surge [1]: Heal 1/4 of your HP and then gain +1 to POS and RES
until the start of your next Fulmination. 1/Violence.
Shove [1]: Push 1 an adjacent fighter or object.
Stride [1]: Move a number of squares up to your SPD.

End and/or perform any effects that end on at the end of

your Fulmination > Remove 1 stack of each mark, status,
END OF FULMINATION and ability mod with a duration > Refresh all spent
Interjects > Then your Fulmination ends and you can only
Fulminate again on the next Strike.

Some effects might grant you Interject X. X is the

INTERJECTS number of times you can use that particular Interject.

Once you use it up, you can no longer use it again until you
refresh it at the end of when you next Fulminate.

57
 VIOLENCE

Defenses
The Violence Cast
Similar to Casting The Crocodile’s Teeth, when you make an
Each attack targets a Defense. There are two in
all, which can be boosted and strengthened.
Attack, you perform the Violence Cast.
0 Posture. You dip, dodge, deflect, and parry
and maintain physical tenacity and composure.
Used against Bravery Attacks.
When you make an Attack, Then, collect a number of d8s 0 Resistance. You steel your willpower,
collect a number of d10s (Attack (Defense Teeth) equal to the maintain mental composure, and dig for a
Teeth) equal to the indicated appropriate defense (BRV deeper strength, one of the soul. Used against
Martial Ability (BRV or FTH). targets POS, FTH targets RES.) Faith Attacks.
A Note on Combined Attacks

If making a ranged attack from Combo Breaker: If this is the Some attacks deal a combined Bravery+Faith.
a height higher than the target, second attack in a Fulmination, Simply use the higher of POS or RES to defend
you have vantage. Gain suffer -2d. If this is the 3rd or against this.
Sharpness to the attack. higher attack in a Fulmination,
suffer -3d. Hits and Defends Outside of Attacks
If making a melee attack
against an adjacent target that Add any more bonuses from You can suffer Hits outside of attacks, which
you are flanking, gain effects. are usually sure Hits, unless you have Defends
Sharpness. stocked up as well. Defends and Hits cancel
each other out, so when you use a Defend to
If attacking a target behind cancel a Hit, that Defend is gone.
cover, or attacking an adjacent
target with a ranged attack, the
attack suffers Dullness. Attack Elements
There are five damage elements, that showcase
the numerous ways of maiming that martial
Attack Teeth: d10s that come up After cancelling, find the final artists in Gubat Banwa are capable of. These
as 6+ are Hits (5+ with result. For each Hit, reduce the elements are intertwined with the various
Sharpness, 7+ with Dullness). target’s HP by 1. elemental philosophies of the cultures in
10s are 2 Hits. Gubat Banwa.
0 If the attack has
Defense Teeth: d8s that come Overwhelming, each Hit 0 Fire is the scalding flames of blazes, the heat
up as 6+ are Defends. Defends reduces the target by 2 HP. of gun powder and bullets, blinding lights, the
cancel out Hits, 1-for-1. radiance of the stars and the sun. These light
flammable terrain on fire.
0 If the attack has Skewering,
discard the first Defend result. 0 Water is intertwined with water, representing
0 If the target has Eviscerate, cutting jets of water, sundering poisons and
discard 1 Defend. acids, goopy marshes, and even the deep dark of
the unknown abyss, the chilling gloom, and all
0 If the attacker has Unbalance, the spirits within.
discard the first Hit.
0 Air is the howling winds, the boom of thunder
0 True Hits cannot be cancelled
by Defends. and war gongs, the devastation of storms, the
cackling fulmination of lightning, the flight of
arrows and slicing of daggers as well as the
heavens and the clouds themselves, and all the
spirits within.
When making a Violence Cast, imagine every Attack Tooth as an 0 Metal is the harmony of water and fire, the
actual attack launched: a sword swing, a syllable of an heart of weaponry, the unmoving being of
incantation. Every Hit is something that strikes home. Every ambition and strength, the impact of
Defense Tooth is an attempt at a block or a parry: a raising of a bludgeoning steel. Metal in the Sword Isles is
shield, a meditation upon the diamond body, a maneuvering to often connected to Gold, and also represents
dodge, a sword clanging against steel. Every Defend cancelling a lightning (as it conducts it) as well as strength of
Hit is a successful block, every Hit that gets through is a breach of emotion and mental state. Metal damage can
defense, drawing blood. also represent damage against the mind.
0 Earth is the element that represents all the
living creatures upon the land, which includes
Folk, trees, mountains, and all, since everything
has a spirit. It represents even the invisible
beings deep in the mountains, the darkness of
the divine wilds, and the dead things deep below,
because what else is death but another phase of
life?

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 VIOLENCE
Violent Glossolalia
0 Ability Modifiers: Abilities can be modified (ie.
BRV+1, POS+2, etc.). Ability modifiers are
discarded every Fulmination as well, and can be
stacked, but they do not stack intensity. Only
duration.
0 Adjacent: Every square that touches your square’s
sides and corners (all 8 squares around you).
0 Ally: Any fighters on your side.
0 Area Attacks: Attacks that target a large number
at a time. Does not benefit from vantage or flanking.
0 Area of Effect (AoE): Any burst, blast, path, or
line patterns.
0 Block: Block is temporary hit points. When you
gain Block, all hits against you reduces Block first.
0 Burning Terrain: Starting a Fulmination or
moving into Burning Terrain inflicts 1 Hit on the
target.
0 Chasm: A square that is greater than -5 Elevation.
Moving into a Chasm has a 65% of you staying in an
adjacent square instead. Otherwise, you fall into the
Chasm, suffer 6 True Hits, and are removed from
play until the start of your next Fulmination.
0 Cleanse: Discard all stacks of a stated status.
0 Close: Every square orthogonal to you (cardinal
directions) on the same height.
0 Conditioning: When you are attacked by an attack
with an element you have conditioning to, gain +1
Defend.
0 Cover: Cover is a kind of terrain. When line of
effect would go through cover terrain before you,
the attack suffers Dullness.
0 Combo Breaker: A fighter’s second attack in a
Fulmination suffers -2d. Their 3rd attack and
beyond suffers -3d.
0 Dangerous Terrain: Moving into Dangerous
Terrain inflicts 1 Hit on the target.
0 Difficult Terrain: It costs +1 Speed to move into
Difficult Terrain.
0 Dullness: You only gain Hits on 7+ on your Attack
Teeth. Cancels out Sharpness.
0 Element: Each attack has an element: either fire,
water, metal, air, or earth.
0 Enemy: Any fighter that is not on your side.
0 Fighter: Any creature in the battlefield with HP,
actively fighting.
0 Flying: You ignore terrain and elevation when
moving, inflict Dullness against Melee Attacks
against you, have Vantage. Lose Flying when you
have Daze, Unbalance, Juggle, or Stun.
0 Flanking: When you and an ally are on squares that
are on opposite ends of a fighter, you are considered
flanking them. Gain Sharpness on melee attacks
against them.
0 Elevation: Higher or lower squares. Verticality is
important in Gubat Banwa. There can be no more
than +5 Elevation or -5 Elevation in a map. Higher
than that is removed from play, lower than that is a
Chasm. Moving into a square that is higher than you
costs +1 Speed per Elevation level. Moving into a
square that is 3+ Elevation levels lower than you
inflicts True Hits equal to the number of Elevation
levels you move down.
0 Heal X: Heal X amounts of HP.
0 Marks: Usually a fighter can only have 1 Mark on
them at a time. Newer Marks supercede older
marks. Indefinite marks stay until the end of the
scene. Often marks have X attached to them, which
is the duration of the Mark.
0 Mount: Mounts are mountable creatures. They
have (4 * Size) HP. It takes 1 Beat to mount/
dismount while adjacent to them. While Mounted,
the mounter and the mount are a single fighter. The
rider is the primary fighter, and gains the mount’s
Speed and Size. Forced dismount if you are forcibly
moved and choose to move without the mount,
suffer Juggle, or Unbalance.
0 Object: Any thing in the battlefield with Durability
(equal to 5 x Size).
0 Overwhelming: Every Hit reduces 2 HP instead of
just 1.
0 Ranges From Elevation: All effects from a higher
elevation have a bonus to their range equal to the
difference of Elevation between them and the
target.
0 Removed From Play: When you are removed from
play, you remove your fighter from the battlefield
and they cannot be targeted.
0 Rush: Special movement that doesn’t trigger any
effects, as well as ignores Difficult Terrain.
Commonly written as Rush X with X being the
number of squares that can be moved.
0 Sharpness: Every 5+ on your Attack Teeth is a Hit.
Cancels out Dullness.
0 Skewering: Discard the 1st Defend from the
Defense Teeth.
0 Square: The abstract spacial units of a battlefield,
representative of the holy five point shape. The
scale of how large a square is can change according
to the battlefield.
0 Staggered: If you hit 1/2 of your HP or below, you
are Staggered.
0 Summon: Any creature summoned by a summoner.
Usually has 4 HP, and shares Abilities with the
Summoner.
0 Target: The chosen target of an effect, can be a
fighter or an object.
0 Terrain: Characteristics of a square.
0 Thunderbolt Tokens [p. 35]: Spend any number
of these to reroll that much teeth on a Cast. Gain
whenever you do something dramatic or badass.
0 Vantage: When attacking a target on a lower
height with a melee or ranged attack, gain +1d.
0 Vulnerability: When you are attacked by an attack
with an element you have vulnerability to, suffer +1
Hit.
0 Water Terrain: Moving into Water Terrain costs +1
Speed. While in water terrain you are have water
and air vulnerability, but fire conditioning.
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 VIOLENCE

Status Effects
Statuses change a fighter’s state. Statuses stack in duration. Whenever someone with Fray gains Fray
again, they have 2 Stacks of Fray. Every end of Fulmination, you remove 1 stack of each Status Effect.
Stacked status effects mean you remove just 1 stack of that Status Effect.

Statuses are split into two: Boons are positive effects while Banes are negative effects.

Boons
Float Ignore all terrain.
Protect You have 1 Defend against all
sources of Hits.
Regen Short for “regeneration”. Every
start of Fulmination, you heal 1.
Stealth Cannot be a valid target for any
melee or ranged attack.
Immediately lose this when
dealing or suffering damage.
Stability You cannot be forcibly moved
unless you choose to be.
Banes
Bleed You are deeply wounded. When you
start your Fulmination, suffer 1 True
Hit.
Daze You can only target close fighters.
Lose all Stances.
Eviscerate Discard the 1st Defend from your
Defense Teeth.
Fray Suffer 1 True Hit at the end of
Fulmination.
Juggle You lose all POS and Interjects while
Juggled.
Provoke All your attacks must include the
fighter that last provoked you as a
target and you cannot move further
away from them.
Slow You cannot Fulminate until all other
fighters in the field have already
Acted, not including other fighters
with Slow, and you also cannot
Fulminate more than once in a Strike.
Stop You cannot move voluntarily.
Sunder Lose all POS, RES, Conditioning, and
Immunity.
Stun You have -1 Beat on your Fulmination.

Unbalance Cannot flank, lose all Stances and

cannot take new ones, and you
discard the 1st Hit from your Attack
Teeth.

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 VIOLENCE
Area of Effect Diagrams

Burst
X is every square from an Origin Point. If
no range then origin point is caster.

Blast
X is how wide and tall in squares the box
is, but one square must be adjacent to the
origin point.

Line
Shaped like a straight line from the origin
point, can even be diagonal, but it can
only fire directly straight from the origin
point and not any other way. If the
starting point is adjacent, then the rest of
the line must continue down that adjacent
path in a straight line.

Path
Like Line, it is a Line, but can be snaked
around (even diagonally) as long as all
squares of a path are touching each other.

Hit Points, Death, and Dying

Every Kadungganan begins all fights with full HP. Outside of Violence, Kadungganan can only die if it is fully agreed on
by the player and every other player, and only if it is dramatically appropriate. However, intensely bad consequences can
cause Death or turn your Kadunggnan into an NPC.

When you reach 0 HP, you’ve suffered the maximum number of Hits you can afford to weather. You become Critical.
While Critical, if you suffer any number of Hits again, that attacker gets to inflict a Deathblow on you, making you
Defeated. However, you can still fight and Fulminate as normal. Defeated means you are removed from play until the end
of Violence. Afterwards, your Kadungganan suffers an Impair or Wound Consequence.

Defeated doesn’t inherently mean you die. You could perhaps be turned into a servant by the enemies (a far more likely
outcome in the Sword Isles, where manpower is the premium currency).

61
 VIOLENCE

Advanced
Violence Rules
62
VIOLENCE

63
 VIOLENCE

Movement Chance Die

All Techniques that let you leave your square are counted
as movement. When you choose to move, that is
voluntary movement. When you are forced to move,
that is forced movement. The most common form of
voluntary movement is the Stride.
If anything states that something “Has an X% chance of
happening”, that is a Chance Die. Roll a d100 and try to roll
equal to the percent or lower. Example: 50% chance of
gaining Block 2. You gain the Block 2 if you rolled a 50 or
lower on the Chance Die.

0 Moving into adjacent squares costs 1 Speed. Diagonal Generally, if you have chances from more than one source,
movement is counted the same. you simply take the highest chance.
0 You can move through, but not end in, ally squares. You
cannot move through enemy squares.
Hostile Actions
0 You cannot move diagonally across blocking terrain that
fills its space, unless you are getting on top of the blocking Hostile Actions are all actions that would inflict
terrain. This generally means you cannot move diagonally detrimental effects against the target, such as dealing
through corners. damage, inflicting debuffs, or forceful movement.
0 Moving into a square of higher elevation costs extra
Speed equal to the difference in Elevation (example: moving
from an Elevation +1 to an Elevation +3 costs +2 Speed).
Valid Targets
You can only target other fighters, objects, other squares
Forced Movement in the environment, or the ground. You must have line of
sight and appropriate line of effect. Unless otherwise
stated, all actions that need a target must have Valid
When you are told to forcibly move a target, it will very Targets.
commonly say how many squares. If it says something like
“push the target 3”, you must push the target 3 squares,
unless they are moved in a way that makes them collide.
However if it says “push the target up to 3”, then you can Willing Targets
move them 1-3 squares. Some targets might be willing. If this is the case, they can
choose to suffer the effect of the Technique or attack
Heights: You can forcibly move a target up into a higher immediately.
square as long as you have enough forced movement for it.
For example: you push an adjacent fighter by 3 squares.
You can push them 3 squares horizontally, or 3 squares
diagonally up, letting them land on a square that is up to 3 Line of Sight and Effect
squares high. However you must have enough forced You can only target those that you can see with your line of
movement to be able to do this: if you Push 3, you cannot sight, as well as those that you have a clear shot at: your
push them 2 spaces horizontally, and then up onto a space line of effect. Line of Sight is usually blocked by blocking
that is 3 squares up: you only have 1 square of forced terrain.
movement left.
To find out whether you have Line of Sight or Effect, draw
Difficult Terrain: Forced Movement ignores Difficult a straight line from one of your corners to the center of the
Terrain. target’s square. If the line touches blocking terrain, then
there is no line of sight or effect between you and the
0 Push - Move the target forcibly away from you in a
target.
straight line. You cannot push a target to the side, it must
always be away.
Enemies of the same size as you, on the same Height as
0 Pull - Move the target forcibly into a square closer to you. you or higher can block Line of Sight, but allies don’t.
This can be diagonally towards you, but not laterally just to
the side.
0 Slide - Move the target forcibly in any direction.
0 Collide - A unit collides with a fighter, object, or terrain if
they are forcibly moved into it. Colliding with something
still counts as moving into that space, but inflicts 1 Hit on
you and the target you collide with, and then you stop all
movement. Even if you have any leftover forced movement,
that ends immediately.
When you are forcibly moved, you are just forcibly moved
once, even if you are forcibly moved more than one square.

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 VIOLENCE
Range
Range will specify how far the target of this attack can be.
These will be expressed in squares. In general, count
ranges the same as movement.
Firing of an attack/effect against a target on a lower
height gives a +1 square bonus to the range of the effect (if
it is not adjacent, melee or close) per Height Difference.
(Example: Healing someone that is 1 square high, while
you’re on a square that is 3 square high, gives you +2 extra
range. A range 2 heal becomes range 4.)
If it is a [range] and then [area of effect], you choose a
square within the specified number of squares from you.
That becomes the origin square of the area of effect.
Range 1 Burst 2 means the you place the origin point of
the burst within 1 square of you. Range 3 Burst 3 means
you place it within 3 squares of you. Range 0 Burst 1
means the origin point is your own square.
Adjacency: Everywhere within 1 square of you
(basically all 8 squares around yours) is considered
X technique. The Blast covers a cube area, so a Blast 3 also
adjacent to you. This includes all squares with a
height difference of 1.
Close: Melee range is every square orthogonal to
you (cardinal directions: north, south, east, and X corner, so you can angle the Line diagonally) but you
west). Someone not on the same height as you is not
close to you.
Counting Ranges
When you count ranges, start from a square adjacent to
the origin. Count ranges the same as movement.
When counting ranges into heights, in general it is
treated the same as if they are horizontal. If you want to
shoot straight up 3 square, you can do that. If you shoot a
fighter that is 3 square far and 2 squares high, you can do
that as well. Horizontal range is vertical range.
Area of Effect
Areas of Effect has four area patterns: Burst, Blast, Line,
and Path. Each one counts range as normal. In general,
Area of Effect ignores Provoke.
Area of Effect is blocked by blocking terrain, as it still
requires line of effect. This means that blocking terrain
can block off an AoE’s effect.
0 Burst X: This is an area that extends to X squares in
every direction from the origin, which can either be an
origin square or the user. Every square includes height:
going up and down. Bursts often include the origin
square.
0 Blast X: This is an attack that must have at least 1
square in its area of effect that is adjacent to the origin
point. X dictates how large the area is: blast 2 would
mean it covers a 2x2 squares area adjacent to the origin
point. For example: a rifle technique might be Range 0
Blast 3, which means it affects a 3x3 square area, but one
of the squares must be adjacent to the fighter using the
goes up 3 squares and down 3 squares.
0 Line X: This is an area that fills a single straight line in
any direction starting from a square adjacent to its origin
point. X is how many squares the line is long. The squares
of a Line must be contiguous (sharing a common side or
cannot make it so that it “snakes”, it must look like a
straight line. You can angle a line so that it targets
vertically or diagonally upward.
0 Path X: This is an area that can be placed in any
manner as long as at least one square is adjacent to the
origin square and all squares are contiguous with each
other, sharing at least a path and corner, meaning you
can “snake” paths. X means how long the path goes.
Fields
Fields are lingering zones in the battlefield, like smoke or
changing tides. Fields last until the end of the scene or
until overwritten. New fields overwrite older fields on
each square. Some fields must be sustained, the creator
must actively sustain them by spending the required
Technique on their turn.
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Stances
Stances are martial arts forms that unlock true spiritual
strength. Stances cannot stack, and when you take upon
yourself a Stance that Stance supercedes the old one.
Stances will always define when they end.
Falling
Moving into a square that is 3+ Elevation levels lower than
you inflicts True Hits equal to the number of Elevation
levels you move down.
Falling damage cannot be reduced in any way.
Vantage
When making a melee or ranged attack against a fighter
on a lower height, you are considered as having vantage:
gain a bonus +1 dice to the Attack Teeth.
Size
The Sword Isles are filled with warriors of all kinds. More
than one culture has traditions that tell the old story: the
original inhabitants of the Sword Isles were giants, filled
with spiritual power, closer to the gods than mortals.
For the most part, most fighters will be Size 1. Size 1 is, as
with everything, an abstraction: it can be a small goblin
ghoul or a mounted knight upon a rainbow raptor. Size 1
only takes up a single square on the grid.
Size 1/2 are smaller beings. Miniature beings: little earth
gods, geckos, ants, little lizards, and such. Size 1/2 is
anything below 1 square tall and wide. They only take up
1/4 of a square.
Flanking
If you and one other ally are standing
on both adjacent sides of a fighter, you
both gain Sharpness on all melee
attacks against the flanked
fighter. To find out if you’re
flanking, draw a line
between your square and the
flanking ally’s. If the line
crosses at least two sides or
corners of the flanked
fighter’s square, then they are
flanked.
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Size 2 should be reserved for large beings the size of small
pagodas: demigods, young giants or pygmy giants. Size 2
creatures take up 2x2x2 squares on the grid.
Size 3 is for powerful, perhaps even legendary and
mythical beasts and beings. These fighters take up a huge
chunk of the grid, and should be treated with both fear,
awe, and grandeur. Creatures like serpent gods, hatred
demons, or elder giants. Size 3 creatures take up 3x3x3
squares.
Size 4 Are for even larger beings than that. Humongous
colossuses, living bodhisattva statues, ancient ruinous
giant defense spirits, giant forest gods. They take up
4x4x4 on the battle grid.
Size 5 Are for giant wrathful demons, elder gods, fierce
dog-lion gods, ancient viscera witches, giant serpents,
enormous deer spirits, infested giant demon-boars, and
even giant god-bodies. They take up 5x5x5 on the battle
grid. However, they can far exceed this height and width
in fiction.
Size 6 should not be modeled as a single fighter in the
battlefield anymore. Instead, section their body parts
into different Size 5 fighters on the field.
Size 7+ should not be modeled as a fighter at all. Perhaps
instead they are Battlefields on their own that the
Kadungganan must damage, or somehow quell. These are
truly gargantuan beings. Should be reserved for truly
godly beings. Beings of towering, gargantuan bulk: these
are crocodiles that cause a change in tides, eagles whose
wings block out the sun, turtles that are entire islands on
their own, primordial titans, serpents that wind about
entire mountains, and gods.
Elevation Differences: Larger warriors might have
differing heights. They are always considered on the
highest elevation that any of their squares is on. They are
considered as being on Elevation equal to their Size.
(Example: Size 2 is treated as being on +2 Elevation. A
Size 2 fighter moving from 0 Elevation to +2 Elevation
does not spend extra Speed.)
 VIOLENCE

Rush A Note On Styles and

Rush is a special kind of movement. It represents
acrobatics, lightning fast dodges, wall-bounding kinetics
and the like. Rush never triggers Interjects (unless the
effect is specifically triggered by Rush) and ignores
Difficult Terrain.
Flying
While Flying, you are flying above the battlefield. While
you have Flying...
0 All melee attacks against you have Dullness.
0 All your movement ignores Height, Terrain, and you can
move through Enemy squares.
0 You have Vantage on all ranged attacks.
0 If you are Unbalance, Juggle, or Stun, you lose Flying.
Teleporting
Teleportation is not counted as movement: it is
displacement: you remove yourself from your current
square and place yourself into the square you choose to be
in. This means it does not trigger Interjects or other
effects that ask you to move. Teleportation ignores all
terrain, and all height.
Immunity
Whenever you become Immune to any kind of effect, you
cannot suffer that effect any longer, and you remove any
existing effects of that kind from you. Immunity ignores
even True Hits.
Fulmination
As a team-based grid combat game, Gubat Banwa has
Styles that have skills and abilities that would best benefit
the team when they Fulminate in a particular order. In
Gubat Banwa it is as follows:
Sentinels benefit from moving first, as very often they are
the ones that will engage the enemy, applying soft
controlling effects to make sure the focus is on them.
Witches benefit from moving directly afterwards, to
weaken already softened fighters, to move them into
proper position, or to bombard them with crippling
decisions.
Raiders benefit from moving after this, to take advantage
of the weakened ranks, breaking weak links, being able to
kill those that need to be killed first, as dealing damage
and using superior movement to get into positions
opened up by Witches and Sentinels is what they are built
to do.
Sharpshooters benefit from moving later, to be able to
pick out those enemies that can now be defeated easily
from their positions, or to to take advantage of enemies’
final positions without having to move themselves.
Mediums benefit from moving last, to fix any wounds that
might have happened, to know the lay of the battlefield
near the end of a Strike, and to give proper buffs for next
Strike.

Marks
Mark effects are usually defined by the ability that gives
them. New Marks always overwrite older marks, unless
stated that they stack, in which case that mark can co-
exist with the other marks.

When you are Defeated, all your marks on other fighters

are lost.

Swimming
Water Terrain that has at least -2 Elevation can be swam
through and is considered swimmable terrain. When
swimming, your SPD is halved, and you are considered as
on water terrain, but you can move into any elevation
within the swimming terrain as normal without having to
spend +1 SPD to move into them.

While swimming, you can spend 1 Beat to dive into the

water. If you do, you gain Dive: you have +1 to POS/RES,
and when you discard a dive, you can rush 2.

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The Battlefield
The Battlefield is the third pillar of Gubat Banwa’s
combat. So are we part of nature, thus is violence: simply
expressions of nature. Therefore the Battlefield plays an
important part to every fight.
The three aspects of a Battlefield are Terrain, Weather,
and Field Traits.
Edges of the Battlefield
When creating a battlefield, decide whether the
Battlefield’s Edges (that is, the perimeter, the out of
bounds area of the battlefield) are either walls or chasms.
Check these terrain types on the side. If the wall is
broken, it becomes chasms.

Objects in the Battlefield

The battlefield will very often have objects (that are
usually also terrain on their own right). These objects will
usually define their Height or width or what their shape
is, but most commonly they will have Sizes, which is the
same as fighter sizes.

Objects do not have Posture but they instead have

Durability, which acts the same. When an object is
reduced to 0 Durability, it is destroyed: remove it from the
field.

All Objects, unless stated otherwise, have Durability

equal to (5 x Their Size).

Outside of combat, follow the fiction. These stats might

not matter when trying to destroy some kind of barrier.

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Terrain
Terrain is the properties of a square. Some terrain can
have the qualities of other terrain, such as Water Terrain
being also Difficult Terrain. A single square can have
multiple terrain qualities.
Blocking Terrain
Prevents line of sight, line of effect, and movement. If
there is no height associated with Blocking Terrain,
assume that it prevents all line of sight, effect, and
movement regardless of height.
Dangerous Terrain
Moving into a dangerous terrain square reduces your HP
by 1, 1/Fulmination.
Difficult Terrain
Moving into a square of difficult terrain costs +1 Speed
(moving into an adjacent square costs 2 instead of 1 sq.)
Hindering Terrain
Prevents movement but not line of sight.
Walls
Walls don’t take up squares but rather, the sides of
squares. Walls count as blocking terrain—stopping line
of sight and line of effect. If an attack goes through walls,
the wall suffers the damage instead of the fighter in the
square behind the wall: you must draw a line from the
origin square toward the target. If the line touches the
wall in any way, it targets the wall instead. Walls very
often only have 1 Durability.
Ladders
Ladders don’t take up squares similar to walls, but rather
the sides of squares. Moving into a square through the
side of the square that has a ladder (must be orthogonal,
diagonals do not count), does not cost extra SPD if it is on
a higher Elevation.
Slope
Slope terrain is a higher elevation but does not cost extra
speed to ascend.
Cover
Cover terrain are things like low walls, shrubs, and
boulders that fighters can hide behind. Line of effect that
crosses cover terrain gives the target cover.
Chasms
A square that is greater than -5 Elevation. Moving into a
Chasm has a 65% of you staying in an adjacent square
instead. Otherwise, you fall into the Chasm, suffer 6 True
Hits, and are removed from play until the start of your
next Fulmination.
Flammable Terrain
A square that is covered with easily flammable material.
if the square or targets within the square suffer a fire
attack, the flammable terrain ignites and becomes
burning terrain.
Tall Grass Terrain
Moving into tall grass terrain costs +1 Speed. While you’re
within the Tall Grass Terrain, all ranged attacks against
you suffer -1d.
Tall Grass Terrain becomes Burning Terrain if the square
or targets within the square suffer a fire attack.
Burning Terrain
When you start a Fulmination or move into Burning
Terrain, suffer 1 True Hit.
Burning Terrain is removed if the square or targets
within the square suffer an air or water attack.
Hazy Terrain
All fighters in Hazy Terrain are considered Hidden save
for all those within close range of them. Hazy Terrain is
removed if the square or targets within the square suffer
an Air Attack.
Water Terrain
Moving into Water Terrain costs +1 Speed. While in water
terrain you are have water and air vulnerability, but fire
conditioning.
Water Terrain has a 45% chance of becoming Frozen
Terrain if the square or targets within the square suffer a
water attack.
Swimmable Terrain
As with water terrain, but with the following quirks:
When swimming, your SPD is halved, and you are
considered as on water terrain, but you can move into any
elevation within the swimming terrain as normal
without having to spend +1 SPD to move into them.
Frozen Terrain
Moving into Frozen Terrain costs +1 Speed. If you are in a
square that becomes Frozen terrain, you become Stop 2.
If you suffer a fire attack while on Frozen terrain, you
suffer +1 Hit and then the frozen terrain is removed, and
you lose the Stop caused by Frozen terrain.
Frozen Terrain is removed if the square or targets within
the square suffer a fire attack.
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Weather
Each Battlefield also has Weather, which is the The Leaves Fall
weather of the battlefield, which gives effects across Indiscriminately
the entire field.
Crimson and viridian leaves are cascading down.
Clear 0 All fighters gain cover at Strike 1.
It’s bright and clear. No modifications.

Light Rain Sun Scorn

It is drizzling.
0 All ranged attacks suffer -1 range.
Storm
The winds pick up, and the rains have come.
0 All ranged attacks suffer -1 range.
0 All ranged attacks suffer Dullness.
0 All fighters’ Speeds are halved unless in covered
areas.
The Sun beats down relentlessly, scorching the
lands.
0 Fire Attacks deal +1 Hit.
0 Fray inflicts 2 True Hits instead of 1.
Moongleam
The moon’s rictus grin shines down upon you all.
0 All area attacks lose the first Hit result.
0 At Strike 3+, every Start of Fulmination, there is a
30% chance that that fighter’s senses are
overwhelmed: they suffer Daze.

Thunderstorm
It is almost impossible to see through the pall of the Hunting Moon
tempest. The moon is gone, and darkness comes upon you all.
0 All ranged attacks suffer -1 range.
0 All fighters have cover against melee and ranged
0 All ranged attacks suffer +Dullness. attacks.
0 All fighters’ Speeds are halved unless in covered
areas.
0 All fighters in exposed squares have a 10% chance
Night
of being struck by lightning (1 True Hit) when they
It is the night. The moon might or might not be
start their Fulmination.
shining. A dark premonition burns.

0 Any fighter in a square not within the illumination

of a light source is considered as having cover.

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Field Traits
Field Traits are explicitly items or traits of the
battlefield that can be interacted with. If the
Environment and Terrain are both passive things
that change the context of battle, Field Traits are
active things that can shift the tide of combat. The
following are only some examples of field traits that
you can use.
Boulder
A Size 1 boulder in the field, large in size, but can be
pushed over. When it is forcibly moved, it moves in
the direction it is pushed until it collides with
terrain, a fighter, or the edge of the map. If terrain, it
suffers 2 Hits. If a fighter, it deals 2 Hits to the
fighter, slides the fighter to the side, and then keeps
going (unless the fighter cannot be forcibly moved, in
which case it suffers as if it hit terrain). If the edge of
the map, if it is a wall then treat it as colliding with
terrain. If the edge of the map is a chasm, then it falls
into the chasm.
Dam
A line 3 blocking terrain blocking a river’s flow. It has
a Durability 6, and when destroyed, the water rushes
into the field, turning everything on the same height
of the Dam or lower into water terrain.
Entangling Vines
A size 1 object. When a fighter moves into its square,
this consumes the Entangling Vines and they become
Stop until they spend a Technique to remove it.
Dirt Pile
Takes up 1 square. While adjacent to a dirt pile, you
can Interact with it to kick it into the face of a fighter
adjacent to the dirt pile, inflicting Daze x3 to that
fighter. Moving into the dirt pile removes it from the
field.
Oil Jars
Takes up 1 square, but can share squares with other
fighters. When the oil jar suffers fire damage, it
explodes, dealing 2 True Hits to all fighters in close
burst 1 and then making all those squares burning
terrain.
Cold Diwata Idol
An idol shaped in the form of a deep sea snake, to
represent the coldness they came from. Takes up 1
square in the battlefield. When interacted with while
adjacent, it deals 1 True Hit to all adjacent fighters
and then turns all adjacent squares into frozen
terrain until the end of your next Fulmination.
71
71
Firegecko
A size 1/2 object in the battlefield. This is a firegecko
that, once agitated by any sort of damage or if
Interacted with, explodes and immediately inflicts 2
True Hits to all fighters in a burst 3 of it, and then it
is removed from the battlefield.
Geyser
There is a geyser in a single square in the battlefield
that is covered by a rock. Any fighter can interact
with it to remove the rock. Afterward, at the start of
any Beat as chosen by the interacter, the geyser
explodes. When the Geyser explodes, any fighter that
is within close burst 1 of the geyser inflicts 2 Hits and
Juggle.
Pile of Leaves
Takes up a single square. Any fighter can interact
with it during the start of their turn or if they deal air
damage to it. When you kick the leaves all about to
provide a distraction, spend 1 Beat. All squares in
burst 1 of the pile of leaves give cover.
Table
A Size 1 object that can be pushed around, colliding
with other fighters. It has a Durability 4. It can be
interacted with to flip it on its side to make it a wall.
Boat
Very often this is not a large war barge or junk (those
can be entire battlefields on their own) but rather,
smaller sampans, dug-out canoes, and gondolas.
These are commonly 3x2 long Size 2 objects and can
be brought on top of water terrain. While on water
terrain, these boats can be pushed as objects, but
while on the boat, any fighter can spend 1 Beat to row
the boat 2 squares in any direction.
Trees
Squares that are +4 Elevation, and are Blocking
Terrain. Each Tree has 20 Durability. If destroyed,
choose a Line 4 in a direction away from the attacker
(the attacker or the Umalagad) and the tree slams
down there, inflicting 1 Hit and Unbalance. The tree
disappears afterwards.
 VIOLENCE

Consumables
Listed here is a list of items that are commonly used in combat,
known as consumables, that are very often only useful in
combat. You can gain these as rewards or from buying from
Downtime through gaining items. You can never have more
than 3 of each of these item types at a time. When you use a
consumable, they are consumed, meaning they are gone from
your inventory.

Whether in Solo, Co-Op or Traditional Play, the warband can

only carry up to 5 consumables. More fighters in a warband
would necessitate less consumables, while a sole fighter would
likely need a lot of consumables to stay alive.

In Solo Play, consider using these consumables (written in a

d20 table so as to facilitate randomization) to fill in gaps when
you’re having a hard time in combat. Give these to your
Kadungganan as rewards for ventures and hard fought
combats.

Unless otherwise stated, all consumables need you to Interact

with them (1 Beat) to use their effect.

d20 Consumables
1 Healing Concoction. Heal 2. Can be given to an adjacent
ally to Heal them 2.
2 Spiced Coconut Milk. Gain fire conditioning 2.
3 Hot Ginger Tea. Gain water conditioning 2.
4 Bluepea Drug. Gain metal conditioning 2.
5 Calming Safflower Drink. Gain air conditioning 2.
6 Heavenly Cloud Tea. Gain earth conditioning 2.
7 Sugapa. Your next melee attack becomes skewering.
8 Clearsight Herbs. Your next ranged attack ignores
cover.
9 Naga Tooth. Your next attack becomes water.
10 Fireflower. Your next attack becomes fire.
11 Iron Hibiscus Petal. Your next attack becomes metal.
12 Calcified Lightning. Your next attack becomes air.
13 Clump of Scorched Earth. Your next attack becomes
earth.
14 Mending Drug. Cleanse 1 status from yourself.
15 Rooster Mentala. Inflict fire vulnerability 2 on one
fighter in range 2.
16 Naga Mentala. Inflict water vulnerability 2 on one
fighter in range 2.
17 Turtle Mentala. Inflict metal vulnerability 2 on one
fighter in range 2.
18 Hornbill Mentala. Inflict air vulnerability 2 on one
fighter in range 2.
19 Crocodile Mentala. Inflict earth vulnerability 2 on one
fighter in range 2.
20 Geomantic Moondrop. You can only ever have 1 of a
Geomantic Moondrop, it’s mysticism makes it so that
you never see two Moondrops at a time. Interacting
with this costs 2 Techniques: Your next attack is
Overwhelming.

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Scenarios
While Victory Conditions supply enough diversity to
completely avoid the “deathmatch” type of encounter,
here are four additional combat encounter types that
change things up. These are called Scenarios. The four
presented here are: Capture, Escort, Defense, and Last
Stand.
Capture
“Datu! The tree, the stone, and the longhouse in the present
wetlands before us are under contention. We must be like the
hurricane, and capture the field! Let us rejoice in our divine
struggle!” - Satariya Pakrud, in the Battle of Lightnings and
Flames, during the 12th Harvest of the Eighth Moon Era.
Capture is a classic capture the base kind of Scenario.
Objective: Gain more Capture Points than the enemy side
at the end of Strike 5.
Defeat Condition: Defeat is when you gain less Capture
Points than the enemy side.
Stalemate: An equal amount of points is achieved at the
end of Strike 5.
Battlefield Setup: When setting up the Battlefield, you
must make the size at least 25x25 squares. Then, place
three different 3x3 zones in the field. These are the Zones
of Contention.
At the end of every Strike, both sides count the number of
fighters they have at least partially within the Zone of
Contention. For each fighter you have within the Zone of
Contention, gain a Capture Point.
Deployment: Kadungganan and Enemies deploy in
opposite sides of the map. Both Enemies and
Kadungganan must deploy within a 3x3 space at both
edges of the map.
Enemies may have a contingent of reinforcements, but
there cannot be more than N + 3 foes on the field at any
given time. N being the number of Kadungganan.
74
Escort
“The Sarripada’s life before ours. We must remember our
oaths. That sworn fealty we pledged under the blooming
bamboo flowers, before the grand mountain of Gising-gising.
If we break our oath, then what are we but base rocks, made to
bleed foes? Let us remember where we came from. Let sorrow
name the Sun, for tonight we shall bring the Stars to victory.”
- SENAPATI SIKARA, IN THE BATTLE OF RED RIVER, IN THE
INAGOS RIVER, THE 345TH HARVEST OF THE SEVENTH MOON
ERA.
In Escort, you must help a single fighter (The Escort)
travel from one corner of the map to the opposite corner
of the map.
Objective: The Escort escapes alive and conscious.
Defeat Condition: Strike 6 ends without gaining Victory.
Stalemate: The Escort is incapacitated.
Battlefield Setup: When setting up the Field, you must
make the size at least 22x22 squares. Then, place the
deployment zone of the Kadungganan in one of the four
corners of the map. Make it so that they can surround the
Escort Unit. Then, place the Escape Zone in a 3x3 place
that is at least 2 to 3 spaces from the opposite edge of the
map.
Then, place the Initial Deployment Zone for the Enemies
directly in front of the Target Zone, around 3 to 4 spaces
from it. Then, place reinforcement deployment zones in
four different parts of the map. Make sure that there are
no more than N + 3 fighters in the map at any given time.
Prepare double the amount of Enemies than you
normally would, but deploy them in staggered intervals,
or to increase tension. You can deploy new Enemies at the
beginning of any Enemy Beat.
The Escort: Build the Escort as a Companion Folk with
the same tier as a Kadungganan, but they do not have
their own Fulmination. The Escort moves whenever a
Kadungganan or ally to them Strides, moving the same
amount of Speed as the Kadungganan does.
If the Escort is ever adjacent to a fighter from the enemy
side, they stop moving and can’t move until it is only
adjacent to units from the ally side.
Escape
When a Kadungganan is within the Escape Zone, they
may spend a Technique to escape at the end of their turn.
If they are adjacent to the Escort and the Escort is not
adjacent to an Enemy, the Escort also Escapes. The rest of
the Kadungganan must then also Escape, or else be left
behind.
 VIOLENCE

Defense The other was stretching, almost nonchalant, like a cat.

“All right, fools. Listen up. All we have to do is be a thorn on
their side, and their war machine will fall. Death is not
“Remember! We are the thunder and the lightning, the
defeat.”
hurricane and the mountain! We shall protect what is ours.
Sri Nagini turned as the forces of Virbanwa Stop across the
Now is not the time to run: they try to raid us for revenge?
grasslands, appearing from the trees. Sri Nagini and the
HA! Let us see about that. We are the golden gleaming blades!
Kadungganan stood within an ancient kota, overlooking the
When we sunder them, let us make sure that they will not meet
Lake of Sirimina.
Hell!” - Sri Pakrud, the Battle of Indigo Lake, deep in Tauhaw,
“Remember that wretched and exalted phrase,” said Sri
against belligerent Tauhawnon, during the Fifth Star Era.
Nagini, and she raised her spear—the bells upon it clanging in
cacophony—to signal that they were there. She screamed:
Defense has you protecting either a single or a number of “Revel in love and lightning!”
Size 3-5 objects. These can be used to dramatically
simulate protecting a castle, protecting civilians and The Last Stand is one of pure desperation. At best, it's
peasants, protecting a town, or protecting important holding out just long enough for a victory in another area.
artifacts. At worst, it is certain death.
Objective: The Ward/s still stands at the end of the Strike But death brings glory.
8.
Objective: The Kadungganan have 1 or more Points at the
Defeat Condition: All Wards are destroyed. end of the Strike 6.
Stalemate: All Kadungganan are Defeated. Defeat Condition: The Kadungganan have less than 1
Point at the end of Strike 6.
Field Setup: When setting up the Field, you must make
the size at least 25x25 squares. Then, place the Ward to be Stalemate: None. This is Victory or Death.
defended in one side. Place Kadungganan Deployment
directly in front of the objective. Battlefield Setup: When setting up the Field, you must
make the size at least 25x25 squares. Then, place the Last
Then, place Enemy deployment zones in three different Stand Zone in the center of the map, usually a 5x5 space.
areas: one in front of the Kadungganan Deployment
zone, and then two more at two different sides, on both During Preparation Phase, Kadungganan may place 1:
sides of the map. None should begin behind or beside the either Blocking Terrain or a space of difficult terrain in 1
Ward. square within 2 squares of the Last Stand Zone.
Prepare double the amount of Enemies ([N+3]*2), but The Foe Deployment Zone is every side of the map. They
hold half of them as reinforcements. At the beginning of must start from the edges of the map, but they may
Strike 3+, deploy any number of reinforcements at the deploy in any part of the map’s edges.
edges of the map, but never going past N+3.
Prepare triple the amount of Enemies, but hold half as
Ward: The Object should be at Size 3 to Size 5, and it can Reinforcements. At the beginning of Strike 3+, you can
be a single object or multiple objects (good for simulating begin deploying reinforcements in the edges of the map,
defending a number of houses, for example). Define what but you should never have more than N+3.
this is.
Last Stand Zone: The Kadungganan begin with 4 points.
Last Stand At the end of Strike 6, tally the points. For each Enemy
within the Last Stand Zone, the Kadungganan lose 1
Point. This can bring their points to the negatives.
It was a thunderous morning. The sun was not there to greet
them.
As expected, Sri Nagini was correct. She had anticipated that
the Virbanwanon would follow them to the depths of the
Mairete. She was stuck with just four other Mairete
Kadungganan. Lingid, too. Unknown. No songs about them.
Greenhorns, but Kadungganan all the same. They would have
to do.
The war drums of the Virbanwanon— plundered from Akai
towns no doubt— resounded in the distance.
“Bayi,” said one of them. A young girl, wielding a sikarom
taller than her. She was clad in the full vestment of
breastplates and abaca undershirts. “How many are there?”
“Are you ready for death, child?”
They had to hold out. Just for a bit. Sri Nagini knew that the
young Rajah Batara Ambasi was halfway through the
mountain of Janagdan. All they needed was a couple sun-
movements, and they will be in Alang-alang, and on a karakoa
home. To safety.
Rajah Batara Ambasi must not fall.
The young girl did not answer. Sri Nagini turned to the others.
Two young men, one of them drowning himself with alcohol.

75
 VIOLENCE
Enemies
Not all people you meet become your enemies. Of course
not. If you will make an enemy of every sword then you
will never achieve healing through violence. However, if
you are afraid of making any enemies, then you will never
bring about a better world.
In Violence, those hostile to you are known as your
Enemies, fighters on the field that have an express goal of
making sure that you don’t accomplish your Objective.
Enemies are built differently than Kadungganan, and
they are significantly easier to handle, as very often one
player is expected to control each enemy (though this is a
convention Gubat Banwa does not aim to uphold, thanks
to Solo Play and Co-Op Play).
An Enemy is composed of 4 parts: their Martial Abilities,
their Trait, their Inflict Violence, and their Gambits.
0 Martial Abilities are the 6 combat focused abilities that
Kadungganan also have except one. These are Hit Points
[HP], Bravery [BRV], Faith [FTH], Posture [POS], Resistance
[RES], and Speed [SPD].
0 Traits are single defining abilities that are always in
effect, and usually exalt the Enemy’s Class.
0 Inflict Violences are that Class’ basic attack. They almost
always only have one.
0 Gambits are the brunt of an enemy, and dictates what
they do on their Fulmination.
Gambits
Enemies still have 3 Beats, and Gambits tell the enemy
what they do with those 3 Beats. Think of them as AI for
the enemies.
At the start of an NPC’s Fulmination, roll their Gambit
Die. The result dictates what techniques the NPC
performs in order, listed in the Gambit Entry.
The Gambit is what you call the table itself, Gambit Entries
are each of the entries listed down, which differ based on
the complexity of each Gambit. Each Gambit Entry will
have a multitude of actions. Some actions are Basic
Techniques (costing 1 Beat to do), but they might have
access to other effects, wherein the number of Beats
needed to use it would be noted in brackets. [X]
If an Action wouldn’t do anything (ie., Inflicting Violence
without a target) the enemy can choose to Stride instead
in place of that part of the Gambit. They must then move
on to the next Gambit action.
76
Traditional Play
If you are in Traditional Play, the Umalagad can simply
play with Gambits as well to ease the mental load.
However, the Umalagad can take control of each enemy,
using the things they can do on their Gambits as the
things they can spend their Beats on.
Gambits and Fiction
Of course, Gambits are made in such a way to dynamically
alter the fiction, so you can bounce off of what the Gambit
rolls might be. However if something is drastically going
in a direction that is detrimental to the current fiction, or
if you have a golden opportunity for an interesting or
dramatic twist, you can take control of an enemy and gain
3 Beats to spend on any actions on their Gambit List.
Building Violence
Your Violence Budget is how many enemies you can
deploy against Kadungganan. These fights are commonly
average or difficult, so as to challenge your players.
Your Violence Score is always N+1, with N being the
number of Kadungganan in the field. This means a fight
with 3 Kadungganan would have a score of 4.
Each standard Enemy is equal to 1 violence point. Using
the previous example, deploying 4 Enemies (N+1) against
3 Kadungganan is a recommended average fight.
To make it harder, your score instead is Nx2. To make it
easier, your score instead is N-1.
Below is a list of all types of things to introduce into a
fight to fill up your Violence Score:
0 Standard Warrior = 1
0 Minion = 1/5
0 Brave = 2
0 Chief = Nx2
The Battlefield
Once you’ve considered the number of enemies, you
should then choose at least 2 from below, 3 if its a
particularly significant setpiece:
0 3-5 Field Traits.
0 A Height Variation equal to or greater than +5/-5.
0 Large swathes of difficult terrain.
0 At least 3-5 pieces of cover or blocking terrain.
0 At least 10 sides of walls.
0 A change in Weather.
Defeat
When an NPC is brought to 0 HP, they are immediately
Defeated, unless stated otherwise.
 VIOLENCE
Enemy Types
Enemy Types are narrative and mechanical templates for
you to express different fighting styles. Each Style has 7
Types, with the first Type being the basic type that that
style is supposed to do in the battlefield, thus being less
complicated and good for first-time players to use. Finally,
each style also has an 8th Chief Type, a fighter that
requires a party of fighters to defeat.
Each enemy type has 3 sections to their Martial Abilities,
written as “x/x/x”. Each section denotes to an Arc: “Arc
1/Arc 2/Arc 3” and when fighting Kadungganan of that Arc
you would use the appropriate Arc rating.
On top of the generic Enemy Types here, there are also
Faction Types that one can find in the Regions of Gubat
Banwa, detailed under each Faction. These Types are
unique to their Factions.
Each Type is also color-coded styles that narrate their role
in the battlefield.
Red means they are Raiders. Swift damage dealers.
Orange means they are Sharpshooters. Ranged and area
attackers.
Blue means they are Sentinels. Defenders of their allies
and damage takers.
Purple means they are Witches. Those that inflict Banes
and can change the battlefield.
Green means they are Mediums. Wild cards, supporters,
and givers of Boons and healing.
NPC Ranks
There are four base NPC Ranks. There is the Standard
Warrior, which is a standard enemy. Then there are the
Minions, and the Braves. You can apply these Ranks to any
NPC Type except for Chiefs.
0 Minions: Minions represent easy to dispatch enemies,
those that are so far below the skill of the Kadungganan.
They each have only 1 HP and have -1 to all Martial Abilities
except for their SPD. Additionally, all Minions Fulminate at
the same time in a fight.
0 Braves: Braves are more powerful warriors that can pose
a threat to Kadungganan. They have x2 HP, have +1 to all
Martial Abilities except for SPD, and Fulminates twice in
one Strike.
0 Companion: Companions are allies to the Kadungganan
that can hold their own, and might even be Kadungganan
themselves. Commonly in Solo Play, they fill in the roles of
other warriors. Companions have x2 HP, and they become
Critical instead of Defeated when they fall to 0 HP. Only use
Companions for allied NPCs.
Fulmination Order
When running enemies, use the following turn order to
choose which Enemies Fulminate during an enemy
Fulmination. Two or more enemies of the same Style can
be made to Fulminate in any order.
Sentinels Fulminate first > Witches Fulminate next >
Raiders Fulminate afterwards > Sharpshooters
Fulminate afterwards > Mediums Fulminate last.
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 VIOLENCE

Raider Types

RAIDERS
Raiders move swiftly and scrap, dealing large amounts of
damage when given the opportunity.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
BRV 4/7/10 RES 3/4/4
FTH 3/5/6 SPD 4/5/6
TRAIT: AMBUSH
Ambush: Raiders inflict +1 Hit against targets with full HP.
Inflict Violence: Flurry
melee metal bravery attack vs 1 adjacent target
GAMBITS (d8)
1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence

4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shove

7-8 Stride > Inflict Violence > Gatling [1 tech]:

Inflict Violence, ignoring CB

FIST ASSASSIN
Powerful front line pugilists who can grapple enemies and Extremely close quarters warriors that are super fast and have
strike with a multitude of elements channeled from the gods. phases where they cannot be hit at all. Used to get through
enemy lines.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
BRV 4/7/10 RES 3/4/4
BRV 4/7/10 RES 3/4/4
FTH 3/5/6 SPD 4/5/6
FTH 3/5/6 SPD 4/5/6
TRAIT: GRAPPLER
TRAIT: ASSASSIN
Attacks against fighters with Stop have Overwhelming.
Melee attacks vs Staggered enemies have +1 Hit.
INFLICT VIOLENCE: LOCK AND BREAK
Weapon: Karambit
attack with sword elbows that turn into
grapples: melee earth bravery attack vs 1 close [Melee][Air][Bravery][Adjacent][1 Target]
target, inflict stop per 8+ on the attack teeth.
GAMBITS (d8)
GAMBITS (d8)
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
3-4 Stride > Inflict Violence > Gatling [1]: Inflict
3-4 Stride > Inflict Violence > Whack [1]: Inflict 1 Violence, ignoring CB
Hit on 1 adjacent fighter 5-6 Shadows Strike Twice [1]: Teleport SPD >
5-6 Rush 2 > Inflict Violence > Mortal Grapples Inflict Violence > Shadowstep [1]: Teleport 2
Gods [1]: Melee Fire Bravery Attack vs 1 close 7-8 Shadowstep [1]: Teleport 3 + Anino Devaraja
target, consume X Stop to inflict X Hits. [2]: Inflict Violence x2, ignoring CB.
7-8 Stride > Wrestle Buddhas [2]: Melee Fire
Bravery+Faith Attack vs all enemies in blast 3,
then inflict Stop.

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 VIOLENCE

LANCER RAGER
Lance-wielding warriors that make up the bulk of warriors in Powerful warriors that throw caution to the wind and dive
the Sword Isles. Their reach and their ability to travel through deep into violence, immersed into an endless well of fury.
dense jungle makes them formidable foes.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 6/7/8 POS 3/4/5
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
BRV 4/7/10 RES 3/4/4
BRV 4/7/10 RES 3/4/4
FTH 3/5/6 SPD 4/5/6
FTH 3/5/6 SPD 4/5/6
TRAIT: RAGE
TRAIT: CHARGE
Rage: When Staggered, immediately become Raging for the
After striding 4+ sq, gain BRV+1 until the end of next rest of violence.
Fulmination.
> Raging: Gain BRV+2, FTH+2, SPD+2
INFLICT VIOLENCE: IMPALE
INFLICT VIOLENCE: FURY
skewer enemies: metal metal bravery attack vs 2
targets in line 2 attack recklessly: melee metal (fire if raging)
bravery (+faith if raging) vs 1 adjacent target.
GAMBITS (d8)
GAMBITS (d8)
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
3-4 Stride > Dragon Tooth [2]: Pierce down with a 1-2 Stride > Inflict Violence > Stride
burning spear: Ranged Fire Bravery+Faith 3-4 Stride > Berserk [2]: Holy wrath in the name of
Attack vs 1 enemy in range 4, then inflict Stop God! Area Fire Bravery+Faith Attack vs all
5-6 Lancer’s Speed [1]: Gain 1 SPD+1 > Stride > fighters in Blast 3
Inflict Violence 5-6 Temper [1]: Next attack becomes Skewering. If
7-8 Stride > Sibat Bakunawa [2]: Throw spear in a Raging, also gain Overwhelming > Stride >
straight line, channeling the spirit of the Inflict Violence
Bakunawa: Area Water Bravery+Faith Attack 7-8 Stride > Fell Cleave [2]: Inflict Violence three
vs all targets in Line 6 times, ignoring CB.

SWORDMAIDEN REAPER
Sword wielding warriors that carry with them the prestige of A scythe and shovel wielding warrior-gardener that chucks
the blade. They can set up attacks for allies as they batter down soil, uproots trees, and beckons all to the burial jar.
their foes.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
BRV 4/7/10 RES 3/4/4
BRV 4/7/10 RES 3/4/4
FTH 3/5/6 SPD 4/5/6
FTH 3/5/6 SPD 4/5/6
TRAIT: DIG
TRAIT: SWORDSDANCE
At the start of Violence, choose any square past 6 squares from
After making a melee attack, Rush 1 and then gain POS+1 until this fighter. That becomes a Chasm.
the end of next Fulmination.
At Start of Fulmination, may turn 1 adjacent free square into a
INFLICT VIOLENCE: GRACEFUL BLADE Difficult Terrain, if already Difficult, it becomes a Chasm.
strike like a dancer: melee water bravery attack Immune to all Terrain.
vs 2 targets in burst 1 INFLICT VIOLENCE: REAP
GAMBITS (d8) reap with a sickle: melee earth bravery attack vs
1-2 Stride > Inflict Violence > Parry [1]: Inflict all targets in path 3. mark each target hit.
Unbalance per surplus Defend on a melee
attack against this fighter. GAMBITS (d8)
3-4 Stride > Sword Ambahan [2]: Cut all those 1-2 Bring To Hell [3]: Summon grasping demons:
around: Area Water Bravery+Faith Attack vs all Area Earth Bravery Attack vs all targets in burst
targets in burst 1. 2, all free squares in the burst become Difficult
5-6 Sharpen [1]: Gain BRV+1 until end of next Terrain
Fulmination > Stride > Inflict Violence 3-4 Stride > Harvest [2]: All marked enemies suffer
7-8 Sword Dance [3]: Rush 6 in a straight line, Pull 2 and 1 Hit.
moving through enemies, inflicting 1 Hit on 5-6 Stride > Deep Cut [1]: Cleave down with the
every enemy moved through. Then repeat this scythe: Area Earth Bravery Attack vs all targets
effect twice more. in line 3, free squares become difficult terrain >
Arise [1]: Teleport adjacent to any Chasm.
7-8 Arise [1]: Teleport adjacent to any Chasm >
Inflict Violence > Stride

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 VIOLENCE

Sharpshooter Types

SHARPSHOOTERS
Sharpshooters attack from afar, reliably, picking off enemies, but
spending most of their time aiming.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5
FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4
TRAIT: CRITICAL DISTANCE Inflict Violence: Volley
Attacking a target that is 3+ sq let loose a flurry of
away has +1 Hit. shots: ranged metal
bravery attack vs 1 target
in range 5
GAMBITS (d6)
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
3-4 Push 1/Stride > Inflict Violence > Aim [1]: Mark 1
fighter in range 5 until the end of next
Fulmination. All Sharpshooter attacks against
any marked fighter has +1d.
5-6 Stride > Sharp Shot [2]: Pull back and let loose a
javelin shot: Area Air Bravery Attack vs all targets
in line 5.

SNIPER TIGLANTAKA
Warriors that wield either giant, man-sized bamboo longbows or long Cannoneers trained in the arts of explosion and penetration.
arquebuses that can bring single targets down from almost across the
battlefield, unparalleled in their capability to shoot down single MARTIAL ABILITIES
targets. HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
MARTIAL ABILITIES BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5 FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4
BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5 TRAIT: BLASTER Inflict Violence: Blast
FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4 All area attacks have Blast cannons: Area Fire
TRAIT: WATCHTOWER Inflict Violence: Snipe Sharpness. Bravery Attack vs all targets in
blast 3.
When hitting a target with a shoot the perfect shot:
ranged attack, inflict Aim on ranged air bravery GAMBITS (d6)
them, indefinitely. When attack vs 1 target in 1 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
making an attack on a target range 6, ignoring
with Aim, consume X Aim to 2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Deflect
add +Xd to the attack. Aim is blocking terrain and
considered a mark. cover. 4-5 Stride(+1) > Dragon Flame [2]: Unleash a
stream of dragon breath: Area Fire
GAMBITS (d6) Bravery+Faith Attack vs all targets in Blast 3. All
free squares in the blast become Burning
1 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence Terrain.
2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Snipe [1]: Inflict 1 6 Stride > Cannonball [2]: Area Fire Bravery
True Hit to 1 Fighter in range 5 Attack vs all targets in Line 6. Inflict 1 Hit on
4-5 Stride > Inflict Violence > Overwatch [1]: Until every fighter adjacent to the last target of the
end of next Fulmination, 1/Fulmination, when line.
a fighter moves out of a sq within burst 5,
inflict 1 True Hit.
6 Stride > Hiyang Shot [2]: Inflict 1 True Hit to all
marked enemies.

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 VIOLENCE

JUGGLER BLOWGUNNER

Acrobatic warriors that can juggle rope darts, daggers, Treetop assassins that inflict poisons and other lethal effects
swords, spears, and even hearts. from afar with imbued darts.
MARTIAL ABILITIES MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5 HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5 BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5
FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4 FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4
Trait: Bouncing Daggers Inflict Violence: Toss Trait: Treetop Assassin Inflict Violence: Sumpit
After making a ranged attack, Toss your daggers: Ranged When attacking with Vantage, Blow a dart: Ranged Earth
inflict 1 True Hit on an enemy Metal Bravery Attack vs inflict +1 Hit. Bravery Attack vs 1 target
within range 2 of one of the all targets in path 4. in range 4, inflict SPD-1 per
targets of the attack 8+.
GAMBITS (d6) GAMBITS (d6)
1 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence 1 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
2-3 Stride > Leap > Inflict Violence 2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Surmount [1] Rush 2
ignoring height.
4-5 Stride > Death Blossom [2]: Rush 3, and then
deal 1 True Hit to all enemies in burst 2 at any 4-5 Stride > Barrage [2]: Inflict Violence twice,
point during the move. ignoring Combo Breaker
6 Stride > Dancing Fang [2]: Ranged Metal 6 Acrobatics [2]: Rush 5 ignoring height > Venom
Bravery Attack vs all targets in path 6, Cloud: Inflict 1 True Hit and Fray x2 on all
inflicting Eviscerate per 8+ on the attack enemies in blast 4.
teeth.

DANCER
SORCERER
A jovial and mad dervish that performs war dances in the
Powerful magick-users and spellcasters that have the strength battlefield to summon and invoke the very gods and spirits,
and power of a artillery. They very often channel the teachings and to inspire their allies.
of either destruction gods (such as Siwa Priests or Nibatala
Katalonan) or rely on the knowledge of old mystic arts passed MARTIAL ABILITIES
down from generations. HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
MARTIAL ABILITIES BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5 FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4
BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5 Trait: Joyful Jive Inflict Violence: War
Dance
FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4
Trait: Power Overwhelming Inflict Violence: Fireball May Rush 1 after every ranged Dance a violent jive:
attack. Ranged Air Bravery Attack
At Strike 4+, gain Floating, Lob an explosive ball of vs 1 fighter in range 3, then
Overwhelming, and all Hits flame: Area Fire Faith all allies in burst 2 may
are True Hits. Attack vs all targets in rush 1.
burst 1 within 4 squares. GAMBITS (d6)
GAMBITS (d6) 1 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
1 Stride > Inflict Violence > Stride 2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Spear Dance [1]:
2-3 Stride > Teleport 1 > Overwhelming Siwa-Merit Choose 1 ally in range 3. Bless them with
[1]: Area Fire Faith Attack vs all enemies in BRV+1.
burst 2. 4-5 Stride > Burning Dance [2]: Area Fire Bravery
4-5 Teleport 3 > Siwa Lantaka [2]: Area Fire Faith Attack vs all chosen targets in burst 3. All Allies
Attack vs all targets in Blast 5. in the burst gains Overwhelming on their next
6 Ajna Siwa [3]: Inflict 1 True Hit on any fighter attack.
in the battlefield. 6 Stride > Channel Nataraja [2]: Area Earth
Bravery+Faith Attack vs all targets in burst 3.
All allies in the burst can Rush 2 and then
Inflict Violence.

81
 VIOLENCE

Sentinel Types
SENTINELS
Sentinels are fighters that keep enemies close, refusing to let
them attack allies, and those that can take a lot of hits and
keep going.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 7/8/9 POS 4/6/8
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/5/7
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4
Trait: Vigil Inflict Violence: Crusher
1/Fulmination, when a fighter Strike down with a very large
leaves an adjacent square, may weapon. Melee Metal Bravery
Inflict Violence Attack vs 1 Adjacent Target
then Push 1
GAMBITS (d10)
1-4 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
5-8 Shove/Stride > Inflict Violence > Provoke [1]:
Choose 1 fighter within 3 squares and give them
Provoke.
9-10 Stride > Great Rampart [2]: Until end of next
Fulmination, all squares adjacent to the
Sentinel becomes difficult terrain for all
enemies.

JUGGERNAUT GUARDIAN
Momentous mountains that can barrel through foes and stay Guardians get in between their allies and enemies and become
in the thick of it, keeping heat off allies. an indestructible wall, a lightning rod against all attacks.
MARTIAL ABILITIES MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 6/7/8 POS 5/7/9 HP 6/7/8 POS 5/7/9
BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6 BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4 FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4
Trait: Unstoppable Inflict Violence: Axe Trait: Guard Inflict Violence: Hammer
Can collide with fighters and Unleash chopping strikes: 1/Fulmination, when a fighter Unleash thundering strikes:
not have movement stopped. Melee Earth Bravery Attack vs leaves an adjacent square, Melee Metal Bravery attack vs
Can move into enemy squares, 1 Adjacent Target, Push 1, then inflict 1 True Hit. 1 adjacent target, inflict SPD-
colliding. Does not suffer Rush into the vacated sq 1.
damage from collides. Can only
voluntarily collide once per GAMBITS (d10)
fighter per Fulmination. 1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
GAMBITS (d10)
4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shield Up [1]: Gain 1
1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence Defend against the next attack.
4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Momentum [1]: Gain 7-9 Stalwart [1]: Gain Block +1 > Taunt [1]: Pull 2
SPD+1 x2. one fighter in burst 3 > Inflict Violence
7-9 Inflict Violence > Stampede [2]: Rush 5, moving 10 Stride > Guardian Aura [2]: Mark every ally in
through enemies, inflicting 2 True Hits per burst 3. Any time a fighter makes an attack
enemy moved through. Can only move through against a marked ally, become the target of the
enemies once. attack instead.
10 Stride > Inflict Violence > Fling [1]: Push 5 the
target, inflicting +1 Hit and Stun 1 if they
collide.

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 VIOLENCE

IRONCLAD DESTROYER
A slow moving inevitability clad in the fullest of armors in the Powerful warrior-priests blessed with Siwa-Makaobus Flame,
Isles, wielding large weapons that smash through. capable of great conflagrations.
MARTIAL ABILITIES MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 6/7/8 POS 5/7/9 HP 6/7/8 POS 5/7/9
BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6 BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4 FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4
Trait: Brute Inflict Violence: Panabas Trait: Burning Hatred Inflict Violence: Makaobus
Blade
Gain 1 Defend against the first Send crushing barrages: Melee
Hit of any Fulmination. Metal Bravery vs 1 adjacent Any fighter that has Fray is Strike with burning strikes:
target, inflict Eviscerate considered as having Provoke Melee Fire Faith vs All target
to the Destroyer in path 2, inflict Fray.
GAMBITS (d10)
GAMBITS (d10)
1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Stalwart [1]: Gain
Block +1 1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Opportunity [1]: Gain
4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Opportunity [1]: Opportunity [Boon] x2. When an enemy leaves
Gain Opportunity [Boon] x2. When an enemy an adjacent sq, inflict 1 True Hit
leaves an adjacent sq, inflict 1 True Hit 4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Conflagrate [1]:
7-9 Stride > Quake [2]: Area Earth Bravery Attack Inflict Fray 1 on all enemies in burst 2.
vs all enemies in range 1 burst 1, inflict Stop 7-9 Stride > Cleansing Flame of Makaobus [2]: Area
10 Stride > Shield Up [1]: Gain 1 Defend against the Fire Bravery (+1 per Bane on target) Attack vs
next attack. > Shield Bash [1]: Melee Metal all enemies in blast 3, inflicting Fray.
Bravery (+1 per current Block) attack vs 1 10 Makaobus-Buda Inferno [3]: Area Fire
adjacent fighter, Faith+Bravery Attack vs all enemies in burst 5,
Pull 3 (any fighter that collides with the
Destroyer suffers Fray)

HOUND
A swift moving knight that moves with blinding speed across CHAMPION
the battlefield to protect allies. Usually devotees of Wisnu.
MARTIAL ABILITIES An unconquerable warrior that brings inspiration and
strength to their allies, which in turn bolsters themselves. Said
HP 6/7/8 POS 5/7/9 to be champions of Adlaw, the Great Sun
BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6 MARTIAL ABILITIES
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4 HP 6/7/8 POS 5/7/9
Trait: Ward Inflict Violence: Ravaging BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6
Knives
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4
At start of Violence, make 1 ally Claw and rip apart: Melee
Ward. Whenever Ward is Metal Bravery vs 1 adjacent Trait: Burden Inflict Violence: Blessed Kalis
attacked, Rush 3, inflicting 1 target, if the target has When an ally is targeted Smite with blessed fervor:
True Hit if adjacent by end of Provoke, this becomes BRVx2 within burst 2, may change the Melee Fire Bravery vs 1
Rush. Choose a new Ward target to the Champion adjacent target. If the target
when current Ward is instead. has Banes, this becomes
Defeated. Bravery+Faith
GAMBITS (d10) GAMBITS (d10)
1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Distract [1]: Inflict 1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Stalwart [1]: Gain
Provoke x2 to a single adjacent target. Block +1
4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Opportunity [1]: 4-6 Stride > Budhi Taming [2]: Gain Block 4.
Gain Opportunity [Boon] x2. When an enemy
leaves an adjacent sq, inflict 1 True Hit
7-9 Dogged Drive [1]: Gain SPD+1 x2 > Stride > 7-9 Stride > Imbue Sunlight [1]: Protect 3 all allies
Hamstring [1]: Melee Earth Bravery attack vs 1 in burst 2. > Adlaw’s Glave [1]: Melee Fire
adjacent target, inflict Stop. FTHx2 Attack vs All Fighters in Blast 3
10 Mukunda’s Chariot [3]: Teleport adjacent to any 10 Dakog Kalasag [3]: Gain Immunity against the
enemy and then Inflict Violence to all enemies next melee or ranged attack.
in burst 2, then inflict Provoke per 7+ on the
Attack Teeth.

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 VIOLENCE

Witch Types
WITCH
Witches control the battlefield with banes and afflictions.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5
Trait: Potent Curse Inflict Violence: Hex
With Faith Attacks, every Hit A word and gesture, snarling,
also gives the target and then torture: Ranged
Eviscerate. Earth Faith Attack vs 1 target
in range 5, Inflict BRV-1
GAMBITS (d12)
1-4 Stride > Inflict Violence > Stride
5-8 Stride > Cursed Suggestion [1]: Slide 1 all
targets of choice in range 3 blast 1 > Inflict
Violence
9-12 Stride > Armor Break [1]: Inflict all chosen
targets in range 3 burst 1 with POS-2.

TORMENTOR ATROCITY

Tormentors are bombard victims with ailments to slow them A Dihiyang infested warrior, who uses the perversion of
down and whittle their will. harmony to their advantage.

MARTIAL ABILITIES MARTIAL ABILITIES

HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5 HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5 BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5 FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5
Trait: Torment Inflict Violence: Blood Mantra Trait: Disharmony Inflict Violence: Halimaw
Claws
Any Bane inflicted has +1 Utter a mantra to rapture:
Duration and the first Bane Water Earth Faith Attack vs all Whenever forcibly moving a Rend with dissonant claws:
inflicted on a Beat inflicts 1 enemies in range 3 burst 1, target, inflict 1 True Hit, once Ranged Water Faith Attack vs 1
True Hit. then inflict Bleed. per enemy per Fulmination target in range 3, then slide 1
GAMBITS (d12) GAMBITS (d12)
1-4 Stride > Inflict Violence > Frighten [1]: Inflict 1-4 Inflict Violence > Inflict Violence > Inflict
Unbalance x2 to 1 target in range 3 Violence
5-8 Teleport 3 > Pestilence [1]: Inflict Fray x2 on one 5-8 Rush 3 > Discordant Blast [2]: Area Water Faith
enemy in range 3 > Inflict Violence attack vs all chosen targets in Blast 3, Push 2
9-12 Slide 4 one enemy in range 4 > Doubt Mind- 9-12 Stride > Discordant Displacement [2]: Slide 2
Curse [1]: Give FTH-1 to 1 target in range 3 > all enemies in burst 3
Blinding Lights [1]: Give Daze x2 on one fighter 10-12 Inflict Violence > Inflict Disharmony [2]: Give
in range 3. all enemies in range 3 burst 2 Juggle and POS-
10-12 Tearing Hex [1]: Give Unbalance x2 to one 2.
fighter in range 3 > Destroy Manikin [1]: Inflict
Sunder to one fighter in range 3 > Horrify [1]:
Stun one fighter in range 3.

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 VIOLENCE

RITUALIST ORATOR

Ritualists summon little gods that lock down the battlefield. A speaker-warrior that uses the strength of rhetoric and
word to confound enemies.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5
Trait: Summoning Ritual Inflict Violence: Channel
Spirit Trait: Persuasion Inflict Violence: Mock
Whenever hitting with an Strike through with the soul: After inflicting a Bane on a Insults and cutting words:
attack, may put down a Spirit Ranged Air Faith Attack vs 1 fighter, slide them 1 Ranged Air Faith attack vs 1
(Summon) adjacent to one target in range 3, then all target in range 3, inflict BRV-
target. Can only have 3 Spirits Spirits in the field inflict 1 2.
at a time. All squares adjacent True Hit on all enemies
to the spirit are Difficult adjacent to them GAMBITS (d12)
Terrain. At the start of a fight, 1-4 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
put down a Spirit in range 5.
5-8 Stride > Doubt [1]: Inflict FTH-2 to a fighter in
GAMBITS (d12) range 3 > Insult [1]: Inflict POS-2 to a fighter in
1-4 Inflict Violence > Inflict Violence > Inflict range 3
Violence 9-12 Stride > Dominate [2]: Force 1 fighter in range 3
5-8 Teleport 3 > God Call [1]: Pull 1 all enemies in to Inflict Violence against any fighter of your
burst 2 of all Spirits to the Spirits > Inflict choice.
Violence 10-12 Stride > Stunning Logic [2]: Stun 1 fighter in
9-12 Faith Unending [1]: Heal 1 all spirits > Fury range 2.
Diwa [1]: All spirits may Rush 1 > Reprimand [1]:
Stop all enemies adjacent to spirits.
10-12 Inflict Violence > Ancestor’s Vengeance [2]:
Until end of next Fulmination, if a spirit falls to
0HP, it inflicts 2 True Hits on the one that
defeated it.

SMITH
HUNTER
A skilled warrior that uses peerless craftsmanship to craft
Skilled hunter martial artists that lock down the battlefield weapons and obstacles.
with intricate traps.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5
Trait: Craftsman Inflict Violence: Crafting Mace
Trait: Trap Inflict Violence: Shortbow
Does not cause collides. When Strike the foe, the hot blade
At the end of a Fulmination, Loose a barrage of barbed making other fighters collide, upon the anvil: Melee Fire Line
turn one adjacent free square arrows: Ranged Earth Bravery inflict +1 Hit 2 vs all targets, then Push 2
into dangerous terrain until attack vs all targets in range 3 GAMBITS (d12)
the end of their next blast 3, inflict Bleed.
Fulmination 1-4 Build [1]: Place a Size 1 Object on an adjacent
free square > Stride > Inflict Violence
GAMBITS (d12)
5-8 Build [1]: Place a Size 1 Object on an adjacent
1-4 Stride > Inflict Violence > Hobbling Trap [1]: free square > Leap > Inflict Violence
Turn 1 free square in range 3 into difficult
terrain 9-12 Repair [1]: Heal 1 all adjacent allies >
Inscriptions [1]: All enemies adjacent to objects
5-8 Rush 3 > Stopping Trap [1]: Turn 1 free square put down by the Smith suffer 1 True Hit > Hari
in range 3 into hindering terrain > Inflict Meditation [1]: Slide 1 all objects on the field.
Violence
10-12 Build [1]: Place a Size 1 Object on an adjacent
9-12 Spike Trap [2]: Choose 1 square in range 3. All free sq >Build [1]: Place a Size 1 Object on an
enemies in burst 2 of the sq suffer 1 True Hit adjacent free sq >Build [1]: Place a Size 1 Object
and Stop > Stride on an adjacent free sq
10-12 Stride > Pit Trap [1]: Turn 1 free square in range
3 into a chasm > Inflict Violence

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 VIOLENCE

Medium Types
MEDIUM
Mediums provide combat support for their allies.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/5
Trait: Empower Inflict Violence: Chant
When a fighter starts their Incant a stirring chant:
Fulmination adjacent to the Ranged Fire Faith attack vs 1
Medium, they gain Block 1. target in range 3, then 1 ally in
range 3 gains +1d to their next
attack
GAMBITS (d6)
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
3-4 Inflict Violence > Inflict Violence > Inspire [1]: 1
ally in 2 square may Rush 2
5-6 Stride > Shout [2]: All allies in burst 2 gains +1d
to their next attack.

HERBALIST BALYAN
A field medic who uses herbs and incantations to mend Spirit mediums that interact with the invisible realm of
wounds and make others stronger. spirits through trances and dances.
MARTIAL ABILITIES MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5 HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5 BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/5 FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/5
Trait: Auto-Potion Inflict Violence: Ritual Dagger Trait: Healing Spirit Inflict Violence: Sword Spirit
1/ally per Violence, when an Draw blood for healing: Melee Allies that start their Choose 1 ally in range 3. A
ally falls to Staggered, heal 2 Metal Bravery attack vs 1 Fulmination adjacent heal 1. sword spirit possesses them:
them immediately. adjacent target, Push 2 giving them Skewering on
their next attack
GAMBITS (d6)
GAMBITS (d6)
1 Sri Dewi Agas Mudra [3]: Heal 1 all allies in the
battlefield and cleanse all chosen effects from 1 Stride > Inflict Violence > Inflict Violence
them. 2-3 Stride > Hearten [1]: Give 1 ally in range 3
2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Heal [1]: Heal 1 one RES+1 > Spirit Break! [1]: Let 1 ally in range 3
range 2 ally Inflict Violence
4-5 Stride > Hearten [1]: Give 1 ally in range 3 4-5 Stride > Balahala Adlaw’s Blessing [2]: Range 3
RES+1 > Purify [1]: Cleanse a single effect from Burst 2: all allies in the burst can gain +1d on
an ally in range 3. their next attack and they can choose to make it
6 Selfcare [1]: Heal 1 self > Stride > Heal [1]: Heal 1 deal fire attack.
one range 2 ally 6 Stride > Flood God [2]: All allies in line of sight
gain Regen x2.

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 VIOLENCE

WARLORD SINGER
A frontline warrior that leads their allies to supreme victory. Wisefolk that grant teachings and guidance to their allies,
using mudras and incantations.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
BRV 4/5/6 RES 3/4/5
BRV 4/5/6 RES 3/4/5
FTH 2/3/4 SPD 3/4/5
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/5
Trait: Advance Inflict Violence: Blade
Trait: Tempo Inflict Violence: Kudyapi
At start of Fulmination, Rush 1 Strike with a leading blade:
all adjacent allies. Melee Metal Bravery Attack vs When an ally starts their Strum the strings: Area Air
1 adjacent target, then 1 Fulmination while within the Faith attack vs all targets in
adjacent ally may Inflict burst 2 of the Singer they gain blast 3, Rush all allies in the
Violence SPD+1. blast
GAMBITS (d6) GAMBITS (d6)
1 Stride > Order [1]: 1 ally in range 2 may Stride > 1 Stride > Quickening Ambahan [2]: All allies in
Inflict Violence burst 2 gain SPD+1 x2.
2-3 Inspire [1]: Heal 1 adjacent ally > Inflict 2-3 Stride > Exalt [2]: Heal 1 all allies in blast 3
Violence > Rouse [1]: Give 1 ally in range 3 4-5 Stride > War Song [2]: All allies in line of sight
SPD+1 gain the aggressive stance until they are
4-5 Stride > Brave [2]: All allies in line of sight gain attacked. When attacked, they can choose to
BRV+1 roll their BRV or FTH instead of Defense,
6 Order [1]: 1 ally in range 2 may Stride > Break rolling Hits against the attacker instead of
[2]: All allies in burst 2 may inflict violence. Defends
6 Encore [3]: After the Singer ends their
Fulmination, an NPC gets to Fulminate, and
they get a +1d to their next attack

SAINT JUDGE
Wisefolk that grant teachings and guidance to their allies, Holy warriors that protect allies and grant them strength,
using mudras and incantations. punishing wicked foes.
MARTIAL ABILITIES MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5 HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
BRV 2/3/4 RES 3/4/5 BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 4/5/6 SPD 3/4/5 FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/5
Trait: Guidance Inflict Violence: Enlightened Trait: Karma Inflict Violence: Imposition
Palm Gada
All allies in burst 2 of the Saint Break through with a burning When an ally is attacked while Strike down with a lion-
has +1d to all attacks. palm: Melee Fire Faith Attack within burst 2, inflict 1 Hit to headed mace: melee metal
vs all targets in Line 3, 1 ally the attacker afterwards. Faith Attack vs 1 target in
that can be seen gets +1d on range 3. Give them SPD-1.
their next attack.
GAMBITS (d6)
GAMBITS (d6)
1 Law of Siwa-Batala Reality [3]: Teleport 3 all
1 Stride > Enlighten [1]: All allies in burst 2 gain allies in the battlefield.
FTH+1 > Inflict Violence 2-3 Stride > Eradicate Maya [2]: Cleanse all chosen
2-3 Stride > Purification [2]: Mark all allies in burst effects from a single ally within line of sight
2 indefinitely. A marked ally can only suffer 1 4-5 Rush 3 > Place Altar [2]: Place a Size 1 Altar in
Hit on the next attack against them, they then an adjacent square. All allies adjacent to the
lose the mark. altar discard the first Hit against them.
4-5 Stride > Love [1]: 1 ally in range 3 gains POS+2 6 Law of Wisnu-Hari Reality [3]: All enemies in
and RES+2. > Lightning [1]: All enemies the field are marked. When the marked enemy
adjacent to any ally with any Ability Modifier makes an attack during their turn, Stop them
suffers 1 True Hit. immediately, and then 1 True Hit. They then
6 Temporary Nirvana [3]: 1 ally in range 3 lose the Mark.
becomes immune to all hits on the next attack.

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VIOLENCE

Chief Types
Chiefs are the most powerful of warriors, great enemies,
bearers of immortality. When Kadungganan face Chiefs, they
face powerful movers and shakers of the world, and they are
meant to feel the consequences of facing such powerful
combatants.

The Chiefs have a number of mechanics that make them more

difficult to fight. Chiefs are usually equal to 5 Kadungganan. If
you have to scale down to accommodate less number of
Kadungganan, lower their HP by 5 per Kadungganan less than
5. Chiefs also have 3 Traits instead of just 1.

Chief Innate Traits

Poise. Whenever a Chief suffers a Bane or is forcibly moved,

they gain a Poise Token instead. When they gain 8 Poise
Tokens, they become Poise Broken: they suffer Banes, can be
forcibly moved as normal, and cannot gain any more Poise
Tokens. They lose 2 Poise Tokens every start of Fulmination.
When they lose all Poise Tokens, they can again gain Poise
Tokens again and lose Poise Broken.

Chief Eye. Chiefs have 4 Techniques instead of 3. Additionally,

even when suffering Slow, they still get to Fulminate a number
of times equal to Kadungganan currently in the battlefield.

Phases. Chiefs have 2-3 Phases. They start at Phase 1 and their
other Phases are triggered when they are Staggered.

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 VIOLENCE

SWORDMASTER
A master of the art of slashing, who has sliced a coconut tree in
a single swing. Fear their name.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5 x KadunggananPOS 3/4/5
BRV 7/9/11 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 6/6/6
TRAITS INFLICT VIOLENCE
Blade Barrier: +1 Defend Heirloom Blade: Strike down
against all ranged attacks. with an heirloom blade,
sending cutting winds in a line.
Parry: Once per Strike, the Melee Metal Bravery attack vs
Swordmaster may declare that all targets in Line 3, may Rush 1
they Parry when the target of a before or after the attack
melee attack. When they Parry,
every 6+ on their Defense Teeth
count as 2 Defends.
Sword Fields: After making a
melee attack, place a single
Size 1/2 Sword object in a
square adjacent to the target.
GAMBITS (Nd8)
PHASE 1: SHEATHED BLADE
1-2 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shield Break [2]:
Inflict POS-1 to 1 adjacent fighter.
3-4 Stride > Inflict Violence > Sword Break [2]:
Inflict BRV-1 to 1 adjacent fighter.
5-6 Stride > Judgment Cut [2]: Area Metal Bravery
Attack vs all targets in range 3 burst1 > Mind
Break [2]: Inflict FTH-1 to 1 adjacent fighter.
7-8 Stride > Inflict Violence > Time Break [2]: Inflict
SPD-1 to 1 adjacent fighter.
PHASE 2: UNSHEATHED SWORD (WHEN STAGGERED,
TRIGGER PHASE 2 IMMEDIATELY).
1-2 Teleport adjacent to any Sword > Inflict
Violence > Sword God: Inflict 1 Hit on all
enemies adjacent to each Sword
3-4 Stride > Braver [1]: Gain BRV+1 > Inflict
Violence > Sword Dance [1]: All swords in the
battlefield inflict 1 Hit on all enemies adjacent to
them.
5-6 Teleport 3 > Judgment Cut [2]: Area Metal
Bravery Attack vs all targets in range 3 burst 1 >
Sword Dance [1]: All swords in the battlefield
inflict 1 Hit on all enemies adjacent to them.
7-8 Teleport 5 > Inflict Violence > Juggling Sword
[1]: Push 3, if the target collides, pull 2 then
Inflict Violence with Skewering, ignoring CB
9-10 Makaobus Annihilating Sword: Bulandahas [4]:
Inflict 1 True Hit to all enemies adjacent to the
Swordmaster and every Sword on the field, then
all Swords are destroyed, and the Swordmaster
may teleport to any of the Sword’s former
squares.

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VIOLENCE

BARIL GUNDEVIL
Powerful gunslingers that wield all sorts of firearms to adapt
to a wide variety of situations. They can summon powerful
cannons, arquebuses, and dragoon pistols to destroy enemies,
both from afar and from up close.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4x POS 3/4/5
Kadungganan
BRV 7/9/11 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 4/5/6
TRAITS INFLICT VIOLENCE
Multigun: Does not suffer GUNSLINGER: Choose 1 when
Dullness for any ranged Inflict Violence:
attacks and ignores Combo
Breaker on ranged attacks. Arquebus: Ranged Metal
Bravery Attack vs 1 target
Quick Reload: Reroll all 1s on in range 7
Attack Teeth.
Lantaka: Area Water
Bombardier: All area attacks Bravery Attack vs 1 target
have +1 Hit. in range 4 Burst 1
Terakul: Area Fire Bravery
Attack vs all targets in
blast 3
GAMBITS (d6)
Phase 1: Gun Master
1-2 Stride > Inflict Violence > Inflict Violence >
Inflict Violence
3-4 Inflict Violence > Rainstorm [1]: Rush 5 and
then inflict 1 True Hit to all enemies in burst 1
at any point in the movement > Rusak Astra [2]:
Inflict 1 Hit on any fighter in the battlefield
5-6 Stride > Lawana Sinigida’s Astra [2]: Area
Fire Bravery+Faith Attack vs all targets
in Line 7 > Rush
Phase 2: GUN GOD CHANNELING (Immediately trigger after
hitting Staggered)
1 Stride > Inflict Violence > Inflict Violence >
Inflict Violence
2 Inflict Violence > Rainstorm [1]: Rush 5 and
then inflict 1 True Hit to all enemies in burst 1
at any point in the movement > Rainstorm [1] >
Rainstorm [1]
3 Stride > Lawana Sinigida’s Astra [2]: Area
Fire Bravery+Faith Attack vs all targets
in Line 7 > Rusak Astra [1]: Inflict 1 Hit on any
fighter in the battlefield
4 Nataraja Gunslinger [1]: Rush 4, then gain
SPD+1 and all ranged attacks ignore cover and
don’t require line of sight > Rusak Astra [1] >
Rainstorm [1] > Vritra Chases Indra [1]: Area
Fire Bravery+Faith Attack vs all chosen
targets in path 7
5 Stride > Indrastra [3]: Area Fire Bravery+Faith
Attack vs all chosen targets in Blast 5,
Overwhelming
6 Vajra Bullet Hell [4]: Give all enemies in the
battlefield 3 Aim. When they leave a square,
they suffer 1 True Hit and then discard an Aim.

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 VIOLENCE
NAVADIKPALA
Powerful warriors that guard not just the eight, but nine
directions. Many of them are attributed with supreme
devotion, and are thus said to have the merit of BATALA the
Supreme Auspicious God. The term Nava-Dikpala is given
only to the greatest of warriors, those that have given their
lives to their Devarajas and will not hesitate to die for them.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 6x POS 5/6/7
[Kadungganan]
BRV 5/6/7 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 4/4/4
TRAITS
Verumkai Master: The Navadikpala is immune to Unbalance
and Stun.
Perfect Vadivu: Whenever the Navadikpala is attacked, they
may Inflict Violence back at the attacker, no matter the range.
Once per Fulmination.
Pervasive Kalari: Marked fighters suffer SPD-1.
Inflict Violence: Kali Panabas
Cleave the earth with the panabas of the goddess of
destruction: melee metal Bravery Attack vs all chosen targets in
blast 2, mark all targets.
GAMBITS (d10)
Phase 1: Channel Rudra
1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence > Shove
4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Distract [1]: Provoke
1 target in range 2 > Shove
7-8 Stride > Inflict Violence > Makapulao Facet [1]:
Inflict a Slow on 1 target in range 2. > Shield Up
[1]: Gain POS+1.
9-10 Laho Swallows The Sun [4]: Take on the Sun-
Swallowing Stance. While in the Stance, gain
POS+1 and RES+1. When a fighter moves into
an adjacent square, consume the stance to grab
the target and leap into the air, removing both
this fighter and the target from play. At start of
next Strike, both suffer 4 True Hits and return
to their original positions.
Phase 2: Ninth Direction of Siva (Trigger when Staggered
immediately)
1-2 Stride > Inflict Violence > Barricade [2]: Gain 2
Defends.
3-4 Laho Swallows The Sun [4]: Take on the Sun-
Swallowing Stance. While in the Stance, gain
POS+1 and RES+1. When a fighter moves into
an adjacent square, consume the stance to grab
the target and leap into the air, removing both
this fighter and the target from play. At start of
next Strike, both suffer 4 True Hits and return
to their original positions.
5-6 Pagwaagan’s Blessing [1]: Choose a single
fighter within line of sight. Leap to an adjacent
sq > Lakanbakod’s Wall [2]: Place a wall terrain
in one side of the target’s square
7-8 Wisnu Ward [2]: Gain Block 5. As long as the
Navadikpala has this Block, whenever they
suffer an attack, they inflict 1 True Hit back at
the attacker before their attack resolves. >
Durga’s Call To Glory [1]: Stride and then
Provoke 1 all adjacent enemies.
9-10 Hari’s Glory [4]: Mark all enemies in the
Battlefield indefinitely. While marked, they are
suffer Provoke from the Navadikpala, and the
Navadikpala deals +1d to them. When a mark
does not deal damage to the Navadikpala at the
end of their Fulmination, they suffer 1 True Hit.

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 VIOLENCE

ASWANG
The most powerful of witches, who gain potence by
channeling gods just as with any other shaman, but also by
gaining personal power through eating livers of humans,
wherein they gain enough Gahom, personal spiritual power,
to energize their most powerful of sorceries: shapeshifting,
flight, fire-summoning, and bisection. To harness this much
Gahom, they must have a vessel, which is an item known as
the Itim Na Sisiw, or Black Raptorling. Elder Aswang can
create more Itim Na Sisiw, and anyone that obtains the Itim
Na Sisiw of an aswang gains the power of aswang
themselves. However, very often, they have to accustom
themselves to this power, so they still must train. Those who
have swallowed an Itim Na Sisiw are known as Yanggaw, or
“Newly Infected.”
When an aswang relinquishes their Itim Na Sisiw, they die.
While they have the Itim Na Sisiw, they are functionally
immortal.
To the Ashinin Missionaries, the Asuwang are said to tap
into the power of the Deva, able to harness Maya. However,
this power is not for mortals to wield. Or at least, not for
uncultivated mortals. Very often, outside of the most elder of
aswang, most aswang become possessed of a dangerous and
murderous power that they cannot control. This is often
more common when a witch swallows the Itim Na Sisiw of
elder aswang.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4x POS 3/4/5
Kadungganan
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 7/8/9 SPD 4/5/6
TRAITS
Tanggal: When Striding, the Aswang Flies. They can
choose to bisect themselves, making it so that they
occupy the square they left as well as the square they
Stride into. At the beginning of the next Fulmination, the
other half returns: choose 1 square to which the Aswang
chooses to stay in, and then remove the other half.
Maya: Whenever inflicting Banes, also inflict 1 True Hit
and Slide 1.
Wicked Argent Witch: All ranged attacks against the
Aswang have Dullness, and they may Rush 1 afterward.
When bringing an Enemy to 0 HP, heal 1.
INFLICT VIOLENCE
Witchery: Area Air Faith Attack vs All chosen targets in
Blast 5, Slide 3, Inflict Fray.
GAMBITS (d12)
Phase 2: Power of the Crone (Trigger immediately when Staggered)
Phase 1: Wicked Witcheries
1-3 Dog Shapeshift [1]: Gain SPD+1 x2, inflict SPD-1 on all enemies
1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Inflict Violence > in burst 2 > Stride > Inflict Violence > Night Veil [1]: Gain a
Stride Cover against the next attack
4-6 Teleport 5 > Inflict Violence > Night Veil [1]: 4-6 Stride > Dog Shapeshift [1]: Gain SPD+1 x2, inflict SPD-1 on all
Gain a Cover against the next attack > Shatter enemies in burst 2 > Demon Bird Shapeshift [1]: Teleport 3 and
Hex [1]: Inflict BRV-2 and FTH-2. then gain Vantage on all attacks until end of next Fulmination
7-9 Stride > Dog Shapeshift [1]: Gain SPD+1 x2, > Hokot [1]: Inflict 1 True Hit to all enemies in line 6
inflict SPD-1 on all enemies in burst 2 > Stride > 7-9 Stride > Rakshasa Hex [3]: Inflict 2 of the each: SPD-1,
Inflict Violence Eviscerate, Unbalance, POS-2, and RES-2 to 1 target in range 5
10-11 Stride > Demon Bird Shapeshift [1]: Teleport 3 > Hokot [1]: Inflict 1 True Hit to all enemies in line 6
and then gain Vantage on all attacks until end 10-11 Asura Shapeshift [2]: Gain Overwhelming and Skewering to
of next Fulmination > Hokot [1]: Inflict 1 True all attacks until end of next Strike, and gain FTH+2 x3 > Inflict
Hit to all enemies in line 6 > Inflict Violence Cursed Ajna [2]: Inflict 1 True Hit on all enemies in the
12 Stride > Rakshasa Hex [3]: Inflict 2 of the each: battlefield, and give each POS-2
SPD-1, Eviscerate, Unbalance, POS-2, and RES- 12 Mahakala Swallowing [4]: Inflict Doom x5 on each enemy in
2 to 1 target in range 5 the field. When a fighter removes the last Doom, they are
immediately Defeated. Trigger this automatically at the
beginning of Strike 5. Cannot stack Doom: whenever Mahakala
Swallowing is performed again, simply Stun all fighters with
Doom.

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 VIOLENCE
KATUURAN
Katuuran are elder shaman, head priests of a city-state,
probably even deified at death. Many Katuuran walk around
a state with a long crowd of assistant shamans. Katuuran
would conduct the most important rituals, and more
importantly channel the most important of the gods.
Sometimes they would even attempt to speak with the
Supreme, Beings that are very often not to be spoken to.
However, they are also purveyors of devotion, they lead their
flock to the right path to let them accrue spiritual merit.
Both spiritual merit and devotion to the ancestors are
important to the spiritual cultivation of mortals. These
warriors are the greatest of sages, many of them would be
considered as bodhisattvas, saints, and brahmin.
Many Katuuran are Nibatala, Nihari, or Nilawana.
Nibatala comes from NI (of a person) + BATALA (the
Supreme Noble Lord). BATALA is another name for
SIWU, and is commonly believed by the commonfolk to be
the Supreme God, in contrast to the aristocrat and court
religion of NIHARI, who believe in HARI or WISNU as
the Supreme Reality. Warriors very often invoke LAWANA
SINIGIDA, the first warrior, an ancestral god in the Isles,
who is said to have been an avatar of KALAKATRI The
Undefeatable, the Murderous Aspect of RAYADEWI the
Great Mother Goddess, the Primordial Energy of the
Universe. Katuuran that are devotees of Lawana are known
as Nilawana.
Many Katuuran, alongside the greatest of Barani, become
gods upon death, ancestral deities similar to Buddhas. They
have attained glory through conviction. They who have
reached heaven by violence.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5x POS 4/5/6
Kadungganan
BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6
FTH 4/5/6 SPD 3/4/4
TRAITS
Spirit Summons: Every start of Fulmination, choose 1 to
summon: Raider Minion, Sharpshooter Minion, Sentinel
Minion, Witch Minion
Xenoglossy: All spirit minions can be used as origin points for
any effect or attack. Whenever a spirit minion gains a Boon,
Block, Skewering, or Overwhelming, the Katuuran gains it as
well. If the Katuuran moves into a spirit minion’s square, the
spirit minion is removed from play and the Katuuran heals 1.
INFLICT VIOLENCE: ULTRA SPIRIT
Exude enlightenment: Area Fire Faith attack vs all chosen
targets in burst 2, all allies in the burst gain brv+2 and
fth+2
GAMBITS (d6)
Phase 1: Channel Spirits
1-2: Stride > Inflict Violence > Evoke [2] All minions in the field Phase 2: Channel Gods (Trigger immediately when Staggered)
may Inflict Violence 1-2 Stride > Inflict Violence > Evoke [2] All minions in the
3: Teleport 3 > Law of Siwa-Batala Reality [3]: Teleport 3 all allies field may Inflict Violence
in the battlefield. 3 Stride > War Spirit Summons [2]: All allies in burst 2
4: Spirit Tunnel [1]: Switch places with a minion in the field, gain Block 3 and Skewering until the end of their
teleporting > Inflict Violence > Lesser Evoke [1]: 1 minion in the next Fulmination. > Inflict Violence
field may inflict violence 4 Stride > Channel Lawana [2]: The Katuuran and all
5: Stride > Thunderbolt Vehicle [2]: All allies in burst 3 may allies in the field may teleport 3, then gain POS+2 and
inflict violence with +1 Hit > God Lightning [1]: Inflict 1 Hit on a RES+2 x3 each > Inflict Violence
single enemy in the battlefield, consume any number of effects 5 Stride > Channel Lakapati [3]: All enemies in burst 2’s
to deal 1 Hit per effect consume next attack cannot gain more than 1 Hit.
6: Teleport 5 > Place Altar [2]: Place a Size 1 Altar in an adjacent 6 Channel Batala [4]: The Katuuran and all allies in the
square. All allies adjacent to the altar discard the first Hit field gain Overwhelming until the end of the next
against them. > Slide 3 an enemy in range 4 Strike. The Katuuran then summons 3 more minions,
and raises 5 squares up to +2 Elevation.

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 VIOLENCE
Enemy Origins
The world of Gubat Banwa is as beautiful as it is vast. Not
all the fighters the Kadungganan will encounter will be
random raiders or traveling warriors. Very often they will
be from something. This is indicated by their Origin,
which is commonly placed in front of their name.
Origins are very commonly not used in the first few
sessions. Use them when your Kadungganan are ready
for some more complexity and interesting situations in
your fights. In later Arcs, Origins will become almost
mandatory to be able to keep up with the sheer number of
abilities that a Kadungganan can take.
This will feature the following Origins: Pale Kings, Folk
Beasts, Demons, and Gods. The several Region Factions
in the later World section has even more Origins.
Pale Kings
Issohappa is a far west Empire in the Far West Tooth of
the World Jaws. The World Jaws has four cardinal teeth,
which in other The Sword Isles traditions are known as
the Pillars of the World, for they hold up the firmament.
Each Pillar has its own diwata, who is powerful on their
own right. It is said that a small number of people from
The Sword Isles sailed there during the creation of the
world and populated it. However, they were quickly
subjugated by an invading force of pale-skinned, knife-
eared, 7-foot tall humanoids, who had crimson eyes and
platinum hair.
These beings called themselves Realiza Palida, the Pale
Royalty. And they believed their birthright is GUBAT
BANWA. All of it. They stride forward with their
Bleeding Star Emperor, who sits upon his Astral
Throne.
The Emperor is counseled by a Senate. There are five
Grand Senators in all, each one being the head of a
different Ministry: War, Justice, Health, Commerce
and People. The current Emperor is Fal-Sidolfus XII,
The 108th Star of Heaven, long may he reign. In the
Issohappan calendar, it is the 1521st Year after the
Resurrection of the Sanguine Prophet.
Those of the Aristocracy, the Senators, Ministers,
Nobles, and Dukes, are all Pale Kings or have Pale King
blood in them. No Pale King ever becomes
disenfranchised, although there are some that might
have gained their own conscience and deserted
Issohappa’s war machine. Beneath the Aristorcracy are
the peasants: farmers, conscripts, bandits. They live in
duchies and farmlands, all under Pale King regents,
knights, and dukes. These are almost always mortals,
non-Pale Kings.
Issohappa has a standing army, composed of fusileers,
pikemen, and cavalry. They have a naval contingent as
well as an aerial contingent, which ride upon Blood-
Drakes, flying bat-like creatures summoned from the
Bloody Heart of the Weeping Mother, an artifice-
cathedral at the heart of the Empire.
94
The Empire’s Capital is Yavum. It is carved out of the
corpse of the Far West Pillar of the Earth, after the Pale
Kings slew the Far West Pillar’s Diwata, Buyung
Kanluranung Sangsangga. The Pillar has been replaced
with the Bell Tower of the Heaven-Piercing Star, the
centerpiece of the Royal Palace-Cathedral known as the
Mangled Hand of God, for it resembles a mangled claw
reaching to heaven. It is made of bones and ghosts-
forged-into-steel.
The Mangled Hand of God still twitches, and the
Bleeding Star Emperor lives within.
Issohappa, led by the Pale King, has been expanding
further to the center, where the Center Pillar of Gubat
Banwa stands, known as Mount Apu. Here they believe
that they will find the ruling spirit of Yutadagat, and
they will be able to fully rule the rest of Yutadagat.
The Pale Kings are ever hungry for power, for riches,
treasure, capital. They send merchants to Iyamat and
Baik Hu. They believe that sending missionaries to
these heathen lands will cure them of their Sin of
Ignorance, and the entire world will be placed under a
single name and empire, which must be done before the
return of the Sanguine Chosen. To that end they have
had no qualms in decimating entire populations, or
destroying entire cultures that do not adhere with their
Ashen Star belief.
The Pale Kings’ religion is known as Astraiman, the
Bleeding Star Faith. Astraiman teaches that the world
is owned by the Prince of Lies, and that everything that
does not adhere to the sacred Iero Viv, their holiest book,
must be plunged into flames, as it belongs in Hell. The
Church is led by Supreme Pontiff, the one whose blood
is chosen by the Chosen. The Supreme Pontiff is gifted
with overwhelming spiritual power.
There have been some infighting going on in the
ideologies of the Pale Kings as of late. None of the
ideologies are beneficial to Gubat Banwa.
They have come close to colonizing The Sword Isles
once, when they managed to invade Virbanwa. With
concerted effort, they were driven back. Some
contingents and deserters still linger within The Sword
Isles, and Virbanwa has no doubt suffered and
internalized the suffering brought upon them by
Issohappa. The Pale Kings influence cannot be
understated, cannot be avoided. Issohappa has left the
islands for now.
But they will return.
Through The Sword Isles, their Reconquista will
triumph, and all of Gubat Banwa will be theirs.
 VIOLENCE

Pale King Origin Template

Glory to the Sidereal Banner: At the beginning of violence, for every Pale King fighter on the field, also place down
3 Slave Minions adjacent to the Pale King.
Bloody Angel Thesis: When a Pale King fighter is Defeated, they become an Angel: they heal 3 HP, become immune
to all damage until the end of their next Fulmination, and then gain +2d on all attacks.
The Threat of Capital: All Pale Kings are Braves.
Stolen Reliquary: Pale Kings steal holy items from the places they go into. All Pale Kings have +1 Hit on all attacks
and All Conditioning. The first time they are Staggered in combat removes these benefits.

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 VIOLENCE

Pale King Origin Fighters SLAVE

All Pale King Origin Fighters have the Pale King Template. “Oi! Get ur arse back here. The Pale is calling us again! We’ve
no time to be dallying. Who fucking cares if your fingers are
falling off? There’s gold!”
LANZA DE ESTRELLAS, ROYAL STARLIGHT LANCE
MARTIAL ABILITIES
“O, see me, O Lord of Stars. See what mine faith hast turned HP 1 (Minion) POS 2/3/4
me into! Witness my sanguine flesh, the lions grafted upon my
putrid flesh. The rotten skin turned black. I am turned BRV 2/3/4 RES 2/3/4
monster, sailing across the stars. Is this what thou wisheth FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/5
upon thine flock?
Trait: Mob Inflict Violence: Rusty Blade
Hast thou forgotten me? Has thou... FORSAKEN ME? I hath
been of utmost faith, I hath worked most tirelessly, to While adjacent to other slaves, Chop savagely: Melee Earth
accomplish the mission of the Church! I am nothing without gain +1d to all Teeth. Bravery Attack vs 1 close target
thee. Thou hast made me NOTHING WITHOUT THEE. HOW
CANST THOU FORSAKE ME, THOU MOST OBEDIENT GAMBITS (d8)
SERVANT?
1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
O, Holy Lance of Starlight, thou hast been by my side all this
time. Come and let us bring upon ruin upon the heathens. 4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shove
Perhaps, once the great Church and Hellstar has scourged all 7-8 Stride > Inflict Violence > Whack [1]: Inflict 1
of Gubat Banwa, canst mine own calvary end. Maybe then I Hit on 1 adjacent fighter
can rest.
I fear I will never find rest. The great Star hath work for me
even in death. It is my work that matters to them. It is my CAZADOR DE DIOSES, ROYAL HUNTSMAN
function. ‘Tis the only Nirvana.”
“O, mighty Star God, I am wreathed in shadow. I am the blade
MARTIAL ABILITIES of the Church and the arrow loosed from the bow of the
HP 10/12/14 POS 3/3/3 Crown. I am the greatest weapon, the srike upon the
heathens. When I have chosen my prey, I will not stop until
BRV 7/8/9 RES 3/3/3 they are dead. My head is that of an Astral Owl, and my skin is
FTH 7/8/9 SPD 6/6/6 as black as a starless night. I stand towering over others, and
my appendages are slender like branches of trees, and my jaw
Trait: Carry Out The Great Inflict Violence: Holy Starlight hangs slack. My bow is my spine. I am the shadow at the
Commission Lance corner of thine eyes. Ye are my prey.”
Ignore all terrain and height, Summon a lance of MARTIAL ABILITIES
as well as cover. All attacks fulminating starburst: Melee HP 8/10/12 POS 2/3/4
against non-Pale Kings always Fire Bravery attack vs all
have Sharpness. targets in Line 2 BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5
GAMBITS (d8) FTH 4/6/8 SPD 6/6/6
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence Trait: Sidereal Bullet Cazador Inflict Violence: Sidereal Rifle
3-4 Stride > Inflict Violence > Arrows From The Attacking marked targets Fire an astral bullet: Ranged
Stars [1]: Area Fire Faith Attack vs all targets in Sharpness. All melee attacks Fire Bravery Attack vs 1 target
range 3 burst 1 against the Cazador suffer in range 15, Skewering, Mark
Dullness. each target
5-6 Stride > Sidereal Blessing Sword [1]: Area Fire
Faith Attack vs all targets in Blast 5 > Pain [1] GAMBITS (d6)
Melee Fire Bravery Attack vs 1 target in blast 5 1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
7-8 With This Lance I Shall Skewer Your Heathen 3-4 Teleport 5 > Inflict Violence > Shadeflesh [1]:
Gods [3]: Make the following attack twice: Gain cover until end of next Fulmination.
Melee Fire Bravery+Faith Attack vs all targets in When suffering any damage while in cover,
range 5 Line 6 inflict 1 Hit to all enemies in burst 2.
5 Aim [1]: Sunder 2 all Marks. > Arrows From
Heaven [2]: Inflict Violence twice, ignoring CB.
6 Bounty [2]: Mark all enemies in burst 5. > It’s In
The Walls [1]: Inflict 1 True Hit on every marked
fighter, no matter the mark.

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 VIOLENCE

ESTRELLA HIDALGO, THE ROYAL STARLIGHT KNIGHT OBISPO SANGRADO, THE PRIEST OF THE BLEEDING GOD
“I am a hidalgo. A noble knight with mine own holdings, land, “O, ye mighty blades of the church. Mine hands and feet have
estate, and squires in their Homeland in the far western been cut off from me, lest they do evil before the face of God. I
continent of Issohappa. I travel far and wide to fill my days am placed upon the world to eradicate sin. If thou art pure, if
with adventure. I can do this, for I am the ruler of the world. thou art free, then thou shalt not fear. If thou are ignorant,
My ancestors are the greatest of kings, who hath conquered then thou canst be saved. If thou chooseth blasphemy and
the world, and I shall carry on their greatness. heresy, then the greatest of cognito hazards upon thee. The
Mighty Lord shall unleash the Smiling Angels upon thee, for
I am star-knighted rightfully the Emperor himself. My soul upon the bosom of God there is no Hell. There is only God.
has been BLASTED OUT OF MY PUTRID BODY AND There is only God.”
REPLACED WITH THE SHARD OF GOD!
MARTIAL ABILITIES
I... I sit upon a steed of starclouds built from mine own
sidereal rituals. They travel to The Sword Isles in hopes of HP 8/9/10 POS 2/3/4
conquering it once again for the Crown. Ye shall bow before
the Lord.” BRV 2/3/4 RES 3/4/5

MARTIAL ABILITIES FTH 6/7/8 SPD 3/4/5

HP 12/14/16 POS 5/6/7 Trait: The Smiling Face Of The Inflict Violence: Reprimand
Bleeding God
BRV 3/4/5 RES 5/6/7
Whenever the Obispo hits Rebuke the heathens with a
FTH 4/5/6 SPD 6/6/6 with an area attack, also inflict snarling word: Area Fire Faith
Pacification. Attack vs all targets in range 3
Trait: Astral Steed Inflict Violence: Astral Saber burst 1
Pacification: You can never
The Hidalgo is Size 2. All Swing with a sword made of deal more than 1 Hit. When
squares adjacent to the burning supernova: Melee Fire you suffer damage, you suffer
Hidalgo is dangerous terrain Faith Attack, All targets in all Hits as True hits, and then
for enemies, and they ignore Blast 3 you lose Pacification.
dangerous and difficult
terrain. They always have 1 GAMBITS (d12)
Defend against all Hits on all 1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Stride
times.
4-6 Teleport 5 > Inflict The Fear of God [1]: Inflict
GAMBITS (d10) Unbalance x2 and Fire Vulnerability to 1 target
1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence in range 3 > Inflict Violence
4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Burning Star Shield 7-9 Teleport 5 > The Horrifying Fate of The
[1]: Gain Block 3. When this Block is destroyed, Sanguine Orphan [2]: Inflict a Ruin on 1 target
inflict 1 True Hit on all enemies in the field. in range 3.
7-9 Horrid Visages [1]: Provoke a fighter in range 3. Ruin: Your HP becomes 1 for the duration of
While Provoked, they are considered as Doom. If you are brought to 0 HP, lose Ruin.
suffering Slow > Stride > Smite [1]: Melee Fire 10-12 Screaming Scorn Sermon [3]: Inflict 1 True Hit
Bravery+Faith Attack, 1 adjacent target, if and Stun on all chosen targets in burst 3.
target has Provoke, attack has Overwhelming
10 Damascene [3]: Place a Starblade above all
fighters in the battlefield. At any point, the
sword can be made to fall upon the enemy to
deal 1 True Hit.

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 VIOLENCE

CLERIC, THE SPEAKER TO ANGELS

“I speak to God and I am in immense pain. God has told me to
pierce myself in swords. I must keep bleeding to speak with
Him. I must speak with Him. If I do not, then I will die. I see
His face in every crimson surface. I cannot see. The Smiling
Angels guard me, they protect me, I preach to my flock and my
flock nods and follows and they achieve revelation. I am a
saint. Please save me. My body is not mine own. I speak to
God.”
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 12/16/18 POS 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5
Trait: Angel-Body Inflict Violence: Angelic Flail
The Cleric is chained within Herd your flock! Melee Fire
the corpse of an angel. They Faith Attack: 1 target in burst
have Fire, Water, Air and 2, slide target to any square in
Earth Conditioning. They lose burst 2
this Conditioning when
Staggered. All allies in burst 2
of the Cleric gain +1 to all
Martial Abilities. Whenever
the Cleric moves through a
Slave, they may consume the
Slave to heal 1.
GAMBITS (d6)
1-2 Stride > Inflict Violence > Call [1]: Summon 1
Slave minion in a square in burst 2.
3-4 Fly 5 > Holy Blade [1]: Inflict Violence, mayuse
any Slave in the field as the origin > Blessing
[1]: Consume all Slaves in burst 2 to heal 1 per
Slave.
5 Fly 5 > Gravitas [2]: Area Earth Bravery+Faith
Attack vs 1 all targets in burst 3, inflict Stop x2,
then gain Float x2.
6 Summon Smiling Angel [3]: Summon any non-
Origin Enemy Type in a square adjacent. This
enemy has +1 to all Martial Abilities.

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VIOLENCE
DEMIURGE (Chief)
God.
Or perhaps, one of His many avatars. Lion-headed. Eyes of
exploding stars. Bleeding azure.
Whatever it is, the Demiurge is the Head of the Sanguine Church,
and is commonly equal in power to the Emperor.
Granted the power of Creation.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 6 x Kadungganan POS 7/7/7
BRV 7/7/7 RES 7/7/7
FTH 7/7/7 SPD 7/7/7
CHIEF TRAITS
Diamond Body: The Demiurge is immune to all attacks if they have
at least 2 allies adjacent to them. They are also immune to gaining
any Poise Tokens and only gain Poise Tokens whenever a Slave in the
battlefield is Defeated.
Creative Power: The Demiurge may summon 1 Slave in the
battlefield every start of Fulmination. As long as there are Slaves in
the field, the Demiurge cannot be Defeated.
Perfect Son of Chaos, Taker of Gnosis: The Demiurge is always
Floating. Whenever they gain Poise Tokens, inflict 1 Hit on all
enemies in the battlefield, and heal 1, 1/Fulmination
INFLICT VIOLENCE
God of Control: Area Fire Faith Attack vs all targets in range 3 burst
2, slide 2
GAMBITS (d6)
Phase 1: Prophet
1 Stride > Inflict Violence > Summon Book of
Commandments [2]: Summon a Ritualist Minion in range
2.
2 Stride > Inflict Violence > Summon Shield of Conviction
[2]: Summon a Guardian Minion in range 2.
3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Summon Sword of Lightning
[2]: Summon a Saint Minion in range 2.
4 Stride > Inflict Violence > Summon Kettlebell of Love [2]:
Summon a Saint Minion in range 2.
5-6 Apocalypsis [4]: Inflict 2 True Hits to all enemies in burst
3. All Minions can be defeated to deal 1 True Hit to all
enemies adjacent to the Minion.
Phase 2: Yaldabaoth (Trigger immediately when Staggered)
1 Teleport 5 > Summon Book of Commandments [2]:
Summon a Ritualist Minion in range 2 > Summon Shield
of Conviction [1]: Summon a Guardian Minion in range 2.
2 Teleport 5 > Summon Sword of Lightning [1]: Summon a
Saint Minion in range 2. > Summon Kettlebell of Love [1]:
Summon a Saint Minion in range 2. > Inflict Violence
3 Fly 5 > Wield The Sword of Faith [1]: All allies in the
battlefield gain BRV/FTH+1 > Hosanna! [1]: All allies in the
battlefield gain POS/RES+1. > Inflict Violence
4 Fly 5 > Go! Ye Blades of the Church! [3]: All allies in the
battlefield may Inflict Violence.
5 Fly 5 > Go Forth And Spread The Word of God [3]: All allies
in the battlefield may Rush 3 and then heal 1.
6 Give Your Bodies To God For Greater Apocalypsis [4]: All
allies in the battlefield are Defeated, and the Demiurge
heals 1 per defeated Ally, and then inflict 3 True Hits to all
enemies adjacent to the Demiurge and each Defeated ally.

99
 VIOLENCE

Folk Gatusan Origin Fighters

All Gatusan Origin Fighters have the Gatusan Template.
Folk are those that fight and try to prove their
Convictions. Each Folk is a warrior and has their own love
and lightning. Their own ideals, their own hopes and KALIS
dreams. Be careful when fighting folk: these are your Warriors that wield kalises, consecrated weapons filled with
own. Send them to nirvana, or to hell, or to the great spiritual power. They are filled with the hotblooded strength
mountains of Madjaas: you continue the great cycle of of their leaders. Kalises are awarded only to the best of
Violence. swordsmen.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
Folk Origin Template HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
Conviction. All Folk have a reason for fighting, and if BRV 5/7/9 RES 3/4/4
reasoned to, can cause them to rethink combat. However,
they will fight for their Conviction until it looks like all is FTH 3/5/6 SPD 6/7/8
bleak. Trait: Blade Grace Inflict Violence: Kalis

Morale. Folk have something to live for. At the beginning When Striding, inflict 1 Hit to Strike with a shining ritual
all enemies adjacent before weapon: Melee Fire Bravery
of any Strike where there are twice as many moving. Attack vs 1 adjacent target
Kadungganan than there are enemies (eg., If there are 4
Kadungganan and 2 Enemies left) all Folk enemies will GAMBITS (d8)
Surrender, becoming Defeated.
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
Unbreakable. Some Folk might have 3-4 Stride > Inflict Violence > Gatling [1]: Inflict
Unbreakable Morale, which replaces their Morale trait. Violence, ignoring CB
This means they will fight to the death. 5-6 Blade Streak [2]: Rush SPD in a straight line,
inflict 1 Hit to every enemy moved through >
Inflict Violence
The Mahamandalas 7-8 Vajra Sword [2]: Rush SPD+2 inflicting 1 Hit on
every enemy the Kalis becomes adjacent to
There are five Mahamandalas, the five great mandalas of during the movement, 1 enemy per
the Sword Isles. Most fighters of the mahamandalas are Fulmination > Inflict Violence
Folk. If for any reason they are of the mahamandala but
they are not folk (perhaps a culture god) then they have
Unbreakable Morale.
JAVELIN
To make a Folk enemy, choose one of the Enemy Types Poison dipped spears are the most common form of projectile
and apply the Folk Template and one of the weapon in Gatusan. Oftentimes deadlier than bullets, as the
Mahamandala Templates below. spears thrown—bamboo with firehardened tips—are hard to
get out, embed deeper, and can spread horrible poison.
Javelins are a trained class of spear throwers that rival even
Gatusan the best of archers and gunners.

The Rajahnate is made up of 999 Chiefdoms, all pledging MARTIAL ABILITIES

allegiance to a single Raja, known as the Raja Batara. The HP 4/5/6 POS 2/3/4
current Raja Batara is a powerful warrior named Ambasi. BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5
Each of the chiefdoms are on the brink of statehood. FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4
Their mandalas grow. Any single state that gains large
amounts of manpower will for be able to challenge Trait: Pinning Spears Inflict Violence: Throw Javelin
Ambasi’s Mandala, which emanates from Kotaraya When making a Ranged attack Chuck a long javelin: Ranged
Kangdaya, or the great City of Kangdaya. with vantage, also inflict a Metal Bravery Attack vs 1
SPD-1 target in range 4, then Rush 1
Warriors of Gatusan burn with a yearning for gold and GAMBITS (d6)
glory. For them, Glory is nirvana, it is a transcendent
ideal, something that will make them Gods, but 1 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
something that must forever be chased after. 2-3 Stride > Leap > Inflict Violence
4-5 Stride > Snake Venom [2]: Ranged Earth
Gatusan Origin Template Bravery Attack vs 1 target in range 5, Fray per
9+ on the Attack Teeth
Each Gatusan fighter has the following mechanic: 6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Spear Palisade [1]:
Put down a wall on any side of any square in
It’s Time To Raid! At the beginning of a Strike, the range 4.
Gatusan fighters choose a single enemy in the field as
their Raid Target. All their attacks against the Raid Target
gains Skewering. If that enemy is brought to 0 HP, all
Gatusan fighters in the field can heal 1 HP and Rush 1.

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 VIOLENCE

KAWACA LORD
Powerful warriors clad in chainmail (known as kawaca) and Lords are chosen by their merit and their might. Even if they
crimson kopiah. They wield guns, water-engraved shields, and come from a long line of kings, if they cannot supply the
swords. They make up an elite warrior-class, though not all of required righteousness or violence, then they will be taken
them are Kadungganan. Very often they are royal guardians, very over by that which deserves it more. Most Lords are on the
close to the warlord that they serve. Path of Glory, fighting and inflicting violence to ensure peace
for their family (that is, their entire banwa) as well as to
MARTIAL ABILITIES perform great feats of excellence that will cause them to be
HP 8/10/12 POS 5/7/9 remembered.
BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6 MARTIAL ABILITIES
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4 HP 6/7/8 POS 3/4/5
Trait: Readied Shields Inflict Violence: Lance BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
8s on Defense Teeth generate 2 Strike down with polished FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/5
Defenses. spears: Melee Metal Bravery Trait: Shout! Inflict Violence: Cleave
Attack vs 1 target in range 2,
Slide 1 Whenever this fighter starts Slice with a rending weapon:
their Fulmination, it and all Melee Metal Bravery Attack vs
GAMBITS (d10) allies in burst 2 may Rush 2. 2 adjacent targets, then Slide 2
1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
GAMBITS (d6)
4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence/Push 3 > Inflict Violence/
Push 3 1 Mocking Laugh [3]: Inflict 1 damage on each
enemy in burst 3, and then inflict Unbalance.
7-9 Rush 3, ignoring terrain > Water Buffalo
Overwhelm [2]: Melee Earth Bravery Attack vs all 2-3 Chant: This fighter and all allies in burst 3 gain
enemies in blast 3, inflicting 1 Provoke BRV/FTH+1 > Stride > Inflict Violence
10 Stride > Fire! [2]: Area Fire Bravery+Faith Attack 4-5 Stride > Bodyong [1]: 1 ally in range 3 may
vs all enemies in line 5, inflicting Provoke Inflict Violence > Inflict Violence
6 Rousing Speech [3]: Gain Skewering on this
fighter’s next attack. All allies in burst 3 gains
Overwhelming on their next attack.
CURSEWITCH

A robed and gowned witch clad in flowers, oils, and golden

ornaments. Their spells are fueled by a certain hatred, a certain
anger. This passion and strength they harness to supercharge
their witchcraft, to strengthen the magickal effects of their
hexes upon their foes.

MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5
Trait: Familiar Inflict Violence: Spite Curse
A size 1 spirit summon begins Utter a breaking curse: Ranged
adjacent to the Cursewitch. Earth Faith Attack vs 1 target in
Can be used as the origin point range 4, inflict POS/RES-1
for all effects by the
Cursewitch. Every start of
Fulmination, it may Rush 1.
GAMBITS (d12)
1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Domination [1]: Slide 1
fighter in range 3
4-6 Unlash [1]: Gain Float x2/Stride > Stride/Inflict
Violence > Rupturing Curse [1]: Make 1 fighter in
range 3 Vulnerable to a single element.
7-9 Domination [1]: Slide 1 fighter in range 3 > Kindle
[2]: Inflict Fray on all enemies in burst 2, and then
all squares in the burst become Burning Terrain.
10-12 Teleport 2 > Summon Witch Mangrove [2]: All
spaces in burst 2 explodes into roots, inflicting
Stop on every enemy in the burst. Whenever an
enemy with Stop starts their Fulmination in the
burst, they suffer 1 True Hit. The Field dissipates
at the start of next Fulmination, unless sustained
with 1 Beat.

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Raja
True Kings are rare in the Sword Isles. They take upon themselves the title of Raja, but taking upon the name does not make one what is
named. To shine with righteousness, to break infinities, to offer Devotion that scorches the sky. That is what a Raja must be, and only
those true Raja will survive the grueling Final Festival.
One such example is Sri Raja Kus-gan Lokapala: one of the burgeoning warrior-braves that has collected a formidable force. His banwa,
now known as a Kota (City-Fortress), Kota Binarani, has grown in size and has managed to accrue power and resources from the
Sultanate of Akai as well as the kingdoms of Rajakami. His current regnal title means “Lord King Mighty Guardian of the World”. He
seeks to overthrow Raja Batara, but he does not seek to rule Gatusan. He seeks to light the flame of enlightenment: he is on the
Bodhisattva Path, and he wishes to bring all others with him to true liberation.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 6 x Kadungganan POS 5/6/7
BRV 5/6/7 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 4/4/4
TRAITS Inflict Violence: Treasure Kalis
Unbreakable: The Raja has Unbreakable Morale unless appealed to Strike with a sword passed down for generations, burning with its
their Conviction. Additionally, while they are Poise Broken, they own soul: Melee Fire Bravery Attack vs up to 2 targets in range 2,
suffer Sunder. then mark them.
Perfect Parry: When the Raja completely reduces Hits to 0, they heal When a marked target moves into a square adjacent of the Raja or
1 and may Rush 1. any Allies, they suffer 1 True Hit and then lose the mark.
Lotus-Eyed: Every start of Strike, the Raja summons two Kalis
Minions of the same Arc.
GAMBITS (d10)
Phase 1: Righteousness
1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Self-Exaltation [2]: Gain BRV+2 > Deflect
4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Pure Lands [2]: Put down a burst 1 field that lasts until any fighter is Defeated
within the field. While in the field, all enemies have -1 to all Defenses. There can only be 2 Pure Lands at
a time.
7-9 Rush SPD > Righteous King Lance [3]: Melee Fire Bravery+Faith Attack vs all chosen targets in Blast 5
10 Stride > Grand Proclamation [3]: Slide all enemies in the field by 3 squares. All enemies then gain
Provoke x2.
Phase 2: Glory (Triggers when first Poise Broken or Staggered). Immediately heal 20.

1-2 Stride > Call To Glory [3]: The Raja and all allies Rushes 3 and then gains POS+2 x2, Stability x2, and
SPD+1 x2.
3-4 Stride > Inflict Violence > Gatling [1]: Inflict Violence withou Combo Breaker > Deflect
5-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Impossible Virtue [2]: Gain Stability x2, SPD+1 x2, and POS+2 x2

7-8 Stride > Eradicate Fear [2]: The Raja and all allies gain Block 4 > Inflict Violence

9 Break Infinity [4]: The Raja and all allies gain +1 Beat on their next Fulmination.

10 Will The World Know Your Name? [4]: The Raja marks out a burst 5, which does not move even if they
do. At the start of the next Strike, the Raja leaps and then reveals their Indra-Realization, becoming
more than a King, summoning a vajra and sending it into the earth in an indigo thunderbolt, inflicting
40 True Hits on all enemies in the burst. Those that survive this gain his respect. This effect cannot be
repeated more than once per Strike.

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Apumbukid
A confederation or league of nations of shared culture, working together to protect Hiyang. They have become masters
of violence in their path to preserve harmony and the World.

Apumbukid Origin Template

Each Apumbukid fighter has the following mechanic:

Warriors of the World! Place up to 5 pieces of tall grass terrain in the battlefield (which cannot be adjacent to each other).
Apumbukid fighters have +1 to all Martial Abilities except for HP and SPD when they start their turn within or adjacent
tall grass terrain, and they are immune to all terrain. If they move into or start their Fulmination within tall grass terrain,
they may teleport to any other free tall grass terrain in the battlefield. Every start of Strike after the first, a new piece of
tall grass terrain sprouts up in the battlefield, which cannot be adjacent to any existing tall grass terrain.

Apumbukid Origin Fighters

Sage Demonbreaker

Those that have reached the tip of Hiyang, transcendent
harmony. Like bodhisattvas, they have purposely held off on
achieving pure Hiyang so that they can help others achieve it
as well.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
Masters of the Ancient Art of Wrestling, known by many
names. Demonbreakers wrestle giants and gods and bring
them down to earth.
MARTIAL ABILITIES

HP 6/7/8 POS 3/4/5 HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5

BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6 BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5

FTH 4/5/6 SPD 3/4/5 FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5

Trait: Metempsychosis Inflict Violence: Teach Trait: Elemental Hands Inflict Violence: Break

When the Sage is brought to Utter a silent teaching: The Demonbreaker may Lunge forward and grab:
0HP, they immediately Ranged Air Faith Attack vs 1 choose any piece of tall Rush 1 and then inflict Stop
teleport 3, heal 3, and then target in range 3, inflict POS- grass, burning, water, on an adjacent fighter. Then
they become a different 1/RES-1 frozen, or scorched terrain inflict 1 Hit on every fighter
Apumbukid Origin Fighter. as the origin point for in the field with Stop.
They may Fulminate again. effects.
GAMBITS (d6) GAMBITS (d12)
1 Feel [3]: Choose 1 fighter in range 4. Heal them 1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Deflect
1 or inflict 1 Hit.
4-6 Stride > Greater Grapple [2]: Inflict Stop x2 on
2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Think [1]: The sage every enemy in burst 3.
and all allies in burst 2 Deflect.
7-9 Stride > Momentum [1]: Rush 3. If moving
4-5 Stride > Inflict Violence > Inflict Harmony [1]: into tall grass terrain, rush 6 after teleporting,
The Sage and any fighter in the battlefield moving through enemies. Enemies moved
may swap squares, teleporting. through suffer Stop > Inflict Violence
6 Kill [3]: The Sage asks all enemies in the 10-12 Stride > Inflict Violence > Tear Apart [1]: Slide
battlefield to roll a d6. On a 5+, they are safe. 1 any fighter in the field with Stop.
Otherwise, they suffer 5 True Hits. Any
fighters brought to 0HP from this heals 1 the
Sage and all allies.

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Pureblade Pureshield
Ascetic sword-priests who fulfill the holy duty of Hiyang The Pureshields are shieldbearers that have taken the oath to
through the perfection of the cutting motion of the sword. protect and defend others, at the expense of themselves. They
They are siblings to the Bladeweavers, who perfect the sword have made a pact with their Guardian Spirits who give them the
itself. The creator of the Pureblade Art was a student of hardwood shields they use to fight. Pureshields fight to protect
Bladeweaving. nature.
MARTIAL ABILITIES MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5 HP 8/10/12 POS 5/7/9
BRV 5/7/9 RES 3/4/4 BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6
FTH 3/5/6 SPD 4/6/8 FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4
Trait: Cleansing Blade Inflict Violence: Cut Trait: Fortress Inflict Violence: Bash
All attacks against fighters Embody the Principle of The Pureshield gains Defends Bash with a gleaming shield:
with Banes gain +1 Hit. Cutting: Melee Fire Bravery on 5+ against all melee attacks. Melee Earth Bravery Attack vs 1
Attack vs 1 target in path 3 adjacent target, Push 1 per 6+.

GAMBITS (d8) GAMBITS (d10)

1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
3-4 Stride > Purify Blade [1]: If there is tall grass,
burning, water, or frozen terrain adjacent,
channel the terrain to +1d on next attack >
Deflection [1]: Gain Deflection Stance. After
canceling any Hits with Defends, Rush 2 after
the attack.
5-6 Pureblade Emanation [2]: Inflict 1 Hit on
every enemy within burst 1 of every tall grass
terrain > Inflict Violence
7-8 White Wind Slicing [3]: Take on the White
Wind Stance. At any point before start of next
Fulmination, may consume the White Wind
Stance to teleport 1 and then make a Melee
Fire Bravery Attack vs all targets in Path 10
1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
4-6 Stride > Stampede [2]: Rush 6 in a straight line,
through enemies. Inflict 1 Hit to every enemy
moved through.
7-9 Rush 3, ignoring terrain > Inflict Violence > Plant
Shield [1]: Place a shield (Size 1 Object, Blocking
Terrain, Cover) in an adjacent square. Any fighter
that collides with the shield suffers Push 1 away
from the shield.
10 Stride > Shield Whirlwind! [2]: Area Air
Bravery+Faith Attack vs all enemies in burst 2,
can plant a Shield in an unoccupied square in the
burst.

Windcaller
A particular balyan who dedicates to channeling the
elemental wrath of the various elemental spirits from
Hanginbanwa.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 2/3/4
BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5
FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4
Trait: Whirlwind Aura Inflict Violence: Flurry
Any fighter that ends their Unleash a powerful gust:
Fulmination adjacent the Ranged Air Faith Attack vs All
Windcaller may Slide 1. targets in blast 3 within 3
squares
GAMBITS (d6)
1 Wind Infusion [1]: Next Wind Attack gains
+1d. > Fly 4 > Inflict Violence
2-3 Fly 4 > Storm [2]: Make an area air faith attack
vs all enemies in burst 2, Slide 1 per 6+ on the
Attack Teeth.
4-5 Stride > Geyser [1]: Inflict Juggle on a fighter
in range 6 > Lightning Arc [1]: Make a ranged
air faith attack vs 1 target in range 5, make the
same attack against any target in range 2.
6 Wind Rider [3]: Area Air Faith Attack vs all
targets in burst 2, then gain the Wind Rider
Stance until end of next Fulmination. While
in this stance, Windcaller is Flying and has
+1d to all Wind Attacks.

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Vengeful Guardian
A Kadungganan infused with the vengeful properties of nature, to better protect the sanctity of all of nature. Kadungganan
become Vengeful Guardians only by choosing, and by undergoing a vision quest and ritual alongside a powerful balyan. Once
becoming a Vengeful Guardian, their Conviction becomes strictly to protect a particular place of spiritual power, and they cannot
leave it.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5 x Kadungganan POS 4/5/6
BRV 4/5/6 RES 4/5/6
FTH 4/5/6 SPD 5/6/7
Traits Inflict Violence: Wrathful Palm
Wrathful God: While Staggered, gain +1d to all attacks. Strike with a wrathful palm: Melee Fire Faith Attack vs 1
adjacent target, then Push 3. If they collide, teleport to a square
Vengeance: The Vengeful Guardian deals Overwhelming against adjacent and make the same attack. Can only teleport twice.
any fighter with Banes.
Immortality: The Vengeful Guardian has Regen unless they are
Poise Broken.
GAMBITS (d6)
Phase 1: Humanoid Form. Looks similar to any other Kadungganan.
1 Stride > Teleport 1 > Wrathful Meditation [2]: Gain +2d on the next melee attack.
2-3 Stride > Teleport 1 > Inflict Violence > Stoke Flames [1]: Inflict Provoke 2 on the closest enemy.
4-5 Stride > Vengeant Rumination [2]: Gain BRV+2 as well as all allies in burst 3 > Altar [1]: Rush 1,
leave a Size 1 Statue of self in the square vacated. All enemies that start their Fulmination within
burst 1 of the Altar suffers Fray.
6 Vengeance Stance [4]: Gain the Vengeance Stance until the end of the current Strike. Whenever
suffering an attack in this Stance, inflict 1 Hit on the attacker per 7+ on the Defense Teeth.
Phase 2: Wrathful Form. Parrot heads explode, seventy arms arise. Triggered when Staggered.
1 Stride > Teleport 1 > Wrathful Meditation [2]: Gain +2d on the next melee attack.
2 Stride > Teleport 1 > Inflict Violence > Stoke Flames [1]: Inflict Provoke 2 on the closest enemy.
3 Stride > Vengeant Rumination [2]: Gain BRV+/FTH+2 as well as all allies in burst 3 > Altar [1]: Rush
1, leave a Size 1 Statue of self in the square vacated. All enemies that start their Fulmination within
burst 1 of the Altar suffers Fray.
4 Vengeance Stance [4]: Gain the Vengeance Stance until the end of the current Strike. Whenever
suffering an attack in this Stance, inflict 1 Hit on the attacker per 7+ on the Defense Teeth.
5 Teleport 5 > Greater Vajrapani Palm [3]: Make an Area Air Bravery+Faith Attack vs all targets in
blast 10.
6 Fulfill Duty [4]: At the end of the Strike, violence ends, and all enemies are teleported far away
from the guarded place. Trigger immediately at Strike 6.

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Akai
Warriors that will conquer the world either by trade or by war, all to protect their Faith to Goddess.

Akai Origin Template

Each Akai fighter has the following mechanic:

Divine Striving. Whenever a fighter falls to 0 HP, all Akai fighters get the Striving Boon. While Striving, they gain +1 to
all Martial Abilities, and all their attacks gain Skewering. When they lose Striving, they heal 2.

Akai Origin Fighters

War Drummer Trickster

War drummers slam their rubber wrapped sticks against Children of Pilandok, the mouse-deer trickter god that
great deerskin drums and clang them against giant golden stole the world from God.
gongs. These drums are the songs of legends, the thundering
of heroes, and it bolsters the Akainon upon the field. MARTIAL ABILITIES
MARTIAL ABILITIES HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
HP 6/7/8 POS 3/4/5 BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6 FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5
FTH 4/5/6 SPD 3/4/5 Trait: Mock and Cackle Inflict Violence: Nick
Trait: Resound Inflict Violence: Beat When the trickster gains Steal a bit of soul: Ranged
When the War Drummer Strike gong: Push 3 a fighter Striving, it and all allies in Air Faith Attack vs 1 target in
gains Striving, they give +2d in range 2. Any one ally may the field may teleport 1. range 3, heal 1
to the next attack themselves inflict violence against the
and all allies. fighter if they can at any
point of the movement. GAMBITS (d12)
GAMBITS (d6) 1-3 Stride > Teleport 1 > Inflict Violence
1 Epic In Progress [3]: Give all allies in the 4-6 Stride > Steal Agimat [2]: 1 adjacent fighter
battlefield Block 2. rolls a d6. On a 6, the trickster steals 1 Anting-
Anting. They only gain the Anting-Anting
2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Deflect back if the Trickster is Defeated. If there are
4-5 Stride > Striking Gong Method [2]: Make an no Anting-Anting, steal 1 Technique instead.
Area Air Bravery+Faith Attack vs all targets in 7-9 Stride > Return Gift [2]: Roll a d8. 1 fighter in
blast 3, all allies in the blast may Rush 1 and range 3 gains that many stacks of Sunder.
gains BRV+1/FTH+1
10-12 Stride > Steal Enlightenment [2]: 1 adjacent
6 Thunderous [3]: Strike an echoing note, fighter must roll a d8. On an 8, the trickster
leaving behind a field in burst 1 of the steals one Enlightenment, even if they’ve
Drummer. All allies that start their turn in the already used it, and can use it themselves.
field gain SPD+1 and BRV+1/FTH+1.

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Knave Knight
Rogues, rapscallions, swindlers. With push dagger and Trained cavaliers clad in steel armor, plumed with beautiful
fishing rod they fuck with those in power, those with wealth, rainbow feathers, and engraved with geometric
and help those toiling in the farms and fields. They are incantations.
quick, and have mastered the secret art of eclipses.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 8/10/12 POS 5/7/9
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6
BRV 5/7/9 RES 3/4/4
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4
FTH 3/5/6 SPD 4/6/8
Trait: Ironclad Inflict Violence: Crescent
Trait: Hide and Seek Inflict Violence: Knifesmoke Slash
When the Knave gains Strike with a shadow: Melee When the Knight gains Slice: make a Melee Fire
Striving, they teleport 2 Earth Bravery Attack vs 1 Striving, they mark all Bravery Attack vs all targets
spaces and become a adjacent target, gain Stealth enemies in burst 3, they gain in path 4, inflict +1 Hit if the
Phantasm until start of next x2 1 Defend. While Striving, the target is marked.
Fulmination. While a Knight has Stability.
Phantasm, they are immune GAMBITS (d10)
to all attacks, damage, and
effects, and can move 1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
through units, but they
cannot deal damage or inflict 4-6 Stride > Mark 1 fighter in range 3 until end of
effects. next Fulmination > Inflict Violence
7-9 Quake Stomp [1]: Inflict Unbalance on all
GAMBITS (d8) fighters in blast 3 > Rush 3, ignoring terrain >
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence Inflict Violence
3-4 Shadeswap [1]: Swap places with another Akai 10 Stride > Victory Cry [2]: Inflict 1 Hit on all
fighter in the battlefield > Shadowstrike: enemies in burst 3, mark them, and then pull
Melee Earth Bravery Attack vs 1 adjacent 3.
target, Skewering if from Stealth
5-6 Stride > Prelude To Violence [2]: Teleport Court Sorcerer
adjacent to a fighter in range 4, inflict 1 Hit Sorcerers that are loyal to a single lord, clad in shells, gold,
and Eviscerate x2 on the target. pearls, glass beads, and intricate silks of crimson, azure, and
7-8 Smoke Bomb [2]: Make all squares in burst 2 viridian. Their power is such that they can overcome the
into hazy terrain > Hazestep [1]: Teleport to occult strength of even a datu. They send gouts of flame and
any square in hazy terrain, then gain change the flow of rivers with power gained from
Stealthx2 unknowable dark powers. Dark powers that they harness
and master.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 2/3/4
BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5
FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4
Trait: Pandita Inflict Violence: Wither
Inflict 1 Hit on all enemies in Unleash a powerful gust:
burst 3, and then heal 1 all Ranged Water Faith Attack vs
allies in the burst. 1 target in range 5, inflict
Eviscerate
GAMBITS (d6)
1 Mata-Mata [2]: Teleport 5, and then inflict
Daze on all enemies adjacent afterwards >
Deflect
2-3 Stride > Weight of Goddess [2]: Make an area
air faith attack vs all enemies in burst 2, inflict
knock down: they cannot move voluntarily or
make attacks until they spend a Beat to stand.
4-5 Stride > Goddess Tears [2]: Make an area
water Faith attack vs all targets in path 7,
inflicting Slow on every target.
6 Moondance [3]: The Sorcerer may rush 6,
through enemies, marking every enemy
moved through. After the movement,
consume all marks to inflict 1 True Hit on the
marked target.

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Offering
A warrior that has on the vestments and raiments of death and violence. These warriors offer their lives for Goddess, knowing
they will enjoy Bliss in Lunar Heaven as their reward for dying in violence. They are almost impossible to kill, and many have had
to create new weapons to simply deal with them. Their tenacity is unmatched.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5 x Kadungganan POS 3/4/5
BRV 5/7/9 RES 3/4/4
FTH 5/7/9 SPD 3/5/7
Traits Inflict Violence: Run Amok
Juggernaut: The warrior can move through enemies, pushing Rage. Melee Earth Bravery Attack vs 2 adjacent targets.
them 1.
Overwhelming Fury: At Strike 3+, all of the Warrior’s Melee
Attacks deal Overwhelming.
Blessed By Goddess: Has Metal Conditioning and, when they
rush, they Fly for the duration of the movement.
GAMBITS (d8)
Phase 1: Offering. Wrapped in burial garments. They have already died before the fight has begun.
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence > Gatling [1]: Inflict Violence without CB.
3-4 Stride > Waste The Land [2]: Area Earth Bravery Attack vs all targets in burst 3, inflict Stun, but
suffer Stun x2 > Deflect
5-6 Stride > Grab [1]: Inflict Stop on an adjacent fighter > Backbreaker [1]: Inflict 1 Hit on all fighters
with Stop, remove Stop > Mighty Thew [1]: Push 5 a single fighter, inflict Stun if they collide.
7-8 Stride > Overpower [3]: Add +Bravery to next attack.
Phase 2: Walking Corpse. Ripped off garments, only sarong or pants now. Scars all about. Cuts don’t seem to bleed. Gain Regen for
the rest of violence.
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence > Gatling [1]: Inflict Violence without CB.
3-4 Stride > Waste The Land [2]: Area Earth Bravery Attack vs all targets in burst 3, inflict Stun, but
suffer Stun x2 > Deflect
5 Stride > Grab [1]: Inflict Stop on an adjacent fighter > Backbreaker [1]: Inflict 1 Hit on all fighters
with Stop, remove Stop > Mighty Thew [1]: Push 5 a single fighter, inflict Stun if they collide.
6 Raise Earth [1]: Raise the elevation by 1 of all squares in burst 1 within range 4. > Break Earth [1]:
Lower the elevation of all squares in burst 2 by 1 > Stride > Heaven On Earth [1]: Inflict 1 True Hit
on all enemies that are not on the same elevation as the Warrior.
7 Stride > Overpower [3]: Add +Bravery to next attack.
8 Achieve Lunar Heaven [4]: Rush 10 towards the center of the battlefield. At the end of the current
Strike, destroy the battlefield, making it a flat square no terrain or elevation changes. The second
time this is used, instead bring all enemies in the field to 0 HP, then suffer Eviscerate for the rest
of the fight. Use this automatically at Strike 4.

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Virbanwan
Warriors that will enact the Ashen Conquest. Virbanwa prioritizes unity under a single flag, and assimilation, so that
they can live fruitfully. The Ashen Star Faith is not the same as the Bleeding Star religion. The Ashen Star worships
Makagagahum, not the Bleeding Star that the Pale Kings come from. But they are common conflated to be the same.
Makagagahum will be eaten by the Pale Kings if the Virbanwans do not fix their mistakes.

God must not be consumed. Virbanwans must fight to protect their God and Community, not to assimilate others within.
The Pale Kings bleed, the Virbanwans worship a better star.

Virbanwan Origin Template

Each Virbanwan fighter has the following mechanic:

Ashen Conquest. All Virbanwans adjacent to each other are considered In Line. While In Line, they have 1 Defend. When
Virbanwa start their Fulmination while In Line, they and all Virbanwans they are In Line with may rush 1, never breaking
adjacency.

A Virbanwan is only In Line with other Virbanwans they’re adjacent to. Virbanwans that are adjacent to each other but
are separate from another group of adjacent Virbanwans are not considered In Line with the other group of adjacent
Virbanwans.

Virbanwan Origin Fighters

Heneral Magister

A mustachioed, uniform wearing general who wields a Sampalatayan mystics who have infused their ancient
saber. Intensely patriotic. priest-healer practices with Ashen Star mysticism and
MARTIAL ABILITIES eschatology. Using orasyones, they lock the battlefield
down, and channel the Pure Flame by their God.
HP 6/7/8 POS 3/4/5
MARTIAL ABILITIES
BRV 4/5/6 RES 4/5/6
HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
Trait: Commander Inflict Violence: Fuego
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5
All allies in burst 2 of the Command the strike! Ranged
Heneral are considered In Fire Bravery Attack vs 1 target Trait: Unmask Inflict Violence: Singe
Line. All allies In Line with in range 3, 1 fighter In Line in
the Heneral cannot fall below the battlefield may inflict While In Line, they may Burn a fighter’s soul with
1 HP. violence. remove their habits to reveal holy light: inflict Burn on a
spiked leather garments fighter in range 5. Burn
GAMBITS (d6) underneath, and turn holy inflicts 1 True Hit at the start
1 March [3]: The Heneral rushes 3, all allies In light into a flaming whip: and end of Fulmination
Line with the Heneral rush 3 as well, keeping when they end their
adjacency. Fulmination, they may Slide
3 a single fighter in burst 3.
2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Inspire [1]: One ally
in range 3 gets +1d on their next attack. GAMBITS (d12)
4-5 Stride > Commandeer [2]: Two allies In Line 1-3 Stride > Teleport 1 > Inflict Violence
may inflict violence. If less than two fighters
inlifct violence, inflict 1 Hit on all enemies in 4-6 Stride > Fire Whip [2]: Inflict 1 True Hit on a
blast 3. fighter in range 3, inflict Burn, Slide 3
6 Recruit [3]: Summon 1 Conscript in an 7-9 Stride > Heavenly Push [2]: Choose any
adjacent square. number of targets in blast 3: inflict Push 5
10-12 Stride > Fire Binding [2]: Ranged Fire Faith
Attack vs 1 target in range 4, inflict Stop and
Burn

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Conscript Royal Guard

Poor farmer folk pulled into the ranks of the fight. A heavily clad warrior in the stylings of Issohappa, wearing
MARTIAL ABILITIES a breastplates, greaves, tassets, and intricate helmets made
to look like the giant king eagles that Virbanwa is so proud
HP 1 (Minion) POS 2/3/4 of, but have contributed to the destruction of their habitats.
BRV 3/4/5 RES 2/3/4 MARTIAL ABILITIES
FTH 2/3/4 SPD 3/4/5 HP 8/10/12 POS 5/7/9
Trait: Mob Inflict Violence: Commanded BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6
Strike
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4
While In Line with a Heneral, Melee Earth Bravery Attack
they have +2d on all attacks. vs 1 adjacent target Trait: Knight’s Initiative Inflict Violence: Greatsword
When an ally that is In Line Strike with a giant
GAMBITS (d8) with the Royal Guard suffers Issohappan sword: make a
an attack, the Royal Guard Melee Metal Bravery Attack
1-4 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence may change the target to vs all targets in line 2
5-8 Stride > Inflict Violence > Deflect themselves.
GAMBITS (d10)
Cannoneer 1-3 Stride > Defender Aura [2]: Gain the
Defender Stance until the end of next
A Virbanwan unit clad in a steel breastplate and lugging Fulmination. While in this stance, have 1
around a dragon-mouthed lantaka. Fires giant cannon balls Defend > all allies adjacent to you have cover.
to disrupt entire armies. 4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Deflect
MARTIAL ABILITIES 7-9 Stride > Inflict Violence > Counter [1]: Gain a
HP 4/5/6 POS 2/3/4 Counter Token. When attacked, consume the
Counter Token to inflict violence back at the
BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5 attacker.
FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4 10 Stride > Sunsplitter [2]: Area Fire Bravery
Trait: Potent Cannon Inflict Violence: Fire Attack vs all targets in Line 6, inflict Provoke
per 8+ on the line.
While In Line, all area attacks Fire cannon: Area Fire Faith
inflict Stun. Attack vs all targets in line 4

GAMBITS (d6)
1 Overload Cannon [3]: Next Inflict Violence
has Overwhelming.
2-3 Stride > Leap > Inflict Violence
4-5 Stride > Arcing Bomb [2]: Area Fire Faith
Attack vs all targets in burst 1 within 4
squares. All squares in the burst fall down -1
Elevation.
6 Stride > VM Cannon [2]: Make an Area Fire
Faith Attack vs all targets in Blast 5, inflicting
Push 1.

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Ashen Vicar
The vicars of the Ashen Star are master martial artists as they have been taught by the angels of war, which are the subsidiary
spirits that worship and follow Makagagahum. Vicars must know how to protect their flock, after all. Virbanwan villages are
very commonly made around a single chapel, where the vicar lives. The vicar has the double duty as the spiritual leader and
chiefly leader of Virbanwan villages. Many vicars are powerful entities that can defeat demons: things they have been taught.
Ashen vicars are masters of ancient Issohappan styles of martial arts that focuses on expunging demons and gods. While they
have good intentions, and truly might not even want to use their martial prowess, they are commonly pushed to fend of raiders
and violence demons. Vicars are of course, filled with steel conviction, and are the closest thing to bodhisattvas. Commonly
vicars are saints that have become reincarnated. Once they remember their past life, they find a Gnostic Nibbana and can peer
past the pall of reality.

MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4 x Kadungganan POS 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5
Traits Inflict Violence: Bladed Hand
Smite! When a Kadungganan begins their Fulmination, they Turn your hand into a burning crossguarded sword: Melee Fire
have 1 minute to do their Fulmination. If they go beyond 1 Faith Attack vs all targets in Path 5. The last target in the field
minute, Smite them: they suffer 3 True Hits. suffers Eviscerate.
Friar Teachings: Permanently Floating.
Gnostic Rumination: 1/Violence, when a Kadungganan picks
up Attack Teeth, the vicar can choose to pick up the required
Teeth first. If the vicar collects the required number of Attack
Teeth first, the Kadungganan’s attack is canceled and the vicar
gets the Attack Teeth, they can spend any number of Attack
Teeth on any attack.
GAMBITS (d12)

Phase 1: Meek. Wreathed in the cloth and the frock. Fight with fists and swords and reprimands.
1-3 Stride > Teleport 1 > Inflict Violence > Teleport 1
4-6 Stride > Act of God [2]: Slide 3 all fighters in burst 3. > Heal 1 [1]
7-9 Stride > Demented Salvation [3]: Inflict Daze to all fighters in the battlefield.
10-12 Teleport 3 > Charism [2]: Choose a square in range 5. Pull 2 every chosen target in burst 2 of the
square and then inflict Unbalance > Inflict Violence

Phase 2: Exalted. Rip cloth apart, reveal the diamond body, give yourself for the Almighty.

1-3 Stride > Teleport 3 > Inflict Violence > Tap The Rock [1]: Turn 1 square in the battlefield into water
terrain.
4-6 Stride > Act of God [2]: Slide 3 all fighters in burst 3. > Condemnation [1]: Inflict Condemnation on
all enemies in the battlefield. Enemies with Condemnation cannot be healed or gain positive
effects.
7-9 Stride > Demented Salvation [3]: Inflict Stun and All Vulnerability to all fighters in the battlefield.
10 Teleport 3 > Charism [2]: Choose a square in range 5. Pull 2 every chosen target in burst 2 of the
square and then inflict Unbalance > Inflict Violence
11 Stride > Holy Shepherd [2]: Teleport 2 all enemies in the battlefield > Show of Majesty [1]: Gain
Flying [Boon].
12 Drink The Wrath of the Almighty [4]: All enemies in the field suffer Wrath. Wrath: suffer -2 Beats
every Fulmination (this supercedes Stun) and you lose all benefits from Discipline Traits. You
cannot be saved, you have been condemned. Trigger this automatically at the end of Strike 5.
When a fighter removes Wrath, they suffer 2 True Hits.

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Ba-e
The kingdom that has grown and subsumed many those that have left the Baikhan Hegemony as well as from the
Hundred Empires in Jamiyun Kulisa’s Arrows and Auraska and Mahajola. Ba-e has the greatest access to foreign trade
and thus has evolved the most, but they are buckling under the strength of their foreign influence. Their own Queen-
Chakravarti, their Sangpamegat Dayang Kalangitan, is the Wheel-Turning Lady and is meant to spread her merit across
the world, as a true universal ruler. Ba-enon warriors are royal and aristocratic, hailing from the oldest mandala in the
Sword Isles, pierced through by multiple cultures and faiths from across Gubat Banwa. They will buckle under their own
righteousness, as the swords of merit will destroy them from within. They are also wielders of ancient Kadanay
technology, which mixes stonewaking with jadecraft.

Ba-enon Origin Template

Each Ba-e fighter has the following mechanic:

Turn The Wheel. At the beginning of Violence, every Ba-enon gains 1 Merit. Every beginning of Strike, each Ba-enon
gains 1 Merit. They can spend 1 Merit to immediately reroll any Cast.

Ba-e Origin Fighters

Jyotisha Angel Slaver

Oracles and diviners who watch the sky, the movement of A witch trained to enslave angels and recycle their stardust
the stars, the position of the Great Sky Serpents, and the lay hearts into new angels.
of the waters to predict fortunes in the past and the future.
MARTIAL ABILITIES MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 6/7/8 POS 3/4/5 HP 4/5/6 POS 3/4/5
BRV 4/5/6 RES 4/5/6 BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
FTH 4/5/6 SPD 3/4/5 FTH 5/6/7 SPD 3/4/5

Trait: Karmic Fate Inflict Violence: Inflict Evil Trait: Enslave Tyrants Inflict Violence: Lash
Karma At the start of Violence, With prayer beads, summon
When an enemy in burst 3 Impose evil consequences place 2 Angel-Slaves [Raider a whip of essence: make a
performs a hostile action, all upon another with a mudra Minions] of appropriate tier Ranged Fire Faith Attack vs 1
allies in the burst heals 1, and and a mantra upon the in range 3. The Slaver cannot target in range 4, Slide 3.
the enemy suffers Dark dharmapalas: Ranged Metal fall below 1 HP as long as Can be used to slide allies
Karma. Faith Attack vs 1 target in there are Angel-Slaves in the safely.
range 3, they suffer -1d on battlefield.
Light Karma: Suffer -1 Hit. their next Defense Teeth.
Spend 1 Merit during your
Dark Karma: Suffer +1 Hit. Fulmination to summon 1
GAMBITS (d6) Angel-Slave adjacent to the
Slaver.
1 Moon [3]: Inflict 1 Light Karma on all allies
and 1 Dark Karma on ell enemies in burst 3 GAMBITS (d12)
2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Rahu [1]: Inflict 1 1-3 Stride > Teleport 1 > Inflict Violence
Light Karma on an ally in range 3.
4-6 Stride > Prod [2]: All angel-slaves can Rush 4
4-5 Stride > Inflict Violence > Kedu [1]: Inflict 1 and then Inflict Violence.
Dark Karma on an ally in range 3.
7-9 Stride > Dharma [1]: Swap places with an
6 Svarbhanu Nature [3]: All allies that have angel-slave, teleporting > Rend [1]: Inflict
Light Karma heal 1 per Light Karma. All Bleed to all enemies adajcent to the slaver and
enemies with Dark Karma suffer 1 per Dark all angel-slaves.
Karma. All Karma is removed afterwards.
10-12 Buddha Subdues God [3]: Kill all angel-slaves
to inflict 1 True Hit to all enemies in the
battlefield.

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Sundermonk Godwalker
Axe ascetics trained by farmers who wield the veritable Giant sage statues that pocked the grasslands of Ba-e gave
sword-axe the Panabas, usually with elongated handles so Kadanay artifactsmiths ideas. They had too much fun. Now
that it resembles more a sword-axe with a spear shaft, the they ride these sage statue-shaped gold-and-jade armors,
variation called Dakpanabas. Sundermonks value the soul of with four arms, a weaker form of the God Body.
the weapon, and believe the Dakpanabas is the perfect
combination of the sword, axe, and spear, and seek to win in MARTIAL ABILITIES
as much violence as possible to prove it.
HP 8/10/12 POS 5/7/9
MARTIAL ABILITIES BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/3/4 FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4
BRV 6/8/10 RES 3/3/4
Trait: Holy Body Inflict Violence: Four-Palm
FTH 6/8/10 SPD 4/5/6 Strike
Trait: Weaponsoul Inflict Violence: Dervish Sagewalkers wear golden Strike with four palms: make
armor powered by souls of a Melee Metal Bravery Attack
When you make an attack, Twirl the panabas: Melee overjoyous ancestor spirits, vs 1 adjacent target, then
spend 1 Merit to gain +2d. Metal Bravery Attack vs all with four arms. As long as push 2
targets in burst 1. they have Merit, they are
GAMBITS (d8) Metal Immune. They can
spend 1 Merit when a fighter
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence leaves an adjacent square to
inflict 1 True Hit to them.
3-4 Leap/Stride > Decapitate [2]: Melee Metal
Bravery Attack vs 1 adjacent target. If the GAMBITS (d10)
target is Staggered, this attack deals True Hits
1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Deflect
5-6 Rush 3 > Gut [1]: Inflict 1 True Hit to the last
target in path 3. > Deflect 4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Pure Body [1]:
Cleanse self of 1 effect.
7-8 Inflict Sunyata [3]: Strike with the axe in a
cleaving arc, summoning emptiness, make a 7-9 Stride > Thunderclap [2]: Area Air Bravery
Melee Metal Bravery + Faith Attack vs all Attack vs all enemies in Blast 3, inflict
targets in blast 3. Unbalance
10 Stride > Textile Shattering [2]: Make four Area
Earth Bravery Attacks vs all targets in close
Astra line 6, each attack must be made in each of the
A master barilero who works with Kadanay jade and clay to four cardinal directions.
destroy the victim of their scorn, imbuing their weapons
with the essence of gods.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 2/3/4
BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5
FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4
Trait: Ruminate Sunyata Inflict Violence: Jade Astra
Spend 1 Merit to increase the Fire a beam of god-
range of any ranged attack annihilating light: Area Fire
with range to the entire Faith Attack vs all targets in
battlefield. Line 6
GAMBITS (d6)
1 Teleport 3 > Aim [1]: Next attack gain
Sharpness > Inflict Violence
2-3 Stride > Aim [1]: Next attack gain Sharpness >
Inflict Violence
4-5 Stride > Fire Astra [2]: Inflict 1 True Hit to any
fighter in the battlefield that is not close to
cover or blocking terrain.
6 Summon Lightning [3]: Shoot the sky. Inflict
Violence from any square in the battlefield.

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Dharmapala
A guardian deity that protects the Dharma. Worshipped and channeled when having to fend off injustices and horrors.
They are commonly other demons or asrs that have been tamed by monks and buddhas. The first Dharmapala is the monk
Sri Kera Jadara, the First Militant Shaman-Monk who traveled the Sword Isles to bind a thousand thousand demons to
servitude to the buddha. This is the greatest treasure: eight of them were Demon-Kings, the most powerful of
Dharmapala. After his death, the monk rejected Parinirvana and chose to become the vajra, bell, sword, and trident that
many dharmapala are allowed to wield.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 6 x Kadungganan POS 5/6/7
BRV 5/6/7 RES 5/6/7
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 4/4/4
Traits Inflict Violence: Burning Palm
Budding Karma: Whenever the Dharmapala is the target of Strike with a burning palm! Cleanse all impurity! Melee Fire
an attack, the attacker gains 1 Karma. Faith Attack vs all targets in blast 2, teleport them 1.
Padma: Attacks against any fighters with Karma are
Skewering.
The Wheel: The Dharmapala can move through enemies. If
they do, they push 1 the enemy out of the way and then inflict
1 Hit, once per enemy.

GAMBITS (d10)
Phase 1: Budding Dharmapala. Small and unbroken, humanoid form.
1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Infuse Dharma [2]: Gain BRV+2.
4-6 Teleport 3 > Consequences [2]: Inflict 1 Karma on all enemies in the battlefield. > Inflict
Violence
7-9 Stride > Inflict Violence > King’s Road [2]: Push 3, if they collide, teleport to a square adjacent
to the target and then inflict violence.
10 Samsara [4]: Inflict 1 True Hit on all enemies with Karma, then consume all Karmas. Heal 1
per consumed Karma.
Phase 2: Diamond Is Unbreakable. Blossom, like a lotus, into a great dharmapala. The dharmapala becomes Size 2.
1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Infuse Dharma [2]: Gain BRV+2.
4 Teleport 3 > Consequences [2]: Inflict 1 Karma on all enemies in the battlefield. > Inflict
Violence
5-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > King’s Road [2]: Push 3, if they collide, teleport to a square adjacent
to the target and then inflict violence.
7 Greater Consequences [4]: Inflict 2 Karma on all enemies in the battlefield, then teleport 2.
8 Stride > Wrathful Stomp [1]: Inflict Juggle on all enemies in blast 4 > Inflict Violence >
Teleport 1, leave a Statue of the Dharmapala behind [Size 1]. All enemies that inflict with the
Dharmapala is teleported to a square adjacent to the Dharmapala.
9 Samsara [4]: Inflict 2 True Hits on all enemies with Karma, then consume all Karmas. Heal 1
per consumed Karma.
10 Closer To Buddha [4]: Meditate. The Dharmapala cannot perform anything else but
Meditation. They Heal 1 every start of Fulmination. At the end of Strike 7, they unravel into a
blossoming lotus, and then teleport to heaven, and send a burning palm down, immediately
fulfilling any Defeat Condition and ending Violence.

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absorbing them into the Mandate of Heaven.

Baikhan
In this ambition, Baik Hu has one of the largest and most
The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. robust armies in all of Gubat Banwa. The war machine of
Baik Hu, known as the Sword of Creation, has staked
The Baik Hu Hegemony is a powerful and vast empire that claims in almost every major region in Gubat Banwa, and
trades consistently with the Sword Isles and the rest of the has in recent times been more aggressive in terms of
Archipelagic Crescent. They ride as black steel establishing trading colonies.
cataphracts, ruled with an iron fist by their immortal
August Jade Emperor, with immortal warlords and royalty Recently, Baik Hu has become more open to trading and
being dragonfolk. Much of The Sword Isles wealth comes accepting vassal states. Numerous trading polities in The
from trade with this Hegemony in truth. Many of modern Sword Isles have already been accepted by the Empress as
material culture in The Sword Isles are the porcelains and vassal states, and have been given the title of Hwang. This
ceramics and silks that come from Baik Hu itself. includes Raja Batara Ambasi and Sangpamegat Dayang
Kalangitan. Many believe, especially scholars within Baik
Baik Hu’s current August Jade Emperor is the Child Hu, that this is in a bid to solidify trading routes for easier
Empress Zhu Que Liu, the Vermillion Phoenix, may she colonization.
reign forever. She has her own personal mercenary
company of elite warriors, known as the Long Jian, the Baik Hu as well has been strengthening its naval armadas
Dragon Sabers. Some of these come from The Sword Isles. (though still nothing compared to the naval might of
Sword Isle kingdoms) to contest Jamiyun Kulisa’s Arrows
Baik Hu itself is divided into several social classes. Below and The Sword Isles in their own waters, leading to more
the Emperor were the Gentry, land-owning families with and more clashes and engagements.
close ties to education. Below them are the Peasants, poor
workers that could only survive on their crops. Below Baikhan Origin Template
Peasants were Merchants, which while able to gain a high
income, were regarded as low because they were believed Each Baikhan fighter has the following mechanic and are
to take advantage of the labor of others by trading items considered Folk:
for a profit. The Debtors had little to no right, and were
considered property of their own. All these Classes, except Dragon Heir. Baikhan are indomitable, proud, fearless,
the Debtor, could move up in the social rungs by passing and perfectly intertwined. For 1 Beat, a Baikhan may
the service exam. Ignite (Boon) all Baikhan adjacent to them, letting them
Rush 1. Ignited Baikhan have +1d on Attack Teeth and
Only Lungyi, otherwise known as Dragonfolk, can become Defense Teeth.
royalty and emperors. Lungyi are believed to be the
highest rung of spiritual Teaching, in Baikhan Annuvaran Baihan Origin Fighters
teachings. These Dragonfolk take on the shape of
humanoid dragons, with their bodies slithering and
Chimera Cloth Student
serpentine and long, with floating whiskers and hair that
moves as if underwater, even in stagnant air. It is believed A nondescript, pretty, handsome, or kind and elderly
that these Dragonfolk are direct descendants of the martial artist, serving you tea or alcohol. Little do you know,
Dragon Kings of Baik Hu’s mythical foundational state, they are experts in the arts of violence.
Ku Chun. They believe that Dragonfolk are born as “true
inheritors” of the Empire. All other races are simply meant MARTIAL ABILITIES
to be debtors to the Lungyi. HP 5/6/7 POS 3/3/4
BRV 5/7/9 RES 3/3/4
In Baikhan Annuvaran thought, it is believed that by
practicing right action, your successive reincarnations FTH 4/5/6 SPD 4/5/6
will become more and more like Dragonborn. The Trait: Always Ready Inflict Violence: Sleeve Flurry
Dragonborn are believed to be at the top of
Enlightenment, on the cusp of Liberation. Those born to The student ignores Provoke Strike about with any weapon
Lungyi parents are Lungyi themselves, purportedly and Stealth, immune to available: Area Metal Bravery
blessed with a state of enlightenment at birth. vantagte and flanked. Attack vs all targets in burst 1
Igniting a fellow Baikhan
fighter lets them teleport 1
Those mortals that have only one parent as Lungyi become and confers the other
Bantai, halfborn. They have a much easier chance of benefits of Always Ready.
becoming Lungyi in their next life, and are known to
possess powers and abilities only Lungyi would have. GAMBITS (d8)
Bantai typically have a non-Lungyi form but might have 1-2 Stride > Walk On Smoke Style [1]: Rush 4, Fly
Lungyi traits: floating white hair, crimson eyes, or for the duration of the movement > Inflict
sprouting antlers. While strange in The Sword Isles, and Violence
demonic in the eyes of the Issohappan, these are holy 3-4 Rush 5 > Dragon State [1]: Gain POS+2 >
symbols for Baikhan. Inflict Violence
5-6 Stride > Reciprocate Stance [1]: Gain the
It is not a secret that Baik Hu treats itself as the center of Reciprocate Stance until start of next
the universe, and truly some might think they are right. Fulmination. When attacked, consume the
This, of course, is not exactly true. However, due to this, stance to inflict violence, inflicting +1 Hit
Baik Hu has begun expanding, reaching up north to The against the triggering fighter.
Sword Isles and the other empires within, in an attempt to 7-8 Walk On Smoke Style [1]: Rush 4, Fly for the
conquer them and add them into the Hegemony, duration of the movement > Silk Chakra [2]:
Make an Area Fire Bravery + Faith Attack vs all
targets in line 6.

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Shedaoist Baikhan Geomancer
An Archer that practices patience and the styles of the Soft
Riverine to fire extremely precise attacks at targets. They align Auspicious diviners who bring fortune and merit through proper
themselves with the Tranquil Way to make sure their attacks movement upon the earth and construction of buildings. In combat,
always hit. they can use their incantations and techniques to manipulate the
earth itself, as well as fortunes.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 2/3/4
BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5 HP 4/5/6 POS 4/5/6
FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4 BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
Trait: Way of Water Inflict Violence: Loose FTH 5/6/7 SPD 4/5/6
If the Shedaoist does not move Fire a bullet infused with dao: Trait: Geomancy Inflict Violence: Entomb
voluntarily by End of Area Air Faith Attack vs all
Fulmination, they can turn 2 targets in line 6, ignores The Geomancer has permanent Entomb foes with burning earth:
Hits into 2 True Hits on their blocking terrain and cover Stability. When they Ignite, they Area Earth Faith Attack vs all
next attack. also give Stability. targets in burst 1 within 5
squares, inflict Stop
When they Ignite, every ignited Geomancers inflict 1 True Hit to
fighter gains +1 to all ranges. all enemies they forcibly move,
once per enemy per Fulmination.
GAMBITS (d6)
1 Flow [3]: Fire an arrow into the sky. At any point GAMBITS (d12)
outside of your own Fulmination, the arrow can 1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
drop down into any fighter, inflicting 1 Hit.
4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Binding Talisman [1]:
2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Paralyzing Arrow [1]: 1 Inflict Binding [Bane] on 1 target in range 5. While
fighter in range 5 suffers Stop until end of their suffering Bindings, they cannot move nor be moved.
next Fulmination.
7-9 Teleport 4 > Geomantle [2]: Inflict 1 Hit and Leaden
4-5 Stride > Endless Vigil [2]: Take on the Endless Vigil [Bane] on 1 fighter in range 3. While suffering Leaden
Stance until start of next Fulmination. When a they cannot move diagonally.
fighter moves into a square in range 5 of the
Shedaoist, they may inflict 1 True Hit on that 10-12 Teleport 5 > Wind-Water Fist [2]: Make a Melee Water
fighter. 1/Fulmination. Faith Attack vs all targets in line 10, gain
Overwhelming on the attack if target has Stop, Slow,
6 Naga Arrow [3]: Area Water Bravery + Faith Attack SPD-X, Binding, or Leaden.
vs all targets in path 7, inflict Unbalance per 8+ on
the Attack Teeth
Alchemist

Cataphract Erudite philosophers and sages. Using internal alchemies they

strengthen themselves, collecting Red Qi within, and then granting
Armored horse riding warriors clad in steel and brigandine, them to allies with external alchemies, expulsing Blue Qi.
carrying spears and shields to move across the field and break
ranks. MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 6/7/8 POS 3/4/5
MARTIAL ABILITIES
BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6
HP 8/9/10 POS 4/5/6
FTH 4/5/6 SPD 3/4/5
BRV 4/5/6 RES 3/4/5
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 5/5/5 Trait: Qi Inflict Violence: Close Open Fist
The Alchemist plays with Qi, the Strike with a closed fist: Melee
Trait: Knight Inflict Violence: Dragoncharge vital breath of the universe. The Earth Faith Attack vs 1 target in
The cavalry is mounted: all melee Pierce through: rush 4 in a Alchemist gains 1 Red Qi whenever range 3. The next time the
attacks against the cataphract straight line and then make a they start their Fulmination or Alchemist uses this Inflict
has Dullness. Melee Metal Bravery Attack vs 1 Ignite. Violence, they strike with an Open
close target. Palm: Melee Water Faith Attack vs
When the Cataphract ignites, They gain 1 Blue Qi when they are 1 target in range 3, and then Push
the Cataphract and all ignited healed or spend 1 Beat to turn any 3.
fighters gain Protect. number of Red Qi to an equal
amount of Blue Qi.
GAMBITS (d10)
If the Alchemist has an equal
1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence amount of Red and Blue Qi, they
4-6 Stride > Keening Thunderhead [2]: Rush exactly 5 are considered In Balance. While
squares in a straight line, moving through In Balance, all allies in the
enemies. Make a Melee Metal Bravery Attack vs 1 battlefield have +1 to all Martial
close target with Skewering. Inflict 1 Hit on every Abilities.
enemy moved through. GAMBITS (d6)
7-9 Stride > The Dragon’s Guard [1]: Inflict Provoke on
all enmies in burst 2 > Deflect 1 Shared Breath [3]: Give any number of allies in burst
3 any number of Blue Qi.
10 Stride > Dreadnought Stance [1]: Gain the
Dreadnought Stance until start of next 2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > External Heaven [1]:
Fulmination. While in this stance, they have +2 Consume all Blue Qi on an ally to heal 1 that ally per
SPD, they have Stability, and they are immune to Blue Qi consumed.
all terrain. > Inflict Violence 4-5 Stride > Thunder Fang [2]: Spend any number of Red
Qi to give an ally in burst 3 +1d on their next attack
per Red Qi spent.
6 Trigram [3]: Mark out a burst 2. Spend X Red Qi to
inflict X Hit to all enemies in the burst, spend X Blue
Qi to Heal X all allies in the burst.

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Warlord
The Empire long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. The Hegemony of Baik Hu, under the great Vermilion Phoenix, of the
Zhu Dynasty, faces upheaval. Many treat the Empress as weak, and they believe that they have lost the Mandate of Heaven. The
Empire has begun to fracture: warlords have arisen. There are three major warlords, kings on their own, waiting for their chance
to unite Baik Hu under their own sword and banner. How will all things under heaven react to the incoming end of times? The
peasants rise, the warlords bring their weapon down. The Empire must divide.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 5 x Kadungganan POS 3/4/5
BRV 5/7/9 RES 3/4/4
FTH 5/7/9 SPD 6/7/8
Traits Inflict Violence: Draconic Halberd
All Subjects Under Heaven: Every start of Fulmination at Phase 1 Strike with a greater halberd, tassels flowing in the wind. Melee
summon a Baikhan Raider minion in a square adjacent to the Water Bravery Attack vs 1 adjacent target.
Warlord.
Every start of Fulmination at Phase 2, the Warlord gains Block 1
and Rushes 1.
Without Equal: Whenever the Warlord suffers a melee or ranged
attack, they may inflict violence back at the target.
Unbroken, Unbowed: After Striding for at least 4 squares, gain
Metal Conditioning, Fire Conditioning, and Stability.
GAMBITS (d8)
Phase 1: Mounted General. Fighting atop a horse or a tiger, or maybe even a dragon.
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence > Gatling [1]: Inflict Violence without CB.
3-4 Stride > Spinning Tail [1]: Rush 2 through enemies, spinning through, inflicting 1 Hit once per
enemy moved through > Dragon Mandate [2]: Make an Area Fire Bravery Attack vs all targets in
blast 3, all allies in the field may rush 3.
5-6 Stride > Dragon Blazing Halberd [2]: Melee Fire Bravery Attack vs all targets in Path 4, all squares
must be adjacent to the Warlord, inflict Push 3 > Dragon Charge [1]: Rush 5. If moving into an
enemy’s square, stop the movement and Push 1 + 1 per rush left.
7-8 Stride > Drink Burning Elixir [3]: Add Overwhelming on next attack.
Phase 2: August Xia. They shed all precautions, and fight full on. A true god of war. This triggers once they fall to 0HP: they heal to
full HP again and keep fighting.
1 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence > Gatling [1]: Inflict Violence without CB.
2 Stride > Spinning Tail [1]: Rush 2 through enemies, spinning through, inflicting 1 Hit once per
enemy moved through > Dragon Mandate [2]: Make an Area Fire Bravery Attack vs all targets in
blast 3, all allies in the field may rush 3.
3 Stride > Dragon Blazing Halberd [2]: Melee Fire Bravery Attack vs all targets in Path 4, all squares
must be adjacent to the Warlord, inflict Push 3 > Dragon Charge [1]: Rush 5. If moving into an
enemy’s square, stop the movement and Push 1 + 1 per rush left.
4 Stride > Drink Burning Elixir [3]: Add Overwhelming on next attack.
5 Stride > Eight-Headed Dragon Lance [2]: Area Fire Bravery Attack vs all targets in burst 3 > Deflect
6 Promotion [2]: If there are any Raider Minions left, upgrade them into Baikhan Raiders
(removing Minion) and healing them to full HP > Stride > Inflict Violence
7 Stride > Green Dragon Crescent Blade [3]: Swing with a giant guandao: Area Metal Bravery Attack
vs all targets in blast 10.
8 Summon Army [4]: Cannot use this until Strike 5+. The Warlord rings their summoning bell. At
the end of the next Strike, the fight ends as the Warlord’s Army arrives. The Kadungganan must
choose to either flee or stay: either way, they are Defeated.

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Dead
The Dead are those that walk despite having passed the coil., Sometimes it is the cause of blasphemous Asuwang Sorcery.
Other times, the power and pall of the vengeful dead still wishing some sort of justice or penance for their past causes the
flesh of the buried to rise from their graves, infused with necrotic spirit. Other times they are simply wandering ghosts
with unfinished business. Other times they are spirits with evil karma, hungry for glory. Examples of undead are
patianak female revenants, tiyanak goblins, and malanhig walking corpses.

Dead Origin Template

Each Dead fighter has the following mechanic:

Grudge. When Dead fall to 0 HP, they become a pile of grudges, which can be moved through. However, they may still
Fulminate: at the start of their Fulmination, they may roll a d8, they reform and heal 2 HP on a 5+. Piles of grudges can be
exorcised by spending 1 Beat while close to them. Once Exorcised, they are removed from play. Additionally, a Ghost that
falls to 0 HP due to a Fire attack immediately becomes Exorcised. Finally, Dead Fighters have earth conditioning.

Dead Origin Fighters

Mangalayo Wandering Kalag

A ball of fire, a soul of a murdered one tainted by atrocity Souls that wander this world in a corporeal form of air and
and seeks revenge, or a guardian flame guarding a datu. akasa. Prone to aggression, but easy to subdue.
Moves quickly, chases after those alive, and can grant fires
onto allies. MARTIAL ABILITIES
MARTIAL ABILITIES HP 1 [Minion] POS 4/5/6
HP 6/7/8 POS 3/4/5 BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5
BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6 FTH 5/6/7 SPD 4/5/6
FTH 4/5/6 SPD 3/4/5 Trait: Grasping Ghost Inflict Violence: Claws
Trait: Watchlight Inflict Violence: Embers Pull 1 in range 5 every end of The hungry ghost shrieks,
All allies in burst 2 of the Sparkling embers: make an Fulmination. Has scratching and clawing.
Mangalayo have Protect. Area Fire Faith Attack vs all Conditioning to all attacks. Melee Earth Faith Attack vs 1
enemies in burst 1, all allies in adjacent target, inflict 1
the field gain BRV+2. Bleed Token
GAMBITS (d6) GAMBITS (d12)
1 Streak [3]: Rush 6 in a straight line, moving 1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
through enemies. Any enemies moved
through suffer Fray. Any allies moved through 4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shove
gain Regen. 7-9 Stride > Shriek [2]: All enemies in burst 3
2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Guiding Warmth suffer -1d to their next Attack.
[1]: All allies in burst 2 gain RES+2. 10-12 Stride > Grudge [2]: Choose 1 fighter in burst
4-5 Stride > Inflict Violence > Alight [1]: All allies 3. If this Hungry Ghost is Defeated before the
in burst 2 gain FTH+2. start of their next Fulmination, the chosen
fighter suffers 2 Hits.
6 Emblazon [3]: All allies in burst 3 gain +1 Hit
on their next attack and can make it Fire. All
enemies in the burst suffer Fray x2.

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Patianak Busaw
Hobgoblin ghosts that used to be women that have died Those that die with vengeful hearts or because of horrible
during childbirth, come to haunt villages by walking under butchering sometimes become restless dead known as
their houses. They scramble across the earth quickly and busaw, especially if they are warriors, priests, and nobles.
erratically. Busaw can walk among folk, sleep in trees, and steal items
MARTIAL ABILITIES from corpses so that those corpses are not saved by Iraon
Daron.
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/3/4
MARTIAL ABILITIES
BRV 6/8/10 RES 3/3/4
HP 8/10/12 POS 5/7/9
FTH 6/8/10 SPD 4/5/6
BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6
Trait: Clattering Ghost Inflict Violence: Claws
FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4
After making an attack, rush Strike with freakishly long
1. claws: Melee Earth Faith Trait: Corpse Eater Inflict Violence: Throw
Attack vs 1 adjacent target, Corpse
then mark them. While The busaw is Size 2. All Fling a corpse part at a
marked, they cannot be enemies adjacent to the victim: Ranged Melee Earth
healed nor gain Boons. busaw suffer Eviscerate. Bravery Attack vs 1 target in
GAMBITS (d8) range 3, inflict SPD-1.
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence GAMBITS (d10)

3-4 Leap/Stride > Rip [1]: Inflict Eviscerate on an
adjacent fighter > Inflict Violence
5-6 Rush 5 > Jumping Ghost [2]: Leap 3 squares in
a straight line. If ending in an enemy square,
cling onto the enemy, inflicting SPD-2 and
Fray until they defeat the Patianak or the
Patianak leaps free for 1 Beat. A clinging
patianak cannot move, but can continue
making attacks.
7-8 Unhinge Jaw [2]: Gain Stability pull 2 1 enemy
in range 3 > Devour [1]: Inflict 1 True Hit on an
adjacent fighter,
1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Deflect
4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Diseased Body [1]:
Consume a Bane and heal 1.
7-9 Stride > Break Earth [2]: Melee Earth Bravery
Attack vs 1 adjacent target, inflict Unbalance.
If there is an object or blocking terrain, the
busaw can pick it up and slam it against the
target, inflicting +1 Hit, Push 1, and put the
object down at the square vacated.
10 Corpse Omen [1]: Put down a corpse in range
4 > Stride > Consume [1]: The busaw can
consume an adjacent corpse, healing 2 and
then inflicting Daze on all enemies in burst 2.

Siukuy
Ghosts of those killed by drowning, manifesting as fish-
headed water ghosts. They spout jets of water, strike with
spears made of seaweed, and will stop at nothing until they
are removed from drowning.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4/5/6 POS 2/3/4
BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5
FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4
Trait: Drown Inflict Violence: Water Spout
When a Siukuy is Defeated, Shoot a jet of water: Ranged
they pull 3 all enemies in Water Faith Attack vs 1 target
burst 3 of the grudge they in range 5
leave behind. Moving into a
Siukuy’s pile of grudges is the
same as moving into a
chasm.
GAMBITS (d6)
1 Water Jet [3]: Rush 4, turning all squares
moved through into water terrain.
2-3 Stride > Water Spear [1]: Inflict SPD-1 to a
fighter in range 3 > Inflict Violence
4-5 Stride > Water Beam [2]: Area Water Faith
Attack vs all chosen targets in line 10
6 Dive [3]: You sink into mystical water: you
gain POS/RES+2 and SPD+2. Inflict Slow on
every enemy in burst 3. Rush 3 afterwards.

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Unglu
The hungriest ghosts, dead spirits, burning shadows. They live in the mountains. Do not stay out in the mountains for too long.
They will tear your skin. They run faster than wind.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 6 * Kadungganan POS 4/5/6
BRV 5/6/7 RES 4/5/6
FTH 5/6/7 SPD 6/6/6
Traits Inflict Violence: Shadowed Claws
Shadow Person. The unglu cannot be a valid target for any effect Beckon with shadowed claws: Melee Earth Faith Attack vs all
unless the origin square is adjacent to the unglu. targets in blast 3, pull 1, inflict Fear
Faster Than Wind. The unglu teleports when it moves. It inflicts
1 Hit on every fighter adjacent to it after teleporting.
Fear. The unglu is one of the most feared creatures in Gubat
Banwa. The unglu can inflict the Fear bane: Those with Fear
cannot end their Fulmination closer to the Unglu, and they
suffer -1d to all Defense Teeth.
GAMBITS (d6)
Phase 1: The Shadow Between The Trees. It flits between shadows.
1-2 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shove > Teleport 1
3-4 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shove > Darkened Form: Gain Stealthx2.
5-6 Stride > Rip Defenses [1]: Inflict RES -1 on a fighter in range 3 > Scare [2]: Inflict Fear on all
enemies in blast 3
Phase 2: The Thing That Flenses Skin. It crawls out into the light.
1-2 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shove > Teleport 1
3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shove > Darkened Form: Gain Stealthx2.
4 Stride > Rip Defenses [1]: Inflict RES -1 on a fighter in range 3 > Scare [2]: Inflict Fear on all
enemies in blast 3
5 Make Fear Real [2]: Inflict 1 True Hit on all enemies in the field with Fear, then consume all Fear.
Heal 1 per Fear consumed > Inflict Violence > Flitting Shadow [1]: Teleport 1. If adjacent to
blocking terrain, cover terrain, wall or chasms, teleport to any other blocking terrain, cover
terrain, wall or chasm.
6 Nothing Is Scarier [4]: At the end of the current Strike, the Unglu disappears deeper into the
woods, or away from the Battlefield. The Kadungganan suffer Defeat. If this Unglu is encountered
again, they will have the same amount of HP remaining. If this is rolled before Strike 3, reroll it
until it no longer rolls 6. Perform this automatically during the first Fulmination of Strike 6.

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Demons
Asr, yawa, sitan, iblis. Demons roam Gubat Banwa, some of them having crawled out of the hells, others having been
summoned here by sorcerers, even others simply being pure manifestations of human virtue and vice. Others are caused
by atrocity, but where they truly come from none know. Demons are monsters of violence and avarice, known to arrive in
places where either they can destroy or gain what they wish.

Demon Origin Template

Each Demon fighter has the following mechanic:

Reckless Violence. At start of Strike 2+ and every Strike after that, if there are still Demons in the battlefield, they Fester,
gaining +1d on all attacks. This is cumulative (so at Strike 3+, they gain +2d on all attacks, etc.). When a Demon is
Defeated, they discorporate and Eviscerate all enemies in the battlefield. Unless the battlefield is purified or cleansed by
proper rituals, they will rise again after eighty seven days. At the start of a Strike, if there are exactly 3 demons left in the
battlefield, they may combine into an Violent Devil God: they combine their remaining HP, can use any actions that their
components can use, and they gain infinite range on every effect.

Demon Origin Fighters

Corrupted Monk Witch Demon

Demons that were commonly once shamans-priests. Wields A demon that has perfected witchcraft. Attracted to places
giant monk staffs that have been shattered. Prods demons to of powerful sorceries, and wishes to destroy all witchcraft.
burn with a greater violence. Weaker mortals might create pacts with this demon to
access sorcery.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 6/7/8 POS 3/4/5 MARTIAL ABILITIES
BRV 3/4/5 RES 4/5/6 HP 4/5/6 POS 4/5/6
FTH 4/5/6 SPD 3/4/5 BRV 3/4/5 RES 3/4/5

Trait: Tumult Inflict Violence: Consecrate FTH 5/6/7 SPD 4/5/6

When the Monk festers, they Unbless a place: Area Water Trait: Pact Inflict Violence: Sulfur
give Block 1 to all allies in the Faith Attack vs all enemies in
battlefield. burst 2, then the burst After inflicting hits on a Fire a sulfurous orb: Area
becomes dangerous terrain fighter, make a Pact with Fire Faith Attack vs all
(against enemies) until start them until start of next targets in burst 1 within 5
of next fulmination Fulmination. Consume the squares.
Pact at any point to force the
GAMBITS (d6) fighter to inflict violence.
1 Antigod Field [3]: Choose a square in range 3. When the Witch festers,
A burst 2 Antigod Field erupts from it. All inflict 1 Hit to all Pacts
demons have +2d to all Attack Teeth. currently in the field.
2-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Feed Corpses [1]:
Heal 1 an adjacent ally. GAMBITS (d12)
4-5 Stride > Inflict Violence > Obscenities Against 1-3 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence
The Deva [1]: All allies in burst 2 gain +1d on 4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Blood Bond [1]:
their next attack. Connect two fighters within range 5 of the
6 Hell Fog [3]: All allies in burst 3 gain +1 Hit on Witch Demon and each other. A rope of blood
their next attack and can make it Fire. All binds them together: they cannot move
enemies in the burst suffer Fray x2. further from each other. They must spend 1
Beat to cut the rope.
7-9 Teleport 4 > Enrage [2]: Choose 1 fighter in
range 3. They gain Overwhelming on their
next attack, but they suffer Sunder x2.
10-12 Teleport 5 > Witch Pact [2]: Choose 1 fighter in
burst 4. They must inflict violence, with the
target chosen by the witch.

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Warrior Demon Ogre Demon

Crimson-skinned creatures, wearing bahag and clad in Giant demons that have eaten a large number of other
golden amulets, shocks of shorn black hair, crimson streaks demons, festering and growing in their self-serving atrocity.
across their body like tiger-stripes, and shattered halos Usually takes the form of humanoids, but can take on the
looking like crescent moon horns. form of giant boars, crocodiles, serpents, monitor lizards,
and the like. Frequently travels around with a colossal
MARTIAL ABILITIES weapon: a pillar from a palace, a bell from a temple, a giant
HP 5/6/7 POS 3/3/4 hammer from a dead god.
BRV 6/8/10 RES 3/3/4 MARTIAL ABILITIES
FTH 6/8/10 SPD 6/6/7 HP 10/12/14 POS 4/5/6
Trait: Unending Violence Inflict Violence: Hateful BRV 5/6/7 RES 4/5/6
Wrath Strike FTH 3/4/5 SPD 3/4/4
When a warrior demon Assault them with giant Trait: Brute Inflict Violence: Heaven
festers, they may weapons: Melee Fire Bravery Pillar
immediately rush 4. Attack vs 1 adjacent target. If
target is Staggered, gain The Ogre is Size 2. Whenever Strike down with a colossal
Skewering. a demon is Defeated in the weapon: Area Earth Bravery
battlefield, the Ogre heals 1. Attack vs all targets in line 3.
GAMBITS (d8) When the Ogre Festers, they
1-2 Stride > Stride > Inflict Violence gain Block 1.
3-4 Leap/Stride > Rejoice [2]: Inflict Violence. If it GAMBITS (d10)
Defeats the target, Rush 2 and gain block 1. 1-3 Stride > Leap > Inflict Violence
5-6 Stride > Wild Swings [2]: Area Fire Bravery
Attack vs all targets in blast 3. 4-6 Stride > Inflict Violence > Go Wild [1]: Roll a
d4. Inflict 1 Hit on a number of adjacent
7-8 Carnage [2]: Rush 5. Inflict 1 Hit on any enemy fighters equal to the result. Cannot hit the
that becomes adjacent to you during the same enemy twice.
movement, once per enemy. > Deflect
7-9 Stride > Brute Stance [1]: Take on the Brute
Stance until end of next Fulmination. While
in this stance, gain Stability and every attack
Gun Demon gives 1 Charge. Can spend X Charges to inflict
+X Hits on any attack. > Inflict Violence
A new and fickle demon, arising from a new sort of weapon.
It is a bit trigger happy, and loves unloading hot steel upon 10 Rush 2 > Lift [1]: Inflict Juggle on all enemies
the battlefield. in blast 3 > Down To Narka [1]: Area Fire
Bravery Attack vs all enemies in burst 3. If the
MARTIAL ABILITIES target is Juggled, consume the Juggled to
HP 4/5/6 POS 2/3/4 inflict +2 Hits and Stun.
BRV 4/6/8 RES 3/4/5
FTH 4/6/8 SPD 3/3/4
Trait: Hot Chamber Inflict Violence: Live Bullet
When the Gun Demon Shoot a curving demon-
festers, it inflicts 1 Hit on d3 bullet: Area Fire Faith Attack
targets in range 3. vs all targets in path 5
Gun Demons gain Sharpness
instead of Dullness when
attacking adjacent targets
with ranged attacks.
GAMBITS (d6)
1 Heat Up [3]: Gain 2 Bullets. When making any
area or ranged attacks, spend the Bullets to
gain +2d Attack Teeth per bullet.
2-3 Stride > Devil Pistol Stance [1]: Take on the
Devil Pistol Stance until end of next
Fulmination. When attacked or a fighter
moves into an adjacent square, consume the
stance to rush 1 and inflict 1 Hit on the
triggering fighter > Inflict Violence
4-5 Stride > Ebony Ivory [2]: Area Fire Faith
Attack vs all chosen targets in blast 4
6 Judas Silver [3]: Throw a silver coin to a square
in range 4, another in range 5-7, and another
in range 7-8. Then shoot the first coin: draw a
straight line from the Gun Demon to the first
coin, and then from the first to the second,
and the second to the third. Inflict 1 Hit on
every enemy whose square is touched by the
lines. The coins stay for the rest of Violence:
using this Technique again lets the Gun
Demon shoot any of the coins.

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Asura
Asr, or Asura, are the great enemies of the Dewa, the Gods. The Anti-Gods: their natures are proud and haughty, do not perform
proper sacrifices, reject the Noble Truths, violate sacred laws and spiritual places, break silences, and torture living beings with
overwhelmingly excessive violences. It is once said that the ancient empress Tunggadewi, Consort of the Gods, went about and
expunged asura from Gubat Banwa. Now, however, they reincarnate, heralding the end.
MARTIAL ABILITIES
HP 4 x Kadungganan POS 3/4/5
BRV 5/7/9 RES 3/4/5
FTH 5/7/9 SPD 3/3/4
Traits Inflict Violence: Deathbound
Antigod Pierces Life: The Asura can move through enemies, Send fists of pure annihilating energy: Area Fire Bravery Attack
inflicting 1 Hit, once per enemy per Fulmination. They ignore vs all targets in blast 3 within 4 squares.
difficult terrain.
Wrath Greater Than Compassion: The Asura ignores all negative
Ability Modifiers and is immune to Unbalance and Juggle.
Additionally, all their area attacks ignore Block, and all their
melee and ranged attacks have Skewering.
Vanity: Asuras are vain beings. When they roll a 10, they Smirk
(Boon). While Smirking, all 10s against them score just 1 Hit,
they cannot gain any Poise Tokens, they cannot suffer any
Vulnerabilities, and their Attack Teeth cannot be lowered.
GAMBITS (d6)
Phase 1: Lesser Asura. The Asura only uses two hands.
1-3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shove > Deflect
4-6 Antigod Stance [2]: Inflict 1 Hit on an adjacent fighter and then take on the Antigod Stance until
end of next fulmination. When suffering an attack, consume the stance to teleport 3 and inflict
violence before the attack. > Stride > Inflict Violence
Phase 2: Greater Asura. The Asura only uses four hands now, and their eyes glint with smokeless fire. Triggers when Staggered.
While a Greater Asura, all 1s on Attack Teeth against them inflict 1 Hit on the attacker.
1 Battlefield of the Gods [2]: Change the weather to Rain, but the Asura is immune to its effects >
Kaliyuga [2]: Inflict Slow on all enemies in burst 3.
2-3 Antigod Stance [2]: Inflict 1 Hit on an adjacent fighter and then take on the Antigod Stance until
end of next fulmination. When suffering an attack, consume the stance to teleport 3 and inflict
violence before the attack. > Stride > Inflict Violence >
4-5 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shove > Deflect
6 Stride > Asuri Astra [3]: Area Fire Bravery+Faith Attack vs all targets in line 10, mark each target.
While marked, all attacks against them gain +1d.
Phase 3: Greater Asura. The Asura grows in size and summons all six of their hands, each wielding a weapon. As with a Greater
Asura, but they now no longer have Combo Breaker. Instead they have Rising Beat: they instead gain +1d/+2d instead of -2d/-3d.
They also become Size 2. This triggers once the Asura falls to 0 HP. They immediately heal their Staggered value.
1 Battlefield of the Gods [2]: Change the weather to Rain, but the Asura is immune to its effects >
Kaliyuga [2]: Inflict Slow on all enemies in burst 3.
2 Antigod Stance [2]: Inflict 1 Hit on an adjacent fighter and then take on the Antigod Stance until
end of next fulmination. When suffering an attack, consume the stance to teleport 3 and inflict
violence before the attack. > Stride > Inflict Violence
3 Stride > Inflict Violence > Shove > Deflect
4 Stride > Asuri Astra [3]: Area Fire Bravery+Faith Attack vs all targets in line 10, mark each target.
While marked, all attacks against them gain +1d.
5 Inflict Violence > Inflict Violence > Inflict Violence > Inflict Violence
6 Nivatakawaca Defeats The Devas And Punctures Bhavacakra [4]: This can only be performed at
Strike 6+. Reroll all 6 results at Phase 3 before Strike 6. The Asura stops all their actions and
teleports to the center of the battlefield, wherein they begin charging to summon Siwa’s Trident.
While summoning, they do nothing on their Fulminations, only summon. At the end of the next
Strike, if the Asura is not defeated, they shatter the battlefield and send the Kadungganan to a hell
realm deep in the underworld. The Kadungganan lose 1 Legend and fall to 0 Honor. The Festival of
the Longest Night is heralded. If already heralded, it quickens and intensifies.

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Beast
Beasts encompass all animals: from animals that we might find here in our primary world to the unique beasts that can only be found
here in The Sword Isles. Animals are part of nature, and are respected by the people of The Sword Isles. Beasts in The Sword Isles scale
from life-force sucking mosquitos to giant slithering pythons that cause earthquakes.

Beasts don’t have Origin Types. Instead, add the Enrage Trait and one other Trait below on any particular Type as a Template.

Trait: Enrage. When the beast becomes Staggered, they gain +1 to their BRV/FTH/SPD.

Add one of the following:

0 Venomous/Blazing. Whenever the beast makes an attack, they inflict Fray per 8+ on the Attack Teeth.
0 Serrated: Whenever the beast suffers Hits, inflict Bleed 1 per Hit back at the attacker.
0 Sharpened Claw. If attacking with vantage or while flanking, the attack deals +1 Hit.
0 Truesight. The beast cannot suffer Stun, Daze, ignores cover, and does not treat enemies as blocking line of sight.
0 Predator. If the beast does not voluntarily move when they Fulmination, they gain Overwhelming on their next attack.
0 Behemoth. The beast cannot be moved forcibly by smaller Sized combatants. They are Size 2.
0 Unstoppable. Gain +1 BRV/FTH/SPD while the beast has Fray, Slow, Stop, Bleed, or Unbalance. Then, they ignore those
conditions.
0 Avian. This Beast has Flying .

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Diwata/Devata
Diwata are the strange uncanny beings unlike us. Those that
live in the darknesses of nature, or the blinding crash of
thunders, or in the burning crackles of flame. Those that
tread across the trees, those that eat the heads of children.
Diwata are little gods residing in the periphery, granting
merit and taking it away. Demanding nourishment,
demanding sacrifice, demanding reverence. Fear them, they
look at you with bent eyes, with broken faces. They may be
worshipped, but they do not need your worship.
Also known as hyang in Jamiyun Kulisa’s Arrows, or diyos in
Virbanwa. In Ashinin thought, Devas are on a higher stage to
Enlightenment, but the pure joy of being a god makes it nigh
impossible for one to achieve it. In Anitu (and other
indigenous religions of the Sword Isles) diwata are
unknowable beings, souls that are not human.
Like with Beasts, the sheer multiplicty of diwata means they
don’t have any unique Origin Types. Instead, follow the steps
below to applying a Diwata Template.
Diwata Template
God. Diwata are gods of nature. They are not like us. Their
uncanny nature inflicts awe and fear. All mortals that face a
God suffer -1 to their BRV/FTH.
Diwata can be spoken with and offered to, but they are hard
to understand. Their motives can be hard to understand,
alien as they are, but they are almost always aligned with
protecting Universal Flow and the Right Path of Nature.
Not Our Own. You cannot harm diwata, that is like striking
at trees. To defeat a diwata, one must follow a particular set
of rules, or perform a particular ritual, that very often does
include violence. Diwata cannot be defeated, they can only
be pacified, which is the same mechanically as Defeated.
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When making a diwata, choose 1:
0 Offering. Place offerings in 4 different random squares on
the battlefield, but are never closer than 7 squares to the
Kadungganan. To pacify the diwata, the Kadungganan must go
adjacent to each offering and interact with it to pick it up, and
then give the offering to the diwata by interacting with the
diwata while adjacent to it while holding the offering.
0 Sacrifice. Choose an enemy in the Battlefield that is not a
diwata. That enemy must be defeated while within burst 2 of
the Diwata to pacify them.
0 Influence. If there is a shaman or priest that the diwata can
feasibly speak with, that wisefolk must speak and channel the
diwata. While adjacent to the diwata, the chosen shaman or
priest (only 1 can be the speaker) can spend 1 Beat to give the
Diwata 1 Influence, and they can only do this 1/Fulmination.
When a Diwata gains 6 Influence, the diwata is pacified.
0 Purify. Place 1 enemy per Diwata on the field. Those enemies
must be defeated to pacify the Diwata.
0 Geomancy. Choose 5 random squares on the battlefield,
nothing within 6 squares of the diwata. One must perform a
ritual by spending 1 Beat while on that square. Once you have
performed a ritual on each square, the diwata is pacified.
0 Trial. Put down N-1 other enemies of appropriate tier
within burst 4 of the diwata. The enemies must be defeated for
the diwata to be pacified.
0 Wrathful Aspect. The diwata manifests in a physical form,
becoming a Size 2 Brave with x3 HP instead of x2. Their
physical form must be brought to 0 HP for them to be pacified.
0 Something Else. Diwata are unique and strange beings,
transcendent of our mortal wiles. You can make a pacify
condition for the diwata you choose. Make it something
strange, something borne out of Southeast Asian rituals.
 VIOLENCE
Choose 2 below for the diwata you make. Make
sure this matches the diwata. For guardian gods,
they might take Boundary and Life Furance for
example. Alternatively, you may roll d20.
1. Boundary: All squares adjacent to the diwata
are difficult terrain for enemies.
2. Life Furnace: Start the fight with Regen.
3. Vajra: The diwata’s attacks always have
Overwhelming.
4. Untethered: The diwata has Flying.
5. Forestwalker. The diwata ignores all terrain.
6. Giant God. The diwata is Size 2 or 3.
7. Royalty. When the diwata Shoves, they can
target 1 fighter in range 10, and they can slide
them by 3.
8. Isvara. When an ally starts or ends their
Fulmination adjacent to the Diwata, they heal
1 HP.
9. Elemental Harmony. At the beginning of a
Strike, the diwata must choose an element. All
enemies suffer vulnerability to that.
10. Shrine. Place a shrine (Size 1 object) in the
battlefield at the beginning of Violence. The
diwata can use the shrine as the origin point
for any effect. Attacking the shrine grants the
diwata BRV/FTH+2.
135
11. Alignment With Nihaya. Choose 1 Element.
When the diwata suffers an attack of that
element, Hits heal 1 instead of reduce HP.
12. Geomantic Weapon. Choose 1 Element. When
the diwata makeBs an attack with that
element, they score 2 Hits on a 9+.
13. Strange Physiology. The diwata has
spinnerets, or wings, or extraordinarily sharp
claws. Choose any Bane, they inflict 1 stack of
it when they Inflict Violence.
14. Godly Speed. The diwata teleports when they
Stride.
15. Guardian Deity. When an enemy leaves a sq
adjacent to the diwata, inflict 1 True Hit.
16. Diamond Body. When colliding with the
diwata, they suffer no Hits and they inflict 2
Hits on the colliding target.
17. Indra’s Net. All things are interconnected.
When the diwata Shoves, can choose 2 targets
and teleport them 5 sq, and then the diwata
teleports 5 as well.
18. Glory. When a diwata brings a target to 0 HP,
they gain +1 Beat for their current Fulmination
19. Divine Wrath. At Strike 4+, the Diwata gains
+1 to all Martial Abilities for the rest of
Violence.
20. Gajaraja. A diwata has a giant mount. They are
always considered 1 Elevation higher and they
become immune to Unbalance, Juggle, and
Stun.
IV: KADUNGGANAN
The First Kadungganan Warband was said to have been formed by the ancient
First Slave, who gathered together the first martial artists of the bloody Warring
Realms, toiling under the Scourge, to strike back against the Invincible Queen of
Glaves.

The First Slave found the practitioner of striking arts, of quick-movement, fast as
winds: Kalakatri, Her Murderous Glory, who wielded the first kalis and
summoned ebony lightning. Kalakatri did not join him, but instead, granted the
First Slave her sword and shield.

Then the First Slave met the practitioner of protective arts, of shield protection,
area denial, and forced movement: Sri Katun Sahaja, the Crumbling Boulder,
who wielded the grand breastplate of defeated giants and deflected thunder.

They went on to save the practitioner of vast striking, master of long-ranged arts,
of swallow blades, of burning bullets: Lontok Alam Gantar, the Thundering
Echoing Cannon, who wielded the first lantaka and was the crafter of firearms.

They then had to persuade, up within a deep forest mountain, the great hexer,
practitioner of the eldest witcheries, who could mold Scourge and make it into
weapon: Dewasuhawa, the First Witch, who wielded the ancient palm leaf
scrolls, summoner of both demons and gods.

Finally, to complete the warband, they needed a warlord. A general who could
lead them to victory. They found, sitting before a silent and stagnant, cold lake,
the First Hari, the First God-King: The Conquering King Rajaraya Pintas. He
who ventured into heaven and challenged The Sun Mother, he who ventured into
heaven and stole the name Hari from the gods.

The Conquering King was a demigiant: he was born from a giant mother and a
bamboofolk father. His eyes were large, bulging, and his canines grew like tusks.
He towered over the rest. But the First Kadungganan Warband banded together
and defeated the Conquering King with diversity and understanding. With the
defeat of the Conquering King, he agreed to join the Warband. And so The First
Slave went on to challenge the Invincible Queen of Glaves.
KADUNGGANAN

The
Kadungganan
K
adungganan. Those that make war. Martial
Artists, Warrior Braves, Executioners,
Butchers, Warlords, Witches.

Those first one in and last one out, following the

commands and ideologies of their lords.

They are those that have obtained warrior

prestige--some of them through prowess in battle,
others through heritage, or birth, or ancestry--
and have thus become elevated to the sides of
their leader, acting as their sword and shield.

They are known under many names: bhayangkara,

timawa, satariya, managku, bagani, bayani, but
altogether they know themselves as Kadungganan.
The Elite of the Warrior Class. The Best of the
Best.

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 KADUNGGANAN

Martial Artists and Warrior-Sages.

They hold a special place of prestige in The Sword Isles: they almost always hold the highest echelon
of the warrior class. They are regarded as just below their warrior-chiefs in prestige. They are
Warrior-Elites, gentlemen, supreme martial artists. While they might not be as rich as their noble
class counterparts, they are certainly held to a higher regard. They are akin to samurai, vikings, or a
Spartan Elite.
Kadungganan are free to Rush allegiance as they wish, sometimes paying only a small sum to the
leader they are leaving. Thus Kadungganan are free to choose whichever job or venture prospect they
would like. Some Kadungganan choose to stay for long with one Lord, but it is not uncommon to find
Kadungganan who exercise their freedom.
You play as a Kadungganan, someone who has attained that warrior prestige. Kadungganan prestige
differs per person, of course, and you begin your Kadungganan career in the lowest rungs. The tail
end of the crocodile army. The feathers of the king eagle. Struggle through this world, fighting for
your convictions, for your lord, or for your self.
The Kadungganan is the character through which the players wage war and love in the war-torn
lands of The Sword Isles. Thus, it is integral to know how a Player, through their Kadungganan,
interact with the mechanics and fiction of the setting.

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 KADUNGGANAN
Kadungganan Creation
Path Steps
When creating a Kadungganan, you must
follow The Path, which describes the
following things:
0 Where you come from and how you were
brought up (Culture, Subculture, Lineage,
and Social Standing)
0 Something interesting that happened to
you (Conjuncture)
0 How you approach things (Alignments)
0 What you learned to wield (Discipline)
0 Someone that you owe something to
because of what you did (first Debt)
0 Something that makes things complex
(Complication).
0 Why you fight (Conviction).
You can follow each step and roll
randomly on each step, or choose
whichever best suits your image of your
Kadungganan.
EXCLAIM Steps 4 and 7 are optional. If you
are running a short Arc or a
one shot, you can ignore
these. You can also choose to
uncover these
Complications, Debts, and
Conjunctures through play.
1: Choose a Folk
Folk are purely cosmetic choices. They do not have on them attribute
changes and whatnot, since all kinds of Folk can be found across the
Isles. When in doubt, choose Bamboofolk: they are the most common of
the folk. This one does not need a Lifepath choice, though it will most
likely affect what your parents look like.
2: CHOOSE OR ROLL CULTURE
After choosing a Culture, you must find out your Subculture, Lineage, and
Social Standing.
0 Subculture is from which specific place in the mahamandala they come
from, which colors how they approach the world.
0 Lineage is from what bloodline or history they come from, which might
influence how they deal with the world.
0 Social Standing from what social class they were before they became
Kadungganan, and might influence how they react to the world.
3: Define Your Conviction
the main ideal that the Kadungganan is fighting for. It might define how
they deal with everything in the world, and why they fight and toil in the
wheel of violence.
4: Discover Conjunctures, Debts and Complications
Find out your Conjuncture, something that happened to you in the past.
Then Choose 1 person that you owe a Debt to and then 1
Complication you share with your Bandmates.
5: Divine Alignments
Choose your Alignments which alignments correspond to
the 5 Essences of Nature in Gatusanon Geomancy and
Religion. Alignments reflect how your character might
approach a situation or action. The spread is 2, 1, 1, 0,
0
6: Train Abilities and Disciplines
Distribute 2 points among your five Martial
Abilities (BRV, FTH, POS, RES, SPD).
Remember that each starts at 3.
Choose a Discipline. You gain that Discipline’s
HP, Traits, and Inflict Violences.Choose 2
Techniques from that Discipline, keeping in
mind the prerequisites.
7: Find Your Warband
Create your Warband with the group.
0 Choose your Warband Nature from
the list.
0 Define together what Conviction your
Warband is fighting for.
0 Talk about how the Kadungganan
met.
8: Your Violence Begins
Finally, choose a name, and then begin at
Legend 0. You must inscribe your name upon
the chants of the saga-singers.
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 KADUNGGANAN

Alignments
Alignments are the essences of nature in folk religions of Gatusan Folk. The belief in Alignments stem from a
syncretization of elemental theory from the Ashinin priests, as well as knowledge passed down from Annuvaran
missionary-monks that arrived at Gatusan through diffusion from Ba-enon shaman-priests. The five elements are fire,
water, metal, earth, and air. When creating a character, you have to spread 2, 1, 1, 0, 0 among them, and whenever your
Legend Grows you gain 2 points to spread them.

Fire
Dynamism, Enthusiastic, Passion
Fire is the element of strength, persistence, and
restlessness. A flame burns continuously until
something puts it out, or until it eats up all the fuel that it
gives itself. In Gubat Banwa, Fire includes not just the
burning blazes, but also the nourishing warmth of the
sun, the heat of live bodies, the hotness generated by
leaping into love and war. Gods aligned with Fire tend to
be passionate and hot headed.
Associations: Warriors, Red, Indigo, Yellow, Orange,
Noontime, Sun, Stars, The Rooster
ROLL THIS WHEN APPROACHING SOMETHING
THROUGH CREATIVITY, PASSION, ENTHUSIASM,
EMOTION, OR DIPLOMACY.
Water
Tranquility, Intelligence, Fluidity
Water is the element of wisdom. It is fluidity, it is
flowing. In Gubat Banwa, water is the most powerful
element, as it surrounds the lands and it overflows into
the edges of Trichiliocosm and beyond. The rules of the
sea are different from the rules of the land: dying in the
sea will not grant you the same afterlife as dying on land.
You become sea gods and spirits. Water is a mysterious
element upon which everything else floats. Water Gods
and Spirits are almost unknowable, fickle, but with a
terrifying calm. The kind of calm that comes with the
knowledge that you will outlast everything.
Associations: The Naga (dragon), the Color Blue and
Black, the Moon, Cold Weather, Sages, Night
ROLL THIS WHEN APPROACHING SOMETHING
THROUGH KNOWLEDGE, SPEECH, WISDOM,
SPIRITUALITY, OR SUBTLETY.
Metal
Controlling, Ambitious, Determined.
Metal is the element of ambition. Constantly driven by
their need to succeed, their need to stay in control. Metal
is a more modern conception of the element: Kadanay
sages and some Apumbukid sages equate Metal to Gold,
the greatest metal. Metal is generally the element
concerned with merchantry, farming, war, and
civilization. Gods of Metal are those closely knit with Folk
Culture, and are usually those with the most power,
similar to how Gold holds the most power in the isles, and
is a symbol of the Sword Isles’ inherent value.
Associations: Rulers, Weaponry, Falling Leaves, Night,
Dusk, Civets, Gold, Silver, Gray, Red, Orange, The Turtle
ROLL THIS WHEN APPROACHING SOMETHING
THROUGH WILLPOWER, STRENGTH, COMMAND,
FORCE, OR LEADERSHIP.
Air
Fickle, Free-Spirited, Benevolent
Air is the element of vivacity. It represents flexibility,
fecundity, beginning of life (as the Breath is air), and is
constantly moving, never staying in a single place. Air
gives birth to fire, moves water, important for crafting
metal, and is the sister to earth. Many Air Gods and
Spirits reside in the upper realms, in the Skyworld, and
are generally the most powerful of the gods. Air is the
element of aristocrats and nobles, those who have the
capability to travel across the realms.
Association: Aristocrats, Storms, Planting Season,
Dawn, Green, Yellow, Blue, Indigo, The Hornbill
ROLL THIS WHEN APPROACHING SOMETHING
THROUGH GRACE, DEXTERITY, WIT, REACTION,
OR QUICKNESS.
Earth
Stable, Nurturing, Secure
Earth is the element of nature, of life and death. It is the
element found in the mountains, in the trees, all the way
to the depths of the underworld, where the gods of the
earth sleep in the sacred darkness of the boughs. The
element of earth is very all encompassing, it includes the
animals and the godly beasts, even the grand staircases
that lead to heaven, and the jaws of the world that keeps
the continents from spilling out into nothingness. It is
nature itself, brother to the Air and Water. Earth is the
where all things go through: the air screams through
treetops, the water becomes rivers upon it, metal is born
from it, fire scours it.
Association: Workers, Harvesting Season, Masculine
and Feminine together, Yellow, Brown, Orange, Beige,
the Crocodile
ROLL THIS WHEN APPROACHING
SOMETHING THROUGH VIGOR,
STEADFASTNESS, STAMINA,
ENTHUSIASM, AND FRIENDSHIP.

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 KADUNGGANAN

Folk
The people of The Sword Isles are
numerous. All those born in the islands,
no matter what they might look like, are
known as tawo.
Together they are all called Folk. The folk
of The Sword Isles are the people that fill
the entire world. The following are the
Folk that are prevalent in The Sword
Isles that you can play as. However, all
sorts of folk live in The Sword Isles.
If you want to live as a frogfolk or
hornbillfolk, feel free! These are just to
inspire you.

Kawayanon
Commonly known as The Bamboo Folk, Kawayanon are
the most populous Folk in the Sword Isles, owing in no
small part to their propensity to reproduce and
intermingle with others, being social animals.
Kawayanon are those born from a piece of bamboo that
floated in from the Endless Sea after multiple
cosmogonies. They arose after a great king eagle pecked
them out from their bamboo vessels. The first Kawayanon
had no gender. However an ancient Devil-Eel known as
Apung Gisibak fought with the great Eagle and the Sky,
and then deceived the Kawayanon to fight with him. As
punishment for one of the first acts of violence, the Great
Eagle and the Grand Sky came down and sundered the
Kawayanon, inflicting gender upon them, and enforcing
a spiritual unity to be able to create new ones.

Tinges of their foliage-ancestry echoes in small

distinctive features, such as having leaf- or nut-shaped
ears, green and brown eyes, supple pale brown skin.
Rarer are more obvious manifestations of this: leafy hair,
purple veins, long fingers, lanky body types, and much
more. Kawayanon usually live for up to 80 to 100 harvests,
but many seek a poultice of immortality.

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KADUNGGANAN

Iro-Iro
The dogfolk are the faithful warriors of Apu Balatik, who followed
him to the ends of heaven. As a gift for their faithfulness, Apu
Balatik blessed all dogs with the cunning ability to hunt down all
things. The name Iro comes from the first dog, their First Ancestor,
Iro, who gave his life for Apu Balatik. When Iro died, Apu Balatik
emblazoned him across the sky as a streak of lightning, and thus he
is now known in the sky as the heavenly lightning dog, Kimat. It is
said that sometimes the puppies and brood of Kimat venture down
into the earth through these lightning bolts, and they are known as
Kimat-Kimat.

Iro-Iro are blessed with the inherent capacity to hunt. They

therefore make for great warriors and hunters, which goes without
saying. They are beholden to creating tightly knit communities, and
thus are known for their ability to easily integrate into any
community easily.

Iro-Iro Ethnicities are wide and varied, similarly to Kawayanon:

those in the far Continent might have lion-dog aesthetics, those in
the far west might have more Beagle or Corgi aesthetics.

Iro-Iro usually live up to 70 harvests in general.

143
KADUNGGANAN

Kamikam
The catfolk are those that resemble large humanoid cats,
but are widely understood not to be them. They were the
children of the god of hunting, Apu Balatik, alongside
the dogfolk. When the catfolk did not join Apu on his
journey to hunt the stars, they were deemed lazy.
However it was the ancestors of the catfolk that invented
the great number of traps and hunting arts in The Sword
Isles now.

The term Kamikam is an ancient word that Apu Balatik

gave them: it is a term that meant “the wagging tail of a
cat”. He gave them this when he realized the first thing
they would usually do before doing anything was to wag
their tails. However, Kamikam, chosen children of Apu
Balatik alongside the Iro-Iro, also inherented his vicious
hunting intent and instinct, and thus they make for
fierce warriors.

Kamikam ethnicities are wide and varied across Gubat

Banwa: those in the far Southeastern Continent might
find Kamikam that look like fierce golden tigers, in
which they are called Auraskan. In the Baikhan
continent they might find grand lions. Common in the
northern islands of the Sword Isles are those that
resemble binturong, or bearcats.

144
KADUNGGANAN

Laksaman
The monkeyfolk are acrobatic leapers and warriors, who
fought in the wars of Rajah Mangadiri fight back and
kill the demon forces of Banjarmasir, which led them to
be an exalted people. Their ancestor, Laksamana, was
the one that killed the great ten-headed demon god
Maharaja Lawana, and is the reason why Banjarmasir is
the city with the most population of monkeyfolk.
Most Laksaman are common in settlements and cities
that allow ancestor worship, as much of their traditions
as a Folk center around the grand stories of their great
ancestor. Despite this, Laksaman are still very common
in other cities, and they mingle commonly with
Kawayanon, who find that they have a lot in common
with.
In the far Continent, their ancestor is known as
Hanoman, and they themselves are known under the
name of Hanu. Laksaman are always skilled warriors
that have no qualms in showing off their prowess, and
thanks to their bloodlines, they are incredibly dextrous,
letting them move across the thick terrains of the Sword
Isles easily.
Their ethnicities are wide and varied, as many as there
are actual kinds of monkeys in Gubat Banwa. Laksaman
usually live until 100 harvests.

145
 KADUNGGANAN

Pilandokan
The deerfolk are diminutive mouse deer people descended
from the Almighty Trickster of Akai history, Pilandok.
Pilandok was so great that he once became a sultan of an
entire kingdom, without the actual sultan even knowing!
As punishment, Pilandok was cut up into a thousand
pieces, and that was how the deerfolk were born. Of course,
Pilandok is still alive. If one asked Pilandok why he
performed the deed, he would reply: “is there anything
funnier than a king?”
Most Pilandokan are small and slender in stature, none of
them reaching taller than 5 foot 5 inches. However, there
are some Pilandokan that have stranger bloodlines and can
reach taller than that. In general, however, they are known
for not being too large, and for having distinct deer-like
features upon their face. Their hooves and legs let bound
across landscapes with ease.
Pilandokan ethnicities vary widely and greatly, but they
almost always stay small and below their average height
despite it. While they don’t inherently have a propensity for
being tricksters, many of those that have heard of their
stories immediately associate Pilandokan with Pilandok.
Pilandok usually live 75 harvests.

146
KADUNGGANAN

Pak-an
Pak-an means winged. The birdfolk are descendants of the
ancient sky king Rajah Lawin, who rules over all the sky
raptors. When Rajah Lawin was killed by Jamiyun Kulisa
with his Thunderbolt, Rajah Lawin’s electrified blood
coagulated and formed into the pak-an in mid-air.
However, Jamiyun Kulisa asked Amihan and Habagat, the
Elder Monsoons, to never allow the pak-an to fly, even with
their wings.
Many Pak-an look similar enough to Kawayanon, however
their hands and feet (and sometimes their face) tend to
have very avian features. They are sometimes confused
with kinnara and kinnari, though they are not that, for
they are not divine. Jamiyun Kulisa has made sure of that.
Instead, many Pak-an cultures revere the Galura, which
bring about the changes in winds across the seasons, as
well as the Garuda, avian gods that live in the heavens and
engage in an everlasting war with demon forces that
threaten to destroy the upper firmament of the greater
Kalibutan.
Pak-an ethnicities are once again very varied: crow-like
features are common across the isles, and some look even
like hornbills. They are as varied as Kawayanon, and grand
pak-an live alongside most kawayanon to great effect,
serving as helpers, elders, counselors, and warriors for
settlements found across mountains and cliffsides, where
they are most comfortable--or perhaps most eviscerated,
as the constant height is a reminder of what they cannot
do. Most Pak-an live for 80 harvests.

147
 KADUNGGANAN
Cultures
The five major polities have five bespoke cultures that color and inform how your Kadungganan will look at the world.
Choose 1 from below, or roll a 1d10-- 1-2: Gatusan, 3-4: Apumbukid, 5-6: Akai, 7-8: Virbanwan, 9-10: Ba-e
Gatusan
A small company of sea raiders sang their shanties and
echoed their songs of wars to the setting sun. They sailed
home from a long day of raiding, covered in tattoos and
abaca armor and hardwood breastplates, brandishing their
kampilan and krises and bows and bangkaw spears. Their
song was a song that echoed across all of the Gatusan: “We
warriors of Datu Tupas... Are warriors undefeatable!” And
they sang and danced and chanted.
“Captain, incoming!” shouted the young man clinging atop
the roof of their karakoa, like a monkey. “To the northwest!”
All of them turned to where the sun was setting and sure
enough, there was a small battalion of them, heading
straight for an engagement. “Warriors of Datu Ha-ik Lawot!
Tiglantakas, man your stations and fire when ready!”
The booming sound of the lantakas resonated across the
sea. The warriors of Radya Sandata sung and laughed as
they took out at least two of the incoming warriors. The
others were quick, howver.
One of them, a large brown man with tattoos covering his
face in the visage of a demon, hollered. “O, these stupid
warriors! They’ve come to take their revenge.”
“And shall we let them have it?” Asked the man standing at
the bow of the ship, raising his kalasag and kampilan. He
wore a hardwood pakil breastplate and a pakupya helmet.
“To arms! Buwaya riders at the ready!”
The slender man of the raiding party nodded, and they
began prodding the large crocodiles that rested on the back
end of the ship. The crocodiles slipped into the sea, and the
buwaya riders hopped atop them, positioning themselves
onto their mounts. There were only three of them: one of
them wielded a salapang trident, two more wielded bows.
“Charge!”
The buwaya riders split wide, hoping to flank in on the
incoming warriors, who seemed to be riding on the backs of
sharks.
“Captain!” Shouted the scout once again. “I can see what
they’re riding now! They’re... O Indira Suga! They’re balu
riders!”
And when the scout screamed that warning, the incoming
warriors of Ha-ik Lawot screamed ululating cries, and their
fish mounts took to the skies. Balu were winged swordfish,
and the warriors of Ha-ik Lawot were infamous for having
them.
“And I thought we were going to have an easy one,” said the
captain. “Buwaya riders, advance! Men, bring out your
spears: We have a fish to catch!”
The Rajahnate of Gatusan is a collection of settlements and
cities all bound beneath a collectively chosen Overlord,
known as the Rajah. While these datu do not see the Rajah
as superior, they do go to the Rajah to resolve interpolity
disputes. The Collective of Crocodile Lords decide who
becomes Rajah, but lately the Collective has been gripped by
the lineage of Ambasi, who traces a direct line to the
legendary founder of Kangdaya, Sri Bishaya, the
Tempestuous Tiger Who Roars from the White Mountain.
148
History
The Rajahnate was established by the Auraskan Prince from
the far eastern kingdom of Mahajola. This prince, named
Sri Bishaya, left to establish his own kingdom. He found it
in the far island of Tauhaw, in the island hinterlands.
Eventually, Sri Bishaya had two sons: Sri Bantug and Sri
Daya. They warred for ownership of Kangbishaya and
Tauhaw, and in the end Sri Daya struck the killing blow
upon Sri Bantug’s breast. Thus, Kangbishaya became
Kangdaya, the seat of the Rajah across the Rajahnate. After
Sri Daya became Rajah, he went on a tour of duty, making
sure that surrounding islands swore a blood oath to him,
and traded with him, strengthening his own polity. Then,
he proceeded to focus his efforts on creating fortifications
and weapons to combat the invading hordes of the magalo
from beyond the jaws of the world.
The current Rajah is Raja-Batara Ambasi, who is the third
son of Sri Malaya, who is the last direct descendant of Sri
Daya. He carries within him auraska blood, which shows in
the crimson tinge of his hair. He is, other than Shri Bishaya,
the first Rajah to take the moniker or Hari, which is the
term for God-King. His majesty and strength is recognized
indubitably across the 999 Chiefdoms. He will lead Gatusan
into the Great World Raid.
At one point in a dream, he saw the Suladnon Bakunawa--
one of the many sun and moon eaters--rise from the sea
and attempt to eat the sun instead of the moon, and she
spoke to him, telling him that as she will consume the sun,
so will the Rajahnate consume the islands. Promising
victory, Batara Ambasi solidified his connections and kin
and proceeded to conquer a Sultanate city on the opposite
coast of his island. Through this act of supreme valor, he
consolidated his Rajahnate.
Tradition
Warriors of the Gatusan region are born into a free-
wheeling society of poets and and sea raiders. Their culture
values valor, glory, freedom, and community. Children are
expected to be well-versed in poetic tradition--even those
that are not royalty--due to histories and stories passed
down through these songs. Sea shanties are old stories by
ancient shamans.
Part of the coming of age ritual for any Gatusan is the
tattooing, a spiritually important practice that puts the
child down the Glory Path. They gain this at first conquest
of war or violence. Gatusan cultures believe that dying in
combat is a one-way path to becoming a god, an ancestor
that is worshipped. Their kalag (souls) become deities to be
invoked. Those that find true Glory often become
Himayanon, or Blossomed: those that leave the
Makinaadmanon (Cruel Wheel), and are liberated through
their own violence.
 KADUNGGANAN
Noteworthy Persons
Rajah Batara Ambasi is the current Rajah, who heads a
Rajahnate that has at least twenty Datu under them.
Rajah Batara Ambasi sits upon his high-backed bamboo
throne: a bamboo dais whereupon he sits in a lotus
position, overlooking the Throne Hall of the Dawneater
Longhouse Palace, which takes person a few minutes to
walk from end to end. His presence looms over all: like a
god he watches.
Whenever a visitor enters, he lifts his right hand with the
pointer finger pointed at the visitor, and the other fingers
touching the thumb, palm raised up: this is the
Thunderbolt Mudra, to show that he can remove the
visitor from kalibutan easily. His arms are covered in
bangles and armlets of pure gold until his hands, which
are so scarred and tattooed that they look more like tiger
claws.
He wears a sarong that is as long as the great hall of his
Dawneater Palace, and he wears three garments atop
that: a single cuirass of gold and abaca, a long-sleeved
gown of foreign silks and gold spun so thin that they are
as silk, and a giant shawl that wraps and covers his
shoulders and neck, which floats about him like a cloud
and fulminates as if a living flame. His feet are always
covered, none of his tattoos can be seen by lowly mortals
and non-royalty.
His hair is white like tiger fur, braided intricately yet still
wild, so long that it lies in a spiraling pile beside his
bamboo palace. Over that he wears a golden pudong that
is as tall as his torso, ornamented with carnelians, agates,
sapphires, emeralds, and golden nuggets folded into
flowers with infinite petals.
His face is intricately tattooed in crimson and black in the
face of a howling tiger, a beast rare in the islands. His
eyes, most frightening of all, are the true eyes of a tiger’s:
feline, striking, and lusting for blood.
The Rajah is a peerless swordsman, and one who has an
impeccable handle over sorceries, trained by a powerful
Hexers. Many have tried to extinguish the flame of his
majesty: his policies tend to open up too much, and
Rajahnate patriots wish for a Rajahnate that puts their
own culture first, pushing out foreign influences.
The Rajah says this is folly, and wishes to incorporate all.
His goal is said to be this: the destruction of the Rajahnate
itself. A goal which Rajahnate faithful cannot abide.
He has managed to survive every assassination attempt
thus far. Only a truly concerted effort can bring him down
now.
Rajah Batara Ambasi’s taste for grandeur is reflected in
the grand city of Kangdaya, golden and gleaming, with
rivers running up its densely populated neighborhoods.
With Baikhan junks and Naksuwargan adyongs all
embarking and disembarking within, with their
marketplace always filled. The Rajah will make sure that
those that try to depose him understand why he is Rajah
in the first place.
Datu Sukarno. A mustachioed Datu who hails from the
island of Buwol, upon the grand city of Tajilaran. Datu
Sukarno is a well known scheming warlord, who wants
nothing but the safety and freedom and prestige of his
home banwa.
Thus, he seeks to become the new Rajah, planning on
gathering as much power as he can, to make sure that
Tajilaran becomes the trading entrepot that Kangdaya is
today.
He regularly raids trading ships to Kangdaya to try and
destabilize the Rajah’s power, and he is quickly amassing
a fighting force of a hundred Kadungganan to fight
beside him in the growing tensions.
Sam’baha Dimantag. The granddaughter of the now dead
raider-datu Sripulapula, who fought against Sri Malaya
himself in an attempt to destabilize his power, and killed
the first Pale King in the isles, Fernaw Magalyanes.
Sam’baha, is a skilled Kadungganan who excels with the
kampilan. She regularly travels to try and find more
challenges, in the hopes that she can be strong enough
eventually to become a Datu and kill all Pale Kings.
Other Culture Impressions
To Virbanwa: Feh, those knights have sat on their horses
for so long their saddles run up their ass! Fuck their
livers, they don't own shit.
To Akai: We used to raid them, now we raid each other.
Come, moon raiders: the seas part for we alone!
To Apumbukid: Friends, but the raiding we do is a
cesspool for atrocity, breeding ground for disharmony,
for Dihiyang. They don't like that, and when they strike
without remorse, we don't like it either.
To Ba-e: Like my sister always said: respect your elders!
But if they get uppity, we'll sail to their trading docks and
remind them who it was that raided the shores of Baik
Hu.
Gatusan Honorifics: Laki [la-KEE] (Masculine), Bayi [ba-
YEE] (Feminine), Sri (General, for Nobles)
Gatusanon Naming Convention: Gatusanon are given
names that describe qualities the family wants for them,
a particular natural phenomenon that happened during
the birthing, a beautiful tree or other natural item or the
craving or fascination of the mother while pregnant. This
can be a single word, or two, or sometimes entire
sentences. Gatusanon can choose names for themselves
as well.
Gatusanon Names: Siga, Liluan, Bagul, Aliluyuk,
Mahimayaon, Haraw, Salug, Hinagiban, Daya, Hamabad,
Kagiw, Gaang, Idyap, Alangilan, Bulsuk, Kutlu, Tanaman,
Adilpa, Daganas, Nasirakna, Idda
As a Gatusanon, keep the following in mind:
0 You are prone to song.
0 The Datu must always be respected, unless you have
the strength to do otherwise.
0 All loot must be shared with the datu.
0 Respect those with skill.
0 Fuck with others.
As a Gatusanon you begin with two: A set of crafting
tools, an anvil, a bag of trinkets, a tutubi necklace (gold
necklace that resembles dragonflies), flowers and herbs
for dyes, jade earrings, something you’ve created, a pouch
of failed inventions, a boat lute (kudyapi), a bamboo flute,
a jaw harp, palm leaf scrolls, writing implements, a
ceremonial staff, tinder, a piece of the sky
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Subculture
There is a large number of subcultures in the Gatusan Isles. It is in its name, after all: they number
in a hundred. But here we will detail the most common 8. The Gatusan Isles’ diversity is only rivaled
by those in the Footsteps of the Gods. Roll d8 or choose.
1 Mantiwan. The Isle of Ghosts and Phantasms and undead. A cursed island, any settlement that
arises from here is immediately destroyed save for a single harbor principality, named
Mantiwmantiw, led by Datu Kinatak, which is said to have created an accord with the death
diwata that lives within. You can speak Mantiwanun and start with ritual deathrope.

2 Sagkabanun. The Isle of Sea Warriors, who have the capacity to travel the Vastness of Wine,
who live in the isle of Mairete. They are unmatched in their boat building capabilities and have
become important allies for Kangdaya: most of their boatwrights come from here.
You can speak Sagkbanun and start with an adze.

3 Noroknon. You come from the monastic village of Norok. A popular polity led by Courtesan-
Datu Sinhata. It can be found in Salima Falls, one of the steepest and tallest waterfalls in all of
The Sword Isles. There, the Salima Hotsprings lie at the base, heated by the volcano Duluum.
The people of Norok have monastic-sages named Tigtimbang, those that weigh or keep the
balance, and preach the holy faith of Hiyang, oneness and balance with nature, otherwise
known as Conjunction. They are most known for worshipping the holy mountain of Ubir,
whereupon a great Dakbalete can be found, said to house a number of spirits within. The
Dakbalete, known as the Spirit’s Bathhouse, is said to be a gateway into the realm of the
spirits, as well as to Sulad. Norok is the constant giver and receiver of trades against Pannai.
You can speak Noroknon and start with flowering staff.

4 Put’wanon. You come from Put’wan. Once a burgeoning kingdom of their own, they have
since fallen in glory. Ancient Put’wan once rivalled Ba-e in glory, and had great Annuvaran
Kings of Righteous Merit. Much of the Put’wan warlords have traveled to Akai, where they
grew in power and fealty to the Sultanate. The current Lord of Put’wan, Sarripada Sahaya, is
the current brother of Raja Batara Ambasi. Thus while he pays fealty to the Rajah, he still
commands a great deal of autonomy. Put’wan itself was known as the City of Gold before
Kangdaya. Built kilometers along the Inagos River, the river itself yields gold by just panning.
Thus, gold was used as decoration for houses, for plates, for weapons and armor and more.
Even debtors. A great number of goldsmiths, showing off their skill in their craft with their
ability to fashion and craft gold like silk, come from Put’wan. In ancient times, Put’wan also
had regular contact with Baik Hu and Loc Luang, trading and raiding their shores.
You can speak Put’wanon and begin with a kalis with a pearl hilt.
5 Gandaranon. You come from Gandara. A small fishing polity led by the Fisher-King Datu
Balahura, who has a pet whale shark. Every year, someone is abducted by the forest, never to
be seen again.
None question this, although they say it is so that fishing remains bountiful, and that it is the
unglu, lithe and tall shadowfolk that live in the mountains and the forests that need to be
appeased.
Many missions are sent there by the Lakanate but so far none have succeeded. At night, people
speak of a mysterious City of Lights, which they have come to call Lungsod-Liwanag. Shining
City. It trades amiably with the polities of Ibalnong.
You can speak Gandaranon and begin with a fishing rod.

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6 Sinugpuanon. You come from Sinugpo. A city-state ruled by a long line of blue-blooded Datu, in
the western peninsula of the Ramasa Island. They hold diplomatic relations with Naksuwarga and
are known to train the fiercest of warriors. They conduct raids along the coast of Virbanwa,
leading them to become hated enemies. They are masters of sea raiding and are known to hold
good relations with almost all the other city-states, making them a formidable force to anger.
Their current Datu, Datu Sangbagsik, is rumored to be plotting to overthrow the current Rajah
and become the next one.
You can speak Sinugpuanon and begin with a porcelain jarlet of palm wine.
7 Panglawanon. Panglaw is the great city across the Strait of Kangdaya, upon the isle of Buwol,
where the great Raja Sri Gatun fended off a contingent of Pale Kings during the First Albanon
Arrival. They reckon a bloodline straight to Rajaraya Pintas, the first Conquering King, and their
warrior pride matches even those of Kangdaya. A number of martial arts settlements have arisen
in Buwol for this reason. You can speak Panglawanon and start with a tasseled ceremonial spear.
8 Kangdayanon. You belong to the great city of Kangdaya, the beast of our times, the one that shall
eat the dawn. While not blessed with the great stupas and pagodas of Ba-e, the city stretches up
the grand river and across the bay of Mantawili, and over even to the isle of Opon. A giant sword
turned lighthouse sticks up from its bay. It has fended off the Pale Kings before, and thus it has
never known defeat. The grand palace of the Hari belongs here, burgeoning with alloyed gold and
bronze, unfellable, guarding the oldest strangler fig tree, known also as Malaun. You can speak
Kangdayanun and start with city clothing (a sarong, a silk jacket, and a headwrap).
The largest city of the Rajahnate on the western island of Tauhaw. Kangdaya is the richest
settlement in the Rajahnate, ruled by the Rajah Batara Ambasi from within its golden walled
pagodas.
Known as the City of Gold, they are in position of large amounts of iron from mining, gold from
their homes and rivers, and weapons from their diplomatic relations with the Baik Hu Hegemony,
of which they have become an honored vassal state, thus giving Rajah Batara Ambasi the title of
Hwang, and also thus being recognized as King by not just his own people, but also by the
Hegemony of the Baik Hu Empire.
Those that live in Kangdaya enjoy greater pleasures and privileges when it comes to trade and
import. One can find bamboo-and-balete magdantang (communal spirit houses) and layered city
walls in Kangdaya, They have since become a major target of Naksuwarga and Virbanwa during
the Second Star Era.
Destabilizing Kangdaya is the key to conquering all of Rajahnate. The greatest of the Rajahnate’s
Kadungganan, all of which are called timawa, are trained here in the Monastery of Winds.

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Lineage
If you are a Gatusanon, roll a d8 or choose from the following lineages.

Warrior Lineage. You come from a family of warriors faithful to the Rajahnate,
1 who treat the new Hari as a close family friend and have pledged blood compacts
with. Your tattoos sing of your courage and prowess.
Merchant Nobility. You come from a family of rich merchant princes who have
2 traveled as far as the distant lands of Baik Hu, and perhaps have enterprises in
Jamiyun Kulisa’s Arrows.
Tattoo Artists. You come from a long line of tattoo artist professionals, or
mamamatuk. You inscribe stories and traditions upon skin. Outsiders of the
3 Sword Isles see that they didn’t practice painting on paper, but that is because the
islanders paint upon living canvas.
Singers. You come from a family of professional singers, who sing both epics and
4 traditions, both glories and dirges.
Traveler. You come from a family of skilled travelers, who ventured from isle to
isle selling wares or offering their services. A very uncommon lineage in the isles,
5 but they are more than happy to offer their barges to those that need it and can
offer to pay.
Sensitives. You come from a family touched by the spirits of the world, the diwata,
and are inherently in tune with Diwa, the world’s Strike. Your parents might have
6 been the balyan (shamans) that channeled and performed concordance with the
greater beings of nature.
Adopted. You were adopted into a family of courtesans and singers instead of
7 warriors. You’ve never known your real family.
Tiger-Blooded. You are a scion of the legendary tiger blood of Raja Batara Ambasi,
8 and you might be eligible to take the Dawn Eater Crown. You are born deep into
the courtly intrigues and intersettlement politics of Gatusan.

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Social Standing
This showcases the social class of your character before they became Kadungganan. Your social
standing might have come from your lineage, or it might have come from something that happened
after your lineage (ie. a merchant prince that has fallen from grace or accrued too much debt). It is up
to you to connect the dots.
Choose or roll a d6.

Bihag or Chattel. You were the victim of the Eighth Star Era’s burgeoning
1 violence, and have become nothing but wealth to be traded. You begin with
nothing.
Hayohay or servant. You were indebted or were born into debt of a powerful
2 person, whether it be a famed warrior, merchant, or aristocrat. Your hands are
calloused from your work. You begin with a small push dagger.
Tuhay or peasant. You were a loyal worker to your communities’ chief. You had
3 your own house within the community, and offered part of your labor to him.
You begin with a farming implement.
Timawa or Warrior. You were a freeman, working as a warrior for the datu
that you have chosen. The datu shares their spoils with you, their fellow
4 warriors, and you earn your own house with your own wealth, though you
answer to the datu’s beck and call and sometimes toil for them. Gain a weapon.
Tumao or Aristocrat. You were born into richness, into the blood of the datu of
your settlement. You are connected to the datu either through blood or social
5 connections, and enjoy the benefits of nobility. You do not toil for the datu but
you must pick up arms when called to battle. You have enjoyed the ability to
take on multiple arts. You begin with a golden ear ornament.
Kedatuan or Royalty. You are directly connected to your settlement’s datu,
either the datu is your uncle, grandparent, or parent. You are revered as an
Aristocrat, although the expectation for you is much higher. If you are born
6 female then you were treated as a binukot, a veiled maiden, hidden from the
rest of the world until you were to be wed to someone your parents decided is
fit for their social class. If you are born male you were trained in the arts of war
and leadership. You begin with a royal heirloom.

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Apumbukid
Apunon is the term for those that belong to the five holy
principalities of the Confederation of Apumbukid.
Let us remember where we came from. The words
echoed in the minds of the Vwiraya, the warrior-braves
of their mountain kingdom. These words echoed even as
they descended down their mountain slopes. It was time
for a headhunting raid. Today’s targets were easy and
important: those peaked helmed and lamellar wearing
silk men from the Kingdom of Baik Hu. They have arrived
today and traveled deep into Pumirang’s peninsula.
Dangerously close to the holy mountain.
The Datu, Datu Fikisi, brought his spear and headhunting
axe to bear. He was covered in tattoos, each one telling a
story of victory, a story of courage and bravery and fury.
All these tattoos were imprinted upon him to give him
strength this day.
The Baik Hu caravan, trespassing upon the holy grounds
of Apu, was large, strangely so. As they passed by the
mountain road, which was flanked by beautiful
blossoming trees of azure and crimson flowers, as well
as bamboo, they noticed that guarding both the back and
front of the palanquin caravans were men and women
wreathed in the kalabaw hide vests and long habay-
habay of Virbanwa.
“Datu,” said one of Datu Fikisi’s sandig, his right hand
man. “The Virbanwans trade with the land defilers.”
“This is so,” replied Datu Fikisi. “We have warned the
Virbanwan to be careful of the land, but they do not
listen. And now they trespass upon sacred ground.”
“I suppose,” a woman’s voice this time, lying low, wearing
a large rain coat and a helmet adorned with feathers of
rainbow birds. “The promise of wealth is too much for
them to turn away.”
“They will exploit the land,” said Datu Fikisi. “We must
stop them.”
“But if we attack, surely Virbanwa will strike back!” Said
his sandig.
“That is of no consequence to us,” replied the Datu.
“Remember where we stand. Remember that Virbanwa
has already begun its conquest of the land. They must
remember who it is that dictates our fate.”
His sandig nodded. The woman spoke: “They seem to be
heading to the village of Kapkap. The trading city with
the other hinterland kingdoms.”
“Come then, let us strike as the moon cuts the night.”
And so they did, descending down upon the traveling
caravan like a lightning flash.
154
Stewards of the divine wilds, warrior-priests, and
enforcers of hiyang. The Confederation of Apumbukid is
a collection of kedatuans that has grown about the Holy
Mountain of Apu, the Center Pillar of the World. They
are united by Five Elders, known as the Limang Timuay.
The Limang Timuay were each granted a shard of Apu
Dayaw’s Violence, and therefore are bolstered with
divine, righteous might.
The people here worship the Holy Mountain Apu, for
climbing up to its peak one will arrive at the gates of
heaven. Within the Holy Mountain of Apu sleeps the
Original Spirit, the one that came into being, defying
causation, and caused causation itself: Apu Dayaw.
History
Apu Dayaw is said to have been the original creator,
sometimes conflated with the Gatusan-Pannai God
Malaun, the Eldest One. Apu Dayaw is said to slumber
deep within the burning heart of Mount Apu, and it is
said that when Apu Dayaw awakes, the world shall end,
and a new one shall begin.
One of their diwata, a Deity of Law named Kakum, gave
them the Code of Rajivithra, a code of law that all people
of Apumbukid must abide by. The code has orders for the
stewardship of all holy mountains, of protection of Apu,
and of the maintaining of Hiyang.
Beyond the 5 Kedatuan that surround the mountain of
Apu, the Confederation of Apumbukid has begun setting
up their own Kedatuan all across the Archipelago. These
Kedatuan swear no fealty but to nature, and will not
back down from fighting with other polities to maintain
their sovereignty and stewardship.
This necessitates a certain degree of oneness with
nature, and from them comes the enlightenment of
Hiyang, the truth of oneness with nature. The truth that
Nature is all there is, and all things cycle back to nature.
By achieving true Hiyang, one becomes Naghiyang: a
being that is one with all things, all universes, all worlds:
great Alam, embodying all its forces, its death and its
life, its fires and waters and airs and earths.
 KADUNGGANAN
Tradition
Confederation clothing varies, but they are well known
across the isles for their bright red textiles, which have
since become known as Apula, or, Elder Crimson, and it is
a more holy red than what most of the other tawo of the
isles wear. Confederation clothing are intensely
pragmatic and rugged: their fashion is meant to serve
their stewardship, after all. Very commonly, many
Confederation nobles would wear giant flowers as hats
and collars, butterfly wings as ceremonial sarong, and the
greatest warriors sometimes would wear the bright
crimson chitin of giant centipedes. However, this fashion
is strictly ceremonial and meant for times of peace: it is
sacrilege to wear it into violence.
The Confederation annually congregates, at the end of
every harvest, in the grand feast known as the Feast of
Sanghiyang, which is usually sponsored by one of the
Limang Timuway. There they embody, worship, and exalt
nature, but also create trade connections, resolve petty
wars, create new architectures, trade ideas, and even bind
kingdoms together if an argument or conversation can
lead to it.
The Confederation, therefore, is in both constant trade
and constant war with the other polities, as they have
access to much resources and valuable goods necessary
for international trade with overseas kingdoms.
In accordance to the tenets of Hiyang, Confederation
raids are less likely to take captives, killing those they raid
and taking heads and wealth as dictated to them by Iwa-
garo, to lessen the likelihood of war, as war is anathema to
the diwata. However, the Confederation can still take war
captives, usually when the manual labor is needed in their
settlements or when the spirits tell them to during the
pre-raid rituals.
Apunon live in vast dragon houses, and practice the Naga
geomancies, following it to properly create houses with
good luck, as well as using the movement of the Naga in
the sky to divine the future.
Meanwhile they are in need of the many goods from the
shore settlements. Thus it is a symbiotic relationship,
although a very frail one, like a loose thread that has been
fraying for far too long. What will happen of this
relationship is unknown to all.
In the Eighth Star Era, Apumbukid has taken a more
aggressive approach in their Stewardship. Using their
intimacy with the spirits of the land, they make use of
Root Paths that let them travel across The Sword Isles
without sailing. Thus they have begun to expand, to try
and take back the last remaining sanctums of nature.
Before it is lost forever.
There is a Root Path in most major cities, particularly in
Ananara, Jambangan, Kangdaya, and Ba-e. These Root
Paths were instrumental to victory during the Lakanate
Conspiracy, but of course, Virbanwa has chosen to leave
that out of their history texts.
Apumbukid settlements, scattered across the archipelago,
are built upon stone and bamboo in the plains, cliffs,
mountains, bays, and even caves that the rest of the
polities dare not to explore. Here they create vast
complexes and subterranean empires, guided by the
gentle hand of the diwata and umalagad, the spirits of
nature, of stone and rock and wood and earth and air and
sky.
Apumbukid has the strongest of relations with the other
guardians of the holy mountains, with Vuyu to the far
south, the Ibalong to the southwest, the Pannai to the to
the Southeast, and Sritaluk to the north. They have Root
Paths so open to each other that while Apumbukid may be
the most influential among them, they have been most
influenced by those Polities.
Trade and friendship with Vuyu has allowed them to learn
the Warsage’s ways and the skill of the Tigpana from
Ibalnong. Their relationship has helped them grow
stronger and stronger, and no doubt the Confederation
will be first to aid these mountain stewards when the time
comes.
The Confederation of five Kedatuan of Apumbukid was
tied together in two vectors: through the great God of the
Holy Mountain Apu—the center of the world—from
whom they are descended from, and their shared
responsibility of being stewards of Hiyang, harmony with
nature. This harmony has been broken, and the constant
war and atrocities have only widened this rend. They have
taken upon themselves a proactive approach to their
stewardship, stopping atrocities from happening and
fending off those that would cause disharmony.
They believe in the guardian spirit Iwa-garo, who protects
them during their raids. Iwa-garo is known as the First
Steward, and he is one of the six Katulusan that provide
stewardship over all nature.
These Katulusan are revered and worshipped across the
five principalities: Iwa-garo, the Beast Hunter; Garahana
the Watcher; Irigi, the Pillar; Bahdiyatol, the Deliverer;
Karadiya, the Soother; Kidab, the Hexer.
The honorific Apu for males and Akbaye for females are
used when deference is required.
Aristocrats in the Confederation are known as Mafengal,
warrior braves who have validated their positions as
either spiritual leaders or those that could protect their
own settlements. These Vwiraya excelled in conflict,
whether it be spiritual, social, or physical.
Mafengal aristocrats would band together with other
warriors and settle disputes with other settlements within
the island of Pumirang. They are very much like the nobles
of the other polities, with the difference that they are
expected to have a higher harmony with nature than
others. Resources are abundant in Confederation
settlements, so they not only wear gold all the time, but
they even plate their teeth with it.
The Freedmen among the Confederation are given a
special spiritual warrior title known as Vwiraya. These are
the Confederation’s Kadungganan, who go out on revenge
raids and trade raids. They protect their entire settlement,
and that is their prime purpose: to protect and enact
vengeance, not to wage war.
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Noteworthy Persons
Ang Limang Timway. The Five Elders of the
Confederation are as follows. They all have a primary
principle and duty, in addition to their secondary duty
below, which is to steward over the mountain of Apu, and
to keep it from harm. They have taken a more aggressive
approach lately, making sure that almost every
hinterland is protected from the advancing forces of the
expanding polities.
0 Timway Surugu, the Antlered Elder of Ministry. She is
the Datu of the Kedatuan of Niyawa, to the north of Apu,
wherein they train folk to become shamans and priests, and
in recent times, monks to Apu Dayaw’s mountain-temples.
0 Timway Tabo’owan, the Diwata-Blooded Elder of
Spirituality. He is the Datu of the Kedatuan of Samring, to
the West of Apu, which trains blacksmiths, sages, sorcerers
and teachers.
0 Timway Pagariwara, the Meek and Calm Elder of
Violence. She is the Datu of the Kedatuan of Taraboko, to
the Southwest of Apu, which trains warriors and warlords.
0 Timway Diwangga, the Lithe and Covert Elder of
Secrets. He is the Datu of the Kedatuan of Rahasiyan, to the
East of Apu, which trains travelers and assassins.
0 Timway Koyayaw, the jovial Elder of Trade. He is the
Datu of the Kedatuan of Barahanda, to the Southeast of
Apu, upon the shores of Pumirang, which trains merchant
princes and diplomats.
Sekul. Sekul is a renowned vwiraya who travels the Root
Paths to weed out places of atrocities to prevent yawa
from arising before they have the chance. This has caused
her to come head-to-head with a large number of
Kadungganan, who usually had an opposing goal against
hers.
All she wants is the land’s purification and harmony, so
that future generations of her Kedatuan Rahasiyan will
not have to suffer the training to become travelers and
assassins.
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Other Culture Impressions
To Virbanwa: Forgive us. Blame yourself or your God.
To Ba-e: To the river of violence we succumb, with its
judgment swift and final. It bite as cold as steel. There is
enough time for regret in hell.
To Gatusan: Why do you fight? Why do you split the seas?
Fight for something greater than you. Only then will you
fear no reproach. Only then shall you be more than just
man.
To Akai: Stay your blade. The sword that destroys can
never overcome the sword that protects.
Apumbukid Honorifics: Aplake [ap-la-KEH] (Masculine),
Akbaye [ak-BA-yeh] (Feminine)
Apumbukid Naming Conventions: Similar to the
Rajahnate’s, although the individual choosing a name for
themselves after their first conquest in love or war is
common.
Apumbukidnon Names: Felindag, Metegdaw, Asi, Atulun,
Dengeg, Dagit, Fuga, Apaw, Kilut, Anyag, Abbal, Bansag,
Buni-Buni, Darudu, Hifara, Tangu, Tobok, Mayasi,
Baguybuy, Yomog, Fatu
As an Apumbukidnon keep in mind...
0 You are well acquainted with the movements and
breaths of harmony.
0 Corrective action must be followed to heal harmony.
0 The spirits prefer the cold, unsalted, and quiet.
0 Scrutinize disharmony.
0 Reprimand those that defile nature.
As an Apumbukidnon you begin with two: A rattan rain
cape, a fishing rod, a sash of gold worn across the torso,
an abaca fiber bag, a broad-rimmed hat (salakot), a sword
with a shattered blade, spectacles from foreign nations, a
walking stick, a magenta cloak, a pouch of tea leaves, a
golden balance hanging around your neck, a push dagger
(balaraw), a waist sash of gold, incense sticks, three jarlets
 KADUNGGANAN

Subculture
There are eight primary Subcultures of the Apunon. Choose 1 or roll a d8.

1 Niyawa. You come from the great Niyawa, the city of strangler fig worship houses, where those that wish are
taught in the arts of spirituality and how to achieve Conjunction. The river of Niya runs through it, coming
from the cleansing falls that fall from Apu itself.
You understand Niyawanun and begin with a textile cloak.

2 Samring. You come from grand Samring, principality of Sages, created with five sides to create perpetual
Conjunction, those who seek knowledge and teach it to create a better world. They create blacksmiths and
administrators, and teach those in the arts of necessary leadership, to lead the world to a place that doesn’t
need it.
You can speak Samringnun and begin with palm leaf scrolls.

3 Pagariwara. You come from majestic Pagariwara, the principality of warlords, where giant spears stake the
earth, as if the gods pierced demons deep within the lands. Pagariwaranun achieve Conjunction by
perfecting violence so that the violence inflicted is only necessary and not excessive.
You can speak Pagariwaranun and begin with a ceremonial kampilan.

4 Diwangga. You come from ancient Diwangga, once the border of all things, the greater extremities, the
nexus of all paths that eventually lead to Apu. Here those willing are taught in the ways of connection, of
unity, of concordance. They achieve Conjunction by creating connections between those that would
otherwise be enemies. They shall unite the world.
You can speak Diwangganun and begin with a dragonfly necklace.

5 Usambangsa. You come from Usambangsa. This Kedatuan sits upon Apu itself. Upon the Central Pillar of the
World. The city itself is actually mostly empty, but kept spotlessly clean by attendant spirits and a population
of 5,000 mortal tawo, who provide stewardship and cleaning. In the middle of it is a great black stone that
looks as if the god Apu Dayaw struck the mountain with an obsidian spear. It is said that the stone leads to
the sleeping place of Apumbukid himself, a grand city of glittering crystal within The Sword Isles. It is said
that They will rise only when The Sword Isles need Them the most.
You can speak Usambangsanun and begin with an obsidian knife.

6 Nerakihon. You come from Nerakihon. The settlement of Nerakihon is a large village surrounding a single
tree that grows atop the Berumer Mountain. The tree, known as Punung-Neraka, has a hole upon its gigantic
trunk that, when entered, sends you plummeting deep into its root systems. Villagers say it sends you
straight to Nerak, hell, and that every once in a while a busaw bursts out from the trunk. The villagers have
thus created a special force of demon slayers just to protect Nerakihon--and the rest of The Sword Isles--
from the assaults of the otherworlds.
You can speak Nerakihonon and begin with a spiritsilk shawl.

7 Sanggasanggsa. You come from Sanggasangga, a warrior city-state. It is a city-state to the furthest west of
The Sword Isles, by the base of the mountain of Pinukal. Here, everyone is trained from birth to become a
Sentinel against the evil creatures from beyond the mountain barriers, known as the magalo, fae-demons
from the Forests Beyond the World.
Warriors here are trained to be magalo hunters, with the intent of protecting nature and defeating the
unnatural. Everyone in Sanggasangga knows full well their responsibility, and carry the burden with pride,
always consorting with spirits of the forest, their own guardian spirits, and spirits of war to make sure The
Sword Isles is safe. But the tides have become stronger....
You can speak Sanggasangganun and begin with an ironwood kalasag.

8 Lawahun. You come from Lawahun, the village of frost. A village by the mountain of Wahang, where the Sage
of the Mountains lives. The bone-biting cold here requires the warming magics of the Sage. Upon Lawahun,
you consort with the wind spirits of the moon, and live side-by-side with ice spirits, surviving and dealing
with snow and ice. They engage in ritual headhunting with the state of Vuyu.
You can speak Lawahunun and begin with a spear of ice.

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 KADUNGGANAN

Lineage
Roll a d8 or choose from the following lineages.

1 Ritualist Parents. Your parents were those that attended and joined and performed ritual killing, whether in
revenge or to appease the gods. You have been taught this graceful responsibility, and you must never let it
fall into the wrong hands.

2 Makinaadmanon Heritage. Your parents were Makinaadmanon, the Peerless Sages who chose to teach the
ways of Achieving Conjunction instead of transcending the world itself and becoming One with All. They are
gone now, but they have left some invaluable insights to you about Ang Hiyang, the divine law of the world.

3 Feast Patrons. Your parents are wealthy patrons of feasts, most likely aristocrats. You’ve enjoyed traveling to
a great number of settlements to set up feasts, and you’ve met a large number of people due to it. You have
been taught to be kind, always.

4 Servitude. You come from a family of servants, who serve a noble warrior who treats your family well. You
were in essence that warrior’s squire, carrying their armor and doing their chores. Gain +1 to your
Toughness. You cannot begin as an Aristocrat.

5 Elder Balyan. Your parents were the elder balyan, usually called Katuuran, of your settlement, and they
provided guidance in the midst of the chaotic dance of nature, war, and spirituality. You’ve grown up close to
the spiritfolk all your life.

6 Deep Forest Diwata. You have the blood of diwata, actually. Your parent was a forest guardian. It shows in
your eyes, in your mortal form. What peers through? You have never met your parents but they speak to you
in your dreams. There’s a destiny you need to fulfill.

7 Outcast. You were an outcast, even in your own settlement. However, the folk of various Apumbukid
settlements have always taken care of you and provided you some shelter, even if you travel from settlement
to settlement trying to find out who you really are and where you’re from.

8 Warrior Braves. Your parents were warrior braves who sought to protect the various folks of the Kalanawan
region. You are heir to a proud lineage, one who understands the role of violence, and so you have been
taught this same very thing. Your family was well respected in your settlement.

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Social Standing
This showcases the social class of your character before they became Kadungganan. Your
social standing might have come from your lineage, or it might have come from something
that happened after your lineage (ie. a merchant prince that has fallen from grace or
accrued too much debt). It is up to you to connect the dots.
Choose or roll a d6:

1 Bihag or Chattel. You were the victim of the Eighth Star Era’s burgeoning violence, and
have become nothing but wealth to be traded. You begin with nothing.
2 Bayang or servant. You were indebted or were born into debt of a powerful person,
whether it be a famed warrior, merchant, or aristocrat. Your hands are calloused from
your work. You begin with a small push dagger.
3 Nugkat or peasant. You were a loyal worker to your communities’ chief. You had your own
house within the community, and offered part of your labor to him. You begin with a
farming implement.
4 Kalita-o or Warrior. You were a freeman, working as a warrior for the datu that you have
chosen. The datu shares their spoils with you, their fellow warriors, and you earn your own
house with your own wealth, though you answer to the datu’s beck and call and sometimes
toil for them. Gain a weapon.
5 Mafengal or Aristocrat. You were born into richness, into the blood of the datu of your
settlement. You are connected to the datu either through blood or social connections, and
enjoy the benefits of nobility. You do not toil for the datu but you must pick up arms when
called to battle. You have enjoyed the ability to take on multiple arts. Mafengel very
commonly use giant flowers, foliage, insect parts, and such as prestigious regaila. You
begin with a giant flower petal cloak.
6 Datu or Royalty. You are directly connected to your settlement’s datu, either the datu is
your uncle, grandparent, or parent. You are revered as an Aristocrat, although the
expectation for you is much higher. If you are born female then you were treated as a
binukot, a veiled maiden, hidden from the rest of the world until you were to be wed to
someone your parents decided is fit for their social class. If you are born male you were
trained in the arts of war and leadership. You begin with a royal heirloom.

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 KADUNGGANAN
Akai
The war gongs sounded. Our armies assembled. On one
side, under the blazing crimson banner of Sultana
Yarashgara XII, the Omniscient King, chosen by Baginda
Sumongsuklay herself, we stood. In front of the flattened
plain, facing the sea. We prepared our lantakas, our
arquebusiers raised their guns, our longbowmen raised
their bamboo bows the length of their bodies. Our
frontmen raised their kampilan and kris and sundang,
beating them against their kalasag. Our cavalry rode upon
water buffaloes and elephants, wielding arquebuses and
spears. We were ready to take them on, and we will bring
them down.
Off to the distance, like a black blade sweeping in from the
horizon, sailed the bastard forces of the wicked sea king,
Radya Gaputan. He declared himself true sultan and
declared war upon us last moon, and now he comes with
the full force of his fleet.
My Beloved Sultana walked up beside me. I lowered my
head to her, the golden threads of my sarok creating a
soft rustling symphony. “Parawali,” she said. “Report.” She
was garbed in the full ensemble of war god armor:
elephant hide breastplate and steel armor from head to
toe, a helmet fashioned to make her look like the dragon
that eats the moon, and a kiwo-kiwo kris that was larger
than any other. Around her armor she wore a colorful
textile sarong of white, pink, and crimson, which flowed to
her feet.
“Beloved Sultana,” I said, and I pulled out the bamboo
scroll from my sleeve. “Radya Gaputan comes in with a
force that is seven times stronger than our land army.”
“But our army is all supremely trained,” replied my Beloved
Sultana. “And they are nothing but mercenaries and
horohan.”
“It may be so, but their superior numbers leave us at a
disadvantage.”
Sultana Yarashgara XII nodded, and then said, “Did my
friend Datu Kumusuli reply?”
I smiled. “They did, oh Valued One.”
“And? What was their reply?”
The war horns began then. The agung quickened. The
entire army began screaming in rage and defiance against
the wretched horde of Radya Gaputan. On top of the hill
we stood upon, overlooking the shore, the great Paraawit
sang her greatest song. The Neverending War of the
Sultanate. She sang of all the great battles the sultanate
has fought, will fight, and will ever fight, and told of how
they were victorious above them all.
And as the war gongs clashed and the war horns bellowed,
a fleet of colorful sails came in from both sides of the
horizon, as if rushing to meet the incoming horde. A
multitude, like fire encroaching upon oil.
“They said that they remain faithful to you, Sultana, the
Conquerer of this Earth, the Render of Heaven, the
Omniscient Queen.”
160
The Beloved Sultana nodded and smiled. “Good answer.”
And she raised her giant kris, and lightning struck it, and
she flared like a god.
History
The Akai Sultanate was established a hundred years
during the ending of the Seventh Sun Era. Jaris Akai
arrived in the island of Siga upon a vast metal vase. Then,
he found and married a princess of one of the local
settlements. Through that he, bred a powerful line of ten
sons, who eventually became the Ten Datu that ruled over
the ten regions of the region that surrounded Siga, the
island whereupon the holy capital of the Sultanate was to
be born.
Then, Jaris Akai conquered and subsumed the native
peoples blessing them and granting them the title of
Datu, while he himself became their grand emperor. Jaris
Akai brought the island of Siga and the surrounding
islands to heel.
Jaris Akai, also known as Maharajah Akai, faced down a
rebellion from the Ten Rajahnates of his sons, which he
managed to win after the arrival of Sihkandag, the
Warrior-Priestess of Baginda Sumongsuklay. Through
her counsel, medicine, and sorceries, Jaris Akai brought
his sons to line, and then eventually established the
Sultanate.
Soon after, the Sultanate adopted the Moon Faith,
Bulanan, as a state religion. As more pandita wisefolk
came in and taught the religion, more culture (both social
and material) was brought into the ten islands. They
crafted powerful weapons and learned great techniques
which he taught to his ten sons. Upon his ten sons, he
conquered the island of Siga and the surrounding
islands, a portion of the islands of Simipatra, and the
coasts of Kalanawan.
His reign only ended due to the quarreling and
politicking of his ten Sons, who bickered and warred,
fighting for inheritance of the Throne.
Eventually Jaris Akai perished, and in mourning, the Isles
of Siga and the coastal shores of Kalawanan erupted into
the Ten Datu War. Ten of his greatest sons, Fire and
Storm Kings, warriors of the current, echoes in the
forest.
The winner Yarashgara I, who was not the eldest but the
one destined to be the leader among the Ten Datus, as
spoken by esteemed pandita Saka Iskandr. And thus it
was so, and the rest of the ten cities and states paid fealty
to him, for he and his line became the inheritors of the
Lunar Throne.
The Akai Sultanate believes in what they call Bulanan. It
is the faith that the Moon Goddess Baginda
Sumongsuklay created the islands after warring with the
sun, and became the Resplendent Night Queen that held
sway over both night and day. Everything they do is in
service to the Goddess, the highest principle, the Most
High, the Ancient of Ancients.
 KADUNGGANAN
Baginda Sumongsuklay was privy to power over the most
powerful realm in the world: the Sea, and the Sultanate
became peerless sea raiders and warriors thanks to their
blessing from Baginda Sumongsuklay. They have created
Lunar Temples for her in spiritually powerful places. All
diwata pay fealty to her, the greatest of the diwata.
As of present day, the Ten Datu and the Sultana still have a
convocation at every Full Moon for feasting and trading
and speaking and organizing new ventures, as well as
other diplomatic political inventions. Lately they have
been preparing, as the Lakanate of Virbanwa readies their
armies and recruits from their villages.
The Akai Sultanate will not bow. It launches its own
conquest to spread the word of Prophet Ayah Menat and
establish extensive trading relations to further their
understanding of the known world.
Tradition
The Sultana sits within her Grand Lunar Palace: the
largest structure in The Sword Isles: a massive 100-roofed
palace that meets the moon when it is at its fullest,
expanded into a sacred square, with hundreds of annexes
connected by stone halls made of moonstone.
It is all at once a holy offering to Baginda Sumongsuklay,
and a housing for one of the most powerful people in the
Sword Isles.
The Sultanate of Akai is one of the most powerful polities
across the Sword Isles: the seat of power is placed within
the grand city of Siga, in the midst of the Footsteps of the
Gods, the archipelago once said to have been created by a
Parade of Gods who traveled from Pumirang, the
birthplace of all divinity, towards the rest of the
continents. As the premiere Sultanate, with only primary
rivals in Sonyoh, Naksuwarga, and Barungsai, the Akai
Sultanate rules most of the Footsteps of the Gods
archipelago, dominating northern Sword Isles, spreading
Bulanan far and wide. Various petty kingdoms and
chiefdoms go under Akai’s servitude willingly to benefit
from both the protection and the trade connections of the
Sultanate, which stretches to Baik Hu, to all the way to
Auraska, Varsha, and even the Azur Caliphates.
Chivalrous, regal, and romantic, the Sultanate of Akai
prides itself in the beauty of its monuments, its temples,
and picaresque sites in their island and the extent of their
mandala into the island of Kalanawan. Akai holds a code
of chivalry, and follows their Sultan as others would follow
their king. They are intensely loyal, and engage in the
romantic aspects of life, whether it be in art or in song.
Akainon live in divine striving, and in their striving, they
seek to expand their mandala to bring all under the holy
light of the Moon, creating a great Empire for their
Baginda Sumongsuklay, their Supreme Moon Goddess.
Tawo from the Sultanate are exposed to vast trade with
Naksuwarga and Baik Hu. They have access to
inscriptions and culture from other parts of the world
through this trade. This has caused many of the Sultanate
tawo to be exceedingly diverse culturally.
Among the Nobles, they share much in common with the
Akai as well. Especially rich folk that do not have noble
blood, the orangkaya, are known to have their own little
society within Akai, and in some cases influence the
decisions of the Datu. Many epics and songs and poetry
has been born due to the constant adventuring of nobles.
Akai Warriors are known as Satariya, but Sultanate
Kadungganan are called hulubalang, peerless warriors.
They fight not only for their Datu, but also for the
Sultanate. When the Final Wars come, or when the
Sultana seeks for them, they will ride with their Datu to
the Sultana’s side, and they will reach heaven through
violence.
The most faithful of warriors gird themselves for battle:
they wrap themselves when performing Holy War with
the trappings of those to be buried: anointed with oil,
shaved, and invested with white garments. They will bring
as many as they can with them, and in their death, they
will reach heaven.
The Divine Striving
The tawo of Akai embody and internalize the most
important pillar of their Bulanan: the Divine Striving.
There are four Divine Strivings:
0 The Striving to Holiness, which is their striving to
overcome the lower self, perfect their bodies, and reach
communion with the Moon by following the tenets of
Bulanan.
0 The Striving to the Sword, which is their striving to
perfect their martial prowess to protect what is theirs and
other blasphemers, and to glory in fighting as a means of
worship.
0 The Striving to Purification, which is their striving to
cleanse the land of evil and darkness, injustice, oppression
and the works of the Malaikat demons.
0 The Striving to Truth, which is their striving to achieve
truthfulness and to spread the knowledge of the Baginda.
Noteworthy Persons
Sultana Yarashgara XII. Yarashgara, descended of Jaris
Akai, the twelfth of her name, the Omniscient Queen, unto
whom songs of crocodile-slaying and island-rending are
sung about. She is known as the Thunderous Conqueror,
the Ever-Swallowing Current. Born to the royal family, she
proved her worth as the heir to the throne, and sought to
capitalize on her father’s mistakes by expanding Akai ever
forward. Yarashgara is a well-versed in the teachings of
Bulanan, counseled by twelve pandita--both local and
foreign--and served a tour of duty as a knight-warlord for
her late father before taking the throne.
Thus, the Omniscient Queen is intimate with her subjects,
and the Sultana knows that they are primed for
expansion. Their goal is to conquer all of The Sword Isles
first, and then Sonyoh, and then the rest of Naksuwarga.
She aims to become a force strong enough to rival even
Baik Hu. She keeps her wits about her, however, for they
know treachery and betrayal whirls at every current.
Upon her throne in the Lunar Palace, she sits upon a stone
dais that is made of the bones of a great moon-eating
serpent, the Bakunawa Throne. She sits upon it with legs
folded, wearing a great pudong that does not fall, but
rather, is attracted to the sky, so it falls upwards always,
creating a spiralling crown unrivalled.
It and the rest of her garments--a lambung so long that it
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 KADUNGGANAN
can cover her in three-layers and still be long enough to
cover the entirety of the Bakunawa Throne, a shawl that
can double as elongated arms and can wield weapons, and
a silken pillow that lets her fly anywhere--is made of
moonsilver-silk.
Moonsilver-silk can be found nowhere else in the world
but upon the Sultana, who commissioned it from a
thousand of the Sultanate’s best weavers. The silk itself
can only be retrieved from the wings of angels who live
upon the mon.
The Sultana’s sword is a crescent scimitar, the Bulan
Sansibar, that when used at its full power can cut entire
mountains. She has no need for a shield.
To this day, the Sultana has 78 Heirs: the 78 Lunar Princes,
called Prince despite their true gender. They are warring
for the Sultana’s affection and acknowledgment so that
they can become the true Heir to the throne, the next
maharajah, the next Sultan.
Pangiran Seri Rida. The elder brother of Yarashgara XII.
He is incensed. Although working as a Mahalaksamana,
or Grand Admiral, of the Akai Fleet, he connives and
plans. He believes that he is the true heir to the Throne,
despite not being the eldest son. Despite this, he chooses
not to recognize Yarashgara, who was born Ilasun, as the
current Sultana. Even now, he amasses forces, not just
from Akai Kedatuan, but from Dagindara and Sritaluk as
well, even going so far as asking help from far cousins that
live in Gatusan.
A full scale war is ready to erupt, with Pangiran Seri Rida
at its prow. All he needs is for Yarashgara to slip up.
Pandita Mana. A wise and widely respected pandita. He is
a heavily bearded man, wearing a turban-like pudong,
and a heavy kampilan that is more for ritual use than
combat. He uses sorceries learned from the Sacred Land
to the Southeast, which lets him manipulate light and
shadow itself with a single mentala.
He travels the land as a scholar and spreader of the word
of Baginda Sumongsuklay, making sure that all beings
can accept her ever-gleaming brightness. He seeks to turn
all of The Sword Isles to the truth of Bulanan, to push them
to a new age of enlightenment. To that end, he travels,
paying boat-owners and merchants alike to ride upon
their vessels, to travel as far as his eye can see.
162
He grants those that he preaches to help, in the form of
healing or herbal remedies.
Other Culture Impressions
To Virbanwa: What we will do to your kingdom is the
reason why the Moon goes hunting.
To Gatusan: Wild, pure, and forever free! We would
happily include them into the ranks of our vassals, but
their blades are sharp and their tongues even sharper. To
live by the blade is to die by the blade, of course, and they
shall find hell from ours.
To Apumbukid: They have not the strength to repel us.
Had we the effort and will, the Holy Mountain would have
become our ladder to the Holy City on the Moon, and they
will have become our brothers in our Divine Striving.
To Ba-e: Aloft upon their elder dais, yet they have
persisted through cycles of violence. Does it grieve them
to see the depths of their own weakness laid bare?
Akai Honorifics: Tuan [too-WAN] (General)
Akai Naming Convention: Akai names are often a single or
two words. They share many names with the Rajahnate
and with Naksuwarga.
Akainon Names: Asip, Sandayli, Sumandak, Hamba,
Buddiman, Akal, Layu, Saliha, Salimin, Maputra, Patima,
Bahira, Sawira, Muhaddi, Hinda Hanman, Manalum, Gura,
Gumantung, Aliya, Angkala, Hakim, Pakrud, Aisha, Idda
As an Akainon, keep in mind...
0 You must point out the beauty of a situation.
0 Keep things that must be secret secret.
0 Revel in the striving that must be inflicted for Goddess.
0 Aim always to exalt Goddess.
0 Every thing is a physical reminder of the Goddess’
greatness.
As an Akainon, you begin with two: a grand silk
headdress, a ceremonial kris, gold flower ear ornaments, a
phoenix-headed bottle, a silk jacket, wooden sandals, a
ring with a carnelian, a black and white shawl, a ceremonial
kampilan, a crimson headdress, a golden diadem, a colorful
sarong, a broken shield, garuda ear ornaments, a Kilin
vessel, a kinnari lamp
 KADUNGGANAN
Subculture
There are eight primary Subcultures of the Apunon.
Choose 1 or roll a d8.
1 The Holy Kedatuan of Harigii. Called solely because of the
ancient holy temple built upon a high mountain by the
first few preachers and apostles of the Moon Goddess,
and was where the First Teacher, Indra Guro, died and
was buried.
The Holy Temple has since withered away to the elements,
as it was built on bamboo, save for the four pillars that it
was built upon, which never wilt away. When a person cut
the pillar to examine it, the part that was cut immediately
withered and aged. Many people that live in Harigii grow
up to become priests, scholars, and monks for the Moon
faith. Harigii has since become the pilgrimage site for all
Bulanists.
The current Datu of Harigii is a once-pandita preacher
named Datu Dahit Sabad. You can speak Harigiinon and
begin with a holy ritual spear.
2 Pasara. The capital of the island of Ulahina, the crown
jewel of the Sultanate, ruled by the Datu Gaddung Kira-
Kira, who is a peerless blacksmith and a loyal vassal to
Yarashgara. Pasara is an entry city that leads into verdant
forests, jade statues overgrown now by trees, and clear
streams that flow out of the mountain. The mountain
upon which Pasara lies at the base of Mount Sithi, is said
to be the home of the Diwata Sithi, Goddess of Tears and
Love, and it is said that the two rivers that stream down
on both sides of the mountain are her tears.
Most people that live here are known to be excellent
entertainers and performers, creating an extravagant
economy for tourists and travelers from all across The
Sword Isles and the greater world. You can speak
Pasaranun and begin with a saffron shawl.
3 Yikapu. A polity ruled by the current Mahapanglima, or
Grand General, Jamrud Wanni. Yikapu is situated on a
small island south of Jambangan, and it is protected by
moonstone fortresses and star-bamboo towers. Here the
superior military force of Akai is both trained, stationed,
and launched. The satariya trained here are taught how to
use lantaka, cannons used for war, powered by strange
busalian sorceries, as well as how to use their soul to fight
back against the beguiling enchantments of both god and
witch. You can speak Yikapunun and begin brass plate
armor.
4 Naksuwarga. An ancient polity that once stretched its
influence across Jamiyun Kulisa’s Arrows, that region of
the isles that are fraught with warring even with the
Continent. Naksuwarga was principally invaded by the
ancient Mahajola, which spread Annuvaran thought and
religion into its shores, which then expanded to the rest
of The Sword Isles through missionaries and traders.
Now Akai has claimed it for its own, but its kings, called
Rakan, are powerful and refuse to be cowed, and pray
upon their more ancient gods to eventually fight back
against Akai. If you come from Naksuwarga, you can
speak Nak-an and carry around a necklace of small gods.
5 Barungsai. Another ancient polity that once warred
continuously with Naksuwarga. Naksuwarga once
conquered Barungsai and massacred its ruling family,
but has since been able to free itself from
Naksuwarga’s clutches. They practice a mix of
indigenous Barungsaian religion known as Jiwajiwa
(literally, Lives) and Ashinin religion, and so they are
composed of regal and royal heritage. From them
comes the story of Hari Binalo and Hara Harmangga,
the King Guardian Spirit and the Demon Witch
Queen. Barungsai is intimately close with nature, and
they write their scriptures upon stone monoliths,
which are then carved away to become the many gods
that they worship, a form of revelatory scripture. If
you come from Barungsai, you can speak Barunga and
carry around a jasmine wreath that never wilts, a
symbol of Jiwajiwa.
6 Kirir. Kirir is another site of ancient land that is home
to the Aasama, the People of the Waters, who worship
(alongside Baginda Sumongsuklay) the ancient
Goddess Dewigansa (literally, Goose Goddess) who
embodies their Sea and Sky duality. The people of Kiri
live in either stilt houses built on the sides of cliffs or
far off from shores. They can hold their breath far
longer than other cultures can, and Kirir has a special
mother pearl that is also the egg for the next Lokapala
Naga, who is supposed to guard the world from the
dangers of the Chaos that surrounds the Cosmos. If
you come from Kirir, you can speak Kirirnun and
begin with pearl bracelets and anklets.
7 Luwas. Luwas is a modern settlement founded after
Sultan Yarashgara XI, the one before the Sultana,
walked down the Footsteps of the Gods and found a
place of rest within Luwas, which was beautiful and
had vast prawling flowerbeds before its mountain.
Luwas was turned into a veritable paradise, with
elephants and tigers from Jamiyun Kulisa’s Arrows,
lions from the jungles deep of Naksuwarga, and all
kinds of orchids and jasmines from every portion of
the Sword Isles. Yarahsgara XI’s corpse is said to be
mummified here, within an ancient tomb within a
cave upon the base of Mount Luwas. It is rumored that
Yarahsgara XI converted to Annuvaran right before
his death. If you come from the beautiful naturalistic
settlements of Luwas, you can speak Luwanon and
begin with petal swords and thorn daggers.
8 Jambangan. The Land of Flowers. The holy city-state in
the middle of the Sultanate’s jurisdiction. It is large
enough to cover all of the island of Siga, where it is
situated. In the middle of the archipelago is a holy
pyramid to the Moon Goddess Baginda
Sumongsuklay, which they call the Holy Lunar
Temple. Beside it is the Grand Lunar Palace Kota,
where the current Omniscient Queen Sultana:
Yarashgara XII, lives along with her closest relatives
and servants. The Palace Fortress is impregnable.
Workers, debtors, and warriors live in swathes of
neighborhoods. Siga thus faces war from all sides, but
it is fiercely defended by loyal datu and satariya, as
well as strong stone fortifications.
You begin with city clothing (trousers, silk jacket,
headwrap) and a bronze mirror.
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 KADUNGGANAN

Lineage
Roll a d8 or choose from the following lineages.

1 Esteemed General. One of your parents is an esteemed warlord, perhaps a datu on their own? Or
just a general chosen by the Sultana herself. Whatever it may be, you were born into the shadows of
your general parent, whose stories were sung far and wide across the Footsteps of the Gods. Will
you ever live up to their name? They trained you when you were a child, but it was one of hardship
and pain.

2 Warrior Heroes. You come from a long line of warrior heroes, famous across the Footsteps of the
Gods and maybe even the entirety of the Sword Isles. You have not been trained in their paths,
though: you were left to this legacy on your own. You have a mentor, perhaps, but you have to live
up to the legacy on your own terms. Can you do it?

3 Feared Witches. Your ancestors were witches that channeled demons in the deep forests to wage
war against the spirits of good, who upheld the status quo of violence. Until now you fight and
fight, and perfect sorceries. Or perhaps you were not in conjunction with sorcery? It weighs on you
anyway.

4 Missionaries. Your lineage is a lineage of Missionaries from the Lunar Faith, who have probably
come from the Southeastern Continent. Therefore, you were brought up with a supreme and
almost penetrating knowledge of the Lunar Faith, and this has colored every part of your life. You
know the genealogies (the tarsilas), the stories and myths of the angels, the secrets of the Lunar
Palace, and the vast ideologies and expanses of time that colored the travels of the First Prophet.

5 Foreign Arrival. Your lineage comes from outside the Sword Isles in general. Akai is strategically
positioned near the center of the world (Akainon would have you believe that it is the center of the
world) so a lot of trade goes through Akai. Thus, large swathes of foreigners, usually merchants,
have arrived from foreign shores. What do you look like? It doesn’t matter, really. You’re Akainon,
now. Your appearance does catch the eye.

6 Lunar Sorcerers. You come from a long line–perhaps an entire settlement even–of sorcerers that
practiced Lunar Sorcery–that is, magic using the strength and power of the moon, rather than the
land or through their own Gahum. This makes any sorcery or martial art they practice colored and
embellished with marks of the moon: crescents, flowers, butteflies, stars, white discs. Your
connection to the moon grounds you, paradoxically, to knowing what is truly an illusion and what
is truly real.

7 Horse Tamer. You come from a long line of horse tamers that travel far and wide and range across
the isles upon horses. Sword Isle horses are good for both riding and as pack animals, so they are a
common sight. Especially in Kalanawan, where the fields are long. As a horse tamer, you have an
inherent connection with the grand horses of Siga.

8 Lunate Knight. These were faithful vassals and knights of the Sultana herself, not just conscripts
created to make a standing army. They answer to nobody but the Sultana, and thus they enjoy the
benefits of being a vassal to the Sultana bring: their own royal compound in Jambangan’s vast
flower rivers, part of weapons and spoils from grand lunar conquests, and the ability to partake in
the Sultana’s table when they feast. More importantly, they could marry any of the nobility in
Jambangan and raise their own stature, and secure their descendant’s future. It was a profession
that many longed for, especially in the bloodthirsty Sword Isles.

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 KADUNGGANAN

Social Standing
This showcases the social class of your character before they became Kadungganan. Your social
standing might have come from your lineage, or it might have come from something that happened
after your lineage (ie. a merchant prince that has fallen from grace or accrued too much debt). It is up
to you to connect the dots.
Choose or roll a d8:

1 Bihag or Chattel. You were the victim of the Eighth Star Era’s burgeoning violence, and
have become nothing but wealth to be traded. You begin with nothing. High chance of
you being a sina foreigner.
2 Ipun or servant. You were indebted or were born into debt of a powerful person,
whether it be a famed warrior, merchant, or aristocrat. Your hands are calloused from
your work. You begin with a small push dagger.
3 Kiapangdilihan or peasant. You were a loyal worker to your communities’ chief. You
had your own house within the community, and offered part of your labor to him. You
begin with a farming implement.
4 Satariya or Warrior. You were a freeman, working as a warrior for the datu that you
have chosen. The datu shares their spoils with you, their fellow warriors, and you earn
your own house with your own wealth, though you answer to the datu’s beck and call
and sometimes toil for them. Gain a weapon.
5 Orangkaya or Merchant Lord. Those materially wealthy, constituting a secondary class
of nobles who are not noble by blood, but by wealth. They live their lives as freemen,
going from town to town either selling their wares, setting up food booths where they
sell their food, or offer other services, such as hunting, cleaning, warring, and
smithing. Gain a piece of treasure.
6 Tuwan or Aristocrat. You were born into richness, into the blood of the datu of your
settlement. You are connected to the datu either through blood or social connections,
and enjoy the benefits of nobility. You do not toil for the datu but you must pick up
arms when called to battle. You have enjoyed the ability to take on multiple arts. Nobles
in the Sultanate serve and give a tribute to the Sultana. The Sultana is akin to an
empress, ruling over kings, that are the datu and rajahs. Nobles can become pandita, or
wise-men, if they become well-versed in the Bulanan. They are knowledgeable in the
Moon Law and custom. Gain a burning bright silver lance.
7 Panglima or Royalty. You are directly connected to your settlement’s datu, either the
datu is your uncle, grandparent, or parent. You are revered as an Aristocrat, although
the expectation for you is much higher. If you are born female then you were treated as
a binukot, a veiled maiden, hidden from the rest of the world until you were to be wed
to someone your parents decided is fit for their social class. If you are born male you
were trained in the arts of war and leadership. You begin with a royal heirloom.
8 Lunar Royalty. You are directly related to Lunar Sultana herself, which makes you one
of the 78 Lunar Princes. Be careful, the others are out to kill you. They understand only
one can become the next Lunar Monarch. It is cutthroat, but you are also given some of
the best training affordable in the entirety of the Sword Isles, and have known
extravagant privileges. You have a number of consorts and servants following after you.
Princes that are of royal blood are referred to as Katchil, and the crown prince was
termed Rajah Muda. Rajah Laut were third-ranking dignitaries. A high-ranking council
of elders known as the Bichara Atas counsels the Sultana. You begin with a silver ear
ornament that signifies your Lunar Heritage.

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 KADUNGGANAN
VIRBANWA
A priest walks out of an Earthquake baroque cathedral.
Doves flutter in every direction. He is wrapped in three
layers of silk: a robe, a jacket, and then a scarf. The robes
of a sonat. He wraps his headwrap around his forehead
and it bears the seven-pointed star of his religion: the
belief in Makakagahum and all His angels.
A peasant finishes his early morning routine and walks
back to the inner village, offering a portion of his meal to
the marble statue of an angel. He then goes and drinks
with his friends.
As they eat, a party of armored men: dressed in abaca
fiber undershirts and bamboo breastplates, riding upon
tall and noble sarimanok, saunter into town. They give a
quick offering to the church, before walking down to an
inn to find some rest.
A young girl runs up to one of them as they remove their
paeked helmet. “Can I be like you, some day?”
“You want to be a kabalyero like us? Then you have to
believe in Makakagahum and the power that he can grant
us all.” The kabalyero smiles. He is buff, wide-set, and
wearing a large textile scarf around his shoulders like a
cloak. “Then you have to show your Datu that you are
worthy of becoming one.”
“I will!”
“O, Huwana, come here dear!” And an elderly woman,
wearing a simple dark undyed gray robe pulls the young
girl back to her. “O, most gracious and valiant kabalyero,
thank you.”
“There is no need. In fact, you must flee right now.
Evacuate into the hills, where the shelters are.”
“Why, o great kabalyero?”
As he speaks, the other kabalyero are already going about
warning the people, and the speaking kabalyero’s captain
walks up to the Datu to tell him to gather his people and
his forces for a stand.
“Raiders have come,” says the kabalyero. “We have to fight
them back, for the glory of the Lakanate.”
“I see. May Makakagahum bless you!”
“And may the Ashen Star light your road,” replies the
kabalyero, just as he wheels around and brings out his
lance, decorated with gold and flames and stars.
There is a shout, a war cry.
The Kabalyero of the Lakanate charge, to protect the
Lakan in the name of their God.
166
Ambitious warlords, imperialist nobles, and
opportunistic merchants. The river chiefdoms of Lontok,
Namayan, Malilu, and Tundun were conquered and
invaded by the Empire of Issohappa, led by the Pale Kings,
which introduced to them the concepts of land
ownership, colonization, the printing press, and the faith
known as the Ashen Star.
History
Issohappa was driven away ten years ago, at the turn of
the century. They adopted everything that benefitted
them: Issohappan temporality, work mindset,
mercantilism, and imperialism. Tundun did not drive
Issohappa away on its own: they had the help of all the
major kingdoms in the archipelago, including all the way
up north to the island of Sonyoh.
Lakan Lubu, and his Queen or Lakambini were baptized.
They installed the Ashen Star as the state religion--two
ideas from Issohappa--that meshed with the native
religion. Together, they set off with a new goal in mind: to
unite the disparate warring states of The Sword Isles into
a single, unified state, known as the Virbanwan Lakanate
and to usher in the Millenium Kingdom.
For the next fifty years the Lakanate trained and grew
stronger, raiding and trading along the shores of Baik Hu
for more knowledge and weaponry, as well as more
connections to gain external wealth. They conquered the
river and lake kingdoms and expanded their domain.
They learned to create earthquake baroque structures,
strong against both typhoons and earthquakes, and
through this they created huge temples for
Makagagahum, their Paramount God who was said to
rule over all the other smaller deities (called dyos) which
were in the style of their own spirit houses, albeit with a
few innovations from Issohappa introduced.
These great churches, otherwise known as simbahan, or
worship places, became the centers of Virbanwan
settlements, and usually right beside their Datu. A single
Virbanwan settlement is bound to have both a pari, a
priest, and a balyan, a faith healer spirit medium, who
attend to different needs.
The Lakanate has since been growing their strength,
earning the ability to saddle and ride upon horses as well
as fight with more steel armor, although not at length for
the tropical swelter of the Archipelago might overcome
them. In addition to those, they stole the printing press
brought about by Issohappa, and have since become the
first polity to begin printing texts. They used this chance
to write official government history texts that exalted
Virbanwa’s cherry-picked best qualities, and ignored
everything else.
 KADUNGGANAN
Traditions
In this practice of nation-building, they exalted
themselves, conveniently leaving out all help gotten from
the other Polities during the Lakanate Conspiracy against
Issohappa. But they would never admit that there is any
polity within The Sword Isles that is greater than them.
Virbanwa stands as one of the most powerful states in The
Sword Isles. Large swathes of disenfranchised and poor
people live in its regions. Baikhan are corralled into
specific enclaves and experience horrid discrimination
from the higher classes. The Ananaran Galleon Trade
continues evermore, continuing the connection between
Issohappa and The Sword Isles, connecting Issohappa as
well to the rest of the Southeast Continent. Virbanwa
continues to become rich, gaining a monopoly on silvers
and precious items from the Issohappan Far West
Continent.
However, there are those that do not prescribe to
Virbanwa’s codes, tenets, and principles tend to be those
living in the margins, those that fight back against the
tide of “progress”, and find kindred spirits in the other
polities. This culture of separatism takes Virbanwa’s
progress and uses it against the Corrupt Crown to create
a better future for the kingdom.
From where can such philosophies and knowledges
arise? Outside of the imperial center, there can be found
villages and settlements that are not as penetrated by the
Imperialist propaganda, due to the nature of power in
The Sword Isles. Settlements in the fields of inner
Rusunuga ascribe to a syncretized version of the Ashen
Faith, crafted of both love and rebellion.
A mix of Anito and Sampalataya, they practice many
indigenous traditions while clad in the aesthetics of the
Empire. They venerate images of Makayao, the Tortured
Son of God, as they venerate the images of Jamiyun
Kulisa. They stick close to superstitions and rituals that
would be seen as heretical and blasphemous by the
“purer” city faiths. More importantly, mentala (here
known now as orasyon) and magical amulets have
become intense religious connectsion to a past that they
have been severed from. This Ashen Folk Religion is very
often known as The Earth-Swallowed Star.
Kadungganan of the Lakanate, Kabalyero, follow The
Code of the Sword, which necessitates that they serve the
people of the Lakanate, and that they give up their life for
the Lakan. While they are treated like knights of their
own right, are expected to travel to the Huwan’s side
when expected.
Growing up, Lakanate Tawo have access to military
monasteries, where they are taught the natural
philosophies. The most important thing taught here is
the sovereignty of the Lakanate over the Archipelago.
It is drilled very early into the young Lakanate tawo’s soul
that the Lakanate, by virtue of being the chosen people of
Makagagahum and having been able to “repel” the
conquest of the “more powerful” Issohappa. The truth of
this was that it was more like all of the states in The Sword
Isles chipping in to help repel the invaders, with some
help from Sonyoh.
The Lakanate thus believe that the Rajahnate,
Confederation, and Sultanate are all heathens that must
be brought into the Lakanate’s embrace. They are wrong,
of course, but this fuels the Lakanate’s imperialist
ambitions, and it has thus begun its inevitable march into
the rest of The Sword Isles.
Lakanate Nobles are known as Maginoo, and usually own
land and rule over swathes of peasant in addition to their
own debtors. Nobles of the Lakanate are expected to keep
being nobles, and are taught in the more advanced
knowledge, given manuscripts and exams by their
parawali to pore over.
Nobles are expected to be subservient to the Datu and
know the ways of the Golden Web Tapestry, the code of
conduct and political framework among nobles, an
intricate and complex web of manners and right speech,
which “sets them apart from those of the lower classes”.
Many nobles become warriors, but also priests and
spiritual leaders. Some nobles can become Datu, if they
wish, by leaving the settlement with their own wealth and
following. It is their privilege to be able to go into any
occupation.
In the Lakanate, there are two kinds of Freemen: the
timawa, who are freemen that can choose who they serve
and have their own businesses, and the bayani, who are
the Kadungganan who fight for a Datu that they choose.
Bayani make their livelihood through engaging in wars
and raids with the Datu that they serve.
Chattel are called the same here as in any other
settlement. They are treated more or less the same,
although the Batara Lakan has a large crew of debtors
that work for him as his personal attendants, as royal
chefs and butlers and all the more.
Materially, they have taken upon the innovations of the
Issohappans: they now wear kalsones balones, or balloon
pants, more than bahag, and they have adopted the
wearing of wooden clogs and slippers more often than
not. Some of the richer ones even have access to leather
boots and silk socks.
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 KADUNGGANAN
Noteworthy Persons
Batara Lakan Huwan Rekno. The current Batara Lakan is
a man named Huwan Rekno, who is directly related to
Lakan Lubu. He is said to be a noble man, wearing a cape
and leather boots at all times, mixing it with his bahag
and baro get up whenever he descends upon the world.
When he must present himself as he truly is: the
manifestation of Makagagahum upon the earth, he is like
a saint that has fallen upon the world. It is said that
around his neck floats a halo of thorns, which is said to
signify the world upon his shoulders as he performs
penance of trying to unite the islands.
He wears a gigantic crown fashioned like a halo of flames,
with four cardinal points depicting a crocodile, a dog, a
serpent, and an eagle. This crown burns from behind his
head, like a bonfire of his duty.
His gown is not made of cloth, but rather, of stone
feathers plucked from slain angel wings, those too weak
to properly protect Makagagahum’s chosen. The stone
wings wrap around him, ivory and marble-like, and his
face is in a perpetual pained countenance.
On top of his stone gown, he wears a veil of burgeoning
silk made from the souls of the damned that he failed to
save, which he keeps to constantly remind him of his
failures, of the failures of past kings, and those that they
can yet save. The souls wail.
His feet never touch the floor. Whenever his feet touch the
earth, the halo digs spears into his neck. He floats with
the strength of his faith. May Makagagahum be blessed.
His skin is pale, as if he is dead, and his eyes are
scintillating iridescent. His hand can kill and revive with
a word. When he is forced to fight, he makes heaven
descend upon his foes.
A testament to his sacrifice as the leader of this
burgeoning new Empire. He speaks slow and without
menace. However, his kabalyeros and Kadungganan are
fiercely loyal to him.
Mahasenapati Akuna Salamangka. The head warlord
directly below Batara Lakan, who also acts as his right
hand man. Or woman. Akuna Salamangka was born as
binukot to Datu Bigiris, of Put’wan, as Himaya. When
Huwan Rekno saw her beauty, he sought to make her his
new sandil, or concubine. However this was forbidden in
their new faith, and so he settled for making Akuna his
Mahasenapati, or Great Warlord.
She has since began burgeoning campaigns into the
plains of Rusunuga in an attempt to conquer them,
although Sinuku is nigh unconquerable. Soon she will try
to conquer all of The Sword Isles, in the name of love for
her Lakan. She is tall and immaculately beautiful, even in
the battlefield, with a face round like the moon and hair
blacker than the sea.
Maygintawo Palipidan. A warrior-merchant who made a
fortune trading items he has raided from the shores of
Madaki, Iyamat, and Southern Baik Hu.
168
Using this trade he elevated himself to the status of
Maygintawo: a noble by wealth. He goes around now upon
his biray, which he has outfitted with all sorts of items
from across the world, collecting and recruiting
Kadungganan to be part of his rising merchant nation.
noteworthy locations
Barangay Lagusnilad. A large village by the Nilad River,
upriver from Ananara itself. Known best for their yearly
penitents, who flay themselves in emulation of the First
Gahumnon, to strip themselves of their sin. Lagusnilad is
also well known for being right beside fertile rice plains,
and is the farming capital in the region. It is common for
them to seek help from Kadungganan to deal with
monsters in their field, or to help them appease a dragon.
They are the constant subject of raids from the banwa of
Sinuku, who fights back against the sovereignty of
Virbanwa. They are led by Datu Sedero, a well known
merchant warrior and penitent, who wants to put an end
to those Sinuku upstarts.
Pinangilan. A barangay to the north of Virbanwa, it deals
in raiding traveling merchant ships that disembark or
dock at Ba-e. They are in constant war with Ba-e because
of this. Their Datu, Datu Yukul, has been stealing
weaponry from Baikhan and Naksuwarga shipments to
better their weaponry. Some say they are readying an
attack against Ba-e. One that can destabilize both
Virbanwa and Ba-e, leading to a destructive conflict.
Gibankaw. On the northeastern tip of Ramasa, right
below the Virbanwa conquered island of Rusunuga. They
have adopted the Virbanwan Faith in the Ashen Star, and
have converted their bamboo palaces and wooden spirit
houses to churches and citadels. They are most well
known for their sarimanok knights, their greatest
cavaliers, which the Datu himself, Datu Isiran, trains.
They have nurtured the greatest warriors and protectors
in the isles. Now part of the Virbanwan Lakanate, they
weather raids from the Rajahnate who seek to reclaim
their manpower from the Lakanate. They also are locked
in constant raiding with the polity of Ibalong to their east,
whereupon they have to make sure to sail around other
islands to try and not sail past waters where Ibalongan
might sail.
Vetani. A village far south, where the wind is far colder
and faster. Here ancient citadels known as idyang have
been built by the natives. Their limestone houses and hill
castles have since been adapted by Virbanwa to create
sturdier, stone-based constructs, houses, castles, and
churches, even as they subsume and incorporate Vetani to
their kingdom. In Vetani, the final stages of the training
of a Virbanwan Kadungganan, known as a bayani, are
held, where they must first prove themselves worthy in
the Monastery of Ash and Tears, and then they must
weather the environment and face the roving warbands of
either Issohappans or raid the ships of Baik Hu trading
vessels to the far south. Vetani is headed by the Priest-
Datu Pari Siman Damasku, who always begins harvesting
seasons with sermons, and believes that as long as they
are faithful to Lakan Rekno, no harm will come to them.
However, the expansionist empire of Iyamat has begun to
creep north, into the Southern Tip Islands, whereupon
Vetani lies.
 KADUNGGANAN
Other Culture Impressions
To Gatusan: Painted devils, kin eaters and treacherous
liars at worst, at best they are useful, at the very least they
understand the concept of commerce.
To Akai: Thorns on the road to unity, savages and
barbarians who practice a baser version of our Faith. May
their moon be smothered by the light of the Star.
To Ba-e: Tradition erodes, and soon they will falter like
the flicker of candlelight. Our steel and star will be
enough to turn them into vassals.
To Apumbukid: God has no eyes for chattel.
Virbanwan Honorifics: Ginoo [gee-nu-O] (Masculine),
Binibini [bee-nee-bee-nee] (Feminine), Poon [Po-ON] (Lord,
general)
Subcultures
There are 3 Major Subcultures in Virbanwa. Roll a d6 or choose:
Provincial. You live in the provinces,
5-6
outside of the city. You all once had
your own cultures (and truly, you still
retain them in one way or another) but
you have been thoroughly erased by
1-2
Virbanwan imperialism, and you are
conditioned to follow the city’s lead,
and the city’s lead only. You can speak
Virbanwanun and you begin with a
worthless item.
Corregimiento. You live in the borders
of Virbanwa, where various
corregimientos or forts are put up, to
protect the Lakanate from attacks
from outside, as well as to continue its
3-4 expansion. You may have been
conscripted from a young age, or if
not, at least have been taught how to
protect yourself from raids. You can
speak Virbanwanun and you begin
with a bolo.
Virbanwan Naming Conventions: Virbanwans have
surnames, mandated by the Lakanate. Their names are
tainted by Pale King nomenclature.
Virbanwanon Names: Huwan, Lesandra, Eeya, Pavlo,
Ymbrosyo, Karmala, Dyusa, Ylisa, Olrac, Dranbreb
Virbanwanon Surnames: De Sutla, Salamanka, Dabila,
Oropon, Dimauri, Magsaysay, Reyes, De Basi
As a Virbanwan, keep in mind...
0 You are prone to having a world view tainted by
propaganda.
0 You must choose if you stay a puppet of the Ashen
Star.
0 You are prone to saying something rash.
0 You have access to stranger technologies, use them to
your advantage.
0 Virbanwa is an exemplar of unity: therefore work
together.
As a Virbanwan, you begin with two: Abaka slippers, a
foreign trinket, a necklace from your hometown, a bangle
made of boar tusk, a frayed silk coat, a bamboo staff,
beautiful textile from the last place you visited, a golden
anklet, a piece of the underwater realms, a compass that
you don’t need, food from a place you’ve never been
before
City. You live in the heart of darkness, the grand
capital city of Virbanwa. Ananara is so large that it
consumes most of the Ananaran Bay, and has choked
out the grand River it sits upon (whose name now has
been forgotten, though many say that it is named
Layag, or Layaraya, or Namyan), killing the diwata of
the river. Ananara is the crown city of the Lakanate,
where the current Batara Lakan, Lakan Huwan Rekno,
and the royal family live, ordained as divine ruler by
the Mahapari (greatest priest), currently Yesidru.
Ananara is the largest metropole in all of The Sword
Isles, owing to its long history as being the eventual
descendant of the ancient grand chiefdom of Tundun.
It is structured like a wheel, with all roads being the
spokes, and the Broken Bone Cathedral Palace being
the hub. Near the hub, all buildings are made of
bloodstone, created from the coagulated and then
mined blood of killed Pale Kings. In random areas of
the city, the ancient Angel Machines powered by Pale
King blood have been colonized and repurposed into
apartment complexes. Important due to the ever
increasing trade and population brought about by
domestic and international trade.
Port trade is lively here, and the people here really do
believe that Virbanwa is the most powerful of the
polities. All people here usually wear (and you begin
with): silk jackets, balloon pants, and simple wooden
sandals (paruka).
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Lineage
Roll a d8 or choose from the following lineages.

1 Fury Prophets Orphan. You are an orphan taken in by the Fury Prophets, a group of
mendicants who live in Ananara, who preach the coming Sword Fury Devouring of
Makaubos, who shall annihilate all. To that end you have been trained in almost every art
of violence. Not of war, but of violence, personal violence, as an asceticism to achieve
Conjunction with Makaubos, the Wrath aspect of Makagagahum.
2 Saint of Beggars Offering. You were an offering to the Saint of Beggars. You’ve never
known your real parents: your parents were the Beggar-Mendicants of the Saint of
Beggars, who is known as Buyung, who is an ancient god of the Isles, a diwata of the
chattel. You’ve learned how to swindle, love, sneak, destroy, steal, and pray under the
bastards of the Saint of Beggars, all of whom have been given as an offering to try and
alleviate their own lives. “Beggars should not exist” is the first principle of the Saint of
Beggars.
3 Bloodbound to the Lakan. You are one of the Batara Lakan’s concubine’s children, which
cannot be shown to the public. Therefore you cannot be royalty or an aristocrat, and the
truth of who you are must be kept quiet.
4 Corregimiento Child. You were born in a corregimiento: a border settlement that is
fortified by stone walls, created on the fringes of Virbanwan territory to both keep back the
waves of the other settlements as well as to create anchor points for expansion. In the
borders, you are exposed to most of the other cultures of the Sword Isles, but the priests
are more strict in their hold of power, and punish others for the smallest deviation from
religious norm from Sampalataya.
5 Farmers. You were born into a settlement of farmers. You have nothing much to your
name, and you are constantly swindled out of your labor. You don’t even own your labor!
Those capitalist pig datu take your grains from you to sell it to the City but pay you nothing
in return. What a fucking joke. You burn your brows off to work here. Something has to
give. You’re tired of resilience.
6 State Kawal. You come from a line of State Kawal: Kawal that enforce the Batara Lakan’s
invisible power across the various polities subsumed under Virbanwa’s flag. You have been
taught the things the State Kawal would be taught, but this might have made you blind to
propaganda.
7 Rebels. You have known nothing but the constant struggle. You live deep into the
mountains, once holy, now nothing but places for foreigners to create new ventures or live
in, and for capitalist datu to rip portions out of to create beaches in places that used to be
swamps. You have been raised therefore to the harsh truth of the Lakanate. Therefore:
down to the State and God!
8 Pale King. You are born of a Pale King. Your eyes are the color of frozen azure, your hair
the color of platinum ray, your skin the alabaster of ravishing death. It is all right to not
love who you are, but rememer that the circumstances of your birth matters less than your
impact on the world. Therefore choose Hiyang instead of Scourge. Therefore become
better than who you are.

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Social Standing
Roll a d10 or choose:

1-2 Disenfranchised. You are the dregs of society, kept alive but with contempt
and without help. You are downtrodden and living is painful. You begin with
nothing. Many Virbanwan bihag that don’t get sold become Disenfranchised.
Many Mendicants and Friars are considered Disenfranchised.

3-4 Peasant. You are a peasant farmer. You must be from the provinces. You are
downtrodden and taxes are too much for you. You begin with a chopping
sword.
5-6 Worker. You work in the endless machineries and bureacracy of Virbanwa.
You must be from the city. You are downtroddden and living is too expensive.
Some priests are this. You begin with 3 coins.
7-8 Middle Class. You have some capital, and get to enjoy some parts of life, but
Virbanwan propaganda has bred contempt in you for the lower classes. What
do you do with your privilege? You begin with 10 coins.

9-10 Ruling Class. You are the great beast of our times, born with a silver spoon in
your mouth and capable of pursuing whatever you wish. Do you not see who
you are, an angel with the wings of blood? Choose how to live your life; it is
not God who will judge you but the people. Begin with 3 Silver-Minted Coins,
which are considered Bahandi across the Sword Isles. You cannot become a
Headtaker for any reason.

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Ba-e
The last Baikhan junk left the harbor. Trading season with
Baik Hu had ended. Danum worked the bellows of her
master’s forge, even as the master finished her last batch
of iron blades.
“That’s enough. You go on ahead and take a break. There’s
a feast tonight, to mark the end of trade.”
Her master was Kadanay, signified by his glinting emerald
eyes. Danum nodded, as her master wiped his brow with a
nearby cloth and made his way back into his home.
Danum cleaned up what was left of the blacksmith shed
(gusali), and then walked over to a hill overlooking the
harbor. From here, Danum could see most of Ba-e, even as
it glowed as the torches were lit, as the sun dipped into the
horizon.
She sat with her hammer, tossing it and catching it
reflexively, as she walked around the area. Before long, a
“psst” resounded from the trees behind her.
Danum turned and smiled. A young woman, wrapped in
crimson silk although wearing no jewelry, hid within the
tangle.
“Your Majesty, do you not think it is uncouth of you to play
around in the tangle like that?”
“Hold your tongue, Danum. I wish only that none of my
kawal know that I’m gone from my bukot.”
Danum smiled, then. “Come then, Kinaiya. The waterfall
awaits.”
Giggling, Danum took Kinaiya’s hand and Kinaiya felt her
heart leap. She felt warm, even as they rushed down the
hill and followed up a stream. After a few more moments
of walking, Kinaiya heard the rushing of water.
They broke through a brush, and there found a lake
whereupon a waterfall cascaded. The most interesting
thing about it is the giant bronze statue, depicting a diwata
they knew by the name of Magayong Masukiling, the
hibiscus goddess of love and compassion.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to swim in that?” asked Danum,
who had already removed her lambong and was halfway
into the water. “Have you never swam in your life?”
“I... Haven’t.”
“Well there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Come on then.”
Kinaiya still hesitated for a bit, but when she saw Danum
smiling at her, she felt at ease. She shed her silks and
walked bare into the water. Cold at first, but cold was good
in the heat of Ba-e.
There they danced and played, laughing and smiling, their
glances too close, their lips almost touching...
172
“Danum,” said Kinaiya, as they floated about near the
waterfall. The bronze statue of the Hibiscus
Makinaadmanon watched over them. “When are you
leaving?”
“In the next moon. Don’t worry.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Kinaiya bit her lip.
Danum turned to her and placed a hand on her cheek. “I
will. Don’t worry. War Smiths don’t usually head into the
front lines. And if we do, I’m pretty good with a hammer.
You don’t have to worry about me, all right?”
“I can’t help but.”
“Then let me leave you with a promise.” Danum leaned in
and kissed Kinaiya. Kinaiya breathed in sharply, but kissed
her back. When Danum pulled away, Kinaiya’s emerald eyes
glinted. “With that, I seal you a promise. I will return. And we
will work on helping you hone your Stonewaking sorceries.
All right?”
“All right.”
“Gotta remember, according to your own mother: trade
connections cannot be established without a bit of
raiding,” said Danum, smiling. “It’s a necessary evil to realize
the Sangpamegat’s dream of a righteous kingdom.”
Ancient guardians, sacred priests, and keepers of vast
lore. Ba-e is currently ruled by Sangpamegat Kalangitan.
They, poetically called The First Kingdom in The Sword
Isles, will not bow to the rising tide of violence of the
Festival of the Reddest Night. They believe their
Sangpamegat (Highest Chief), Dayang Kalangitan, to be a
manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the
Queen of Mercy. She claims the title Chakravarti and
wishes to expand to the Nine Directions to place all under
her righteousness, to guide all living beings to Glory.
The grasslands, wetlands, and forests of Ba-e are pocked
with mysterious statues of the Tranquil Sage Himayanon
Nawara, cast in stone, bronze, and gold. Other statues of
other worshipped deities exist, such a Golden Tara, the
great BATALA, the destroyer Makaobus, and the
dharmapala Mahakala.
History
Ba-e was established sometime during the Seventh Sun
Era. They were among the Ancient Kingdoms, those
disparate polities that existed across the archipelago
region for centuries. Ba-e thus is an ancient kingdom, and
owing to this fact, they have ancient traditions, songs, and
epics. Ba-e today is not Ba-e of fabled yesteryear: golden
statues of Himayanon Nawara, the Tranquil Sage, the
great Annuvara, the Liberated Enlightened One that
started the Annuvaran faith, pock the forests and
grasslands, whereupon roots and branches swarm to
retake it. Smaller statues hang from necklaces and
 KADUNGGANAN
waistcords, a signifier of Annuvara’s influence. The
Kingdom itself has the Golden Sword Order: an order of
knights who fight with forward curving blades known as
ginunting.
Traditions
Ba-e records all official documents in copperplate,
whether it be paying off debts, creating alliances between
polities, and the like. This is a practice inherited and
copied by Virbanwa and Akai, but not Gatusan and
Apumbukid, who find that spoken word is more powerful
than written script.
Ba-e religions is influenced by foreign Ashinin-
Annuvaran religion, from phallic symbols known as linga
being used for rituals, to the statues of the Annuvara from
the Annuvaran Religion still standing and prayed to. Ba-e
dead are buried twice: once full, and then again cremated,
to purify their sins from the world, and so that their
charred remains can become ancestor spirits that can be
worshipped. Ba-enun Anitu teaches the following of
rituals that align one with the various paganitohan (gods)
and bulakdiwa (bodhisattvas) as paths to becoming
Himayanon (literally: Blossomed): one who finds Glory
and finds existence outside of the cycles of violence.
Temples are created as well: 8-roofed pagodas of both
wood and stone, inspired by Annuvaran architecture, kept
within 8-sided walls of painted stone, with a single
opening depicting blossoming flowers and ancient
serpents. Houses are also enclaves of 5 houses within a
square stone. These are all influences of Ashinin-
Annnuvaran faiths.
Ba-e holds the number 8 to high regard among them.
Their houses are always of 4 sides, and royalty have access
to 8-roofed and 16-roofed houses. There are 8 holy weapon
types: the sword, the dagger, the spear, the shield, the bow,
the blowgun, the javelin, and the gun. Their walls are
almost always 8-sided, each one facing the eight holy
directions, which are each protected by a holy guardian
beasts, or the Bantay Walodako, literally, the Eight
Directions Guardians.
Ba-e has constructed a giant hardwood and stone house
with 16 roofs. It is not a house for living, but rather for
study. Within shelves are scrolls and scrolls of palm leaf
manuscripts as well as copperplate slates, as well as paper
scrolls imported from other regions across the known
world. This is known as the Bahay Karunongan, or the
House of Wisdom, the only place in all of the Sword Isles
where knowledge and writing has been written down.
This is something that Virbanwa has been trying to gain
access to, to no avail.
Only the smartest and most intelligent of parawali can be
admitted within, remembered by guardian spirits of the
House of Wisdom itself. There is said to be approximately
875,000 pieces of writing within the cascading square-
patterned shelves of the 16 roofed House. Recently, the
Balay has begun to admit students, those with promising
spiritual or martial prowess. This is a poorly veiled
attempt by the Sangpamegat to cultivate thunderous
Kadungganan loyal to Ba-e. These Kadungganan are
taught in poetry, writing, politics, and warfare. They are
known as the Mandirigma ng Ilang-Ilang, Warriors of
Ylang-Ylang, shortened to Digilang (dig[ma] + ilang-
ilang, war ilang-ilang). The Ilang-Ilang is a flower
extracted for oil and is used to ward off evil spirits.
The royals of Ba-e are therefore swathed in silks and
parasols, flower crowns and gold jewelry. Cauldrons and
weapons from Baik Hu itself. Their lords are called Datu,
but also Huang, King, due to Baik Hu recognizing them as
an official kingdom.
Ba-e has survived multiple Eras, and those that live in it
will be sure that it will survive more. Ba-e is the oldest
living polity, almost a thousand years in its life, and has
since evolved to incorporate ancient Kadanay technology
(the art of stonewaking) into their daily lives. Not just that,
but geomancies from Baik Hu have made their way here
as well, giving rise to unique syncretized pagodas, kirin
statues, and phoenix houses. They have also copied
Baikhan schooling systems, mixing it with monastery-
schools from the greater Crescent Archipelago, to create a
system of creating officials to certify that Ba-e does not
only continue, but it will flourish. Ba-e wishes to create a
veritable Merchant Republic.
Their adherence and proximity to ancient Kadanay
technology has provided them with unique aesthetics,
clothing, and architecture. They prefer to cover
themselves more fully, as with the Virbanwans. Their
jewelry is not just gold, but jade and stone, glowing green.
Even debtors wear this. The houses of the rich are built on
top of hills, with vast gardens at the bottom of the hills.
They prefer to wear unalloyed gold upon themselves,
which they believe to be the cleanest and purest of all
metals.
The most important area of Ba-e is the Lake of Pulilan, the
largest freshwater body in the Sword Isles. This lake is
home to freshwater sardines, crocodiles, and other
important freshwater marine food that has become an
integral part to Ba-e life. Pulilan Silangan drains directly
into the Bay of Ananara, and through the Silangan Strait
do most junks travel into.
Aesthetics
Their makeup and hygiene is extraordinary even for tawo
among the Sword Isles, using white foundation and pitch
black inks to create wingtips and eyeshadows, influenced
by their long history. This facepaint has become an
important part of culture by Royal Courtesans and
Aristocratic Politicking, and even into the court dancing
cultures. Ba-e royalty and nobles are horribly prone to
realpolitik, vying for power over seaports, connections
with powerful warriors, trading settlements, and
positions among the court of the Sangpamegat.
Ba-e values material wealth. Many of them wear silk and
cloth shirts, whether man or woman, and they coat
themselves in tassels and jewelry, usually of gold. The
nobility flaunt their exotic, foreign items and wealth:
black and white silks, ivory parasols, porcelain jars and
accoutrements. Weapons from Iyamat or Baik Hu. Armor
from Sonyoh. Ba-e is using its ancient knowledge and
affinity to ancient sorceries to begin a campaign to unite
all beings under the Sangpamegat, not through war but
through trade networks and linking. In this way, they seek
to become the center of the world, the nexus of the
Universal Silkroad.
Ba-e warriors--especially the bravest among them, the
generals and commanders--enjoy enhanced warring
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technology that has allowed them to keep pace with the
growing weapon prowess of Virbanwa. Bows that have
bowstrings made of light, swords that have blades made
of sun-rays, and daggers that have edges of crystallized
moongleam: all practices and smithing techniques passed
down by the Kadanay. The most important technology
among the Ba-e tawo are two things: the sky-sampans
and the artifact slates. Sky-sampans, which are circular
boats that ride upon the wind, worked upon by diwata
that are contractually bound by ancient Kadanay oath to
carry the sampan, have become a major source for
personal travel. Sages and nobility would ride upon these
if they could commission them.
Noteworthy Persons
Sangpamegat Dayang Kalangitan, the Eternal Monarch,
Chakravartin, Devarani. Once just a Dayang, she took
over after her husband, Pamegat Diwajaya, was killed in
battle against a Virbanwan Warlord. Using her Kadanay
blood, she perfected the sorceries of Stonewaking,
instilling stone and clay sculptures made by local potters
and smiths with additional utility, the ability to float, and
to keep food frozen. This technological marvels gave her
the title of Hexer-Queen.
She has frozen herself into a diwa-silk cocoon, letting her
soul wander freely and roam, unshackled by physicality,
but her body itself is entombed upon her throne,
whereupon a giant gold statue of her has been built: a
goddess with eight hands, each wielding a weapon, and a
crown that is like a balete tree.
She rules Ba-e directly, and eternally. She will eventually
rule Gubat Banwa, and she supremely believes that she is
the Queen Aspect of the Mahawaira Himayanon, the
Primordial Buddha. Believing herself to be a Philosopher-
Empress, a Devi Chakravartin, she wishes to spread her
glory, righteousness, and merit by invading other
countries and not slaying or colonizing them, but rather,
letting them convert into Anitu. All gods have a place in
anitu.
Maharlika Langkus. A maharlika who has only recently
awoken from a hundred year slumber, being submerged
and contained in the Temple of Resurrection, a natural
temple within a large cave upon the mountain of Tinaga.
Known for his strange cloud-white hair, he travels around
the Ba-e region helping out those in need. He is mute as
well, although he can communicate well enough with
gestures and writings.
Thus he brings with him a great number of palm leaf
scrolls. He is a master swordmaster, walking around with
a salawal, sarong, paruka, azure baro, and grand crimson
pudong, with tails that flow in the wind. He loves chicken
as well. He wishes to find an ancient binukot that he was
tasked with protecting, the reason for his travels.
Senapati Sibasib. A burgeoning warlord-merchant datu
who seeks to prove himself powerful, leading his haop of
Katingan to battle. He is loyal to Ba-e, and always jumps at
the chance to conduct raids against the various Virbanwa
or Gatusan settlements, even all the way to Sinuku or
Ibalnong. He is one of the first ones to adopt the Akai
introduction of horses, known as kuda, in their tongue,
which the people of Sinuku also know of.
174
Sibasib leads his Kuda Kawal cavalry when performing
land raids. He is deeply in love with one of the
Sangpamegat’s binukot, a girl named Kinalubang
Bulaklak, who actually sneaks out from her bukot and
fights alongside him with a mask on.
Other Culture Impressions
To Virbanwa: Wayward stars streak across the sky.
Thrones shall fall before we do.
To Akai: Warrior Braves and courtly regals. They are
royalty, grandeur, and raiders all. They deserve respect,
but we have stood far longer than they have existed.
To Gatusan: They shall raid the world, and if we play our
cards right, they will be shackled by gold and heirloom to
us. They shall be the swordfish to our barge.
To Apumbukid: Our goals do not conflict, but their
isolation will be their downfall. The roots speak, the earth
breathes. To Achieve Concordance, one must be willing to
break it. To become God one must be willing to kill Him.
Ba-e Honorifics: Gat for Males, Binibini for females.
Ba-e Naming Conventions: Similar to Rajahnate
conventions. They do not have surnames, and usually use
one or two words.
Ba-enon Names: Pangil, Lontok, Dula, Angkatan,
Namwaran, Tagkan, Palaba, Kalamayin, Panginoan, Bagtas,
Sasaban, Salalila, Avijirkaya, Maitan, Salihan, Talim,
Lumban, Pila, Gatid, Dewata.
As a Ba-enon, keep in mind...
0 You are more often than not a follower of Ashinin-
Annuvaran-Anitu faith. Remind another of the Righteous
Path.
0 Only through merit can one find strength and glory.
0 The great saints that have gone before you offer a
path to righteousness.
0 There is more to this world than physicality.
0 The gods are great, yet still stuck within the cycle of
violence.
As a Ba-enon, you begin with two: glass beads, a statue of
the Tranquil Sage Ascetic Annuvara, a soft bamboo flute, a
pack of healing poultices that will run out soon, flowers in
a garland, cooking implements, jarlets filled with hot
spring water, a white stone from a holy mountain, a
hardwood shield (kalasag), a breastplate made of elephant
hide, a collection of boar tusks, a peaked iron helmet,
bamboo shinguards, golden bangles, a hunting spear,
wooden sandals
 KADUNGGANAN

Subculture
Ba-e has 5 major subcultures, based on the five most powerful polities about the main city of Ba-e. Roll a d10 or choose:

1-2 Miatang. A coast settlement at the northern tip of the Kumintang region. Miatang is the land nexus for
trade with Pannai and Gatusan. It is ruled by a powerful laksamana, Datu Hagutak. Known for stone
fortifications and bamboo watchtowers, they regularly fend off raids from the northern polities. Many
maharlika are brought here as a final part of their training, where they are forced to live in Miatang for a
single harvest to provide both on the boots training for the maharlika, as well as well needed warriors to
protect Miatang. You begin with a weapon.

3-4 Pailah. Directly to the north of Ba-e, Pailah, which is ruled by Datu Ganasakti, a son of the Sangpamegat, is
one of the most important centers of trade and commerce in Ba-e, other than the city of Ba-e itself.
Holding at least a thousand households, they craft pottery, weave textiles, smith gold, and craft weapons.
Here Baik Hu also stations their trading junks, along with Naksuwarga and Madaki adyongs who trade
with them horses, weapons, and debtors. It is currently suffering from ashen star missionaries from
Virbanwa. Traders and travelers frequent Pailah due to its close proximity with Mainit, the polity of
medicinal hot springs. You begin with a horse.

5-6 Namayan. A banwa ruled by three Datu: Datu Karas, Datu Dayawan, and Datu Mabantad. It serves as a
trading polity for Sinuku and Vuyu to the south, as well as access to the plains where rice can be grown.
However, it is constantly suffering invasions from Virbanwa, causing it to earn a brunt of Ba-e’s maharlika
to shore up defenses.

The banwa itself is made up of a collection of stone fortresses, that lets people retreat into whenever a
raiding party arrives. When needed, however, Namayan is beside a thick jungle with many earthen
outcroppings, and the folk of Namayan can retreat there. Namayan is still also a prime trading port,
whereupon they trade with gold kernels and gold barter rings as currency. Namayan is also the main
shipbuilding polity of Ba-e. You begin with a carnelian adorned bracelet.

7-8 Talim. Upon an island in the middle of the bay of Pulilan, a few ways north from Namayan, there is the
island of Talim. Used as a respite port for most traders, it has begun to create housing districts where
traders can pay the Datu, a Kadanay named Kiyalilidan, to rest before traveling back home. Thus Talim has
become a prime place for trading cultures and stories, most of which are inscribed upon copperplate.
Talim is known for having the largest population of Kadanay left, whereupon they spend their days writing
upon copperplate histories and secrets and sorceries, as well as try to find ways to replicate the
Stonewaking sorceries of their ancestors. You begin with a ritual knife.

9-10 Ba-e. The great city from which the Sangpamegat’s power emanates, it is a land of pagodas and stupas, of
holy golden temples and strangler fig complexes. It is influenced intensely by Baikhan culture, and has a
large number of Baikhan refuge enclaves within. Ba-e is a trading center: merchants and traders of Ba-e
bring the items brought by Baik Hu to the rest of the islands north, especially to trade with those of the
Gatusan and the myriad islands to its east, before returning to pay back those Baikhan eight to nine moons
later. Sangpamegat Kalangitan’s stone and jade jewelry shimmer and glow with glowing green patterns,
betraying their ability to use the sacred ancient Kadanay artifacts. You begin with a white parasol.

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Lineage
Roll a d8 or choose from the following lineages.

1 Baikhan Refugees. Your family comes from the great Southeastern Continent, ruled over by the
August Jade Empress. Due to the increasingly draconian laws your family has escaped the vast
Jade Empire under the Yling Dynasty, of the Blazing Magnolia, increasingly fraught with civil war
and scheming ministers. Finding peace and freedom in Ba-e, which exults in life and love.

2 Educators. Your family comes from trained educators–usually monks who gave up the Monastic
Life–who teach in royal houses and even the great pagoda that is the House of Wisdom. Being in
such an academic environment since birth has shaped how you approach things: you come at
situations with a more methodical bent, not afraid to reference and cross reference and use
things that you have learned before. You probably know a great deal about writing, and know how
to write upon copperplate.

3 Artists. You come from a family of artists, who practice the art of painting, introduced here from
Baik Hu. You carry around a paint brush and try to capture the world around you, realizing that it
is about to end.

4 Blacksmiths. You come from a line of blacksmiths, either one who traveled around (most
blacksmiths traveled from settlement to settlement with an apprentice peddling their wares and
offering their labor) or one who had a close aristocrat patron that allowed them to stay in one
settlement (or perhaps they were royalty themselves?) You learned the tools of the trade from
them, and you have become mighty and loving when learning about the sacred act of Creation.

5 Honey Gatherers. You come from a family of professional honey gatherers, who travel into the
deep wood to gather honey from beehives, mingling with the spirits of the forest to give them a
bountiful harvest. Honey is the primary form of sweetener in the isles, and from it comes popular
honey mead.

6 Artifactsmiths. A renowned kind of smith that crafts ancient spiritual artifacts, a holy mixture of
blacksmithing, pottery, carpentry, and sorcery. These panday are known to learn the Stonewaking
Arts from Kadanay smiths. Becoming an artifactsmith in Ba-e is a very difficult endeavor,
requiring practical knowledge of basic blacksmithing in addition to passing a test conducted by
the sages of Ba-e and past artifactsmith. Most artifactsmiths end up learning that they have
Kadanay blood within them, although this is not the norm.

7 Fishermen. You come from a lineage of fishermen, either by the river mouths or out in the sea.
You were born with a trident, harpoon, and net in your hands. The waters have known you long
before you were born, and you embraced this. Everyday, you leap into the rushing rapids. Your
hands are one with the fishes, and your patience for your aquatic friends knows no bounds.

8 Monastery Town. You come from a village that lies below a Monastery, usually with either a large
temple pagoda or stone statue of the primary deity being worshipped or being used as a Spirit
Guide. You were born knowing all about that God’s stories and history and teachings. You revel in
their festivals, and something about you is shaped in their likeness, whether it be your hair, your
fingernails, or jewelry. Why did you leave? Did you ever really know that God? Achieve
Conjunction, Become Hiyang.

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Social Standing
This showcases the social class of your character before they became Kadungganan. Your social
standing might have come from your lineage, or it might have come from something that happened
after your lineage (ie. a merchant prince that has fallen from grace or accrued too much debt). It is up
to you to connect the dots.
Choose or roll a d8:

1 Bihag or slave. You were the victim of the Eighth Star Era’s burgeoning violence, and
have become nothing but wealth to be traded. You begin with nothing.
2 Aliping Sagigilid or servant. You were indebted or were born into debt of a powerful
person, whether it be a famed warrior, merchant, or aristocrat. Your hands are calloused
from your work. You begin with a small push dagger.
3 Aliping Namamahay or peasant. You were a loyal worker to your communities’ chief.
You had your own house within the community, and offered part of your labor to him.
You begin with a farming tool.
4-5 Maharlika or Warrior. You were a freeman, working as a warrior for the datu that you
have chosen. The datu shares their spoils with you, their fellow warriors, and you earn
your own house with your own wealth, though you answer to the datu’s beck and call and
sometimes toil for them. Gain a weapon.
6 Maginoo or Aristocrat. Ba-e aristocrats are known to be the most pompous of nobles
among the Sword Isles. Having taken after the Baikhans that they’ve traded with for so
long, they have grand wooden longhouses decorated with gold and built like pagodas.
They wear long silk gowns, long sarongs, complex golden diadems, and walk upon
wooden sandals, their feet never to touch the ground. They have servants carrying their
parasols, and they are carried upon palanquins either by elephants or by their own
servants. When they speak, they speak in lilting tones, and they always adhere to the
Golden Web Tapestry. Many Ba-e aristocrats also have Kadanay ancestry, which shows in
their magenta eyes. You begin with a valuable item.
7 Kadatuan or Royalty. You are directly connected to your settlement’s datu, either the
datu is your uncle, grandparent, or parent. You are revered as an Aristocrat, although
the expectation for you is much higher. If you are born female then you were treated as a
binukot, a veiled maiden, hidden from the rest of the world until you were to be wed to
someone your parents decided is fit for their social class. If you are born male you were
trained in the arts of war and leadership. You begin with a royal heirloom.
8 Sun’s Royalty. You are directly related to the Sangpamegat, who had a host of concubines
in her royal palace. You therefore inherit the grand Sun Heritage, and have the eyes of a
Kadanay’s: magenta and burning. You walk around with a host of servants, have a
personal Sun Shadow (Arawanino) who has pledged their life to protect you, and are
taught histories, arts, warfare, poetry, and martial arts, both local and foreign. You
begin with a gold sash, a signifier of your solar royalty.

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Conjunctures
Conjunctures are special events that happened at least
once in your life. Choose 2 below, or you can roll: roll a
d100, and simply reroll whenever you get a result higher
than 70.
1. Jamiyun Kulisa, Brother Thunder, God of the
Thunderclaps, resounded before you when you were
young, bleaching your hair white.
2. The Lord of the Forest took you in one day. You spent
7 years in his grove. Leaves and branches grow from
your hair.
3. You were born into great privilege and royalty:
perhaps you were a son of a well-known Datu within
Gatusan, or perhaps you were the crown prince of a
Datu who serves the Sultana of Akai. Nevertheless,
your privilege has blinded you to the truths of the
world. What was the one truth that enlightened you?
4. You blasphemed a Lord before, and you were kicked
out of your community.
5. You were sent out on a venture that your lord knew
only you could handle. You lost something when you
returned.
6. You fell in love with a spirit before. It did not end
well. You still dream of them. Sometimes you cry,
randomly.
7. You killed a crocodile when you were younger. The
ancestors curse you, and you do not rely on fate.
8. You led a tribute mission once before to a foreign
nation. Only you returned.
9. Humadaw, an ancient hero of your culture, spoke to
you directly when you cut off a part of a strangler fig.
You walk around with his eyes.
10. You were the spokesperson (atubang) for a lord
before, but you’ve lost that before becoming a
Kadungganan. What you did must have been dire.
11. You fell in love with a childhood friend. You two did
something that forced them to have their fingers cut.
12. You outwitted a spirit before, out in the grasslands. A
dark shadow stands at the corner of your room
whenever you sleep.
13. You were a veiled maiden (binukot), taught ancient
stories and songs and crafts. You escaped.
14. An agent of fate knocked on your door. You did not
answer. You no longer know if it is safe when
someone knocks on your door.
15. The God Galura, Creator of Whirlwinds and
Lightningstorms, revealed themself before you, and
gave you a broken sword. You carry this sword, but it
does nothing. Eagles keep watch over you.
16. An innovation ended horribly: you’ve lost your
original body. Your Four Part Soul exists in a body
you are not familiar with.
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17. The nature spirits spoke to you from the trees and the
mountains. You lost something important,
something that could’ve been the answer to
something you were doing, and the gods beckon to
you.
18. You were raised in a fishing settlement, where you
became skilled in the arts of sailing, boatcrafting,
and harpooning. You are intimate with the
Dagatnon, the little gods of the sea. How do those
stuck in land view you?
19. You were handed down an important weapon from
your parent, but you lost it somewhere. Where did
you lose it? What kind of weapon was it? You must
create something equal in importance.
20. You had an apprentice before.
21. You were born with a dream. A pattern, a weapon, a
boat. Are you trying to create it?
22. You saw an ancient datu in your dream once. He
killed you, and you watched as he carried your
decapitated head into distant lands.
23. You remember the tale of the Conquering King. He
who launched an attack at Heaven, only to find there
to be six more. The wisefolk that told you that story
disappeared the day after.
24. A forest spirit went mad, and you watched as a band
of Kadungganan quelled it.
25. Angels/Demons/Spirits destroyed the town you were
born in.
26. Imperialists created an iron village in the outskirts of
the forest you used to call home. Their fumes and
flames consumed the trees like hungry gods.
27. You were blinded, or hobbled in some way, due to a
fight you thought you could win.
28. Your anger got the best of you: you died. But,
somehow, you still live. Your Four-Part Soul still lives
on, complete and intact. Someone brought you back
from the brink.
29. You loved a servant before, not yours. They cried to
you as they were sacrificed in a ritual when their lord
died.
30. You broke an important bond with someone you
cared for. You regret that you can never mend your
broken relationship.
31. You cooked an amazing feast before, one that
resulted in the ignition of hearts.
32. You were born in Humonhon, the Isle of Ghosts. Your
community consisted of wandering souls, lost from
the coil.
33. You learned true patience after trying to fish for
ocean dragons.
34. You have the demon blight upon your hand. Hide it.
35. You used to have a whole slew of pets, from king
eagles to giant tortoises. You had to leave the island
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they frequented.
36. A winged eagle sang to you once, when you were a
child. You’ve been chasing the song ever since.
37. You copied the dance of fighting monkeys and
hawks, and you have become like that flaming dance
ever since.
38. You found the story of the ancient datu Sumakwel
being told by an elder shaman-healer. When you
heard the entire story, the shaman-healer died.
39. You brought a community to tears before. Why must
you inflict that? You must return to them one day.
40. A person you loved told you the story of the
Mahanaga, the great serpent that encircled the world
and one could see at night as a streak of white, like a
river of stars.
41. Javril, the Great Angel of Flowers, sang to you a
melody, one which you can only remember bits and
pieces from whenever you engage in violence.
42. You fell in love with a Goddess, who lives in the sky
above.
43. Your eye was plucked out by a crow. You’ve never
needed it since.
44. You gave counsel to a datu before, but it did not lead
to a good outcome.
45. You saw the truth of the world, you felt the Supreme
Soul, the goal of Hiyang, but have since forgotten it.
Glimpses of it appear in your trances.
46. You wrote a treatise on something before, but it's lost
to time or to flames. Someone read it before it was
vanquished.
47. You’ve been to the moon when you were a child. You
saw the factory of angels, and the nest of devils. You
saw the Grand Palace On The Moon.
48. A Langitnon, a god from the sky, gave you wisdom
before. It was the wisdom of forgetting, and you have
since forgotten it.
49. A Suladnon, a god from the world under, gave you
knowledge, before. It was the knowledge that all
knowledge is not true.
50. You were the only one that escaped your village’s
destruction.
51. You stole something from your datu, and so the datu
took something away from you.
52. You took a wrong turn and ended up in the
underworld, once. You found your way out thanks to
Iraon Daron, whose kind smile you will never forget.
53. An imperialist killed your parents, and then took pity
and adopted you.
54. Your body was stolen. You live in a body given to you
by a Langitnon. You do not remember how you look
like.
55. You died. Or, at least you thought so. You were
brought back to life by a Kadungganan, but the
Kadungganan died in doing so.
56. You fell in love with someone you were supposed to
steal from or con.
57. You killed an innocent person before.
58. You committed the atrocity of butchering, but you
were under orders. You were under orders.
59. You killed a nature spirit before. It was a petty spirit,
one of a minor stream you once loved bathing in.
60. A serpent coiled around your loved one and now that
loved one is immortal, but you cannot touch them.
61. The stories of the Night Child killed your nights. One
day, you met the night child, and they stole away your
gender.
62. You suffered a horrible, horrible injustice. To this
day, there is no reckoning.
63. You were part of a different warband. You no longer
fight together. One of them has died.
64. You moved to another settlement to follow someone,
but they were never there.
65. You were raised in a farming settlement deep into
the plains of Rusunuga. All your life, you saw giant
dragons flying in the clouds and warriors fighting in
the fields. Eventually, you left your farming
settlement, but this was a decision you’ve since
learned to regret.
66. You remember the beautiful multicolored flowers of
the grasslands of Kalanawan, but you don’t
remember having lived there ever in your life.
67. You were the apprentice of a blacksmith, but
someone killed your master, forcing you to wander
alone. Did you know who killed them?
68. You were swindled before by a wealthy merchant
prince, who went away with all your gold before. Do
you still look for them? Do you want your shit back?
69. You were raised in the streets of one of the
metropoles, and had to fight your way to survive,
becoming anyone and everyone’s servant. You were
blessed eventually by Buyung Limus-an, the Diwata
of Beggars. Where do you travel now? What useless
item did Buyung Limus-an give you?
70. You are a foreigner, looking for something here in
the Isles. You will not find it.
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Debt
No one in the Sword Isles gets into their present life unscathed, without Debt. Debt is the primary way of social
movement in the Isles, after all. Choose or roll. To randomize, roll a d6 (1-2 is 0; 3-4 is 10; 5-6 is 20) and a d10 (ones place)
to find a number between 1 and 3.
1. A Virbanwan Murderglave named Amihan, who puts
her work before her, to the detriment of herself. She
made something for you, out of a need to prove
herself.
2. A Gatusanon Heavenspear named Kilat, who shot
out from the sky and saved you from a lantaka
missile.
3. A Virbanwan Buwaya Lancer named Niqulas, whose
crocodile you almost killed.
4. Alho, a famous poet in Kangdaya, Capital of Gatusan,
famed for his wit and appeal. He helped you find a
safe place before.
5. Adlaw, a four-armed, red-skinned demon. He gave
you something you desperately needed at the time.
6. Humul, a traveler from Vuyu, the sacred mountains
of Rusunuga, who gave you a language no one else
can speak.
7. Iroy was a handsome Akai patron who you worked
for before, who did not put you in servitude.
8. Suban was an Apumbukid warrior who protected
your community before. They left before you could
thank them.
9. Payel was a Virbanwan merchant who helped you get
resources for a project.
10. Mahin, an old Akai sorceress, did you a favor, once.
She waits for you.
11. Akid, a deerfolk trickster who hunts for hawk eagles
in the forest, taught you a secret about shadows.
12. Binayaan, an escaped veiled maiden of the Rajah of
Gatusan, met you once and defeated you in single
combat.
13. Cortador, a Virbanwan Sword Saint, who showed you
nothing but sharpness, but helped you learn the
secrets of combat.
14. Sam’baha, who was a noble, royalty born to
Sipulapula, to the Royal Clan of Dimantag, but
treated you as an equal.
15. Puraw, a tamawo that wandered the forests of
Pumirang, friendly to the Confederation. They saved
you from getting lost.
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16. Asina, an Apumbukid weaver that shared her dreams
to you through her weavings.
17. Taraka, an ancient lake spirit that brought you water
when you thought you were to die.
18. Sumandak, an Akai civetfolk knight who offered you
a ride to an island you needed to go on his boat.
19. Tenshi, a Ba-enon mothfolk who helped you get
writing implements.
20. Dara, a Virbanwan warrior-dancer who guarded
your traveling caravan before.
21. Patima, an Akai singer and concubine to a lord,
whom gave you important advice.
22. Nara, a healer in the Golden City of Put’wan, who
healed you as you were in dire straits.
23. Maputra, an Akai veteran who only fights with a split
spear, who taught you how to fight.
24. Harina, a Ba-e guardian who you fought side by side
with in an old war against the demigiants.
25. Kampur, a wealthy cinnamon merchant, who gave
you a bit of something to help you on your way.
26. Samira, a beautiful Akainon sugapa peddler, who
sheltered you one day in her drughouse.
27. Suga, a proud monkey-prince who rides a great
horse from Apumbukid. He gave you a ride once
across the picturesque grasslands of Kalanawan.
28. Lyssa, a General in Virbanwa, who you stole once
from and was then excommunicated from Virbanwa.
29. Aduna, a kind giant cat living in the mountains,
whom you conned to escape from.
30. Hiyas, a Confederation professional thief and
corpse-raider who managed to fund a boat with her
exploits. You stole something that was a family
heirloom to her. You lost the heirloom.
 KADUNGGANAN
Complications
Complications are difficult and complicated
relationships with two other characters, usually between
Player characters. During character creation, choose two
Complications on the next page, or roll to randomize. Roll
a d50 (d100 and half the result).
On each Complication, one of the blanks must be a Player
Kadungganan. Each blank also must be a different name.
Creating NPCs during this turn is encouraged. The
names don’t have to be singular characters either, but
may also be polities or clans or other groups.
1 - I love ___, but so does ____. We know this, but the one
we love does not.
2 - ____ killed someone important to me, but __ must
protect them.
3 - I hold ___ dear to my heart, but they have forgotten
who I am. I saved them from __ before.
4 - I serve ___ loyally, but my heart calls me to follow __.
5 - I committed a crime before with ___, which caused us
to be exiled from our hometown, and caused __ to hate us.
6 - I love __ but __ loves me, and I know.
7 - My mentor, _____, does not know that I treat ___,
someone they disapprove of, like my best friend.
8 - I’m helplessly infatuated with ___, but they don’t know
this, they only see me as a friend and nothing else... And
___ knows this.
9 - I want to get in a relationship with ___, but __, my
sibling/mentor/parent, expressly disavows me from
being in any romantic relationship.
10 - ______ wants to kill me, but _______ is trying to stop
them.
11 - My parent has arranged for me to be married to __,
but I wish to be with _____, who I cannot be with.
12 - ____ doesn’t know that I was once a servant of ___.
13 - ____ and I are siblings, but we don’t know that _____is
our parent.
14 - I am scorned by __ for something I did to them, but
_____ thinks that they’re stupid for thinking that, and is
on my side at all costs.
15 - I have been looking for __ all my life, and ___ wants me
to kill them.
16 - I served under __, but left after _____ told me to do so.
17 - ______ can give me something that I want,, but ___
wants me to get away from them.
18 - I cannot explain why I am inexplicably drawn to ____,
but ___ is always at their side for reasons they cannot
explain either.
19 - My sibling, ___, was separated from me at birth, and
was brought up in ___.
20 - ___ does not know that they are my parent, and
______ wants to kill them.
21 - I have been honorbound by __ to protect ___.
22 - I love ____, and they love me back. However, they do
not take me seriously, and would rather be with ____.
23 - I have an important item from ___ that they gave me
when we were younger. I don’t know if they still
remember. ____ wants it from me.
24 - ___, a member from the upper class, wishes to wed
me, but I do not love them. I would rather be with _____,
who is no good to me.
25 - I had romantic relations with ___ before, but it never
went well. They’re with __ now, and it’s making things a
bit awkward.
26 - I changed allegiances from ____ so I can be with __.
27 - ___ is my father, and I wish to kill them because __
told me to do so.
28 - ____ humiliated me before, and I will never forgive
them. They did it in front of ___, who I hold dear.
29 - ___ saved me from mortal harm before, and so I have
given my life to them. However, I have done the same for
___, and I have a feeling that they have feelings for me.
30 - ___ and __ are good friends, however I’ve kissed one
of them and the other hates me for it.
31 - ____ is the child of my old master, whom I respect.
____ is my old master, and they are still looking for their
child.
32 - ____ is my mortal enemy, and I would stop at nothing
to kill them. _____ is the only reason why I haven’t yet.
33 - I am the disowned child of _____ martial arts clan.
_____ is an esteemed student of said clan.
34 - ______ and I used to be great friends with _____, who
died. It’s not the same anymore, and we’ve had rocky
relations since.
35 - ______ asked me to kill them so they wouldn’t get
married to ______.
36 - ______ and I were on opposite sides of a split in a
martial art clan, of whom _____ is the heir.
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37 - ______ hates me, and only _____ knows why.
38 - ______ and I are great friends. We sit
beneath weeping trees and sing of songs we wish
to see. ____ is jealous of our friendship.
39 - ______ has made me something I still
cherish. _____ wants it back.
40 - ______ killed someone important to me, and
______ wants to kill them for me.
41 - _______ and _______ are my best friends, but
they have forgotten me for some reason.
42 - ______ taught me how to fight, but ______
taught me how to hate.
43 - I have fought _________ to a standstill, who
________ has struggled to defeat.
44 – I need _______ to give me something I need,
but ________ keeps them away from me.
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45 – I used to be friends with _________ but
_______ revealed to me something I didn’t like
about them.
46 - _______ used to be my childhood best friend,
but _________ took me away from them.
47 - _______ and ________ served the same
master before, but that master forced us apart for
reasons I don’t know.
48 - _______ is afraid of me, and I don’t know
why. They have told _______ for some reason.
49 - ________ needs to kill me to fulfill an
obligation they were forced into with _______.
50 - ________ wants me to get together with
________ but we’ve already known each other for
a long time, and don’t want to get together for
reasons we both know.
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Convictions
The Kadungganan of old sing of a horrible tale. The tale of three stars.

The first Kadungganan, The Dog Warrior, was said to have arrived in this world with nothing but a blade. A pure
blade, with no hilt. He arrived and stepped upon a river of blood. The First Star Era. He was born to inflict
violence, but instead he was burdened with Rumination. “Why must we fight, if nothing changes?”

The second Kadungganan, the Invincible Queen of Glaves, stepped upon Gubat Banwa with a dress made of one
thousand and one spears. With her crown, she looked out into the world and saw everything fit for the taking.
And so, she conquered. All the lands, all the people. And she scoured the world, and infested it with Scourge,
because all those that come in contact with the Flame of Want are singed. What else if violence if not change?
It is a fire, everything within it and around it are irrevocably different.

The third Kadungganan, the First Chattel, walked upon the world and saw the hatred and Scourge that infested
the world, singed in the wake of the Invincible Queen of Glaves, and sought to put it to rights, with his Steel. He
changed the world with the strength of his Principle, but in so doing began the Cycles of Violence. Who are we
to ignore wisdom? Wield the Flame of Want like a blade, along with Principle and Rumination, and only then shall
you rend heaven and hell.

As a Kadungganan, your Conviction is the primary reason why you live and fight. It will help you hold on, help you dictate
what you want to do. An integral thing about Convictions is that they are liquid: they can change during Play, if it makes
sense fictionally.

What follows is a non-exhaustible list of Convictions.

1. Curiosity. Seek something, always seeking. What is it? Even I do not know, but the pull of the unknown is enough to
put the winds upon my sails.

2. Survival. As the Archipelago drowns in the blood of its children, I will stay afloat, by iron and fire.

3. Wealth. Servants, connections, heirloom wealth, and religion. Why else live if not to guarantee these things for me
and mine?

4. Valor. I fight to fulfill the prophecies and songs of eld: of a hero who must face the darkness, with nothing but a
sword of light and a smile like the sun.

5. Loyalty. Whether it be for their blood or for their heart, the reason I fight is to stay true to the one who owns my soul.

6. Honor. What life is there to live, if it is not a life of virtue? Why wield a sword if not to uphold one’s principles? Why
live, if there is nothing to live for but base animal instinct?

7. Revenge. What goes around comes around. The circle is unbroken, and it brings with it the spike of judgment.

8. Family. My family might be broken, or not one of blood, or like an arrow lost in the trade winds, but it is mine. And
they are all I have.

9. Spite. My soul churns and my spirit boils. I have been cast down like false idols. I shall rise again, and those that will
suffer my scorn will know my name as I say it while impaling them with my blade.

10. Duty. There is something that I must do, and it is something that only I can do. Another might get it wrong. Who else
could it be but me?

11. Knowledge. There is a future that we all can see. One only needs a light bright enough to see it. Walk with me, and let
us attain wisdom. Let the path we forge be the right one.

12. Love. My heart bleeds, enslaved, and my soul is the lake. My passion courses like the rivers of Gubat Banwa for the
one that holds my life in thrall. My tears flow in devotion.

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Warbands!
Warbands are the parties of Kadungganan that wander
and serve in Gubat Banwa. Warbands are important
unities: they are consecrated with the Blood Compact
Ritual: the act of bleeding into wine and then everyone
drinking from it, all their bloods intermixed. Those in the
Blood Compact must serve each other as if they were the
closest of brothers with their livers connected.

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Warbands
The First Kadungganan Warband was said to have been formed by the ancient First Chattel, who gathered together the first
martial artists of the bloody Warring Realms, toiling under the Scourge, to strike back against the Invincible Queen of Glaves.

The First Chattel found the practitioner of striking arts, of quick-movement, fast as winds: Kalakatri, Her Murderous Glory,
who wielded the first kalis and summoned ebony lightning. Kalakatri did not join him, but instead, granted the First Slave her
sword and shield.

Then the First Chattel met the practitioner of protective arts, of shield protection, area denial, and forced movement: Sri
Katun Sahaja, the Crumbling Boulder, who wielded the grand breastplate of defeated giants and deflected thunder.

They went on to save the practitioner of vast striking, master of long-ranged arts, of swallow blades, of burning bullets:
Lontok Alam Gantar, the Thundering Echoing Cannon, who wielded the first lantaka and was the crafter of firearms.

They then had to persuade, up within a deep forest mountain, the great hexer, practitioner of the eldest witcheries, who
could mold Scourge and make it into weapon: Dewasuhawa, the First Witch, who wielded the ancient palm leaf scrolls,
summoner of both demons and gods.

Finally, to complete the warband, they needed a warlord. A general who could lead them to victory. They found, sitting before
a silent and stagnant, cold lake, the First Hari, the First God-King: The Conquering King Rajaraya Pintas. He who ventured into
heaven and challenged The Sun Mother, he who ventured into heaven and stole the name Hari from the gods.

The Conquering King was a demigiant: he was born from a giant mother and a bamboofolk father. His eyes were large,
bulging, and his canines grew like tusks. He towered over the rest. But the First Kadungganan Warband banded together and
defeated the Conquering King with diversity and understanding. With the defeat of the Conquering King, he agreed to join
the Warband. And so The First Chattel went on to challenge the Invincible Queen of Glaves.

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When creating your Kadungganan, think of how your
Warband got together. A common answer is that the
Warband was formed under the particular chief you
serve, and that is the norm in the isles: blood compacts
serving their chief faithfully is how chiefs create
connections and establish power. However, some
Kadungganan can choose to be wandering warriors,
holding allegiance to nobody but to each other. This offers
less protection in the violent world of Gubat Banwa, as the
protection and comfort of being in a community is a
luxury most people will want to afford.
Once you know why your Warband got together, the
entire Warband should have a single Blood Compact
Want. This is a Want for the entire Warband, something
they can build towards together. Like with personal
Wants, this can change throughout the Kandu.
Afterwards, choose a Warband Nature.
Warband Natures
You can choose to roll a d10 to randomize.
The Datu’s Warriors [1-2]
This is the most common Warband nature: a single datu
surrounded by their warrior vassals. The datu goes on
ventures and their vassals accompany them, sworn by
oath and blood to follow their datu to the very end.
Choose 1 Kadungganan to be the datu, and every other
Kadungganan is that datu’s warrior. The datu assigns the
following to the other Kadungganan. Assign until all have
a moniker:
0 “You, [Kadungganan], are my Sword. Let your steel cut
all, even me.”
0 “You, [Kadungganan], are my Shield. Let your ironwood
stop the sky from crashing into us, and let your mesh catch
the blades of the gods.”
0 “You, [Kadungganan], are my Anvil. Upon you the new
world shall be born, a world better than this one.”
0 “You, [Kadungganan], are my Headwrap. Your command
and your presence shall set this world aflame.”
0 “You, [Kadungganan], are my Dagger. May you do the
things none of us can.”
Warband Name: The Forgotten Swords, Radiant Glory,
Heritors of the Flame, Make one up
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4. Bearer of Jamiyun Kulisa’s Thunderbolt. You are

Wandering Mangubat [3-4]
Mangubat means warrior, so wandering mangubat
means “Wandering Warrior.” This Warband nature is
increasingly becoming more common in the Isles, as war
intensifies and mercenarism has risen. Your
Kadungganan have sworn a blood oath to each other,
and now travel the isles with nothing but a boat to your
name.
Your Warband has 1 Boat. Name it. It is, right now, your
only possession. It is rowed by a number of paddlers,
each one lowly warriors of their own right. Each of you
are well acquainted with one of the paddlers. Having a
Boat in the Sword Isles means you are well off, and you
can travel as freely as you can. The Boat is also
considered a Place of Peace.
Warband Name: Iron Owl, Quicksilver Falcons, Falling
Star Swords, Make one up
Servants of Divinity [5-6]
You are all part of a religious sect, or follow a particular
god, and travel the islands carrying out the will of the
one you follow. Tell us your faith: is it strong, or is it
forced? Is there room for doubt, or are you at the end of
your love?
warriors that carry on the legacy of the great
thunderbolt god, who once cleansed this land and
bleached it with lightning. You travel and kill those
that try to upset the natural order of things, to
cleanse people of Scourges, and to facilitate
rebellions against tyrants. All Kadungganan gain
the Jamiyun Kulisa’s Thunderbolt Talisman:
Interact with this to make your next air attack
Overwhelming.
5. Menders of Indira Suga. You are traveling scholar-
warriors who follow the greatest god of the Isles, the
Mother Sun Indira Suga. You have been deployed by
Ba-e’s House of Wisdom to collect as many
traditions and songs as you can and record or copy
them onto copperplates, so that it will never be lost.
The scholar-kings of Ba-e have realized that with
the intensifying war and the coming Longest Year,
these things must be copied, no matter how
imperfect, to give them second winds. Gain
Copperplate x3: Use to create a perfect copy of a
song, poem, epic, or story that you hear. For every
perfect copy you bring back to the House of
Wisdom, gain a golden item.
Warband Name: Hellraiders, The Inescapable Blades,
The Halo of Indira Suga, Make one up

Choose from below which religious sect or god you

follow. Each are coded with the five major polities:

1. Paladni Santiago. Palm of Santiago. The exorcist

branch of the Ashen Star Congregation, they have
been turned and made into not just expungers of
demons, but also hunters of heresies. Each
Kadungganan of the Warband gains agua bendita:
Interact with this to give your next attack against
Undead, Ghosts, or Demons gain +1 Hit

2. Kalis Bulan. Moon Sword. Warriors of Divine

Striving that focus on the Striving of Purification,
followers of Baginda Sumongsuklay, the Moon
Goddess. They bring with them the breaking of the
world: they will cleanse the world of all Scourge,
until none are left, and all are pure. Each
Kadungganan of the Warband gains Purification
Oil: Interact with the oil to coat your weapon with it.
Until the end of violence, all your attacks that bring
Ghosts or Undead to 0 HP exorcize.

3. Wardens of Hiyang. You are warriors that follow

the holy Mastery of Paghihiyang, the Truth of
Harmony with Nature, as taught by the Elders of
Apumbukid. You scour the isles for signs of Di
Hiyang, expunge Scourges, and work to heal
settlements, so that atrocity may never happen
again. All Kadungganan gain Cleansing Flowers:
When you make a Cast that is related to spirit world,
gain +1d.

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[7-8] Gavri of the East, Warrior Princess of North

Vaßals [7-8]
Another common Warband nature, however none of the
Kadungganan are datu. They choose a single datu that
they serve, and they are immersed into that datu’s
community. The datu treats them rightly, but the
Warband must always travel and fight with the datu as
they go on their travails and ventures.
Choose or roll [1d10] to find out the Datu you serve.
[1-2] Takdul Suwarga, the Crescent Moon Datu. A great
chief who owns a powerful harbor principality and has a
settlement that is sometimes visited by foreign junks and
ships. Takdul Suwarga gained his power for slaying and
stealing away all the chiefs’ settlements around his
island, which was arrayed like a crescent. He is part of
Gatusan’s 999 Chiefdoms, but he has recently converted
to the Bulanan, the Lunar Faith, and is attached to the
Sultana.
Each Kadungganan gains the following consumable:
[Knife Talisman: When you Cast to travel quietly or
sneakily, gain +1d.]
[3-4] Datu Sumangga, the Thunderlord. A rival to Takdul
Suwarga, Datu Sumangga is one of the most heralded
chiefs of the Sword Isles, having traveled to grand Baik
Hu and returned with white ivories and majestic titles.
His settlement, Kangsangga, is a well known harbor
principality that is part of the 999 Chiefdoms, but very
commonly works with Apumbukid to uphold Hiyang. If
you follow Datu Sumangga, there is a chance that you
fight for him with pride, as he is one of most benevolent
datu in the isles. Whispers of the balyan say that he is
preparing to ride a skybarge into heaven.
Each Kadungganan gains the following consumable:
[Lightning Lentil: Interact with this in combat to gain
SPD+1 x2]
Virbanwa. A female lady to the north of Virbanwa, living
upriver from a harbor principality. Her settlement,
Silang-silang, is one of the largest producers of rice in the
Virbanwan region, and Virbanwa has taxed her heavily
because of this. They went from subsistence farming to
bleeding the land dry. Gavri of the East, whose strength
and beauty is unmatched, is a master of the itak, the
chopping blade, and she will not stop. Whispers of the
balyan say that Silang-silang rises, rises! O, how it will
burn so bright! Aba, aba, Gavri of the East, reincarnation
of Mother Madiyah, Saintess of Liberty! Deliver us from
the grips of Virbanwa.
Each Kadungganan gains the following item: [Tax Cards.
Allows you entrance into Virbanwan forts without
discrimination, but you will immediately be taxed when
you do: you must give away 1 item that the taxors deem a
commodity.]
[9-10] Kalma, the Gun-King of Palita. A gunlord with a
gun foundry east of Ba-e, too terribly close to the
Kalangitan River that leads into Virbanwa’s bay. The
settlement is a haven for blacksmiths, and its blacksmith
sheds have been built to interconnect with each other.
Stone walls have been erected to protect the place here,
and the nobles have erected stone houses as well.
Virbanwan and Ba-e cultures have intermixed within.
Kalma, the Gun-King, is a demigiant, said to lock himself
within his shed–a giant longhouse–for moons on end,
trying to craft the perfect gun that can kill gods.
Each Kadungganan gains the following item: [Bullet. If
you kill someone with this bullet, that person will become
undead in two full moons.]
Warband Names: Faithful of Takdul, Bringer of Night,
Gun-Princes, Make one up

[5-6] Tuwan Bulisik, Grand Elder of Venom. A datu that

lives deep in the Pumirang Peninsula and speaks
regularly with the spirits of that peninsula. They are not a
harbor principality, but their name is well respected
across The Sword isles. They fight with the greatest of
Venoms, blessed by the Serpent Goddess Nagined, one of
the Grand Earth Guardians, and ride into battle upon
magnificent warhogs. They have mastered the art of bow-
and spear-fighting, and the secrets of guerrilla warfare.
Whispers of the balyan say, however, that he is growing
too large, that he is slowly becoming a serpent god
himself, and that he is seeking to conquer Apu Dayaw, the
Center of the World.

Each Kadungganan gains the following consumable:

[Udto Venom: Interact with this to bless your weapon
with Udto Venom. When you next make a melee attack,
also inflict Fray x2.]

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Fighting Lords [9-10]
Your Kadungganan are, in truth, chiefs of their own,
following one of the five major polities’ God-Kings. This is
the most difficult warband nature if you’re starting off, as
it will most likely lead into intense politics within the
political framework of The Sword Isles. However Fighting
Lords gameplay is good for those that wish to engage in
the intense interpolitical truth of the Sword Isles, and
perhaps even influence it enough to change its trajectory.
God-Kings are not the most correct term for them, but
they are infused with divinity and command great
swathes of people through their sheer command of their
presence. What are they but not God-Kings?
Choose or roll [1d10] to choose a God-King you are
commanded by.
[1-2] Raja Batara Ambasi, The God-King of The Painted
Ones. Aba, aba, glory be to him! The flame haired Hari! The
First Hari of Gatusan, the great God-King, he who shall
raid the world! The 999 Chiefdoms unite underneath him
and they are blessed, granted the future of a united
Gatusan, with a Sword Isles revelling in the violence! The
Hari shall descend upon the world and unite the disparate
polities and take their violence to the world!
The Warband gains the following item: Gold Agung. A
gong, which can be carried around. When those of lower
social class than the Kadungganan see the agung they will
respect you. The agung is a sign of power.
[3-4] Sultana Yarashgara XII, Her Majesty The Moon
Consort, The Dark Moon. Aba, aba, glory to the Sultana!
Her wisdom and knowledge slices through the night. She
is the Dark Moon, consort to Baginda Sumongsuklay, the
Moon that never leaves, the night-watcher when the Moon
Goes Hunting. She gathers her stars and scatters them
upon the world. Gubat Banwa shall know the light of the
moon! With her lunar blades and wicked graceful
masques she prepares her temples and cities and the
various kings beneath her–BENEATH her!--and she will
sunder this world, sheathe it in moonlight, and create a
new one. The Fourteen Realms shall become a thing of the
past, this wretched hive of violence.
The Warband gains the following item: Lunar
Spearscepter. A spear with a head copper turned into a
crescent moon. Those that follow the Sultana will
recognize your superiority.
[5-6] Apu Dayaw, the God Within The Earth’s Center. Aba,
aba, glory to the greatest god, the ancient of ancients. Apu
Dayaw! You who are the heart of Gubat Banwa, skewered
through by the great kalis of the Laughing Thunder God.
You’ve had your revenge, beloved, dear God: the Laughing
Thunder God is dead now, its tears becoming lightnings
and its wails becoming the thunders. What now, great
one? It shall take eight long Cycles for you to remove the
sword from you. As the Eighth Star Era begins, you shall
rise, and you shall cease all division, and thou shall bring
return all things to pure, unadulterated, true, and peerless
and perfect oneness.
190
The Kadungganan gain the following item: Aurelian
Waling-waling. A perfect flower of gold and crimson, five
petals to showcase the five aspects of Apu Dayaw, God of
the Cosmos. Dihiyang beings will immediately know you
are there and be wary of you.
[7-8] Batara Lakan Huwan Rekno, The Gumamela of the
River Plains, the Flower of Passion, He Who Bleeds for
the World’s Sins, the Herald of Yumao, The Fated Quietus.
Aba, aba! Glory to the God-King of the Virbanwans, the
slayer of Pale Kings, the repeller of alien invaders!
However the damage is done, the Scourge festers in their
hearts, they are spoiled and rotten to the core. O, Batara
Lakan, arise our beloved Flower of Passion! Take upon
yourself, upon your bleeding heart, the sins of the
Virbanwans, and then lead us to the Millennium Kingdom
of God! May the Ashen Star gleam brighter than the sun,
may your sacrifice bring us unity, glory, conquest, peace!
O, Batara Lakan! Bleed for us, and let our sins become
your sword, and become as Makaubos, cleanse this world,
and summon Makagagahum, the Almighty, and Virbanwa
shall become the greatest Empire! Make us great, make us
great.
The Kadungganan gain the following item: Bloody
Sidereal Rosary. Angels and other mechanical divinities
will listen to your commands. They may not necessarily
follow your orders, but they will listen.
[9-10] Dayang Kalangitan, Sangpamegat of Ba-e, The
Great Silent Singer, Perfection of Knowledge and Love,
Whose Living Corpse Houses Gubat Banwa’s Secrets.
Aba, aba! Glory to the God-Queen, heir to Urduja’s
Legend, the Queen of Regents, the Water Dancer, the
Gilded Heron Dancing Upon Water Lilies! There is no end
to your sobriquets, for the end of names is death. The
Dayang’s soul permeates all of Ba-e, sharing her wisdom
and knowledge to all! She shall be as goddesses, great Seri
Dewi Kalangitan, Queen of Heaven. She shall expand Ba-
e, turn it into the only living Empire, the greatest Empire
in the world, expanding Ba-e’s influence into every corner
of the world until Ba-e is synonymous with power and
wealth. The Dayang shall become Chakravala
Chakravartin, or in the tongue of Holy Ba-e: Panginoong
Pangkalahatan, God of Everything, and Ba-e shall never,
ever, ever die.
The Kadungganan gain the following item: Indira Suga
Icon. An icon of the patron of the elder polity, now
syncritized with the iconic Vajradewi, the Thunderbolt
Goddess that protected Himayanon Nuwara (the
syncretized form of Annuvara, the ascetic who founded
Annuvaran thought, meaning Blossomed Annuvara), at
the cusp of his enlightenment and achievement of Glory.
Spirits will be wary of you, and listen to you. If they deem
you harmonious, they will be exceedingly friendly. If not,
then they will be exceedingly hostile.
Warband Name: Swords of Makagagahum, Turners of the
Wheel, Painted Kings, Make One Up
KADUNGGANAN

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 KADUNGGANAN
Kadungganan Advancement: Legend
Legend represents a Kadungganan’s combat prowess and
ability, strength, skill, experience, fame, and rising glory.
As they rise in Legend, they find more and more things
about themselves, as well as the various Martial Arts of
Gubat Banwa. Legend starts at 0 and ends at 8, wherein
they are very capable of attaining Glory.
When you end a Session, accomplish Victory in Violence,
accomplish an optional objective, find a truth about the
world, or find something that furthers your realization of
your own Glory, gain 1 XP.
Legend Arcs: The Glory Path
Arc 1 - Earth
Arc 1 is known as the Arc of Earth, because the
Kadungganan still have their feet upon the ground. Arc 1
encompasses Legend 0-2. At this stage, the Kadungganan
have trained their skills but don’t have much combat
experience of their own. They must go out there and make
their names known. They can be performing the
following:
0 Working for various Datu as free roaming mercenaries.
0 Performing various jobs for the datu of their own
settlement.
0 Traveling across the lands accruing wealth and legend
that they did not have.
0 Trying to break free from tyrannical overlords.
Arc 2 - Lightning
Arc 2 is known as the Arc of Lightning, because the
Kadungganan are rising above and taking on various,
more challenging situations. Arc 2 encompasses Legend
3-5. They cannot sit idly by, their inherent Gahom pushes
them forward, their innate spiritual power calls them to
perform greater and greater deeds, or else die in the cycle
of violence.
Arc 2 can even be split up into its own Mini-Arcs with how
much venturing the Kadungganan are meant to do. Some
examples of what they might be doing are:
0 Establishing their own community, no matter how small.
0 Fighting against powerful datu with large settlements or
towns.
0 Venturing deep into hitherto untraveled paths, like Deep
Forests, the Floor of the Ocean, the Cave to the Underworld,
and even the Clouds.
0 Making a name for themselves as their titles are writ
across the isles, and more and more datu chase after them.
At Arc 2, a Kadungganan must have an Arc 2 Form, known
as their Refined Form. At this point, something about
them has changed physically, representing the rising of
their own abilities, and the things they have faced in Arc 1.
192
When you enter into Downtime with 10 XP, your Legend
Grows, and then you lose 10 XP. Do the following below:
0 Gain a new Technique from any Discipline.
0 Add +1 to any of your Alignments (max 6).
0 Add 1 point to your Martial Abilities (max 7).
0 Gain an Anting-Anting at Legend 1, 3, 5, 7. You can gain
Anting-Anting out in the world. You have 2 Anting-Anting
Slot at Arc 1, 3 at Arc 2, and 4 at Arc 3. You cannot equip more
Anting-Anting than you have Slots.
They should also get a new name, which can be a sobriquet
or title, but will always reflect their exploits during the
past Arc.
Arc 3 - Heaven
Arc 3 is known as the Arc of Heaven. At this point, the
Kadungganan are poised to fulfill that fabled verse: Seize
heaven’s thunderclaps. Arc 3 encompasses Legend 6-8,
and showcases them not at the end of their venturing days
but rather, at their peak. They are on the cusp, perhaps, of
Glory: liberation from the wheel of violence, manifesting
in visages of God-Kings and Devil-Witches, attainment of
the demeanors of actual buddhas and bodhisattvas. Some
examples of what the Kadungganan are meant to do are:
0 Running their own settlements that can become Mandala
of their own right.
0 Wrestling with legendary monsters and creatures of
myth, preventing Celestial Eaters from eating either the Sun
or the Moon.
0 Fighting with Gods and bringing them to heel, or maybe
even becoming Gods themselves by dying in glorious
combat.
0 Enacting long-lasting change upon Gubat Banwa,
perhaps even contributing to the end or even ending the
Cycles of Violence.
At Arc 3, a Kadungganan must have their final aesthetic
change, known as their Perfected Form. They should have
changed drastically from who they were at Arc 1, and this
represents their skills at its utmost peak. Here they are
meant to match gods and goddesses with their visages,
manifestations of wrathful deities. At Arc 3, a
Kadungganan gains a final name, one which they will be
remembered for the rest of time.
You can keep playing past Legend 8, though you do not
gain more Legends. Instead, every 10 XP, you can spend
the XP during Downtime to gain a new Technique.
However, going into Violence, you cannot have more than
10 Techniques at your disposal. You can choose which of
your 10 Techniques you’re bringing at the start of
Violence.
 KADUNGGANAN

Alternative Advancement: Advancement Table

Combat Legend
An alternative advancement that
you can choose to do if you don’t
want to track XP. Combat Legend
advancement is simple: after
every 5 Violences, raise Legend
by 1.

This can be used if you have fewer

Violences in particular in your
campaign as well, so that
Violences can be seen as
milestones.

With this, XP is completely

unused.

Base Form Refined Form Perfected Form

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 KADUNGGANAN
Disciplines
All Kadungganan are asdang haniti, (literally, hand-to-
hand combat experts) masters of martial arts. Disciplines
are systems of fighting, martial arts, spread throughout
the Sword Isles. There are exactly One Million and One
Fighting Sciences in The Sword Isles alone. Very common
among the Arts are familial strifes, grudges between
martial arts that are similar and/or have deep-seated
histories, as well as the act of keeping particular martial
arts a secret from outsiders. The names for these
Disciplines are very often the practitioner of their Martial
Art.
The irst martial arts were invented by the gods at the
beginning of time, when they resorted to war to arbitrate
their concerns like the hypocrites they are.
When they eventually taught the ways of violence to
mortals, it became known as the Balahala Hinagiban
Agham, the Godly Weapon Science. From here the first
martial art arose, violence taught by nature itself:
Asdang.
Discipline Traits
Each Discipline has their Style (their preferred role in
combat). Choose 1 from the Weapon list and 2 from the
Armor list (these are non-exhaustive, you can use any
weapon or armor you wish to wear, but must begin with 1
Weapon and 2 Armor pieces). These are purely for fiction.
Then it will list down the 2-3 traits that define that
Discipline. You always have access to these traits as long as
that’s your active Discipline.
Then, each Discipline has 3 Inflict Violences that you have
access to as long as you’re that Technique, but which you
lose access to once you switch out of that Discipline. The 3
Inflict Violences reinforce their Style and are considered
their fundamental techniques, and are commonly used
for attacking, but can also be used for support or
movement. The Basic Techniques of a Discipline is simply
the basic techniques found in all martial arts filtered
through the philosophies of that particular style.
Afterwards, each Discipline has 5 Techniques, which one
must learn from masters.
Techniques
Techniques are ancient battle arts and the most advanced
teachings of a Discipline. In general, the order it is written
should also be the order you enact the effects of each
written Technique. Each Discipline has 5 Techniques,
each following after the last.
Each Advanced Technique evolves from the generic basic
techniques that can be found from all across every martial
art. Therefore, when you rise in Legend, you learn an
Advanced Technique from any Discipline. You do not
need to learn their basic techniques because you already
have basic techniques of your own (of course, this does not
apply if your active Discipline is that).
194
Asdang began the tradition of Guros passing down what
they know to learners. "Balahala Hinagiban Kaalamdag"
is now a spiritual rite, a principle, a fabled title that all
aspire to. It is the science and tradition, revered and
favored, taught from ancestors to descendants.
All Disciplines are born from the Godly Weapon Science.
The combat arts are known differently for each of the
Polity, although they all mean the same thing.
0 Virbanwa calls their martial arts Sining Pandigma.
0 Gatusan calls their martial arts Paagi sa Gubat.
0 Akai calls their martial arts Agama Pagbunu.
0 Ba-e calls their martial arts Pagdahas.
0 Apumbukid calls their martial arts Kaqalim Matarem.
When you read a Technique, the order in which they are
written is the order in which you apply the effects.
Techniques are affected by Banes unless otherwise noted.
If a Technique lets you move 3 spaces, but you are
Immobilized, you cannot move those 3 spaces.
Techniques are inherently combat moves. However, you
can use a Technique outside of combat if it applies. You
can only use a Technique in this manner once per scene.
Each Technique will have their Prerequisite Technique
(Prereq) listed. You must have first learned the proper
Prerequisite Technique/s to learn that Technique.
Enlightenment Techniques
Enlightenment Techniques are the most powerful
Techniques of a Discipline, and can only be learned from a
master once every Technique has been learned from that
Discipline. Once every Technique is learned, the
Enlightenment is immediately learned and can be used,
even if that isn’t your current Discipline.
Enlightenment Techniques exemplify the virtues and
philosophies of a particular discipline. However, they
require a lot of stamina and a perfect timing. Therefore,
Enlightenment Techniques once used cannot be used
again until after a Downtime, to recuperate the required
energies to use the Enlightenment again.
Finally, when going into Violence, you can only ready one
Enlightenment (if you have multiple). Many
Enlightenments also have passive effects (effects that
happen even without using Beats for it). You cannot stack
two Enlightenments: you must choose a single
Enlightenment that you are internalizing when going into
violence. You cannot use any other Enlightenment other
than that.
Finally, once a Kadungganan has used an Enlightenment,
no other Kadungganan can use their Enlightenment any
more for that Violence.
 KADUNGGANAN

Discipline Styles
All Kadungganan begin their path learning a Discipline, one of the many families and systems of
martial arts across the Sword Isles. Each one has a certain name, but each one is commonly classified
to one of the 5 styles depending on how they approach their art and how they deal in violence.
The Styles are both origins and categorizations.
Sentinel Style describes martial arts that focus on defending, whether
it be themselves or others, and having water buffalo tenacity. They have
the capability to mitigate the most damage but tend to be slower and
more ponderous. Sentinels laugh in the face of Raiders.

Raider Style describes martial arts that focus on movement, fluidity,

and damage. Their techniques tend to focus on dealing as much damage
as possible and moving as much as possible, although since they mostly
do their damage from up close, they are horribly vulnerable to being
locked down and focused on. Raiders laugh in the face of Sharpshooters.

Sharpshooter Style describes martial arts that focus on long-ranged

attacks, dependable damage, and area effects. Their techniques tend
to focus on attacking fighters from afar, and usually more accurately
than others. Since they focus on these techniques, they tend to move
slower than other Styles and a lot of their abilities lose a lot of efficacy at close
ranges. Sharpshooters laugh in the face of Witches.

Witch Style describes martial arts that focus on eviscerating attacks,

area denial, and condition-application. Their abilities tend to stop
movement, or inflict persistent damage, or force movement upon
others, and they are good at ripping away armor. However they have
low defenses in exchange, some of the lowest in the game, to compensate for their
wicked debilitations. Witches laugh at Sentinels.

Medium Style describes versatile martial arts that focus on supporting

allies and doing esoteric effects that always force interesting
situations to happen to the battlefield. Their abilities tend to heal
allies, give Precision and damage reductions, enable their actions, or
give allies benefices for doing things that help the Discipline. Their
Traits tend to be average across the board, they do not inherently laugh at any of the
other Styles.

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Choosing a Discipline
When you first create a Kadungganan, you must choose a Discipline: the martial art that you focus in on that contributes
to the river of blood that flows through The Sword Isles’s veins.

Choosing a Discipline might be daunting: there are 25 Disciplines, spread across the 5 Polities. Read on to be guided.

Each Discipline is born from a particular Polity. That does not mean a Kadungganan must come from that Polity, just that
it was created within it. Disciplines being in various different Polity is the norm now. For example, the Sarimanok Knight
was born in Akai, but they are just as common now as mounted cavalry in Virbanwa.

To help you understand them, let’s talk about the five major polities poised to change the Sword Isles forever. Afterwards,
the Disciplines will be listed according to their Mandalas in the following pages.

Gatusan: The Painted Warriors Apumbukid: The Stewards of

of the Endleß Sea
Raiders and warlords, they seek to expand their reach and
bring all the people of The Sword Isles under their
jurisdiction, and soon they will raid the world.
Gatusan Disciplines are built with violence and speed in
mind. They are warriors that split the sea. As much as
possible, Disciplines that can survive in the undulations of
the waves arise and thrive in Gatusan.
Buwaya Lancer. Sentinels that ride in upon mighty giant
crocodiles steeds to change the battlefield. They and their
buwaya stand upon the battlefield like a rock, barring
movement, locking down those that dare move away from
them, and controlling the square that is theirs, as the river
lords that they are.
Kawal. A frontline Sentinel that specializes in staying in
the front and never moving, protecting allies, and
preventing attacks. Garbed head to toe in armor-raiment
of the water buffalo, they are charged to protect the isles
with their shield, weapon, and tenacity. And they will hold
the line.
Mangangayaw. Raiders and fighters that scour the seas
and raid other war ships and shoreline settlements
without fear or reservation. They fight to maintain a
raiding high, a thrill that carries them to perform better,
stronger, quicker.
the Center of the World
Defenders, caretakers, and sentinels. Those of the
Confederation seek only one thing: to protect the Holy
Mountain of Apu, the Central Pillar of the Earth, from all
conquerors, within The Sword Isles and without. They
have since adopted an aggressive stance on Stewardship,
traveling to the sacred places in hinterlands to protect
them from expansion.
Apumbukid Disciplines are concerned with stewardship
and harnessing of the universe, as well as hewing closely
to tradition and ritual. They were, of course, built with the
protection of holy places in mind. Their might is in the
spiritual, in what is purely natural. Their Disciplines
typically have good relations with the gods.
Death Dancer. Hypocritical Raider Warrior-Dervishes
that have eschewed weapons to become hypocrisy
incarnate: one who uses the strength gleaned from
Hiyang to kill. They have mastered themselves and have
become one with nature, reaching levels of enlightenment
impossible for others, but has eschewed transcendence
for violence. They internalize this bodhisattva-twilight
state, learning to use multiple stances at the same time.
Headtaker. Raider Masters of the ritual art of killing, and
practitioners of the holy tradition of decapitation.
Warriors that preserve yet at the same time blaspheme the
holy rite of killing.

Sword Poet. A mid-range Sentinel that protects allies by
being supremely mobile, moving upon the winds of their
songs, and supporting allies. A warrior who fights with
peerless weapon dancing and weeping verses and song to
twist and wrench the souls of those that would inflict
violence.
Warrior Balyan. A spirit Medium that provides healing
and buffing with Idols and the power of the gods. Trained
to fight in spiritual violence for this never-ending war.
They specialize in offering healing and strengthening
incantations and spirits.
Makinaadmanon. Powerful Witches that apply curses,
heal allies, and destroys warbands with their Kinaadman:
the enlightened wisdom that lets one manipulate the
world through the use of proper incantations and godly
mudras.
Tigpana. Sharpshooter Archers who master the art of
sniping enemies from afar from vantage points, shadow,
and bamboo. A useful and even necessary component to
war in both the sea and the hinterlands.
Warspeaker. Witch Masters of the mystic mentala and
razor logic, who use their words to break enemies as well
as to manipulate the illusion of reality.

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Akai: The Conquering
Monarchy
Strivers that will never be defeated, knights and holy lunar
warriors. They will conquer all of The Sword Isles in their
own way. All will be one under the Moon Goddess.
Akai Disciplines train with conquest and domination at
their heart. They are faithful, and their Disciplines reflect
their steadfastness and hunger for control.
Beast Hunter. Hunting and Trap Witches. Peerless
Control hunters who hunts with a pack of feral hunting
witch dogs who can climb trees with their razor sharp
claws and shed them to keep them eversharp. Using a
variety of traps, nets, and pits to capture your prey, the
hunter never lets go of the enemy.
Martyr. A severe front line Raider that thrives in the midst
of combat, outnumbered and outgunned, with the cards
stacked against them. With their sacrosanct ravaging,
they embrace death to bring triumph. These berserkers,
anointed with prayers of a pandita lunar bishop and with
the help of some sugapa--a root crop like opium--
transcend into an unstoppable wrath for the Moon
Goddess.
Sarimanok Knight. Valiant Sentinels who ride upon a
giant rainbow-feathered rooster known as a sarimanok.
Through rapid mounted combat they dominate the
battlefield, protect allies, and run down enemies.
Strifesinger. Sonorous Mediums, warrior-singers that
sing and use myriad instruments to bolster their allies and
grant respite in a war-torn land.
Swordfish Cavalier. A Sharpshooter coral knight upon a
balu, a flying swordfish, that specializes in summoning
water, firing from afar, and jousting through enemy ranks
with shearing blades of water and wind.
Virbanwa: The Imperial
Mandate
Imperialists, exorcists, and conquerors. They suffered the
sword of colonialism and lived to tell the tale. Now they
use that same sword upon their allies in the isles.
Virbanwan Disciplines express power of numbers. They
work best when they are marching in step with others, as
conformity is hammered into their souls. Virbanwan
Disciplines are built with the express goal of working in
step with others, so that dominion may be achieved.
Baril Witch. A Sharpshooter gunwitch that specializes in
pressuring areas with firepower. A keen-eyed
sharpshooter with a strange occult knowledge and skill to
guide the hand of their bullets. They hamper and damage
through the use of their ability to reload their arquebuses
and flintlocks, and fuse their bullets with elemental
energy.
Bladeweaver. An ironwood and silk clad Medium that
quickens allies, sharpens their blades, and extends their
range by using their soul to control their weapons without
having to touch them. They harness mentala, magical
formulas written on bamboo scrolls and then memorized,
and then uttered, which enchant their swordplay and lets
them achieve sorcerous enlightenment.
Murderglave. A melee magick Sentinel that sacrifices
themselves to protect their allies. Their style is brutal. A
warrior taught in the ways of the ancient timawa of
Mahadiwa Kalakatri Duumanun, the Goddess of Murder.
By channeling the Mahadiwa, you harness your passions
and turn them into constructs and weapons of darkness,
giving yourself wholly to your cause of protecting others.
Senapati. A melee warlord Medium that gets stronger if
they are in the front lines with their allies, and uses their
allies as their weapon. A strong and unwavering
commander who bellows encouragement and orders in
the thick of combat, facing the frontlines alongside their
allies clad in gold and elephant hide.
Sword Saint. A Sharpshooter who has internalized the
Blade Gospel that can control the battlefield with slashes,
little control zones that get expended. A priest dedicated
to St. Gattalim the Saint Intercessor of Swords. They can
cut down mortals, but they cannot cut anything else. Their
souls have been sharpened into blades, and thus they
cannot truly love, lest they bisect them.
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Ba-e: Ascendancy of the Sangpamegat

Tinkerers and scholars. The Kingdom of Ba-e, united under

a single chosen ruler known as the Sangpamegat, seeks to
preserve the old ways, the ancient scriptures, sorceries,
epics, and potteries. They trade far and wide, gathering
gold and other culture, while cultivating their own lust for
knowledge and artifice. They seek to unite all of The Sword
Isles under a single banner, to establish a burgeoning
merchant state that can trade with all the corners of the
world.

Ba-e Disciplines are, just like the Kingdom they hail from,
eccentric and subversive. Despite being the oldest of the
Major Polities, they also are the ones that invent new ways
of seeing the world, new names for natural sciences. Past
and future, it belongs to them. They puncture holes in
Hiyang and find new ways to express their enlightenment.

Flower Balyan. A Floral Witch that uses the sampaguita, the

death jasmine, to converse with the dead and animate
corpses of enemies. An offshoot of the balyan god-
channelers who have learned the rituals of death. In the
isles, Flowers are a major symbol of the dead.
Heavenspear. A heaven-scourging Raider that understands
the lie of the earth, and moves through the air with extreme
maneuverability. Through their heaven-rending arts they
take to the skies upon spiritual arts and kites to bring the
truth like a spear unto the world: there is no throne in
heaven.
Mender. A combat Medium that stays in the frontlines to
support their allies with prepared poultices and readied
healing items, granting them a large number of spiritual
modifications through mastery of herbalism and spiritual
semiotic.
Starshooter. Sharpshooter experts of the sport of Sipa,
using their advanced knowledge of the art to inflict
violence, making even the smallest mote of dust to the very
stars themselves into a deadly ball projectile.
Warsmith. A warrior-blacksmith Witch who has taken to
the battlefield to show their ingenuity and prowess,
crafting walls and weapons. With their violent innovations,
they use ancient lore to bring forth godly artifacts.

A Note on Refluffing
Refluffing pertains to changing the flavor text and lore/
fiction of something. For example, you might want to
change the giant weapon of the Murderglave into a
quarterstaff. That’s fine, and sometimes even encouraged
to be able to play the character concepts that you want! Just
keep in mind the philosophies of Gubat Banwa and hew
close to them so that you do not trip over any unwanted
problems or any problems that might hinder your play.

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Lords of the Seas, Friends of the Revered,
Unstoppable Juggernauts of Rivers
Buwaya Lancers are crocodile guardsmen, often considered
a threat upon the entirety of The Sword Isles. Borne from the
need to travel quickly across both water and land, an ancient
warrior tamed one of the first buwaya, which is the native
term for crocodile. It has since become the name for buwaya
that are bred to become mounts: tall, long-legged crocodiles
that are fast and have a huge amount of stamina.
Buwaya Lancer arose during the end of the Seventh Moon
Era. To escape capture from powerful Put’wan cataphracts,
which rode upon great six-legged steeds, the great
Laksamana Tuhon Langkasingbangis and his reduced war
band of a measly 12 managed to escape by speaking to a
buwaya and the buwaya accepting his oath, remembering
that ancient warrior that tamed the first buwaya. Thus,
twelve buwaya managed to ride down the river and boarded
their biray to escape to the distant land of Sonyoh. There
they honed their ability in buwaya taming, creating saddles
and tasselled bardings, made of gold and mother-of-pearl
and bamboo and more. Rajahnate Buwaya are painted in a
same manner the warriors were, although not tattooed. In
this way their bond becomes tighter, stronger.
The Buwaya Lancer have since become one of the most well-
known Disciplines across The Sword Isles. It has become a
stable cavalry, one used extensively by Rajahnate polities
that could afford it, and the Akai Sultanate to combat the
cavalry of the other polities.
Buwaya Lancer were called thus because they were made to
break the enemy’s frontline. In The Sword Isles archipelago
warfare, this would not be the end of an enemy’s formation,
as war was waged not through formations but through force
of will. However, the ability to break the ranks through
Buwaya Lancer is a very effective tactic that has huge effects
upon the moralization of warfare. Buwaya Lancers are
usually trained to use spears (bangkaw) or tridents
(salapang), but other kinds of weapons are just as viable.
Therefore, Buwaya Lancers are much wanted in
Kadungganan parties, as they are made to crush the
frontline and stay there, using crocodile and military
armament to crush the opposition.
Even in land, the crocodile beast can gallop, quick and
unstoppable. The Crocodile is one of the most well-
respected beasts: they are very often considered to be
avatars of the ancestors themselves, and are treated like
Grandfathers—that is, with utmost care and respect. They
are the great masters of both sea and land, protectors of the
places where water and earth meet.
If you become a Buwaya Lancer, ask yourself why you ride
upon the greatest of spirits only to bring violence. You are
one with a beast known both for death and for the ancestors.
You say you protect, so why do you let your buwaya rip that
man’s head off? Why do you stab while atop your enslaved
holy power? Why do you think you are as great as the gods
themselves?
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Discipline Traits
7 HP - Style: Sentinel
Weapon: Tridents, harpoons, fishing rods, shields
Armor: Tattoos, Cotton-padded armor, silk jackets
Crocodile Rider
As a Buwaya Lancer, you might be mounted upon a crocodile,
or some other similar draconic creature, though you can
choose to not have a mount at all, and simply channel the
spirit of a crocodile.
1/Fulmination, when a fighter leaves a
square adjacent to you, you may inflict
violence on them for free. Additionally,
when fighters collide with you, you do not
suffer Hits.
River God
Crocodiles are hardy and they are not hampered at all by
water and hard to cross terrain. Even more, their tails work as
powerful weapons. When used in tandem with spears,
buwaya lancers are a force to be reckoned with.
When you Stride, choose 1 adjacent fighter.
You may pull them with you, maintaining
adjacency as you stride.
Snapping Dragon
Even in land, the crocodile beast can gallop, quick and
unstoppable. The Crocodile is one of the most well-respected
beasts: they are very often considered to be avatars of the
ancestors themselves, and are treated like Grandfathers—that
is, with utmost care and respect. They are the great masters of
both sea and land, protectors of the places where water and
earth meet.
When you Pull any fighter to a square
adjacent of you, inflict 1 Hit, 1/Fulmination.
Inflict Violences
Spearing Dragon [1]: Strike with a trident or
other polearm. Make a Melee Water Bravery
Attack vs 1 target in range 3, then pull 1.
Barreling Dragon [1 Beat]: Barrel forward
with a sudden burst of speed. Rush 1. If you
collide with a target, inflict 1 Hit on the
target, you do not suffer any Hits, and
inflict Push 1 on them.
Fishing Rod [1 Beat]: Pull out a fishing rod,
wrap it around a target, and then sling them to
the side. Slide 1 target in range 3, and then
Mark the target indefinitely. When your
mark makes an attack that does not include
you as a target, consume the mark to inflict
Pull 2 on them.
 KADUNGGANAN
Buwaya Lancer Techniques
Dragon Seizes The Sky
Your muscles and strength is unparalleled. You can
wrestle with the Gods in the Sky. Crowns shall slip
from heads unworthy. Your spear shall impale the gods
upon high, and all shall bow down at your feet. This
tenacity and boldness helped Ramasa keep their
strength even after the advent of the Issohappans.
Draconic Majesty Stance
1. Woe, woe be to those that would dare defy the
Buwaya!
2. That ancient god of the rivers, that dragon of the
lake.
3. Woe, and calamity. - Daknunuk Sutla 98
Dragon Lair Creation Pamaagi
1. The Buwaya brings with it hell.
2. And with a bellow, it brings others with it.
- Makara Exalt Sutla 128
Crocodiles are venerated like ancestor gods in the isles,
and to have one fight with you is a sign of respect and
prestige. They are sometimes seen as psychopomps,
and that is exactly what you will be doing: bringing
your enemies to hell.
204
Spend 1 Beat to rush 1 and then seize a target. While
seized, they cannot leave your adjacency. If you move,
they are forcibly moved, as long as they keep adjacency.
They must spend 2 Beats to break free of the seize.
+1 Beat: Rush 3 instead.
+1 Beat: Inflict 1 True Hit when you seize the target.
Spend 1 Beat to exude brilliant majesty. Take on the
Draconic Majesty Stance until the end of your next
Fulmination. While in this stance, you have +1d to all
melee attacks and every fighter that ends their
Fulmination within burst 3 of you is pulled 1.
+1 Beat: Inflict Provoke on all enemies in burst 2 when
you enter into the stance.
+1 Beat: Gain Stability while you’re in the stance.
Spend 1 Beat to rise up and then crash down: bring all
squares in burst 1 down by 1 Elevation. (Example: +2
Elevation becomes +1 Elevation, 0 Elevation becomes -1
Elevation). All enemies in the burst suffer a stack of
Unbalance. You cannot bring a square past -3 Elevation
this way.
+1 Beat: Increase the burst to Burst 2.
+1 Beat: Turn the square you’re on into a Chasm, then
Rush 2.
 KADUNGGANAN
Makara Meditation
An ancestral god in your hands. You summon your holy
reverence, and your buwaya strikes down, tapping the
springs beneath the earth. Waters erupt up, the waters of
the deep. This was a technique crafted by Laksamana
Tuhon Langkasingbangis himself to engrave a new river
to stop the chase of ancient Put’wan Cataphracts. The
river still exists, known as Tuhonsuba, and has since
become a tributary to Inagos. The diwata that have
arisen from it are in constant war with the diwata of
Inagos.
Death Roll Style
An ancestral god in your hands. You summon your holy
reverence, and your buwaya strikes down, tapping the
springs beneath the earth. Waters erupt up, the waters of
the deep. This was a technique crafted by Laksamana
Tuhon Langkasingbangis himself to engrave a new river
to stop the chase of ancient Put’wan Cataphracts. The
river still exists, known as Tuhonsuba, and has since
become a tributary to Inagos. The diwata that have
arisen from it are in constant war with the diwata of
Inagos.
Enlightenment:
Makara Seeming
Makara are the gods of the crocodiles of the Isles, the
great vessels of ancient heroes and demigods who
waged war to seize wealth. Makara are said to be the
first of the crocodiles, and are the original dragons:
their spiritual pairing created the three draconic forms
that many gods take on: Naga, the Flying Water
Guardian Spirits. Pythons, the Deep Earth and Tree
Serpent. And finally, the Crocodile, the Sea and Soil
Dragon. It is said that a Makara encircles the entire
cosmos, all of Kalibutan, and in the end times when
violence has consumed like a bleeding, threading flame,
it will consume all of reality.
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Prereq: Dragon Seizes The Sky, Draconic Majesty
Stance, Dragon Lair Creation Pamaagi
Spend 1 Beat to strike the earth and bring up the
waters of the deep: choose a square in range 3 and
turn that into water terrain.
+1 Beat: Choose a Path 6, turning that into water
terrain and inflicting 1 Hit on every target in the line.
+1 Beat: Every target on the square when you turn it
into water terrain suffers Water Vulnerability x3.
Prereq: Makara Meditation
Spend 1 Beat to bite and roll against a helpless target:
make a Melee Water Bravery Attack vs 1 close target.
If the target has Slow, Stop, Unbalance, or Seize this
gains Overwhelming.
+1 Beat: You can target an adjacent target instead.
+1 Beat: Rush 3 before the attack, letting you move
through enemies. Any enemy you move through
suffers Unbalance.
toughness: raise your base hp by 2.
for 1 beat at strike 3+, you may turn your
mount into a makara, legendary dragon-
crocodile. gain the following benefits for
the rest of violence: +1 brv, +1 fth, +2 spd, +2
pos, stability, and regen. finally, you ignore
all terrain and elevation, and become size
2.
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Masters of the Eight Direction Guardian,
Disciplines of the Lakapati, Protectors of the
World, not Kings
Kawal are faithful shields and defenders of their
communities. They are the greatest paragons among the
Kadungganan: they exemplify all the virtues of a
Kadungganan and then more, protecting their fellow
Kadungganan by attracting the attention of the enemy and
stopping them in their tracks.
Clad in a mix of metal chainmail and kalabaw hide armor,
kalabaw horn breastplate, and hardwood shields, the Kawal
is an indomitable force in the battlefield, controlling the
battlefield with superior movement, tactics,
weaponmastery, and their force of will.
Kawal only get their prestigious name after undergoing a
grueling training process, which weeds out those that
cannot handle the pressures and responsibilities of a kawal.
Using techniques that synthesize native forms as well as
learned arts from Madaki and Naksuwarga, the Kawal excels
in keeping their allies safe while staying alive. Rajahnate
Datu employ techniques of the Kawal, and more often than
not they do it so that they can keep their people safe.
Akai have deployed their own contingent of Satariya, which
use giant ceremonial blades instead of spears to guard their
allies. Apumbukid is known to train entire settlements in
this art as well, the most well known one being Saginda in
Pumirang, where they’re trained by ancient guardian spirits
in deep underground coral river caves.
In the ancient of days, the Guardians of the Eight Directions
(Ang Diwatasin Walong Tudlo) came together and taught
their Art to mortals, because they had foreseen that they
would need their help to defend the world. Thus was the
Eight Direction Guardian Art born, which practices and
perfects the manifestation of the Lakapati, the combined
form of the Eight Guardian Gods. Imawasura the Guardian
Lord of the Southeast, of Pagodas and Fortunes and Jades,
wields a spear is as long as ten thousand palms of Rayasaiwa
(whose palm measures fifteen universes), and is named
Tudlo, and this spear has become the symbol for all Kawal. It
is said that Imawasura was the one that affixed the eight
directions.
"A kawal must know that they are the wall, and for the wall to
be effective, the swords must crash against it,” says
Apumbukid Datu Daya.
If you choose to take up the mantle of the Kawal, say who you
pledge your allegiance to and why, and why your faith in
them has led you to making sure that they will never be
harmed.
The Shield is a symbol of strength. In the Sword Isles, it is
not common to stay and fight for your settlement when
being raided. However, in the event of a revenge raid, where
the warriors will try to slay your datu as a ritual offering to
their own ancestors, only the shield can stay the tide. Either
they die, or the raiders fail.
Ask why you give your life to them. Is loyalty your virtue or
your sin? Why do you break the sky for someone who might
not do the same for you?
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Discipline Traits
8 HP - Style: Sentinel
Weapons: Treasured Spears, large barongs, giant
panabas, kalasag, taming
Armors: War Hats, Buffalo Cuirasses, Bamboo
Legplates, Plated Tassets
Perfect Lokapala Shield
You meditate and perfect the movements of the eight perfect
guardians. Guard all those around you.
You have the Lokapala Aura that extends to every
square within burst 2 of you. Any fighter that
makes an attack that does not include you as a
target only generates Hits on a 7+, even with
Sharpness. Marked targets are not affected by this
aura.
Lakapati Guardian
You meditate upon the guardian deities of nature and perfect
the guardian art that they have taught.
When an enemy in your Lokapala Aura leaves a
square, rushes, or makes an attack that does not
include you or another fighter that has a Lokapala
Aura, you inflict 1 Hit on them. 1/Fulmination.
Gajasangkra’s Meditation
Gajasangkra is the Guardian Lord of the Northwest, which is
the land of constant monsoons and whirlpools. If she doesn’t
guard that place with her thousand hands, the seas will drain
into wine and milk, killing all Folk in Gubat Banwa. And so
she keeps the sea from overflowing, and so does she suffer the
corroding chaos of wine.
When you are forcibly moved, you may roll a d8.
On a 4+, you ignore that forced movement.
Inflict Violences
Shield Bash [1]: Slam with a shield. Make a
Melee Earth Bravery Attack vs 1 adjacent
target, push 1 per 7+ on the attack teeth, then
Rush 1 per square pushed.
Skewer [1 Beat]: Impale with a longspear.
Make a Melee Metal Bravery Attack vs all
targets in line 2.
Shield Charge [1 Beat]: Raise your shield and
charge forward. Rush 3 in a straight line. If
you move into any enemy’s square, push them
1 + number of rush left. Then gain 1 Defend.
 KADUNGGANAN

Kawal Techniques
Kitasamba’s Shield
"Ever ready. That is what kawal must be. Now bring your
weapons up. We have a datu to save." - War Leader Katuna,
as he goes on to save a hostaged datu from a rival banwa.
Kitasamba is the Guardian Lord of the Northeast, who
guards those that have been untouched and are pure. His
symbol is a newly blossomed passion flower, but his weapon
is that of a hibiscus spiked shield.
Spend 1 Beat to raise your guard and take on the
Guardian Stance until you make an attack. While in
this Stance, all 8s on your Defense Teeth generates 2
Defends.
+1 Beat: Every 8 also lets you Rush 1 after the attack.
+1 Beat: Convert every 1-3 on an attacker’s Attack Teeth
against you into Hits against them.

Krishawisu’s Hammer
An art made famous by the Kawal of Apumbukid. A giant
swing of both weapon and shield, flowing about so that it Prereq: Kitasamba’s Shield
strikes all in your path, imitating the lotus of the great god
Krishawisu. Lord Fahandu of the River Polity Vahansima Spend 1 Beat to surge forward and strike: Rush 1 and
used this to cut swathes through undead warriors to save his then make a Melee Earth Bravery Attack vs 1 adjacent
settlement. target.
Krishawisu is the Guardian Lord of the North, who guides
every direction. He is asleep, it is said, within a frozen lotus, +1 Beat: Inflict Provoke on any 1 target of the attack.
and will only awake if chaos has subsumed Gubat Banwa.
Others say that Krishawisu came down to the world and +1 Beat: Change the range to all targets in blast 3.
formed it into a lotus: “Imagine the Sea of Wine as exactly
that, a Sea of Wine, and the various universes as Lotuses
floating upon that Sea of Wine. We are simply in one of
those, now.”

Rayasaiwa’s Vigil Prereq: Kitasamba’s Shield

Rayasaiwa is the Guardian Lord of the Center, and
is also said to be the Supreme and sometimes the
Absolute, He Who Holds All In His Palm. It is said
that Gubat Banwa’s Cosmos, Kalibutan, balances
upon the tip of his trident, Kadaut Rishud.
Interject 3: When an adjacent ally suffers an
attack, spend the interject to swap places with the
ally and then suffer the attack.

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Imawasura’s Lance
A technique used by the Kawal of Akai and Sinuku to
crash through enemy front lines, which were very often
arranged in a fierce and unbreakable shield wall. The
Kawal of Akai now ride upon horses to do this, but they
were able to break ranks even without mounts.
Imawasura is the Guardian Lord of the Southeast, of
Pagodas and Fortunes and Jades. His spear is as long as
ten thousand palms of Rayasaiwa (whose palm measures
fifteen universes), and is named Tudlo. It is said that
Imawasura was the one that affixed the eight directions.
Kedatupatya’s Imposition
Raise your banner. None shall go before you.
Kedatupatya is the Guardian Lord of the Southwest,
protector of all the dead, and keeper of the far
Southewestern cave of Maharawug, which is a cave that
connects the Underworlds with Gubat Banwa. He
wields a rattan fan that summons diseases, and provokes
fires.
Enlightenment: Rudrakasha’s
Vow
You call out: “You! I challenge you. Face me or face the wrath
of Jamiyun Kulisa!” Kawal are masters of the battlefield.
With a single command, they invoke the rite of violence: the
Bulu, a duel in the midst of battle. One that they will surely
win. A bulu is a duel to the death, after all.
Rudrakasha is the Guardian Lord of the Southwest Corner,
where the land is barren and eventually becomes a white void,
the horizon between Sky and Sea. They guard this
impossibility, but with their single eye (which is the Eye of the
Hurricane) they can see all, and they can strike at any warrior
from afar, gaining their ire, becoming their fate, with his bow
and arrow, known only as Kalma, or Destiny.
209
Prereq: Krishawisu’s Hammer
Spend 1 Beat to strike forward with a lance, polearm,
or javelin, imbued with the striking powers of
Imawasura: make a Melee Fire Bravery Attack vs all
targets in line 2. Inflict Stop per 7+ on the Attack
Teeth, and Bleed per 8+.
+1 Beat to increase the range supernaturally to Line
3.
+1 Beat to rush 2 in a straight line before the attack.
Prereq: Rayasaiwa’s Vigil
Spend 1 Beat to challenge a single adjacent fighter:
inflict Provoke 2 on the target.
+1 Beat: As long as that target has the Provoke,
whenever they leave an adjacent square, they suffer 1
Hit.
+1 Beat: Howl your challenge! Inflict Provoke on all
targets instead.
Increased Vitality: Gain Block 1 every start of
Fulmination.
At Strike 3+, for 1 Beat, choose 1 fighter in range 3 to
declare a bulu with. You and the target of your Bulu
cannot be targeted or damaged by any attacks, nor
can you suffer any hits that do not come from each
other’s attacks and effects. You and the target of the
Bulu can only treat each other as valid targets.
However, you gain +1 to all Martial Abilities while in
the Bulu. If you or the target falls to 0 HP, the Bulu
ends.
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 KADUNGGANAN
Demon Sword Raiders of the Endless Seas,
Bane of Empires, Seizer of Heaven’s
Thunderclaps, Peerless Blademasters of Sea
and Sky
Mangangayaw (Mah-nga-nga-ya-o) burn through the
sea upon boats that slice the waves. They raid shoreline
settlements with impunity, usually forcing those living
within to travel further inland to avoid them.
Mangangayaw are stylish and fearless adrenaline junkies
that strike quick and hard, relentlessly, until the enemy
breaks, or until they get what they want.
While raiding is the main form of warring in The Sword
Isles, mangangayaw are those that are specialized in the
art of Raiding. In the art of catching enemies with their
shields down, in the midst of the night, and looting what
they need. Mangangayaw might kill, but their main goal
is resources: bahandi property wealth (like brass gongs,
porcelain jars, and the like) and debtors.
Through this they get richer, stealing shoreline
settlement’s riches and porcelain and tradeware to sell
from their own villages and towns. Mangangayaw are
usually not mercenaries: they usually follow their own
datu, and in truth do usually raid with their datu during
raiding season, to collect money and wealth from enemy
states.
Mangangayaw are not only feared within the Gatusan,
but also among the shorelines of the Akai Sultanate and
the Virbanwan Lakanate, although the Akai Sultanate are
peerless raiders on their own.
They have mastered boat technology and sea navigation
to a point that they raid upon the far southern shores of
Baik Hu and terrorize the shore settlements of the
Malirawat Empire.
Demons, kin-eaters, ogres, they are called, for they are
unceasing in the face of adversity. Like a storm
approaching that cannot be Stop, only avoided, the
kayaw raiders come. Kayaw is the root word for sea raid
in most of their tongues, shared among settlements in
hushed and whispered tones, too afraid to speak it out
loud lest they call their ire.
Mangangayaw are wont to wear light armor--and truly
enough usually none at all--depending on their skin-
scarred tattoos to defend them in the midst of the sea.
The bravest of them all have tattoos that scrawl up to
their faces, making them look like demons.
Mangangayaw are brothers with Pinatikan in this
regard, and in truth, many Pinatikan are also Kayaw
raiders, and vice versa.
If you take up the path of the Raid, ask yourself why and
for what reason: glory? Power? Wealth? You’re losing that
reason. Why do you enjoy the killing?
Discipline Traits
6 HP - Style: Raider
Weapons: Kampilan, Kerambit, Balaraw, Gunong
Armors: War Jackets, flowing bahag, crimson
headwraps, bamboo bracers, golden trinkets
Bloodlust
A mangangayaw must always be showing off, or else they die. No,
really: if a sea raider slows down, they will be consumed by the waves
of war. And so they must keep moving, so that they are above water.
Mangangayaw are born into violence. They are the purest
manifestations of strength, vigor, and ferocity. Their swords are always
ready, nothing can ever catch them off guard. They are the peerless
warriors of the Sword Isles. All will fall to their blades.
Whenever you Stride at least 3+ squares, gain Bloodlust.
Bloodlust is a measure of your battle hype. Bloodlust
benefits are cumulative, but you lose 1 Bloodlust every
time you suffer any number of Hits from a single attack.
At 2+ Bloodlust, all your attacks against close targets
gain Skewering.
At 3+ Bloodlust, gain +1 Speed, but you must Stride your
full speed on your turn. If not, suffer 1 True Hit.
At 4+ Bloodlust, your second attack in a fulmination only
suffers -1d.
At 5+ Bloodlust, all your melee attacks have
Overwhelming, but every Beat you spend that does not
include making an attack inflicts Eviscerate on you.
At 6 Bloodlust, at the end of your Fulmination, you may
Rush 2 and then Inflict Violence, ignoring Combo
Breaker. Then you lose all Bloodlust. You cannot gain
more than 6 Bloodlust.
Wave Dancer
The Mangangayaw Art prioritizes quick, shuffling footwork above all.
One that lets you move in any direction as you so choose, striking in
different angles. This is how the mangangayaw sea raiders rule the
waters.
When you suffer an attack, you may Rush 1 after the
attack.
Inflict Violences
Multistrike [1]: You unleash a thousand
lightning strikes in a moment. Make a Melee
Water Bravery Attack vs 1 adjacent target.
Open Up [1]: Perform a quick vacuuming
movement, lead them to their death. Pull 1
fighter in burst 2. If the fighter is already
adjacent, inflict Unbalance instead.
Thundering Stomp [1]: You surge forward and
stomp, breaking defenses. Rush 1 and then
inflict Juggle on an adjacent fighter.
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 KADUNGGANAN
Mangangayaw Techniques
Bleeding Steel Monsoon
You move like a whirlpool in the midst of the sea,
burgeoning and breaking and crashing and alluring ships
into their depths. But you are steel, and you become like an
unstoppable whirling wind of sharpness and blades.
Sea Demon Fire Pamaagi
There are lights of the Moon Goddess that alight upon
the sea when fishermen and raiders sail through the
night. These are called Kalayo Sa Dagat, “Fire of the
Sea”. Mangangayaw Kulili Sa Katana befriended a
demon and imbued her weapon with it, creating a
Technique that allowed Mangangayaw to emblaze their
weapons with flames.
Live Hand
You’ve mastered the art of Catching Lightning: a
Raiding Art taught to only the greatest of
Mangangayaw. Your hands move faster than the wind.
Your attacks flow into the next one, not one being a
mistake, each one a set up for the next. All will fall
under your salt, your weapons flash like lightning in
your hands.
212
spend 1 beat to blast forward and strike: rush 1
and then inflict violence.
+1 beat to make the following attack instead of
inflicting violence: area metal bravery attack
vs all chosen targets in burst 1.
+1 beat to rush 3 before the attack instead.
Prereq: Bleeding Steel Monsoon
Spend 1 Beat to light your blade aflame: take on the
Demon Flame Stance. You can consume the stance
when you make a melee attack to make it Skewering
and make it inflict Fray x3.
+1 Beat to gain SPD+2 while in the Stance.
+1 Beat to make the attack Overwhelming as well.
Prereq: Sea Demon Fire Pamaagi
Interject 2: When suffering a melee attack, you can
spend the interject to change the target to back at the
attacker or any chosen target adjacent to you or the
attacker.
 KADUNGGANAN
Sinawali Anyo
You ready your weapons and burst forward with an
exhalation of steel. Crafted by the grand Mahapanglima
Jalido, incorporated due to his ingenuity and his skill in
teaching the arts, Mahapanglima notoriously used this to
defeat the Akai Lunate Knights that encroached upon his
settlement right before he broke his oath with the Sultana
and defected to the Rajahnate.
Giant-Slaying Sundang
"Learn this bastard art, and soon we will be able to raid
heaven, and seize its thunderclaps." The Giants once
ruled, and they were hewn with the threads of divinity.
With this technique, perfected by the pygmy monkey
artist Sri Mahaliwu, your attacks burn with an almost
avaricious fervor, emulating the thundering strength of
the giants that almost destroyed the cosmos.
Enlightenment: Seize
Heaven’s Thunderclaps
The entire battle was a setup. Heaven sees your
movements: you were priming yourself for the ultimate
raid. With your warband you charge, strings of fate
binding you together. You move like the hurricane, slam
like the tsunami. “Violence is life, and life is violence.
Rememver this dichotomy, and every move you make will
be an attack.” – The Teachings of Panglima Namwaran,
warlord-datu of ancient Tundun.
Prereq: Live Hand
Spend 1 Beat to cut through your enemies: rush 5 in a
straight line, moving through enemies, inflicting 1 Hit
per Enemy.
+1 Beat to rush 5 in any direction, but you cannot Hit the
same enemy twice.
+1 Beat to make it so that you can Hit the same enemy up
to 3 times.
Prereq: Sinawali Anyo
Find a weakness and strike an enemy open. Spend 1
Beat to make a Melee Metal Bravery Attack vs 1 close
target, gaining +1d to the Attack Teeth per following
that is true:
0 The target has more HP than you.
0 The target has Unbalance or Juggle.
0 The target has Slow or Stop.
0 The target is on a height higher than you.
you gain momentum: whenever you move 4+
squares, gain brv+1 mod.
at strike 4+, spend 3 beats to explode into a
monsoon of violence, inflicting 2 hits on
every fighter on the battlefield. then
teleport to a square adjacent to any of the
enemies in the field.
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Master of Song and Sword, Protector of the Discipline Traits

Living World, Preserver Through Epic and
Poetry, Bearers of the Holy Word of Rhythm
Sword Poets are sword poets that perfect poetry and
weave them into sword-techniques. It has been long
said that the only time the people of the Rajahnate
are not singing are when they are sick, asleep, or
dead. This is doubly true for the Sword Poet an elite
Discipline of Kadungganan that focuses on fighting
while singing. Even in battle, even without the
accompaniment of agung, they sing a song of beauty
and sorrow, one that wrenches the hearts of enemies,
forces them to rethink, or performs unignorable
provocations. Through their Swordsong, they protect
their culture, community, and nature.
Sword Poet, or Warrior-Poets are not a formal
organization: they rise naturally, out of the common
stock of the Rajahnate or Confederation, for in the
Polity a rite of passage into adulthood is the ability to
perform combative poetry (and all poetry was sung)
against another of the same age. They sing in either
glorious boasting tones or in low rapid-syllable
drawls.
These warrior-poets, through their battles and
shared techniques, use their words and songs to
defend their fellow men, letting their violence-
charged verses and words strike the hearts of
enemies that attack their allies, like the ogres they
are. Their heart wrenching melodies force enemies to
focus on the Warrior-Poet, lest they face the weight of
the world. Their Gahom emanates from them,
carried upon the winds of their words, strengthening
allies and crippling enemies. This philosophy has
created a subset of Hiyang faith called Hiyang
Awitan, which focuses on the philosophy that song is
the source of all life, and that Diwa is a harmony
constantly played across all time, and is what
connects all things together.
This is the Flower Swordsong: striking and slashing
attacks performed in conjunction with melody and
metaphor. The witik are snares, the fan strikes are
drum beats, the combinations are marching drum
cacophonies. The Sword is in itself a metaphor, a
calcification of the core tenet of Hiyang, the
dichotomy of Cause-Effect, Love-Evisceration, the
8 HP - Style: Sentinel
Weapons: Singing Kalis, kudyapi, string lutes, chopping
swords, anything that resonates
Armors: Long robes, cloaks, headwraps, breastplates,
wooden sandals
Song of Swords
When you leap into violence, you begin singing a song of war. A song
of your warband overcoming overwhelming odds. A song of you and
your friends fighting for a better world. A song of you and your family,
your closest loved ones, proving their conviction in a world of death
and war. Your words truly now become edges, cutting points. You wave
away spear strikes with a deft tongue, you parry blades with broken
rhythms.
You are always singing the song of swords, a horrible
sword rhetoric. At the start of Violence, give Sword
Rhetoric to every ally in the battlefield. Whenever an ally
with Sword Rhetoric is the target of an attack, you may
consume Sword Rhetoric and gain 1 Reprisal.
You can spend Reprisal on the following, at any point:
0 Biting Verse. Spend X Reprisal when an enemy attacks
you to convert X non-Defends into Hits against the
attacker.
0 Invigorating Verse. At the end of your Fulmination,
spend 1 Reprisal to heal 1 all adjacent allies.
0 Mocking Verse. After making an attack against a target,
spend X Reprisal to inflict X stacks of Provoke on the
target.
0 Siren Song. When an enemy in the battlefield starts their
Fulmination, spend up to 3 Reprisal to pull them that
many squares.
At the end of your Fulmination, give Sword Rhetoric to
every ally that does not have it.
Animating Song
Your song keeps you going.
You may Surge 3 times per Violence.

Inflict Violences
condensation of idiom into a weapon used to cut, as
that is the only permitted course of action. An attack
is a beat, a beat is part of a rhythm, an entire attack is
a song, a poem. With biting remarks comes
specifically crafted verbal attacks that flay a warrior’s
defenses, and makes you insufferable, and brings all Singing Swords [1]: Strike while singing. Make a Melee
the attention to the Sword Poet. Air Faith Attack vs 1 adjacent target, then you may
swap squares with the target.
Not just that, whenever Sword Poet sing, they echo Mocking Swords [1]: Strike and mock the target. Make a
similes and metaphors and personifications in a Melee Air Faith Attack vs 1 adjacent target. Inflict
different language. One more flowery and filled with Provoke on the target.
impossible metaphors and idioms that only they can
truly understand. This language is known as Flower Sword of Diplomacy [1]: Strike and instill a better world
with your poetry. Make a Melee Air Faith Attack vs 1
Tongue, and it is said to be the most beautiful adjacent target. Slide 1 per 9+ on the Attack Teeth.
language never spoken, only sung.

When you become a Sword Poet, ask yourself: why do

you fight for a land that does not hear the notes of
your sorrowsong? Your song falls upon bloodied ears
and corpses. Will you wait until your song ends?

215
 KADUNGGANAN
Sword Poet Techniques
Sword Ambahan
A flamboyant Sword Poet, Si Pahimuot, once performed
this amidst the kawal of Datu Mabigi, from the league
of Pannai, who hunted him down due to him killing his
bride. He escaped by staying silent—unheard of for a
Sword Poet—and amplifying the cutting tang of his
blade. He performed a quick dance, cutting all those
about him.
Shield of Swords
Cut yourself off with that sorrowful song. Maybe then,
maybe then, there will be peace. But not yet, not yet. A
technick perfected by Sword Poet Sialo Baguna I, a
King who spurned rulership to travel with a troupe of
professional singers. This requires a quick wit and an
even quicker tongue: you perform a poem so quickly that
your sword swings are bolstered to follow the rhythm,
so fast that it creates a physical barrier of strikes.
Naga Song Exhuberation
“Listen and hear thy people! They crieth out in
torment. This war shalt bring us naught but struggle
and pain! Please, let mine words pierce thine heart.”
A song that sings of the First Dragon, the great
Harinaga, King of all Dragons, a God Among Gods,
who was brought low and scourged by the giants,
who wielded the Flame of Want, in the ancient event
known only in the echoes of tradition as The
Dragonscourge. Dragons now despise the giants.
216
For 1 Beat, you dance a song of steel around you:
make a Melee Air Faith Attack vs all chosen targets in
burst 1.
+1 Beat to make it Bravery+Faith
+1 Beat to increase the range to Burst 2
Prereq: Sword Ambahan
Spend 1 Beat to take on the Shield Song Stance until
the end of your next Fulmination. While in this
stance, all melee attacks against you hit only on 7+,
even with Sharpness.
+1 Beat to make it so that when you Stride, you may
teleport 2 instead.
+1 Beat to rush 1 after taking the Stance and then
gain Stability.
prereq: shield of swords
for 1 beat, sing the dragonsong and direct it at
1 fighter in range 3. they gain dragonsong x3.
as long as they have dragonsong, whenever
they make an attack that does not include you
as a target, they suffer 1 hit .
+1 beat to direct the dragonsongx3 to all
enemies in burst 3.
+1 beat to also give the target spd-1.
 KADUNGGANAN
Ceaseless Rhythm
“Raise your blade up high! If we wish to put an end to this
cycle of violence we must put our foot forward. Our poetry is
half of the battle. The other half includes our swords. First we
inflict violence upon their hearts, then we inflict violence upon
the world. What is violence but change? Therefore choose
what violence you will enact, and what violence you will
choose. Not all violences are equal: some are more noble than
others.” A combination perfected by Tuhan Madala, who
performed this to defeat a King in a festival that challenged
him, following the rhythm of the agung and the kulintang.
Himaya Sword Song
Sing a song of joy! For even in the darkest days there are
burning bright bonfires. What is darkness if not an
absence of light? What is pain but a consequent of life?
In this Festival of the Longest Night, rejoice! Happiness
cannot be obtained, it is a becoming. Become joyful, Find
Glory Beyond Heaven.
Enlightenment: Final Kandu
You sing a siday, the folk epic songs of your people. Your
song bolsters those around you, and entrances your
enemies. They are thrown into a reverie state, forced to
play out the Siday that you sing, wherein you are the
inevitable victor. However, it is a well-known fact that
Siday last for up to seven days and seven nights,
enumerating the exploits of great datu and dayang.
Prereq: Naga Song Exhuberation
Spend 1 Beat to inflict 1 Hit and Provoke on an adjacent
target.
> Comboes Into: The next time you use this
Technique, inflict Eviscerate and Unbalance on an
adjacent target instead.
>> Comboes Into: The next time you use this
Technique, inflict Slow and Stun on an adjacent
target instead. The combo then ends (the next time
you use this Technique use the first effect).
Prereq: Ceaseless Rhythm
Spend 1 Beat to mock a fighter in range 4 with your
overwhelming joy: they suffer Eviscerate, Unbalance,
and Provoke until they successfully score 2+ Hits
against you with a single attack.
+1 Beat: Also inflict Bleed.
+1 Beat: Also inflict Stun.
At the start of Violence, you have a Saga Token. When you
suffer an attack, consume the Saga Token to cancel the
attack against you.
at strike 5+, for 2 beats: choose 1 target in the
battlefield. for the rest of violence, they cannot
perform any hostile actions.
for chiefs, they only have 2 beats.
217
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 KADUNGGANAN
Exorcists, Priests, Shamans, Healers, and
Channelers of the Myriad Gods of Violence, which
fills our world and then overflows.
Warrior Balyan are warrior-shamans that wade into the
frontlines of violence to mend hurting souls and channel
violence. They come with their superior knowledge of
tambal (medicinal herbs) and their affinity and rapport with
the anitu, the unseen powers of the cosmos to help alleviate
their allies in a war without end.
Balyan are the spiritual leaders of the faith that
encompasses almost all of the Sword Isles, which is known
to outside people as Anitu. Usually female, but men can also
become Balyan, although they must take upon the trappings
and present as female, becoming the asug gender. Asug,
however, is said like an honorific or a title. Anitu has
commonly subsumed most of the religions that have arrived
within: while it does live alongside the other common
religions in the isles, such as the Ashinin Faith of the Myriad
Gods, and the Annuvaran Faith of Tranquilities, it also takes
inspiration from them and takes their own gods. Balahala
Saiwa, for example, one of the Triumphant Gods of Ashinin
Faith, has since become subsumed as a sort of Supreme God
in modern anitu thought among the harbor kingdoms. This
is less true among the hinterland principalities and
settlements, who worship a less god-focused anitu and a
more ancestor focused one.
As the spiritual leaders, they must know the principles of
nature and the world, including the imperative to live
harmoniously with nature, where all spirits live, as well as to
do what the ancestor spirits find good and right, so as to not
incur their wrath and accrue grave misfortune.
They are the masters of ritual, performing all rituals such as
the ritual before travel, ritual for war, ritual for the death of
a Datu, burial rites, and more. They know rites for casting
off diseases, healing wounds, as well as inflicting wounds
and diseases. They speak and ask guidance from the
ancestor spirits, known as umalagad, to give them power or
answers, or to defend them in forthcoming tribulations as
guardian spirits. They divine by the use of specific rituals to
see what the anitu might tell them. Very commonly, the
ancestor spirits are the ones truly worshipped, while the
Diwata are simply revered. However the most powerful of
the anitu, the gods, are worshipped in temples, altars,
pagodas, and churches.
As Balyan, they know the truth of the world: that nature is
alive and all things have souls, nature spirits. Nature gods
are Diwata, ancestor spirits are Apo, Guardian Spirits are
umalagad, of which many Apo are. Flowing through the
world is Diwa, the essence of all things. When something
loses Diwa, they lose their own essence, similar to how a
tawo without a soul becomes a bumbling animal fool. A
sword without its diwa becomes a sword that cannot cut,
which is what makes a sword a sword. When a balyan is
possessed by a spirit, whether apo or diwata, they go into a
fevered trance-dance, wherein the spirit speaks through
them, overwhelming their body.
Balyan are all at once sage-philosopher-scientist. They learn
about the natural world and its secrets and teach it to their
settlement. These inscriptions stand the test of time.
Warrior Balyan are those that study and channel the gods of
Violence, the very circle of killing.
Ask yourself: why do you abuse your connection with the
divine to perpetuate this cycle of endless violence? You have
blood on your hands, balyan. Does it matter whether it is
yours, your allies’, or your enemies?
Discipline Traits
HP 7 - Style: Medium
Weapons: Ritual staffs, wreaths, bundles of grass,
incense, tattooed hands, vajras, monk staffs, bells, ritual
knives
Armors: Multicolored robes, cloaks, golden sandals,
flower diadems, breastplates, ritual war jackets
Xenoglossy
During the alabay stages of training (apprenticeship), each balyan
undergoes a vision quest under a strangler fig, or balete tree, and there
in the abode of spirits they are expected to find their familiar, or their
abayan, their companion. When they do, the familiar often manifests
as a physical animal, such as a small snake, or an owl, a bird, or a
young monkey, or even a dog. Balyan go into a state of divine trance as
they channel the gods. The gods are divinity, unfit for our mortal bodies,
and so when a mortal channels a god, their body contorts in inhuman
ways to try and accommodate the god’s being. Warrior Balyan have
perfected the art of going into a violent trance-dance in the middle of
combat, and use that erratic movement to both channel the strength of
the gods to their allies, as well as to make their own attacks
unpredictable.
For 1 Beat, summon a Spirit Familiar from the list below
in an adjacent square. You can only have 1 Spirit Familiar
on the field at a time. You can summon up to 2 at a time,
though a fighter can only achieve xenoglossy with 1 spirit
at a time. All your effects can begin from your familiars.
Whenever you or an ally moves into a spirit’s square (or
the spirit moves into your or an ally’s square), you can
allow the spirit to possess them, allowing you or the ally
to achieve Xenoglossy. The possessing spirit shares a
square with the possessed fighter. When the possessed
fighter becomes Critical, the spirit dissipates. You can ask
the spirit to leave a fighter for 1 Beat, putting them in an
adjacent square. For 1 Beat, you can slide 1 your Spirit
Familiar.
0 Serpent. Xenoglossy grants Earth Conditioning,
+1d on Earth Attacks, and +2 POS.
0 Owl. Xenoglossy grants Air Conditioning, +1d on
Air Attacks, and +2 SPD.
0 Deer. Xenoglossy grants Metal Conditioning, +1d
on Metal Attacks, and +2 RES.
0 Rooster. Xenoglossy grants Fire Conditioning, +1d
on Fire Attacks and +2 BRV.
0 Naga. Xenoglossy grants Water Conditioning, +1d
on Water Attacks and +2 FTH.
Inflict Violences
War Trance [1]: Dance a horrid dance to curry the favor of the
gods. Choose any spirit on the field and perform the
following effect based on the spirit chosen:
Serpent: Slide 1 adjacent fighter. Owl: Teleport 1 adjacent
fighter. Deer: Give POS+1 to an adjacent fighter. Rooster:
Inflict Fray to all adjacent enemies. Naga: Inflict RES+1 to all
adjacent allies.
Ritual Weapon [1]: Strike with a blessed weapon. Melee Fire
Faith Attack vs 1 adjacent target, +1d if the target has
Banes.
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 KADUNGGANAN

Warrior Balyan Techniques

RitualDance
War Spear All allies adjacent to you are considered as having
Protect.2 beats to dance the trance dance. you
spend
A balyan is trained first in the arts of healing before are dancing until you fall to 0 hp. while
Balyan
the artsrevel and dance
of violence, in fits of
to ingrain in crazed dance-trances
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spend 1 beat to perform a healing rite,

Purification Rite
A balyan is trained first in the arts of healing before the
arts of violence, to ingrain in them that the violence we
inflict is not simply for violence’s sake, but for a better
world. We deal in violence to transcend our frail mortal
bodies, and thus violence is a ritual, one that only Folk
can dance in.
cleansing yourself or 1 adjacent ally of all
stacks of a single chosen status or ability
mod.
+1 beat to target an ally in range 5.
+1 beat to cleanse all chosen statuses or
ability mods from the target.

Naga Nature Pamaagi spend 1 beat to summon a naga and turn any
Naga are blessed serpent gods that live within the unoccupied square in range 3 into water
rivers, the under-earths and the seas. They are divine, terrain.
nature spirits that represent the inherent divinity and
other-ness of the sea, and they protect the Seven +1 beat to heal 1 all allies adjacent to that
Realms of the Waters, and are constantly opposed by water terrain.
the Garuda that guard the Seven Realms of the
Heavens. They are invoked for merit, blessings, good +1 beat to increase the range to range 5.
rains, and protection against the flood. If they appear, it
is often a sign of good fortune, though sometimes it
might also be an ill omen.

220
 KADUNGGANAN

heart and cares not: us and the raid will be called off. This usually happens when an
Love and Mortal Folk have to bend
to him when he brings
omen bird flies across their path, or when the sky is red, or
when in the distance they hear laughter during their offerings,
Lightning with him his seasons.
Upon the Sky he is well
or when they perform their boat divinations the boat shudders
wildly. Offerings to Apung Makangayaw are frequent, for the
A tale of two Gods: acquainted with the Wind main mode of war in the islands is raiding.
Lightning Lord and Gods: Amihan, the Cold Apung Makangayaw usually takes upon the form of a slave
Dragon King. Wind. Habagat the Hot raider: wearing a short bahag with nothing else, and with
Pray upon the Tempest. Salatan the tattoos that cover their entire body, the completion of the
thunderbolt and make Cavern Winds. Kanaway canvas. Their true form, whenever they should want to show it,
offerings to the lightning the Death Squall. is in the form of a naga-headed god, who sits upon a throne of
flash. Jamiyun Kulisa is Balahalabagyu, known seaspray.
the burning Brother also as Vayu or Batara Apung Makangayaw is one of the principal members of the
Thunderbolt, son of the Vayu, the God of Storms, Anito faith. Anito, meaning act of worship, is the most
Sky Father Si Gurang who brings destructive widespread faith in the islands, so prominent that they do
Tungko, He Who Holds hurricanes. Galura, the consider it more as tradition and way of life, and not just
The Sky Aloft, known Great Dragon-Eagle at performative religion.
sometimes as the Batala the End of the World, Apung Makangayaw's spirit house is often situated by the
or Batara, said to have who is said to be an shore, always by the shore. The usual spirit idol carved out for
wrought the creation of aspect of Jamiyun Kulisa. him is made usually with wood from sunken boats, and
Folk. The lightning does "Are you happy with showcases a naga-headed man sitting cross-legged, with both
not take advice from any what you've done?" asked hands upon his waist. Apung Makangayaw idols are
one, just as the flame Makangayaw, grinning, frequently carried unto boats that would embark on raids.
never seeks the comfort of with burning flame
water. Jamiyun Kulisa shooting out of his
arises and truly is always nostrils.
there, counterpart to the The Second Man nodded.
great Sunmother Indira spend 1 beat to bolster an adjacent ally with either
"I have lain retribution
Suga, who is not his upon what my sister has the blessing of lightning or the blessing of war.
Mother but rather his cursed upon me."
partner. Together they 0 blessing of lightning: an ally with the blessing
create the Great
"And what have they lightning may consume it when they leave a square to
cursed upon you?" teleport 6.
Dichotomy within the "Jealousy."
Sword Isles, the two 0 blessing of war: an ally with this blessing may
overpowering Seasons of With another mighty consume it when they make an attack to give that
the Center of the World: laugh, Apung attack +3d.
the Dry Season of Indira Makangayaw answered:
"And so the cycle begins."
Suga and the Monsoon
Apung Makangayaw is +1 beat: give it to an ally in range 5.
Season of Jamiyun
Kulisa. offered to whenever a +1 beat: give both blessings to the chosen ally.
As Jamiyun Kulisa is the ceremonial raid is
bringer of Monsoon enacted, whether it be a
Season, he is also raid to gain resources or a
connected to the things revenge raid. In this way,
that Monsoon Season the raid itself becomes
brings about: rumination, more than just war, but
calmness, peace, the soft ritual. If the omens were
patter of raindrops, the bad during the offering,
chill of strong storm however, it will be a sign
winds. He strikes at the that Makangayaw does
not approve of the raid,

221

Astral
Vehicle
The Ten Mahadiwa are
said to be great gods and
goddesses who live in
heaven, earth, and hell to
help and mingle with the
lives of mortals. It is
important to consider
then that these
Mahadiwa were once
warriors, who all died in
war, and thus were made
gods by the rainbow that
carried them to the Sky.
Thus each of the
Mahadiwa are capable of
human thought, speech,
and understanding. They
possess the Knowledge of
Good and Evil that they
used to have when they
were humans. When a
Mahadiwa dies or is
killed, they simply
reincarnate as another
Mahadiwa. Through this,
they live 999,999,999,999
lives.
Mahadiwa Tala
Kinabanaagan is the
Bronze Multiplicitous
Sidereal Steward of
Stars, who lives in the
Morning Star that brings
with it the dawn.
Mahadiwa's karakoa and
coterie of 180 Star
Servants Upon Astral
Palanquins are said to fly
across the sky, pulling the
dark blankets of night
away and giving it back
to the Moon, Tsandira
Dayawa. She watches
the earth, and guards
many secrets to sorcery,
KADUNGGANAN
as the givers of sorcery Throne, nor Enlightenment--for how could she? She is already
are hidden away in the
darkest voids of night.
nature itself--but instead she found that she was swimming up,
up, up, and up into the ocean.
Mahadiwa Tala
Kinabanaagan is also
Her enlightenment is thus: the depths of the ocean and the
farthest reaches of the void are one and the same. And when
said to grant Hiyang to she understood the cyclical nature of reality and metareality,
those that spend their she realized that she lived in a world of unconstrained
lives trying to achieve it. principles, she realized then that she lived in a world fabricated
Those she grants Hiyang by dancers and singers and artists singing songs and laughing
to are given corporeal about a bonfire, and that split her into two, and her
forms as stars upon the enlightenment-beyond-enlightenment was lost. But she still
sky. Her being can be remembers. She knows the kinds of god-beings--many just as
seen in the dawn, the powerful as her--living in the Depths|Void.
dusk, the lightning bolts, The Evening Star burns continuously. She is an evershining
the shooting stars, the flame. Aba, aba, glory to the Evening Star. In the Eighth Star
comets, and the asteroids. Era, only she has the sidereal violence to shine into the new
She has lived her entire world.
life in enlightenment. It is
said that when she died,
she was on the cusp of
Hiyang, and when she You have light and darkness internalized. Spend 1 Beat to
was killed by a Ten- undertake either the Light Nature or Dark Nature, though
Fathoms Long Lance, she you cannot be both at the same time.
became a star that
exploded upon the field, 0 Light Nature: All allies within burst 2 of you heal 2 when
burning all in smokeless you start your Fulmination.
flame, and then shot up
into the sky as the 0 Dark Nature: All Attack Teeth generate 2 Hits on a 9+.
Evening Star.
She is said to have a
Spend 1 Beat to bless your current Nature to an ally in
mirror image: Mahadiwa range 3, and they have that nature until the end of Violence.
Kalakatri Duumanun, her Spend 2 Beats while you or any ally has Light or Dark
darker side, the shadow Nature to overload the nature. Once Overloaded, you
that wraps around each
star at night. They are cannot take upon that Nature again until the end of
both all at once the same Violence.
and also different. The
Bulakdiwa say: she is like 0 Light Nature: Inflict 2 Stun Tokens to all enemies in burst
this because she dared 2.
venture into the deepest 0 Dark Nature: Inflict 2 True Hits to all enemies in burst 2.
parts of the night sky,
further and further, past
the void and the world
jaws and the endless seas
of chaos. Past the
firmament, and past the
darkness.
The Bulakdiwa say: what
she found, apparently,
was not God, nor the
222
 KADUNGGANAN

Enlightenment: Minor
Glory, Transcendent Unity
This is your final testament, and your own minor
transcendence, your own inkling of enlightenment. A little
taste of what truly means. You become a Bulakdiwa, a You constantly hover on the cusp of Transcendent Glory,
bodhisattva on the cusp of Blossoming and finding Glory Unity With All Things. All attacks against you have 5%
in Harmony. How do you feel? Take that next step. chance of missing completely. Roll the Chance Die before
The first violence was when the Bulakdiwa of Violence the Violence Cast.
glimped Blossoming when she realized the truth of the
world: it is a vicious wheel. From the ancient war of the At Strike 5+, spend 1 Beat to achieve temporary
Southwest Monsoon and the Northeast Storm, to the Liberation: Become Immune to all attacks, but you
slaying of the Ancient Dragon at the hands of cannot deal any damage as well. Any time you
Sumongsuklay, to the violence of the Giants Upon The
Oldest of the Creators. All of these were Wheels of attack a target, heal them per hit instead.
Violence, but the paradox she realized as she chose to stay
corporeal upon the earth instead of achieving unity with the
All, was that violence was how they were going to stop it.
Thus she became the First Bulakdiwa, bodhisattva of
violecne. She forestalled Glory to

223
APUMBUKID
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226
 KADUNGGANAN
Dancers along the lines of Cyclical Death,
spirit mediums of Yamadiraja, Diwa of
Death and Violence.
With your knife fists and sword feet, dance along
the lines of death, so that you may evermore be
changed. Remember, faithful students, enact
Cyclical Change to ensure the river ever flows.”
Death Dancers channel the tenet of Cyclical Death
to cleanse Gubat Banwa. They are the purest
incarnation of Gubat Banwa, fighters that excel in
the styles of martial art known as Empty Hand, as
well as Lightning Feet.
Heed the truth, then: Death Dancers are actually
spirit mediums that channel Yamadiraja, the God
of Death and Violence. In a vast number of beliefs,
Yamadiraja is considered an Aspect of Rajaraya
Pintas, the Ancestor God of Violence, while other
sects, like the Kayama-an religion in far east
Gatusan, recognizes Yamadiraja as the Supreme
God and the Creator God, who created this reality
by murdering the past reality. In Kayama-an,
Kalakatri is not seen as an Aspect of Mahadiwa but
rather, an Aspect of Yamadiraja.
The martial art of Death Dancers, the Dance of
Death, originated from deep within the mountains
of the isles in far east Gatusan, where it is said that
there is a cave that leads into the Underworld.
There, Yamadiraja (who is said to be the same
person as Sri Dapa, the God of War and Mortality
in Southern Regions of the Sword Isles), came to
them and taught them his Dance, as a way of
achieving Hiyang with him, and to become agents
of Cyclical Death (that is to say, death needed to
continue the cycle, so that it is not corrupted with
false immortals jockeying for power). Therefore
the Dance of Death is at once an intricate ritual and
a powerful martial art used to devastate. Many
sages conjecture that this was actually a powerful
turning point for Gubat Banwa: for the God of
Death itself to teach their supreme art marked the
beginning of the Eighth Star Era.
Various mediums of Yamadiraja have come down
from that mountain and spread across the land,
Mastery their art to those that would accept the
channeling and worship of Yamadiraja, or Sri
Dapa. In the Eighth Star Era, they have multiplied,
and various settlements have created their own
versions and manifestations of Yamadiraja’s
supreme art.
There was a Mastery, however, that was given to the
Death Dancers, as they were taught the final
maneuver of the most lethal art in Gubat Banwa:
“When you have attained the awe inspiring fires of
death itself, which humbles even the gods, what do
you do next? Use it with the same function as an
especially sharp rock?”
Discipline Traits
7 HP - Style: Raider
Weapons: Hands, feet, head, elbows, knees
Armors: Tattoos, bahag, sarongs, handwraps
Many Handed Wheel-Turner
Let Death speak for one last time: “There are things that are meant to cycle,
such as the flow of the universe, and things that are not meant to cycle,
such as the generational evils. Therefore with your internalization of
Cyclical Death, you will know which cycles to kill, and which cycles to
preserve. Remember, however, that no God shall ever be Immortal.
Therefore killing God enacts Cyclical Death as much as severing a slave
from their master enacts Cyclical Death. Let all things end with you.”
You can now take upon more than one Stance at a time. If
you do, gain a number of benefits equal to the number of
stances you are currently in. These benefits are
accumulative: having 3+ Stances means you also have the
benefit of being in 2+ and 1 Stance:
0 1 Stance: You have +1 Speed.
0 2+ Stances: Starting a Fulmination in 2+ Stances lets you
Rush 1.
0 3+ Stances: Starting a Fulmination in 3+ Stances lets you
inflict 1 Hit to all adjacent enemies.
0 4+ Stances: Your melee attacks become Overwhelming.
Body As Weapon Paagi
You take upon yourself the initiation of cyclical death. What does the
cycles of violence see now? Dance along the lines of death.
Choose whether your practicing the Heavy Handed
Executioner or the Lightning Death Movement style when
you go into combat:
0 Heavy Handed Executioner: Your Hundred Hands of
Yamadiraja is slower but more powerful: Melee Earth
Faith Attack vs 1 close target, with Overwhelming, but
it costs [2].
0 Lightning Death Movement: Your Hundred Hands of
Yamadiraja is quicker but weaker: You may teleport 1
then make a Melee Air Faith-1 Attack vs All targets in
Blast 2.
Inflict Violences
The Hundred Hands of Yamadiraja [1]: There are a thousand
deaths a day, and that is how many strikes you unleash. This is
dictated by your chosen Body As Weapon Paagi style.
Sunyata Palm [1]: Breathe and meditate upon the emptiness
taught by Destined Death. Take on the Empty Stance until the
end of your next Fulmination. When you suffer hits,
consume the Empty Stance to push 1 all enemies adjacent to
you.
Diamond Body [1]: Perform an anyo ritual, striking each point of
your body and hardening it to a thunderbolt. Take on the
Diamond Body Stance until the end of your next
Fulmination. While in the Stance, you cannot be forcibly
moved and when you move into an enemy’s square, you
collide with them (do not suffer Hits) and push them 1.
227
 KADUNGGANAN
Death Dancer Techniques
Sea and Storm Dance
Mastery Ninth: Be as water, formless but all form,
thoughtless but all thought. The final conceit of the
transcendental animism, this oneness with nature, this
Hiyang, is to be as the bamboo, swaying in the wind,
thinking not, but becoming that thing. Through
thoughtlessness, become violence. This is a gentle fist, be
not afraid to use it. With it, you shall toss boulders. Death
crumbles all things, even mountains."
Death Clinch
Yamadiraja, as Sri Dapa, measures the lives of every
mortal on earth upon a tree on the Mountain of Kibalu, in
Sonyoh. There, those that would travel to the Tree of Life
would be met by him, and taught by him. He emphasizes
thus. Quoth Death: “You are not beyond death. None
are. Even immortality is temporary. Even the gods face
death, for everything is part of the cycle of Diwa.
Therefore, learn: something can only be beautiful if it
ends.
Foe Stepping Stance
Teaching twelfth: be as the wind. Be the thing that
bends bamboo, the thing that becomes hurricanes, the
thing that fights back waves. Be the thing that floats
over it all.
228
Spend 1 Beat to take on Forceful Wave Stance: All
your Melee Attacks now Push 1 per 7+ and you can
walk on water, ignoring water terrain.
Spend 2 Beats to take on Razing Storm Stance:
When you Rush, you ignore terrain and elevation.
Spend 1 Beat to strike quickly with a chopping bolo
punch which weaves into a grapple. 1 adjacent
fighter to you becomes Clinched. While Clinched,
they suffer Stop and Slow, but they lose Clinched at
the end of their Fulmination.
+1 Beat to immediately inflict violence, gaining
Skewering.
+1 Beat to immediately throw the target: push 5 and
if they collide, they suffer Stun.
Prereq: Sea and Storm Dance
Spend 1 Beat to take on the Foe Stepping Stance
until you suffer hits. While in this Stance, when you
Rush and you end your movement in an enemy’s or
terrain’s square, you can rush 2 more, and keep
bouncing off of enemy’s though you can only
bounce off each enemy and terrain once. Vertical
terrain counts (ie. Higher terrain).
+1 Beat: To make it so that every fighter you bounce
off of suffers 1 Hit.
+1 Beat: To make it so that this works with Strides
as well, not just Rush.
 KADUNGGANAN
Hornbill Bladekick
Duality-Rending Sutra: do what is assigned to you, to
your utmost ability, to the quality closest to the one
expected. Strike, and when you do, strike with utmost
intent. To perform the Hornbill Bladekick you must be
close enough to Yamadiraja that you can manifest his
leg, which is a burning monitor lizard claw.
Death Comet
“Death Dancers practice the art of Holistic Violence, one
of the main Rituals of Yamadiraja. This means that they are
not simply inflicting violence, but they are violence. Death
Dancers that practice this Technique understand and apply
it to their martial art: they are capable of taking on multiple
stances at a time, as if they are all violence at once. Quoth
Death: “The Dance of Death is not just a physical dance,
but rather, a way of life. Death, remember, is not the end,
but rather, the next step to the next life. Therefore embrace
death, and you shall be mercurial.” The ultimation of this
Technique is the ability to strike the air so quick with kicks
that you summon a burning comet.
Enlightenment: Dance of
the King of Death
You breathe out, and then break into the blissful
dance, all to summon Sayawraja, the King of Dance,
the most violent aspect of Yamadiraja: a six-armed,
flaming-eyed Avatar of Violence. The Ultimate
Hypocrite. They Who Will Kill Those That Threaten
Ang Hiyang, Transcendent Dharmapala.
From your soul erupts two more sets of arms. Quoth
Death: “The Four-Armed Thunderbolt Wielder is one
of the primal versions of Yamadiraja. If there would be
any that lights the wick of his ire, he will take upon
this form to remind humans the most visceral and
primordial face of death.”
Prereq: Deathly Clinch
Spend 1 Beat to strike either down or up with a bladekick:
If up: inflict 1 Hit and Unbalance. If down: inflict 1 Hit and
Juggle.
+1 Beat if you strike them down to instead embed them
into the ground. While embedded, they cannot make any
attacks and must spend a Beat to remove themselves.
+1 Beat if you strike them up to launch them into the sky,
removing them from play. They fall down at the start of
their next Fulmination, suffering 1 True Hit.
Prereq: Foe Stepping Stance, Hornbill Bladekick
Spend 1 Beat to kick the air rapidly, and send a ball of
pure fraying death upon a target: Ranged Earth Faith
Attack vs 1 target in range 5.
+1 Beat to turn this into a starstreak: Change the target
to All targets in line 5.
+1 Beat to store the ball instead, turning it into a Death
Charge. When you next make a Faith attack, consume
the Death Charge to make that attack Overwhelming.
When you make a melee attack, you can choose to shed
any number of Stances, dealing +1 Hit per Stance
removed.
at strike 4+, spend 1 beat to summon the death
avatar: all your melee attacks have sharpness and
have Overwhelming. When you become Critical
for the first time after gaining the blissful
dance, you explode in deathly energies: inflict 6
true hits upon all enemies in burst 3.
229
H KADUNGGANAN
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230
 KADUNGGANAN
Ritualist-warriors who perfect the ritual of
killing and decapitation, the law of equivalent
exchange, Masters of Reaping Fates.
In the Sword Isles, despite what others might have you
believe, killing is a ritual undertaking. Among the
shoreline settlements and metropoles, killing a man is a
coming of age ritual. One that begins your journey in
these islands as an individual.
Deep into the mountains of Rusunuga, in the One
Thousand Plutocracies that live upon its mountains--one
of which is Vuyu--they practice ritual headhunting. This
tradition is something not specific to them as well:
warrior braves in lowland settlements frequently picked
up their slain enemies’ heads to be portrayed upon their
house, and some plucked out the hairs of their slain
enemies to use as decoration for their kalasag shields.
They do this because everybody holds a certain amount of
Gahum, pure untapped spiritual power. By accruing this
Gahum, they themselves get stronger, gaining more favor
in the eyes of the ancestors. When a person dies, their
Gahum is transferred to whoever takes it, either through
their head or through the sweat or liquids from their body
after a mummifying process. This is why the burial rituals
in The Sword Isles are varied, long, and revered.
The Headtaker is someone who specializes in collecting
heads. They have turned this immaculate and sacred
ritual act into a business, a job. This is what the islands
have fallen to. What was once a ritual tradition, that
sacred act of killing, has been blasphemed.
The warriors of Apumbukid have learned this tradition
from the headhunting folk of Vuyu and the mountains of
Rusunuga. Many Headtakers travel to Apumbukid to
cease their ritual headhunting with their fellow man, and
instead hunt down those that are disrupting Hiyang, as a
form of ritual sacrifice and ritual killing.
Headtakers usually trawl the lands and accept jobs from
Datu to perform headhunting ritual killings for any
reason, whether it be for revenge, for murder, or for
mourning. In return, Headtakers are given lodging and
acceptance into society. A sort of necessary evil. In this
way, they are no different from any other Kadungganan,
but Kadungganan have the gall to think they are different.
That their killing is in any way more sacred or more noble.
Headtakers are trained in the mountains or hinterlands,
subjected to harsher conditions than normal, whether it
be cloying hot jungles or the near freezing cold of the
highest peaks in The Sword Isles. They are at home in the
shadows of the trees, above the unseen branches, clad in
shade and vine. They do whatever they need to do to
perfect their Technique, taught in all manner of martial
arts by all manner of teachers. Sometimes these teachers
are ancestor spirits, sometimes these are diwata,
sometimes these are the folk living in these hinterland
regions. Whoever it may be, it does not matter to the
Headtaker. All teachings lead to the ritual art of
decapitation.
When you become a Headtaker, ask yourself: are you
willing to become headless to perform your duty?
Ignorance is bliss, Kadungganan.
231
Discipline Traits
6 HP - Style: Raider
Weapons: Headtaking Axe, sickle, tabak, golok,
pinute
Armors: Cloaks, rain capes, breastplates, silk robes
Ritual Kill
The Headtaking Rite is an endlessly difficult martial art to
master, and it is not taught to just anyone. Everyone that
becomes a Headtaker understands combat-as-ritual, and does
not and will never take it lightly. They will only take heads if
they must, if they need to, if the ancestors command it. The
Decapitation Rite is a martial art that uses venoms, shadows,
bamboos, combined with large strides and a low stance to defeat
opponents.
For 1 Beat, designate a single fighter in range 5 that
you can see as your Ritual Kill. You can only have 1
Ritual Kill at a time. When you mark a new Ritual
Kill, your last Ritual Kill disappears.
Whenever you make a melee attack against your
Ritual Kill, your attack gains Skewering. If it already
has Skewering, gain +1 Hit on the attack.
Shadowstep
The Decapitation Rite teaches that the shadows are your friends.
The darkness is not evil; in fact, it is a respite and a safe space
from the overbearing hegemony of the sun’s scorching rays.
Therefore use it to your advantage, and let your axe burn with
love.
When you Stride, you can choose to teleport 1
instead. Additionally, you can now move through
enemies but not end in their squares.
Smoke and Bamboo Style
Headtakers are trained in the art of leaping from tree to tree,
bough to bough, finding the perfect angle to strike down and end
things.
While adjacent to blocking or cover terrain, spend 1
Beat to gain Stealthx2.
Inflict Violences
Cleave and Eviscerate [1]: Go for the fucking throat.
Melee Metal Bravery Attack vs 1 adjacent target. If
the target is Staggered, this attack gains
Skewering.
Ambush [1]: You leap out and strike from the shadows.
Melee Earth Bravery Attack vs 1 adjacent target. If
attacking from Stealth, this attack gains +1d.
Dancing Weapon [1]: Throw a weapon imbued with
ritual shadows. Ranged Metal Bravery Attack vs 1
target in range 3. If the target is Staggered, may
teleport to a square adjacent to them.
 KADUNGGANAN
Headtaker Techniques
Owl Dance
Thread 2: Blood need not be so noisy, however.
Head Lopping Attack
“To truly become the axe, you must be able to puncture the
carapaces of all those that you wish to destroy. If you
cannot, then you are ineffectual, useless.” - Si Batara
Padakul, Diwata of Axes. Thread 1: Your axe will always
find its mark.
Slayer Pamaagi
“Verse 49 - However, their head split into ten thousand
skulls, and the Supreme Soul spoke: YOU HAVE
DESCRIBED ME WRONGLY IN YOUR
LESSONS, They said. I AM NO GOD. I AM
BEYOND GOD. YOU CANNOT DESCRIBE ME.
IN YOUR HUBRIS, YOU CANNOT KILL ME. I
AM BEYOND DEATH. NOW... ACHIEVE
HIYANG.”
50 - This lesson cannot be written down, for it exists and
does not exist all at once. I apologize on behalf of the
Great Hero of Heroes, Noble Lord of Warrior-Slayers.” –
SONG OF IDDA MANGUBAT
232
spend 1 beat to gain an owl token. you can
consume the owl token at any time to teleport 1.
+1 beat to also give 1 ally in range 2 the owl token.
Spend 1 Beat to strike down with a weapon and lop off
heads: make a Melee Metal Bravery Attack vs 1 close
target. If this brings them to 0 HP, inflict Daze all
enemies in burst 2 as your savage display sends them
reeling.
+1 Beat to rush 1 before the attack.
+1 Beat to add +1d to the Attack Teeth.
Spend 1 Beat to take on the Slayer Stance until you are
forcibly moved by an enemy. While in this stance,
when you move into an Enemy’s square that has 1 HP
left, immediately defeat them.
+1 Beat to gain +1 Speed while in the Stance.
+1 Beat to gain Stability when you first take this
Stance.
 KADUNGGANAN
Shadow Ritualist
Verse 22: “When BA~TA-LA, That Supreme
Soul, stepped into the world through the paradox
of creation, Idda Mangubat vanished into the
trees in Their path. The great universal
consciousness’ gaze seemed so serene that he felt
themself melting into oneness just at Their gaze”.
– SONG OF IDDA MANGUBAT
Death Scythes Down
Thread 1: When blood is drawn, maybe then we shall
revel in ultraviolence.
Enlightenment: Yamakala
Nature
Whenever you move through the shadows, the god of
ritual killing sends merit, flashing out in shadowy
arms, striking all about you.
One of the many Gods of Fated Death is said to be
the god/goddess Yamakala Lakibayibatara (Male-
Female Deity). It is said that the God of Cyclical
Death, Yamadiraja, and the Goddess of Vengeance,
Kalakatri, were once one being of all death.
Prereq: Owl Dance, Head Lopping Attack, Slayer Pamaagi
Interject 3: When you are the target of an attack, spend the
Interject to teleport 1, and leave behind a Size 1 Shadow Clone of
yourself, which becomes the target of the attack. The Shadow
Clone disappears at the end of your next Fulmination.
for 1 beat, rush 1 and then summon a size 1 shadow clone of
yourself in the square you left. it disappears at the end of
your next fulmination.
for 2 beats, on the lines of shadowspeed and shade
momentum you strike, a rippling culmination, as your
shadow clones leap and strike your target: melee air
bravery (+1 per your shadow clone in the field) attack vs 1
adjacent target. all your shadow clones then disappear.
Prereq: Shadow Ritualist
Spend 2 Beats to leap down like a shadow scything
down: Make a Melee Air Bravery Attack vs 1 target on
an Elevation lower than yours in range 3. Roll the
Attack Teeth twice and take the better result.
+1 Beat to increase the range to range 5.
all your melee attacks against enemies with full
hp you may roll twice and take the better result.
at strike 4+, spend 2 beats to kill all enemies who
have 3 or less hp.
233
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 KADUNGGANAN
Wielders of Kinaadman: Enlightened Will,
Practitioners of Kimat Kinaadman, Greater
Than Cannons
There has ever been magick in Gubat Banwa, and it is
ever more concentrated here, in the Sword Isles, the
Center of the Trichiliocosm. Kinaadman is a potent
thing. It is less a source of power but a burning field
of experiences. A differing state of being where one is
exposed to the greater mysteries in life, and no
answers are given to you. Only questions, questions,
questions.
Across the isles, a common name for miraculous and
paranormal powers is Kinaadman, which means
“erudition”. Kinaadman can be gained with proper
cultivation, study or meditation with the Cosmic
Soul, while some might have kinaadman as a
consequent of their nature, such as gods and demons.
There are many kind of kinaadman: magics to change
the size of something, to summon mystic flame, to
control the thunderbolt, to heal others (commonly
known as busali), to levitate, to manipulate the
elements, to become impervious to harm.
Makinaadmanon are those that master mudras
(mystic hand gestures) and mentalas (esoteric words
inscribed upon palm leaf or incanted), using that as a
means to manifest their kinaadman kinetically. Not
just that, but they have also mastered the art of ritual,
having the ability to perform a vast number of rituals
that inflict such effects that require another
Makinaadmanon or a balyan or healer to be able to
dispel.
Makinaadmanon in particular have chosen to step up
and adapt their abilities to be able to be used in war
and raids. This art is known as the art of Kimat
Kinaadman (Lightning Erudition). It is the
application of sorcery and spiritual gifts into combat.
Makinaadmanon have become indispensable
artillery in Warbands and armies henceforth in the
Sword Isles, becoming natural counterparts to
lantaka. Gatusan and Apumbukid, for example, use
Makinaadmanon and Witches (Mambabarang)
liberally to supplement their artillery.
The ability to mix mudra and mentala into a single
seamless mystic martial art has proven to be
exceedingly effective, however: Makinaadmanon
fight with a mix of kinetic movement that interweave
mudra gesturing with intricate kick katas, mentala
utterings with dodges, and the planting of mentala-
inscribed bamboo strips is combined with powerful
lock-punches.
You hold limitless power in your hands, why inflict
violence instead of healing the land? Your answer will
never be enough, Makinaadmanon.
Discipline Traits
HP: 6 - Style: Witch
Weapons: Meditations, vajras, staffs, mudras, mantras,
bamboo prayer strips, burning bolts of energy
Armors: Meditational Robe, silk jackets, voluminous
cloaks, flowing sarongs, gleaming paruka
Thunderbolt Body
The most common expression of Kinaadman is through sheer
spiritual power. As a Makinaadmanon, your body changes in
conjunction with the growing kinaadman within you. This is where
the martial art Kimat Kinaadman gained its name: their bodies very
often turned into burning lightning as they fought, as they cultivated
their kinaadman to burning heights. They command the elements of
the world as a poet commands words, with a mixture of stances and
flowing body movements that replicate the characteristics of the
elements they control. Sometimes they also rely on the use of palm leaf
magic strips to empower their attacks.
Every start of your Fulmination, gain 1 Kinaadman, a
mote of spiritual power. You can spend any number of
Kinaadman when you make a Faith Attack to add that
many Kinaadman to the Attack Teeth, or when you
inflict a Bane to inflict that much stacks of that Bane.
0 At 1+ Kinaadman: your powers are bolstered. All your
faith attacks inflict Slide x2.
0 At 2+ Kinaadman: all your Faith Attacks inflict Burn x2.
Burn reduces 1 HP every start and end of Fulmination.
0 At 3+ Kinaadman: you start hovering as well, gaining
Float.
0 At 4+ Kinaadman: your body becomes a Thunderbolt: all
your Faith Attacks gain Overwhelming and you inflict 1
True Hit whenever you inflict Banes.
0 At 5+ Kinaadman, your body is overwhelmed, and you
explode: you fall to Critical and inflict 3 True Hits on all
targets in burst 5.
Elemental Perfection
The Makinaadmanon perfects the natural world around them, so that
they can reach harmony through the violence they inflict.
When you make a Faith Attack, you can choose what the
Element of the attack will be.
Inflict Violences
Kinaadman Blast [1]: You blast down with overflowing
kinaadman. Make an Area Metal Faith Attack vs all
targets in burst 1 within 4 squares, then inflict
Vulnerability on each target to the element of this
attack.
Curse [1]: Inflict spite and perversion and make them bleed.
Inflict Eviscerate on a target in range 5.
Clawed Witchstrike [1]: With your hand in a clawed mudra,
you rake at the victim of your scorn. Make a Ranged Earth
Faith Attack vs 1 target in range 5, and then slide them 2
+ 1 per 7+.
235
 KADUNGGANAN
Makinaadmanon Techniques
Siga
“Heaven crumbles and the seas boil! With
nothing but my name writ across the stars...
Siga!” A popular mudra amongst
Makinaadmanon that truly encapsulates their
position as magickal artillery. This spell was
perfected by Makinaadmanon warriors that
needed to sneak through ancient temples
guarded by Akai invaders.
Baha
“I hold you to your word, giver of waters!
Grant me thine strength to vanquish ere
enemies! Water churns and overtakes chaos:
Baha!” Sorcery is the ability to use your own
energy to affect the world at large, which you
perform by harnessing your Kinaadman. You
bring this storm down to bear upon your
enemies. Baha is the spell used to summon
water and to let it surge across the world.
Batubalani
Mentala are magical formulations that are usually
read from the bamboo strip, but a very quick way of
implementing them is by imbuing them upon
something, and letting their effect trigger by dint of
your Kinaadman.
"Whisper, bleed and burst forth! The overwhelming
oppressive force of the gods of the soil herald thee!
Batubalani!" You throw out a mentala that rends
into pieces at it hits the ground, creating a magnetic
field. Batubalani means magnetic rock. The concept
of rocks having its own force of attraction is
ubiquitous across the isles, and it is said that this is
the reason why people are drawn to the earth: the
earth gods have an innate spiritual attraction that
brings all mortals down.
236
Spend 1 Beat to perform Siga: make a Ranged Fire
Faith Attack vs 1 Target in range 5, then inflict Fray
x3.
Spend 2 Beats to perform Kusiga, changing the
target to all enemies in line 5.
Spend 3 Beats to perform Devasiga. As with Kusiga
but with the following effect: inflict 1 True Hit and
Fray on all enemies adjacent to the last target of this
attack.
Prereq: Siga
Spend 1 Beat to Baha: Area Water Faith Attack vs All
chosen targets in blast 5, then slide 1 all chosen
targets.
Spend 2 Beats to perform Kusobaha: Increase the
range to blast 5 within 4 squares.
Spend 3 Beats to perform Devabaha: As with
Kusobaha, but also inflict SPD-1 to each chosen
target.
Prereq: Baha
Spend 1 Beat to perform Batubalani: choose 1
square in range 5. All chosen targets in burst 2 of
that square are Pulled 1 toward that square. Any
targets with Float or Fly lose this until the end of
their next Fulmination.
Spend 2 Beats to perform Kusobatubalani: pull 2
squares instead and inflict Unbalance.
3 Beats to perform Devabatubalani: As with
Kusobatalani, but increase the burst to burst 3.
 KADUNGGANAN
Kilat
“As I gather my fulminations, the violences upon my
heart bursts forth! Uncontainable like the lightnings:
I shall streak brighter than Jamiyun Kulisa! Now
feel my sun-searing spite: Kilat!” The element of
lightning is the purest condensation of wind, and is
the weapon of the gods. This technique was
perfected by Busalian Keravu, from the highest
mountains of Rusunuga in Sinuku, who was said to
have been struck by lightning ten times and deflected
each one. He was granted the technique by Galura
himself, who incarnated as Gat Alti Alaya, God-
Hero of the Lightning Bolt, who brandished four
arms. Mudras are magicked hand gestures that stem
from ancient foreign religions. These gestures have
metaphysical meaning, and performing them in
certain manners, or projecting passionate faith upon
them, calls magick upon the world.
Linog
“Heed me, grandfather earth! Grant me thine
earthquake! Linog!” The element of earth is
said to be younger than his fathers, the element
of wind and water, who were first in the
cosmos. However, earth has always been very
rebellious. The earth is associated with
steadfastness, but when flipped, represents
ultimate annihilation.
Enlightenment: Heaven
To Earth Vajra
“Jamiyun Kulisa, offer me your thunderbolt.
Habagat and Amihan, offer me your winds! Si
Ginarugan, let the almighty Earthquake shake
the foundations of this atrocious field, and
Indira Suga grant me the authority to bring
godly indignation! SAKUNA!” You raise your
hand and thunderclouds gather. You incant,
writhing, spiking utterations and ululations.
When heaven has had enough of your
blasphemy, the holy powers of heaven send a
fulminating lightning bolt to the earth,
embodying all seven natural elements.
Prereq: Batubalani
Spend 1 Beat to summon a fulminating lightning
bolt, Kilat: make a Ranged Air Faith Attack vs 1
target in range 5.
Spend 2 Beats to perform Kusokilat: Make the
attack a snaking thunderbolt across the
battlefield: change the target and range to all
targets in path 7.
Spend 3 Beats to perform Devakilat, as with
Kusokilat but also Mark all targets of this attack
until they suffer an Air Attack again. When they
are marked, they have Air Vulnerability and inflict
1 Hit on all adjacent allies whenever they suffer
Hits on their own.
Prereq: Kilat
Spend 1 Beat to perform Linog: launch yourself off
of the earth, rush 3 in a straight line, ignoring
terrain, fighters, and elevation. Once you land on a
square, raise 1 adjacent square to you by +1
Elevation.
Spend 2 Beats to perform Kusolinog: Any enemy
you move over suffers 1 Hit and Eviscerate.
Spend 3 Beats to perform Devalinog: As with
Kusolinog, but once you land on a square, inflict 1
Hit on each enemy adjacent.
at strike 5+, for 3 beats, you may summon the
burning thunderbolt into the earth: inflict 5 true
hits to every target beyond burst 2 (everywhere
within burst 2 of you is safe). then suffer 1 true
hit.
if narratively appropriate, become defeated to
enact sakuna: inflict 10 true hits on all enemies in
the battlefield, but then you die, annihilated by
the strength of your own thunderbolt.
237
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 KADUNGGANAN
Embodiments of Minor Enlightenment,
Manifestations of the Wind, Arrows of
Harmony, Born from the Watchtowers.
Tigpana [tig-pa-NA’] translates directly to archer. This is
the discipline of long distance combat atop bamboo
watchtowers, treehouses and rocky outcroppings
peppered across The Sword Isles. This discipline actually
originated in Ibalnong, but was applied to the rest of the
archipelago by Apumbukid as violence intensified.
They measure the lay of the wind, the rustle of leaves, the
whisper of the land. What heat might do to the trajectory
of a fire-hardened arrow, the nuisance of rain. To become
a Tigpana is to become one with nature, to be as silent as
the first light of dawn, to be as quick as the darkest point
in the night.
Tigpana are masters of all ranged bows: from the
common busog, or shortbow, to the rarer sikarom, the
bamboo longbow, which is so long that it had to be held
under the foot to be strung. They fire the initial strike
when needing to protect a settlement, or if on a raid, they
will seek the highest vantage point to dictate the
momentum of the battle.
Tigpana are made to watch with eyes sharper than eagles.
With escalating tensions between polities, these elite
sharpshooters have descended down from upon their
lofty bamboo watchtowers to fight alongside their fellow
Kadungganan. This has done nothing to impede their
skill, of course. In fact, all it has done is to show how much
more formidable a Tigpana is up close, with perfectly
lined shots that can sever the head from the neck.
While Apumbukid trains them in large numbers due to
their proactive stance on their stewardship, the art of
long ranged archery came from Ibalnong, in the
northwestern tip of Rusunuga, bordered by the volcano
Magayon, the most beautiful volcano in all of The Sword
Isles, known for its perfect cone shape.
The Ibalnongnon are closer to the Gatusanon than the
Virbanwans in culture, and also tattooed themselves and
raided the coasts of foreign lands. When invaders came,
they were known as some of the most belligerent
warriors, evidenced by their skill with longbows. These
Ibalnongnon warriors have since taught warriors far and
wide the discipline of longbow archery, and have thus
bred a new breed of Tigpana across the isles.
The Art of the Tigpana was once preserved only for
hunting large game in the forest. It has now been turned
into a hateful art that skewers their fellow men. But even
then, before going out of a hunt--whether it be for an
animal or for a human--Tigpana make their offerings to
their gods. In supplication, in sorrow, in a Fulmination of
asking forgiveness.
The Art of Petal Piercing combines Harmony Through
Breathing with Archery techniques. To never miss
attacks, Tigpana become one with the battlefield, gaining
for a moment a violent Hiyang, which they use to be able
to be the most accurate martial artists across the Sword
Isles. Tigpana are the most powerful snipers, and truly
great Tigpana are rare across the Sword Isles.
If you choose to become a Tigpana ask yourself why you
have chosen the path of more violence, if you could’ve
stayed protecting what is yours instead. Who do you fight
for? Why? Blood stains your bowstrings, how long until it
flows from your heart?
239
Discipline Traits
HP: 6 - Style: Sharpshooter
Weapons: Sikarom (bamboo longbows), shortbows,
blowguns, guns, lobbers
Armors: War jackets, vests, padded shirts, sarongs,
natural mantles
Panganoron Pana
The Art of Piercing Petals with your Arrows was famously created
by an ancient longbow master in the peninsula of Ibalnong, SRI
DIWA SAMAYAW, God of Hunting and said to be an aspect of
Rajaraya Pintas, who elevated the simple art of bow fighting to a
god-beast hunting martial art with the help of the dark-skinned
Mayaran folk in the hinterlands of Rusunuga, who have
perfected the bow and arrow art. This art requires the
practitioner to be at least not Dihiyang, and at best, completely
Naghiyang, or Concordant With the Universe’s Flow or Nihawa,
to become the most accurate martial artists.
At the start of combat, gain 1 Flow. Every start of
Fulmination after your first, gain 1 Flow. You can
only have up to 5 Flow. You can use Flow to empower
the strength of your arrows. Flow represents your
attunement to nature and violence as the fight
progresses.
Harmonious Arrow Meditation: While you have
Flow 2+, all your ranged attacks have Sharpness.
Venerable Sri Magayon Stability: You can spend 1
Flow when you are Pushed or Pulled to ignore that
forced movement.
Boltavara Fury: When you make a ranged attack,
spend X Flow to gain Xd on the Attack Teeth.
One With Nature: Spend Flow to gain Stealth equal
to the 1+Flow spent.
Sri Diwa Samayaw’s Boon
Sri Diwa Samayaw wields a weapon that cannot be broken or
stolen or destroyed. The Tigpana’s art teaches the same, much
meditation and contemplation is focused on creating this
inescapable bond between the martial artist and their ranged
weapon.
While suffering any Bane, gain +2 range to all
attacks with Range X.
Inflict Violences
Snipe [1]: Shoot and kill from above. Ranged Air
Bravery Attack vs 1 target in range 6, ignoring cover
and blocking terrain. If done from Stealth, gain +1d.
Aim [1]: Ready death. Gain 1 Flow. Your next Ranged
Attack gains Sharpness. If it already has Sharpness,
it instead generates double Hits on 9+.
Quick Shot [1]: Shoot and then flip back. Ranged Air
Bravery Attack vs 1 target in range 3, then rush 3
backwards, away from the target.
 KADUNGGANAN
Tigpana Techniques
Future Arrow
This Discipline was made by the Sikarom
(bamboo longbows) wielders of Ibalnong.
They stood upon bamboo watchtoweres
known as bantara to be able to protect their
settlements from every raid. With a
meditation upon the Universal Flow, you fire
an arrow meant for the future.
Wind Breathing Style
This concoction, known sometimes as the
Hiyang Rasa (The Essence of Harmony),
once crafted by baylan of Tigpana, has now
become a common concoction taught to all
beginner Tigpana. Made of fire, crocodile
tears, hibiscus petals, and cinnamon bark, the
concoction helps you align with the Flow.
Once aligned with the Flow, you can use it to
block off other’s connection with the world.
Bamboo Reroutes The River
The tigpana’s reaction time is feared across
the isles. Nothing matches them. In truth,
this is the first lesson of the Tigpana: to catch
an arrow from mid-air. The second lesson is
this: throw the arrow back. Sri Taka is a
legendary folk hero among Apumbukid, a
Hinapanun noble who fought against a
Virbanwan iron foundry village that seeked to
kill the diwata of the forest Ibusi, Apu Ibusi.
240
Spend 2 Beats to shoot 2 arrows into the air. At
any point in the violence after the current
Strike, you can cause the arrows to fall onto
any any target that is within burst 5 of you,
immediately inflicting 1 Hit per arrow.
+1 Beat to gain Stealthx2 immediately after
firing the arrows.
Prereq: Future Arrow
Spend 1 Beat to imbibe Zephyr Essence:
rush 2, ignoring height.
+1 Beat: Fire a wind-infused arrow after
rushing: Area Air Bravery Attack vs all
chosen targets in path 7.
+1 Beat: Rush 4 in a straight line instead.
Prereq: Wind Breathing Style
Spend 1 Beat to ready yourself, taking on the
Si Taka Catches Arrows Stance until you make
an attack. While in this stance, when you are
the target of a ranged attack, roll a d6. On a 3+,
redirect the attack against any other target
within range 4.
+1 Beat to immediately rush 3.
+1 Beat to ready yourself: at any point during
your Fulmination, consume the Stance for 1
Beat to inflict violence twice without Combo
Breaker.
 KADUNGGANAN

Everywhere All At Once Meditation

Becoming Naghiyang is an enlightened state but is not a final
salvation or liberation from the sufferings of life. When one is Prereq: Bamboo Reroutes The Rive
Naghiyang, one moves in accordance with the wants of nature,
with the bouncing gods that live in every single thing, including Interject 4: When a fighter leaves a sq
one’s self. They do everything naturally, easily, without thinking, within burst 4, you may deal 1 True Hit
action without thought. However, mindfulness is still required to against them before they leave the
stay Naghiyang: one can be very easily brought out of harmony. square by spending an interject.
Those in Naghiyang revel in the absolute joy in being accordance
with the trichiliocosm.

Prereq: Everywhere All At Once Meditation

For 1 Beat, Choose 1 square in range 3, placing

Harmonious Wind Spirit
The application of Hiyang Technique is favored by
all tigpana: with an ululation, you summon a wind
spirits in particular areas of the battlefield. When
your arrows go through the spirits, they are infused
with stronger Flow, bouncing off of them and
accelerating.
wind Spirits (Size 1/2 Summons) in them. When
making a ranged attack, the attacker may target
the wind spirit. If they do, they can change the
origin point of the attack to the wind spirit, and
the attack gains +1 Range.
+1 Beat to increase the range to 5.

+1 Beat to increase the size of the spirit to Size 2,

but it doesn’t take up that square.

Enlightenment: Astra of whenever a fighter in range 5 of you suffers an

Transcendent Harmony
You breathe out, and your breathe sparks with the
rising drums of thunder. None can keep you down.
Your aim is steady. In the gentleness arises the
greatest of violences. This is the Rusakpana: the Bow
of Annihiliation. Rusak weapons are weapons made
of pure annihilating god-essence, the weapons of the
gods and those that invoke them.
attack, inflict 1 hit immediately, 1/fulmination.
at strike 4+, spend 1 beat and choose any target in
the battlefield. roll your bravery+faith against
them, each hit being a true hit. if they are still in
play, they suffer stun.

241
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 KADUNGGANAN
Combat Mediators of the World, Lovers of
Mantra, Channelers of Batala the Destroyer,
Virtuosos of Warspeaking, Practitioners of
Domination
The art of Speaking has not been lost upon the warriors of
old. Of course not. Speech developed alongside violence. In
many ways they are one and the same, the two sides of a
single sword.
A few eras ago the counselors of an ancient God-King came
together to create a martial art that would bind the two
sides of the sword into one. To create a martial art that
would cut through both falsehoods, politics, diplomacy,
and violence to be able to arrive at a better world through
peaceful speech instead of violent conquest. They spoke
with the BATALA-BUDDHA, incarnated as the Devaraja
Dharmadewa (known sometimes as Vatara Guru and
Debata Siwa), the Creator-Destroyer, and they were given
the Batalamentala, the Mentala of the Destroyer. These
mentala (sacred utterances, a form of prayer-mantra) were
used to invoke Batala’s power, and were also used to
influence the minds and dominate others through speech.
Of course, as with all things that are not completely Hiyang,
they were not able to achieve this. Nay, perhaps that is too
harsh. They turned the Batalamantras into the
Gubatmantras, or War Mantras. It was meant to cut past
any uncertainties to create a more harmonious bond, but it
did anything but that. The War Mantras, when employed
into combat, is known under the martial art of
Warspeaking: utterances and rhetoric turned into attacks,
logic and declarations as defenses.
The War Mantras are still perfected by many parawali
today, thus why the Apumbukid term for the Warspeaker is
Sundang Parawali, Sword Counselor. However, the term
Warspeaker is strictly reserved for those that practice and
perfect the convoluted art of Warspeaking.
It is one part rote (“you must learn these particular rhetoric
for they counter all swords”), other parts theory (“this
particular word sequence requires proper application and
proper context”) and even other parts psychology (“know
your enemy before employing this ironshield logic gate”).
However, once perfected, Warspeakers are known for
traveling throughout the battlefield without wielding
weapon nor armor, and being able to turn enemies traitor.
The five major techniques of Warspeaking deals in
inflicting disarray with entropic mantras, domination
which deals in controlling enemies with proper rhetoric,
logic, and sacred utterance, inspiration which deals in
imbuing allies with strength through proper speech, and
illusion, the greatest of the Warspeaker’s abilities, in which
they are able to utter words that both destroy the illusion of
the Trichiliocosm as well as manipulate the illusion.
Through this they understand: the Trichiliocosm is an
illusion of action, created through our senses, as we try and
understand God.
If you become a Warspeaker, ask yourself: you have
perfected the art of talking, and choose to employ it in the
battlefield? Why must you use it in the same way an ape
would use a particularly sharp rock? With the right words
you can bend buddhas and bodhisattvas to your will, let
others find glory, and yet you choose to cutting ignorance.
Your words might be sharp and your understanding of the
illusion of the world strong, but who is the real fool?
You are nothing but a sword.
243
Discipline Traits
HP: 6 - Style: Witch
Weapons: Staff, fan, words, whispers, mockery,
swords, daggers, hammers
Armors: Cloaks, silk jackets, silk pants, sarongs,
headwraps, diadems, silk slippers
God Mantras
The conception of Batala as the Supreme God arrived in the Isles
after the Ashinin Missionaries brought the term BHATTARAKA
meaning Noble Lord in through religious work. BHATTARAKA
is one of the names they used for their Auspicious God, the
Absolute Reality, known as SRIWA. The name SRIWA never
caught on in Rusunuga, and when the teachings of the Sage of
Violence Himayanon Annuvar arrived through the Annuvaran
Missionaries, they kept used the term BATALA HIMAYANON
BATALA to refer to the Eternal Himayanon, the Cosmic Sage that
embodies all of Divine Law and is where all of reality arises from,
and that kalibutan is a consequent of this. With the
syncretization of BATALA to refer the Absolute Reality of Divine
Law, the name stayed.
When you start your Fulmination, choose which
mantra you are chanting until the start of your next
Fulmination.
0 OO SIW GULURAD. Every fighter in burst 2 of you
suffers POS-1/RES-1.
0 OO KUSG HAREYA. When a fighter starts their
Fulmination in burst 2 of you, inflict Slide 1.
0 OO ARA SIGLA. When an enemy in burst 2 rolls
Attack Teeth, force them to reroll one tooth.
0 OO MATA MATA. When an enemy ends their
Fulmination adjacent to you, they suffer Unbalance.
Biting Commands
Constantly speaking, you know the secrets of the Sword of
Diplomacy and Mediation. With the proper words, you strike at
the hearts of men.
Whenever you forcibly move a fighter, inflict 1 Hit on
them, 1/Fulmination.
Inflict Violences
Mock [1]: Utter mocking phrases. Ranged Air Bravery
Attack vs 1 target in range 5, then inflict Provoke on
them, choosing any ally as the one they’re provoked
to.
Fast Friends [1]: Now confuse them and make them drop
their guard. Inflict Eviscerate on 1 target in range 4.
Sword [1]: When all else fails, unsheathe the sword
mantra. Ranged Fire Bravery Attack vs 1 target in
range 3, inflict Bleed x3.
 KADUNGGANAN
Warspeaker Techniques
Butterfly Words Style
“Master this utterance and command the
battlefield with your words.” You utter
A·TAS, warriors find themselves moving of
their own accord.
Fey Buddha Glossolalia
“Master this utterance and know that the
Absolute Reality is I, and the imperfect senses
cannot comprehend perfection.” You utter
KA·RIK·TAN, and you show a warrior perfect
beauty, so hard to comprehend that they are
dazzled.
Ferocity Mantra
“Master this utterance and inflict doubt
upon the victims of your scorn. This is how
you will transcend violence.” You utter
BA·LA·SIK: the surat inscribed upon the air,
you weaken your target.
244
1 beat: slide 2 one target in range 2.
2 beats: slide 2 two targets in range 3.
3 beats: slide 1 all targets in the
battlefield in range 3.
prereq: butterfly words style
1 beat: daze a fighter in range 3.
2 beats: stun a fighter in range 2.
3 beats: stun all fighters in range 3
burst 1.
prereq: fey buddha glossolalia
1 beats: inflict brv-2 or fth-2 to a
fighter in range 4.
2 beats: inflict juggle to a fighter in
range 2.
3 beats: inflict unbalance to all
enemies in the battlefield.
 KADUNGGANAN
Hibiscus Laughs Sutra
One day the great Namulak, He Who Blossomed After
500 Thunderbolts, Paranirvana Royalty, the BATALA-
BUDDHA, was ruminating upon a giant hibiscus. The
laughing dog warrior Shree Bangut Pangil came up to
him, thinking he could take advantage of the buddha’s
rumination. The Namulak spoke the mocking syllable
U·LOL and split the greatest warrior to have ever lived
into a thousand billion realms, and thus created the
trichiliocosm.
Beyond Royalty Implicature
Meditate on this poem, and then utter the words
KID·LAT, which is lightning. For enlightenment is
like a burst of lightning. BATALA in a humble
warrior-king form gathered his warriors together,
sitting atop a karakoa. “Gather round, o warriors,
and open thine ears. I sing on the topic of Ego, and it
is thus: Killing God and Becoming God are goals for
the lesser-minded chained to the cycle of rebirth.
Embrace Violence and find Glory beyond God.”
Enlightenment: Shatter Haraya
BATALA is the “I leave you with this final mentala.
Inscribe these upon your souls, or your bamboo slates, or
your swords. This is NI·BA·TA·LA. Thus is the word for
all my followers. All my followers will have my
enlightenment, and know the truth of the Trichiliocosm.
All things are Haraya, or Imagination. To find the truth of
the world, one must find me.” These are the words of
BATALA upon the Lake of Pulilan, before riding upon a
water lotus to the grand unending seas and returning to
His abode. Speak HA·RA·YA and manipulate the
illusion itself.
prereq: ferocity mantra
spend 1 beat to take on the cruel mockery stance.
while in this stance, all enemies in burst 2 of you
can only have you as a valid target. however,
once you are attacked, consume the stance to
disappear in hibiscus petals: rush 3 and an ally in
range 3 rushes in and can inflict violence.
+1 beat to teleport 1 before taking on the stance.
+1 beat to inflict pos/res-1 to all enemies in burst
2 of you when you consume this stance.
prereq: hibiscus laughs sutra
1 beat: choose 1 fighter in range 3. that
fighter becomes dominated: they inflict
violence if they can, with a target chosen by
you.
+2 beats: choose any number of fighters in
range 4 to inflict violence, if they can, with
a target chosen by you.
Whenever you inflict a Bane upon a fighter, put down
an illusion adjacent to them. You can only put down up
to 3 illusions: if you put down another one while you
already have 3, choose any illusion to remove first.
When you Stride, you can instead choose to switch
places with one of your illusions, teleporting.
These illusions have 1 HP and can be attacked, but they
do nothing else. You can choose what they look like, but
most Warspeakers tend to make them look like clones of
themselves.
for 1 beat, you can shatter the illusion: inflict 1
true hit, stun, and sunder on each enemy adjacent
to each illusion. each illusion is shattered,
removed from play.
245
AKAI
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248
 KADUNGGANAN
Martial Artists of the Perfect Hunt,
Tamers of the Divine Wilds, Seekers of
Truth and Hunters of Gods
Hunting is a popular trade and profession in
the isles. It's how one gets pig and meat, after
all. And pig caught in the forest is a ritual
sacrifice, filled with metaspiritual meaning and
power. Hunting in the isles are done either by
one’s self, with traps, or with a dog or two, who
can pin down game.
When war breaks out, and constant violence
looms, specialized hunters arose, pointing their
traps and their dogs at their enemies. They took
it upon themselves. Now they train their
children not only in the arts of hunting, but also
in war. They call themselves the Beast Hunters,
for they both hunt and handle beasts, and what
are warriors but beasts of a different name? The
Moon and Star Dance was an easy Martial Art to
spread across the Isles. The Akai Clan that
began the Moon and Star Dance is long gone,
their traditions dispersed across all of the isles.
It was Akai that first saw their applicability in
war, and began granting nobility and vassalage
to hunters who would join the Sultana’s
following and army. An even smaller contingent
of elite hunters serve as her royal hunters,
outfitted with silks and golds and jades.
Beast Hunters use a large variety of constructed
traps to control the battlefield. They might bait
their enemies, use strange pits to make them
fall, or soften the soil to make them slip quicker.
Beast Hunters are unmatched when it comes to
manipulating the battlefield with their
ingenuity and closest allies. They thrive in the
mid-range, putting down traps to shut down
enemy movement and skill.
Most importantly, the Moon and Star Dance
focuses on flowing, mindful movements that
incorporate the Sidereal Companion: Hunting
Beasts. Hunting beasts are fierce and they never
back down, and they even prefer to fight against
things larger than them, the devil bastards.
They rejoice in the glory of savaging a giant boar
or crocodile or stag and bringing them writhing
to the floor. The most common beast is a witch
dog, forest canines that can climb trees and
have constantly sharp claws, but common
hunting beasts also include monkey-eating
eagles, fierce civets, juvenile crocodiles, and
sometimes even wild warty boars.
Beast Hunters are sought after for their
trapmaking expertise and their peerless skill in
surviving the deep forests. They come from all
walks of life, and with their hunting
companions, they can take on whatever
challenge that will come their way, with a
combination of their wit, their innovative skill,
and the fierceness of their hunting beasts.
If you choose to be that consummate hunter,
ask why you used your hunting and trade for
battle. What made you hunt the ultimate
predator? Why do you sic your hunting beasts at
your fellow man?
Discipline Traits
HP: 6 - Style: Witch 0 Canine: Your beast howls.
All enemies in burst 1 of the
Weapons: Spears, harpoon,
Canine suffer a POS/RES-2.
bows, guns, crossbows,
daggers, gunong, barong, 0 Feline: Your beast inflicts
throwing knives Eviscerate on an adjacent
enemy.
Armors: Shawls, breastplates,
sarongs, pants, sandals, war 0 Raptor: Your beast swoops
jacket, lamellar down, inflicting Bleed on 1
close target.
Hunting Beasts 0 Reptilian: Your beast flails
Beast Hunters have with them a
wildly, inflicting Unbalance
powerful Beast, a Hunting Beast,
on all adjacent enemies.
usually a dog, but possibly also dogs,
owls, cats, or any other beast they 0 Mauler: Your beast mauls
have created a connection with. the target, inflicting push 4 to
These become their Sidereal 1 adjacent target.
Companion, the Stars to their Moon
dance. These Hunting Beasts are You can move into your pet’s
very commonly chosen from birth, space to mount them. You can
and you live all your life with them. still command your pet while
They are very often anointed with Mounted. While Mounted,
lunar oils. Beast Hunter fail their you gain the following
best friends sometimes. It is benefits:
required, a suffering lesson, to reach
You gain +3 Speed and all your
mastery of the Perfect Hunt.
effects with ranges have their
You have a Pet that travels ranges increased by 2.
with you and begins every
violence adjacent to you. Best Friend
Name them. Hunters in the Sword Isles make best
friends with their pets, giving them
They are Size 1 fighters and names and treating them like
share your Martial Abilities. siblings or their own children. They
They do not have their own create lavish burials for their pets
Fulmination, but every end of that die while in duty.
your Fulmination they are not
mounted they will Rush 2 and When you lose all HP, you can
then inflict 1 True Hit on an switch squares with your Pet,
adjacent target. and the Pet is the one
Defeated instead. You don’t
The first time you switch into suffer the Hits.
this Discipline or during
Downtime, choose your Pet’s
type to find out what they do
when you Command them for
1 Beat.
Inflict Violences
Crippling Shot [1]: Let loose an arrow or shoot a gun to break your
prey. Ranged Metal Bravery Attack vs 1 target in range 5,
inflicting SPD-1, and then your pet may rush 1.
Bleeding Shot [1]: Fire a flurry of shots that draws blood. Ranged
Earth Bravery Attack vs 1 target in range 5, inflicting Bleed x2.
Give your pet SPD+1.
Evisceration Gun [1]: Fire a straight shot that opens wounds. Area
Earth Bravery Attack vs all chosen targets in line 5, inflicting
Eviscerate.
249
 KADUNGGANAN
Beast Hunter Techniques
Balatik Trap Technique
Balatik are the most well known contraption and
trap of hunters in The Sword Isles: they are small
bamboo ballistas and arbalests that, when
triggered, skewers the unsuspecting prey with a
long bamboo spike. It turns out that this is just as
effective for humans as it is for wild boar and deer.
Pit Trap Technique
Perfect for heavier creatures. This is a shallow
pit that has multiple bamboo spikes with fire-
hardened tips at the bottom. Learning to create
and use this trap effectively necessitates
harmony with the land.
Tiger Hunting Meditation
The Godbeast Hunter Jinrud Aceh Pakali could
not capture a legendary tiger whose fur was
whiter than lunarblooms. Therefore, in the midst
of the night, when the Moon was full, he removed
the balatik from its fixture on the ground and
hunted down the Tiger God. The Tiger God was
so impressed at Jinrud’s tenacity that they fought
Jinrud on his own terms, until Jinrud slew them.
In thanks, Jinrud cut off the deer’s antlers and
gave it back to the forest. Jinrud has since then
began teaching advanced Beast Hunters the art
of wielding the Skewering Spear.
250
You begin Violence with 3 Balatik Traps.
Spend 1 Beat: consume and activate a balatik
trap: choose a square in range 5 as the origin
point for a Line 6. All enemies in the line
suffer 2 True Hits, SPD-1 x2, Bleed x2.
Prereq: Balatik Trap
You begin Violence with 3 Pit Traps.
Spend 1 Beat: consume and activate a Pit trap:
choose a square in range 5 as the origin point
for a burst 1. The Burst 1 falls down -1
Elevation, and all enemies within suffer
Unbalance and Stun.
Spend 1 Beat, to take on the Tiger Hunting
Stance. While in Tiger Hunting Stance, you
have SPD+2, you and all your summons and pets
ignore difficult terrain, and whenever you
start your fulmination, inflict Eviscerate on
any fighter in range 4.
+1 Beat to enhance the Tiger Hunting Stance
into the God Hunting Stance: while in this
stance, on top of the benefits of the Tiger
Hunting Stance, you can teleport 1 before
making an attack.
 KADUNGGANAN
Gilded Hound Nails
Brandish nails of gilded iron, burning, meant
to melt through the hardened carapaces of
elder monsters. A technick crafted by Guro
Dugu Ido, the Bloodhound, who famously
hunted down his game not with spears or
bows, but with talons crafted from gold.
Witch Dog Summoning Pamaagi
Witch dogs are diwata that guard the forests. The
fabled witch dogs or asonanggubat (forest dog) are
some of the most vicious dogs, that only the most
skilled of hunters can summon. These black-mouthed,
large and wide-shouldered dogs have severely sharp
claws that regularly shed, making it so that their
claws are always sharp.
Enlightenment: Elephant
Hunter
The great Maharaja Indrajaya, one of the most well-
known ancient datu under the Sultanate, once went on
a hunting journey with Jaris Akai himself in Jamiyun
Kulisa’s Arrows. There they found large elephants,
and decided that these behemoths are the greatest
hunting targets. They went and killed many, but were
faced with Sri Ganesh, the Elephant God. With the
help of Baginda (who gave them a blessed moonsilver
needle that destroyed Sri Ganesh’s god nature) they
defeated Sri Ganesh, who told them that they could
continue hunting elephants, but must only do so as a
powerful ritual offering to gods. With this agreement,
Jaris Akai introduced elephants to Siga upon great
war junks. Maharaja Indrajaya became known as the
great Hunter King, and many Akai hunters invoke his
soul when going out on hunting expeditions.
Prereq: Tiger Hunting Meditation
Spend 2 Beats to strike with gilded claws:
Rush 1, and then make an Area Metal Bravery
Attack vs all chosen targets in Burst 1.
+1 Beat to inflict Sunder on the attack and
then rush 2 after the attack.
Prereq: Pit Trap Technique, Gilded Hound Nails
Spend 1 Beat to summon a Size 1 Witch Dog in a
square adjacent to you, which shares your Martial
Abilities. Every start of your Fulmination, the Witch
Dog may rush 3. All enemies adjacent to the Witch
Dog cannot make attacks that do not include the
Witch Dog as a target.
At the start of your Fulmination, give 1 fighter in range 4
that you can see 1 Hunt. Only 1 fighter can have Hunt in
the battlefield at any given time--if you give a different
fighter the Hunt, transfer all current Hunt to that
fighter. A fighter can have up to 5 Hunts.
Whenever a fighter with Hunt is the target of an attack,
the attacker may spend any number of Hunts to add that
much Attack Teeth to the Violence Cast.
spend 2 beats at strike 3+ to throw a moonsilver
needle to up to 3 fighters in the battlefield. they
have the needle for the rest of violence. while
they have the needle, they suffer 1 true hit every
time they leave a square.
251
 M KADUNGGANAN
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252
 KADUNGGANAN
Warriors of the Most High, Sacrifical Berserkers,
Those Who Will Die For The Moon Goddess, They Who
Triumph In Adversity
Martyrs triumph in adversity. They kill and die in the name of
their conviction. While Faith in the Moon Goddess isn’t a
prerequisite to mag-sabil, conviction is. A conviction to die in the
face of imminent, and sometimes quite certain, death.
All warriors can perform the sabil, that sacrosanct war-ritual.
However, Martyrs dedicate their entire lives to the sabil. Every
venture they go out on is a venture they are prepared to die for
their faith in. This has caused Martyrs to be particularly feared,
due to their total lack of self-preservation.
They vest themselves in the trappings of burial: wear white,
anointed in oil by the pandita. And then they go to battle to die,
bringing as many as they can with them, so that they can arrive in
heaven and stand alongside Baginda Sumongsuklay.
The first Martyr was said to be Baginda Sumongsuklay herself.
She arrived upon the islands in times now long gone, and traveled
into the sky palace of Indira Suga and Jamiyun Kulisa, and
immediately went into a frenzy. She succeeded in breaking the
sky gates, and in her total lack of self-preservation, leapt onto the
Thunderbolt and wounded him. Brother Lightning and Mother
Sun have since left that sky palace, and now Baginda
Sumongsuklay commands the faith and trust of the warriors of
Akai.
Those that become Martyrs dedicate their entire lives to the
emulation of that art, with the knowledge that they shall ascend
to the bladed moon heaven of Baginda Sumongsuklay should
they die in the act of pag-sabil.
The death violent art of mag-sabil has been known since the dawn
of time, once practiced in supreme deference and respect for the
datu, they will dress themselves in the vestures and raiment of
death and go on berserk fury, or as it is known in the Archipelago:
pag-sabil. You sharpen this glorious fury into your weapon. You
have forged yourself into the ultimate killing machine: your heart
is a sword, the pain you suffer is fire to the furnace.
During the end of the Seventh Moon Era, pag-sabil has been
easier to initiate and invoke with the help of sugapa and other
drugs to elevate the fury to one transcendental, communing with
the spirits of war.
The most well known mag-sabil do give themselves to the mad
fury of the moon, of the Moon Goddess Baginda Sumongsuklay,
to whom adoration and respect is required, and dying in their
name is the ultimate way to reach her Palace in the Sky.
Martyrs can also be found all across the archipelago, especially
those that have the same amount of zeal and loyalty to their
leaders and the spirits of their settlements. They are, however,
few and far in between in number, a small number of warrior
braves who are always ready to die for their leader and faith.
Before going out on a venture, you dress yourself in the raiment
of death and then anoint yourself with oils, as if you were being
carried off to be buried, and then dress yourself in your best
jewelry, to make sure that you bring with you your earthly wealth
to the next life and be accepted into heaven with open arms.
If you chose the violent life of the Martyr, ask yourself who you
profess your faith to. Why? Do you wish heaven? Or is this a
convenient excuse for you to inflict indiscriminate violence?
253
Discipline Traits
HP: 7 - Style: Raider
Weapons: Panabas, gunong, barong, kalis,
kampilan, golok, pira
Armors: Bare chest, silk jackets, white headwraps,
white bahag, silk slippers
Death Trance
You clad yourself in the raiments of death, white to reach the
Moon Goddess’ eternal blissful palace. Breathe now, breathe. If it
be your time, then it is your time. Be not afraid. Be not afraid.
Who are they to say that your faith-rage is unjustified? This
world is sundered and torn: break it even further, and in so doing
bring light to bear. This is the Principle of Fury: kill all things
indiscriminately to attain true Harmony. Remember, loved one.
Your rage is not simply anger, wrath. It is justice, God’s
Vengeance, Holy Moon Striving. You fulfill the purpose of your
life in this, submit wholly to the Moongleam.
Performing the Sabil gives you benefits according to
what Strike it is. The longer the fight goes, the more
powerful you become, but the more reckless you
become as well. These benefits are accumulative.
Strike 1: Lunar Fury. When you bring a target to 0
HP, you may Rush 2 and Inflict Violence again,
ignoring Combo Breaker.
Strike 2: Rising Beat. Your Combo Breaker penalty
becomes -1 for the Second Attack, and -2 for every
third attack and beyond.
Strike 3: Glory To God. You gain BRV/FTH+2 for the
rest of violence, but you lose all Defenses: your POS/
RES become 0 and cannot be modified.
Strike 4: Ritual Offering. You gain Regen for the
rest of violence, but if you are Defeated at this point,
you are not removed from play, but you die at the
end of violence.
Strike 5+: Berserk. You can now roll [Bravery against
Bravery Attacks] or [Faith against Faith Attack]
dealing Hits against the attacker after the attack
resolves.
Every end of Strike, look if you have suffered any HP
loss during that Strike. If not, then you lose the
Sabil’s benefits until you suffer HP loss. You can
spend 1 Beat to suffer 1 Hit.
Whet The Body
Wield the Moon’s Holy Blade, which is you. You! This is your
strength, let Baginda Sumongsuklay, peace be unto her, wield
you and bring the final triumph of victory. Who else could it be
but you? With this internalization, you wield the holy blade of
tenacity, and nothing shall ever stop your advance.
1/Fulmination: When you suffer a Bravery attack,
gain FTH+2.
Inflict Violences
Holy Berserk [1]: Let loose for Goddess! Melee Fire
Faith Attack vs 1 adjacent target with Skewering,
suffer POS/RES-1 afterward.
Overwhelming Force [1]: Break through, IDA IDA!
Push 4 a close target, inflict Unbalance afterward.
Purification [1]: Become holy before Goddess! Melee
Fire Faith Attack vs 1 adjacent target, gain Block 1.
 KADUNGGANAN
Martyr Techniques
Faith Unending
The Lunar Goddess has seen it fit for you
to strive. Coat yourself in the holy oils.
Battle is always death, battle is always
death. Let out your rage, mighty Martyr!
The Lunar Palace Upon The Moon
beckons you! If you are to fall, then you
shall bring all those around you with you!
Crescent Cleaving The
Earth
You hurl your weapon, guided by your faith in the
Moon. Wield the Moon’s Holy Blade, which is
you. You! This is your strength, let Baginda
Sumongsuklay, peace be unto her, wield you and
bring the final triumph of victory. Who else could
it be but you? With this internalization, you
wield the holy blade of tenacity, and nothing
shall ever stop your advance.
Indomitable Pamaagi
The Moon’s Holy Blade has express
techniques for dealing when you are hobbled
or disarmed. In fact, you are taught to be even
more dangerous when you are in this state, as
you are driven to a corner, and you must
become more than a beast.
254
Spend 1 Beat to anoint yourself with oils: gain
+1d on your next Melee Attack.
+1 Beat to give this benefit to an adjacent ally.
prereq: faith unending
spend 1 beat to throw your weapon: area
earth bravery attack vs all targets in line 4,
then your weapon falls onto a free square
adjacent to the last target of the line. it
becomes size 1 weapon object.
for 1 beat while you’re within burst 3 of the
weapon, you may call it back, marking a path
that starts adjacent to the weapon and ends
with 1 square adjacent to you. while you don’t
have your weapon, you cannot inflict
violence with it.
Prereq: Crescent Cleaving The Earth
Spend 1 Beat to take on the Indomitable Stance
until the end of next Fulmination. While in this
stance, you have Stability and cannot suffer any
more Banes.
+1 beat to remove 1 bane while taking on this
stance.
+1 beat to make it so that you can now
consume the stance when you suffer a bane
to make your next attack overwhelming.
 KADUNGGANAN
Juru Pakal
Juru Pakal is an ancient, holy blade, used by
Raja Sulayman and Indarapatra to cleanse the
Sword Isles of primordial demons and monsters.
Many still exist today. Many shy away from
Juru Pakal’s power.
Holy Wrath Amok
“Verily, I say unto you: should you shed blood for
your Goddess, thus shall you find eternal life.
But should you rip open Heaven in the name of
the Moon, then shall you achieve Concordance.”
- Masteries of Pandita Ashakarwa.
Enlightenment: Glory In
Striving
“The Moon shall descend. And so, submit, and be
faithful. The Moon shall cleave the earth.” - Book of
the New Moon, Chapter 4, Verse 36, Lunar
Scriptures.
The Martyr rejoices in the glory of combat. You ready
your weapon, and engage in violence. Your wounds
only make you stronger. IN VIOLENCE YOU
ARE BORN AND IN VIOLENCE YOU WILL
PERISH. YOUR FURY IS A FIRE THAT
CANNOT BE EXTINGUISHED, IT SHINES
IN THE VOID AFTER THE END OF THE
CREATION. REMEMBER THIS, MARTYR:
WHEN PEACE IS ACHIEVED, YOU WILL
CEASE TO EXIST. LET US ACHIEVE BLISS,
THEN.
Prereq: Indomitable Pamaagi
Spend 1 Beat to strike with the burning white blade of
Goddess: Melee Fire Faith Attack vs 1 adjacent target, add
+1d to the Attack Teeth per Bane on the target.
+1 beat to add +1d per general status effect on the
target.
+1 beat to cleanse all chosen status effects on the
target and then heal 2.
Prereq: Juru Pakal
Spend 1 Beat and 1 HP to run amok: Rush 1 and
then make a Melee Fire Faith Attack vs 1 adjacent
target with Overwhelming.
+1 Beat to increase the range to all targets in blast
3.
+1 Beat to also destroy every object and terrain
adjacent to you.
While you are Staggered, all your melee attacks generate
2 Hits on an 9+.
at strike 5+, while staggered, spend 1 beat to enact
partake in ritual death. at the beginning of your
next fulmination and every fulmination after
that, you have 4 techniques per fulmination.
however, should you fall to critical, you
immediately die.
255
Sa KADUNGGANAN

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 KADUNGGANAN
Emblazoned Chevaliers of the Throne,
Guardians of Nature and Stewards of the
Divine Wilds, Achievers of Concordance
Through Communion with the Holy Raptor
Sarimanok Knights are faithful and skillful cavaliers
that fight both on land and in the air, as needed. They
ride upon their faithful sarimanok, proud and
powerful, and they make sure that their enemies are
brought down to heel. They are trained as an elite
cavalry, and usually only the richest of Datu can outfit
and train an entire ten man unit of Sarimanok Knights,
much less address the cost of maintaining Sarimanok.
Sarimanok have been there since the beginning of
time, some say. They have been there ever since there
has been the Rainbow, the sign of victory, born from
the tears of the Sky to the Sea, Their love forbidden
forever. The sarimanok are large, usually seven to eight
foot tall roosters with rainbow feathers that glisten in
the sun and sheen in the rain. Their large wingspans
allow for limited flight, and their natural hard skin is
enough to deter any assailant.
Sarimanok are holy winged mounts and
representatives of Baginda Sumongsuklay. It is said
that Jaris Akai met Sikhandag, the Moon Prophet,
thanks to a sarimanok that Sihkandag rode upon,
which glinted with the rainbow halo of the full moon.
Sarimanok exemplify the Divine Striving to protect
and engage in war to preserve. Sometimes this story is
said to be the truth of the mythical tale of Rajah
Indarapatra and Bayi Bulan, which means that Jaris
Akai is commonly seen—among those that practice
syncretized anitu-annuvara—as an Avatar of the
Triumphant God Balahala Saiwa.
Sarimanok Knights must learn to grow and feed their
own Sarimanok. They must establish a unique and
special bond with them, binding them to their very
souls. As long as they are alive, their sarimanok cannot
die, cannot perish. Once a sarimanok and their knight
are bonded, they are fated by some cruel watcher to die
at the same time.
Sarimanok Knights learn to use longer weapons, larger
swords or sibat. They generally wear heavier armor to
protect themselves since they don’t need overly quick
movement. However, they are more or less stuck to
their sarimanok in combat. Sarimanok, while not bred
for combat, are willing to brave the heat of the skirmish
to bring their knight to victory.
While Sarimanok Knights were born in Akai, trained
from the local warriors here who already rode upon
Sarimanok when they unleashed their raids, Virbanwa
has also taken to breeding these rainbow raptors to
create a sarimanok cavalry of their own. However,
theirs is smaller than the colorful plumage and
gigantic wings of the sarimanok of the Kalanawan
region.
If you choose to become a Sarimanok Knight, ask
yourself when you started training, and for what
reason? To protect your datu? To save yourself? Your
family? Why would you bring a majestic creature into
the heat of a skirmish, of a tactical engagement, where
both of you are poised to die?
Discipline Traits
HP: 8 - Style: Sentinel
Weapons: Halberd, lance, spears, kampilan, bolo, pira,
janap Armors: Headwrap, cuirass, tassets, pants, metal
boots, peaked helmets, elephant hide breastplate
Raptor Knight
Sarimanok eggs are found at the end of a rainbow. They are hatched
and trained by a Knight from birth. Sarimanok imprint upon their
Knight and will only be ridden by their knight. Their rainbow feathers
never disappear, and when they die they turn pale grey, and they bleed
their color.
As a Sarimanok Knight, you might be mounted upon a
sarimanok, or some other similar avian, though you can
choose to not have a mount at all, and simply channel
the spirit of a raptor. When you Rush, you Fly for the
duration of the Rush. When you make a Melee Attack,
cleanse 1 Bane from self.
Arrows of Heaven
Sarimanok exist across the isles, under a variety of different names. A
king of these sarimanok can be found within Galura, the creator of
Stormwinds, who erupts from the depths of volcanoes and summons
thunderstorms crackling with crimson lightning. In his heavenly
garden Jamiyun Kulisa of the Thunderbolt kept a thousand
sarimanok to keep it beautiful. The most skilled of sarimanok knights
are run through with the holy ancient lightning bolt of Galura, an
aspect of Jamiyun Kulisa (some say mount, others say they have no
correlation at all), which bolsters their abilities.
2/Fulmination, you can Smite a target in range 2: a
burning razor feather ready to punish them for
misdeeds. Choose the Smite. Smites don’t stack and
vanish at the start of your Fulmination.
_ARROW Smite Indolence: If the target does not move at least 2
squares by the end of their Fulmination, rush 3 toward
them.
_ARROW Smite Ferocity: If the target makes an attack on an ally,
inflict 1 True Hit on the attacker.
_ARROW Smite Pride: If the target attacks you, inflict Burn on
them equal to the number of Hits they scored (before
Defends). Burn reduces 1HP every start and end of
Fulmination.
_ARROW Smite Indulgence: If the target is healed, gains Boons,
or positive Ability Mods, inflict POS/RES-1.
_ARROW Smite Hatred: If the target ends their Fulmination
further than 5 squares from you, you may Pull 3.
Inflict Violences
Heaven’s Eye [1]: Fire a burning weapon. Ranged Air
Bravery Attack vs 1 target in range 4. If the target is 4
squares away, may rush 1 toward them.
Raptor Javelin [1]: Strike down with your weapon, letting
rainbow blades cascade from it. Melee Air Bravery Attack vs
1 target in range 2.
Sarimanok Flight [1]: Strike up with rainbow blades. Melee
Air Bravery Attack vs 1 adjacent target, inflicting Juggle
per 6+.
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 KADUNGGANAN
Sarimanok Knight Techniques
Tempest Garuda Lance
Gather all that you know and summon a lithe and
little hurricane to rend through the battlefield. A
technique taught by Kartike themself, who arrived
before ancient warriors in the Footsteps of the Gods
before Akai was even established and taught them
the divinity of the sarimanok, and their omen being.
Manaul Stone Raid
Manaul, The King of Raptors and Fireflies,
was once a king of the earthless seasky. He
had owl counselors and fireflies to light his
path. However he was never satiated, and
tired of flying all the time, he tricked the sky
and sea kings to fight each other, to create
land.
Sky Cloak Pamaagi
The Sarimanok, holy omen birds, ascend
into the sky and burst into the winds, and
you become one with them. Sarimanok
Knights are known for being one of the
quickest warriors in the lands, able to fight
and hunt down skyships.
An ancient story about the Sarimanok is
about how the Elder Rajah Indarapatra,
King of Mournful Compassion, fell in love
with a certain Moon Spirit, said to have
been later an incarnation of Baginda
Sumongsuklay herself. When the Moon
Spirit, named Bayi Bulan, ascended to the
moon, Indarapatra wept, until a sarimanok
that was his umalagad for so long offered to
take him to the moon, where Indarapatra is
said to now live in eternal happiness.
258
Spend 1 Beat to send a flurrious blade across
the battlefield: Area Air Bravery Attack vs all
chosen targets in Line 3.
+1 Beat to increase the range to Path 6.
+1 Beat to inflict Provoke on the target.
Prereq: Tempest Garuda Lance
Spend 1 Beat to pull up any square adjacent to
you, turning it into difficult terrain, and you
are now considered holding a chunk of earth
(which you can only hold up to 2 of). While
holding the chunk of earth, you have cover.
For 1 Beat you can throw the chunk of earth at
any square in range 4, putting down a Size 1
Boulder on the square, and inflicting Push 1
on all targets adjacent to the square
(including any target on the chosen square).
Prereq: Manaul Stone Raid
Spend 2 Beats to take on the Sky Cloak
Stance. While in this stance, you ignore all
terrain. When you are the target of an attack,
you can consume this stance to gain +1
Defend and then Slide 2 the attacker after
they make their attack.
+1 Beat to make it so that you Fly whenever
you move while in the Stance.
 KADUNGGANAN
Kartike’s Arrow
The First Sarimanok Knight was said to have been
the son of Siwa, the Triumphant and Auspicious
God, who is very frequently known as Rajah
Indarapatra of the Thunderclouds in more modern
Akai literature. His eldest son, Yskanda Kartike,
Archer of the Rainbow Raptor, was said to have
come down upon the world upon the Sarimanok
that took his father to the moon. There he taught
the truths of the Sarimanok Knight, and how to
properly befriend them, and how to treat them not
as a horse but as a fierce brother. Yskanda Kartike
eventually helped the ancient Put’wanon King Sri
Bata Shaja conquer much of the Gatusan Isles in
an ancient war, now lost to memory.
Shah Vayu’s Vengeant Javelin
The Sarimanok are also the loyal steeds of Shah
Vayu, known also as the Storm Prince, who ruled
an ancient empire of floating isles to the east of the
Footsteps of the Gods. It was destroyed when
Jamiyun Kulisa released his arrows to kill the great
Fen Ying, God of Heaven Mountain in the
continent that is now known as Baik Hu. As
apology, Shah Vayu’s kingdom was turned into an
eternal city in the fourth heaven. He is seeking
revenge now, however. In his ambition, he seeks to
take Jamiyun Kulisa’s Thunderbolt for himself and
become the new God of Thunder and Lightning.
Enlightenment: Sultan
Dewa Bagyu’s Lance
Sultan Dewa Bagyu is the ancient god of monsoon
season storms, the most powerful of all the storms.
He is very frequently said to be an aspect of Jamiyun
Kulisa, and is the grandfather of the four monsoon
winds. Ancient stories quote that Shah Vayu believed
himself to be his incarnation, and was his key to
becoming an ancient God King of his now crumbling
kingdom in the Fourth Heaven. Sultan Dewa Bagyu
can control all the winds of the Monsoons to change
the entire world.
Prereq: Sky Cloak Pamaagi
Spend 2 Beats to fire a burning arrow of
incandescent fulgur: Area Fire Bravery Attack vs all
chosen targets in Line 6, inflicting a starmark on
each target.
Whenever a fighter makes an attack against a
fighter with a starmark, you may consume the
starmark to fire arrows of Kartike against them,
inflicting +1 Hit per starmark consumed.
Prereq: Shah Vayu’s Vengeant Javelin
Spend 1 Beat to choose 1 square in range 4, sending
a fulminating rainbow lightning spear at it. Inflict
1 Hit on every enemy within burst 1 of the square
and then give them Daze.
+1 Beat to make the Daze into a Stun instead.
+1 Beat to slide 3 each target.
at strike 3+, for 1 beat, fly into the sky, removing
yourself from the battlefield. at the start of
your next fulmination, choose a burst 1 area
and plummet into the middle of the burst, then
deal bravery+faith against all fighters within.
all enemies in the burst gain juggle x3, and you
become flying for the rest of violence.
afterwards, change the weather into the
consummate storm. within the consummate
storm, all non-attack hits are canceled and all
air attacks have overwhelming. all allies have
cover against all attacks of all fighters, and
all opponents suffer daze.
259
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260
 KADUNGGANAN
Singers of the Dirge of Gubat Banwa, Exalters of
Healing Through Violence, Chanters of the
Sorrowsong, The Chorus That Watches The Sword
Isles.
The only two times tawo do not sing is when they are asleep
or when they are dead.
Strifesingers use their voices, instruments, and ritual
dances to heal and support their allies. They have created
The Sorrowsong, a martial art that uses song and
instruments to mystically empower their allies and produce
concussive vibrations. With their healing song stories and
their invigorating cacophonies, they pave the melody for a
new world. Their art is one crafted by local Siganon, and
then perfected by Bulanan pandita, aligning their
empowering notes with the soft philosophies of the moon to
create a singer that can heal the world.
Most settlements that have Strifesingers learn the martial
art of the Sorrowsong from other Strifesingers, although
they mostly only accept students that already know how to
play a few instruments, or have beautiful voices. Their voices
and music do not only heal and support: some of their
techniques employ the use of violent sound waves to blast
enemies off of their feet, or to make weapons dance quicker.
Grandmasters of the Sorrowsong teach the secret to
amplifying instruments into thundering sonic waves that
blast enemies off of their feet. The Sorrowsong Style also
deals in letting their healing kalag bolster their allies’ own.
Their songs from the myriad of instruments they learn
summon spirits, as most of them are entreaties and pleas to
the Daghan to help them in their war. Thus is the secret of a
Strifesinger.
Strifesingers are few and far between. They are usually well
respected by other instrumentalists and musicians, who
usually do not take up the responsibility of war, or if they do,
keep their music out of it. Very often, professional mourners
(known as Parahaya) often become Strifesingers as well,
combining their grieving with the act of violence to quicken
the act of mourning.
Strifesingers tend to be bleeding hearts, especially in such a
stage as war, wherein they would readily compose dirges for
foes they have just killed, or about lost allies, or about the
nature of the wheel that is unbroken due to war.
In recent times, Strifesingers are known in Akai as Katib.
They sing not only the sorrows of this world, but also the
orations and prayers in the religious services of the Bulanan
faith. Strifesingers memorize the words upon the books of
faith of Bulanan, and they use these truths to heal the
wounds of the battlefield.
When you become a Strifesinger, ask yourself why you sing
the warsong: you are complicit to the cycle, your conscience
is bloodied. Why does your healing song only bring more
sorrow? Why does your invigorating tale bring violence?
Whether it is yours, your allies’, or your enemies?
261
Discipline Traits
HP: 7 - Style: Medium
Weapons: Instruments, Knives, Kudyapi, Agung,
Tolali, Zither, Bamboo Flute, Nose Flute
Armors: Headwraps, sashes, sarong, silk jackets,
paruka, malong, skirts
Thundering Instruments
“Sword clashes, gunshots, the ringing of war gongs, songs, lies,
promises, violence… These are all things that demand repetition,
for no other reason but to be heard, again and again. Love, after
all, is at its best when it repeats itself.”
When you make a Faith Attack, give an ally in burst 2
BRV+1
Song of Sorrows
Professional mourners across The Sword Isles are paid to wail
and gnash teeth for important figures. This spirit of grief
permeates the isles. It penetrates even you. The Song of Sorrow,
nevertheless, is a martial art. An art for violence. This violent
vesper, which contains two ambahan (a kind of poetry, you
should know, that is sung; two lines, 7 syllables each, and make
sense if the two lines are interchanged) that feed each other
forever, is a song about the truth of battle: violence for violence’s
sake is the rule of beasts and the divinity of man. When violence
is used to find truths about mortal nature, and not to kill, gain
wealth, or accrue power, is when we become more than what we
are.
You have a Singing Aura that is a burst 3 around you
that moves with you. You can perform the following
songs, giving the benefit to any ally within the burst:
0 Respite Song. For 1 Beat, roll FTH and heal an ally
equal to the number of Hits.
0 Thundering Song. For 1 Beat, 1 ally may Rush 1.
0 Protective Song. For 1 Beat, give 1 ally POS/RES+1.
0 Haste Song. For 1 Beat, give 1 ally SPD+1.
Inflict Violences
Thundering Note [1]: Strum a reverberating tune. Put
down a thundering note in a square adjacent to you.
Allies can move into it to rush 1 (and then continue
their movement afterwards) and cannot collide with
it. Enemies that collide with the note is pushed 1.
Healing Note [1]: Resound a rejuvenating song. Put
down a healing note in a square adjacent to you. Any
ally that moves into or collides with it heals 1.
Resound! [1]: Let loose a chorus! Area Air Faith Attack
vs all chosen targets in Blast 4.
 KADUNGGANAN

Strifesinger Techniques
Paean To The Unexalted
A song that hearkens to ancient warriors that have
died in fight and ascended to the Sky upon the
rainbow. There was one particular warband, a troop, spend 1 beat to grant a fighter in burst 3
who followed the Datu Kinalagtuman, Consummate or self, the blessing of the porcelain lady:
Brightness, who stayed behind to defend against the the target gains protect.
assault of Ratu Kyai Gede, Crucible of Weeping,
Queen of Ancient Medang. The Datu defended his spend 2 beats to grant every fighter in
island when he and that warband, forever remembered burst 3, including yourself, protect.
as the Unexalted, beseeched the diwata of their island:
a Serpent God named Maharaya, the Great Streaking, spend 3 beats to grant every ally in the
to let them keep fighting. The Unexalted were granted battlefield, including yourself, protect.
this: instead of ascending to the Sky, their souls
instead became Umalagad that protected their island
even in death. And so Ancient Medang was not able
to conquer their island, and to this day the Unexalted
still protect that island.

Litany of the Porcelain Lady

This is a song that sings of Bayi Makadiyah, Porcelain
Lady of Mournful Miracles, a healer-witch who was also
the incarnation of Mother Madiyah, the Virgin Bearer of prereq: paean to the unexalted
the One Destined to Die, Maiden of the Valley of Tears.
Madiyah is a goddess brought from the bloody faith of for 1 beat, choose 1 fighter in range 4
Issohappa and indigenized across the islands where the and give them block 1 and stability.
Sanguine Missionaries reached. As an avatar of Mother for 2 beats: give all fighters in burst 2,
Madiyah, she was revered by her settlement, and she could
summon rains during dry spells, and kill with just a word. including yourself, block 1 and
She was eventually killed by a jealous datu, but her death stability
curse was that his name would never be remembered. Bayi +1 beat: give block 3 and stability x2.
Makadiyah is now revered as a god, and has a number of
cults about the Sword Isles dedicated to her. Her idol is
usually a weeping woman (her face is never shown) made
of porcelain or earthenware, never earth. Her icon is very
frequently an enclosed square with a triangle within.

Song of the Ancients prereq: litany of the porcelain lady

This song was sung by the first singer, a
demigoddess whose name has been lost to time.
She sang it to calm the two mountains that
warred in a distant land. She died in the process,
but became the clouds and the sky. The mountains
continued on and killed each other, however, as
they were bolstered by grief.
spend 2 beats to may inflict violence,
and then slide 2 the target. at any
point in the slide, you or an ally may
inflict violence against them.
spend +1 beat to increase the slide to
slide 4.

262
 KADUNGGANAN

Respite In Tranquility prereq: song of the ancients

A remembrance to the ancient times of the Sword
Isles, when it was called the Isles of Gold, back when
war was the furthest from the minds of warriors. Back
when songs were sung under peach trees, songs about
play, about the great conflict of the Twin Gods of the
Northwest Wind and the Southeast Monsoon, about
the dancing of monkeys and mouse deers. The Tranquil
Missionaries from the Far Southeast brought with
them Gods of Tranquility.
spend 2 beats, heal 1 all allies in burst 2 of you,
and then take on the resounding stance as you
begin playing a healing tune. while in the
resounding stance, all allies that start their
turn in burst 2 of you heal 1. when you end your
fulmination, you may end resounding stance to
give pos+2/res+2 x2 to yourself and all allies in
burst 2.

Kulintang of Heaven Prereq: Respite in Tranquility

“Bear rapture and sorrow.” A song taught by the great
warlord-paraawit apo-apo Singpuksa and since adapted Spend 1 Beat to give yourself or an ally in range
by Awitan all across the archipelago. A song that 3 Conditioning against all elements and Block 1.
quickens the hearts and souls of the beings that hear it,
inexplicably, sometimes bringing heroes to jovial tears. +1 Beat to give it to yourself and all allies in
Sing full and true, Singer. Your song, your steps... It burst 3.
shall culminate in this moment. Your song shall be the +1 Beat to give the targets Regen x3.
song of a thousand weary ghosts, that sorrowsong: let
them hear the cries of your heart, the blood of your soul.

Enlightenment: Vesper of
the Conquering King
The song of Rajaraya is lost now, no doubt a sad At the beginning of Violence, you and all allies gain a
consequence of his great ambition. His mission and his
achievements were liable to make him the most famous Perfect Tempo. When you are the target of an attack, you
of all ancestors: he was the Conquering Giant-King, can consume the Perfect Tempo to immediately cancel
the one who will seize heaven’s thunderclaps, who will that attack against you and then rush 3.
destroy the gates of the sky and seize Jamiyun Kulisa’s
Thunderbolt. It is said that he succeeded, but that he at strike 4+, for 1 beat, all allies in the battlefield
also failed. The truth is now long forgotten, and some can take 4 beats on their next fulmination.
say that the Conquering Giant-King still walks this
world, or that his corpse can be found within the deep
cavern complexes that can be found near the mountain
of Tauhaw, where the grand Rajahnate of Gatusan
stakes its center.

263
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264
 KADUNGGANAN
Shaman Knights of the Seas and Rivers, of the
Swordfish, Warriors that Medium the Tides of
the Sea
Swordfish Cavaliers are shaman knights of the
Swordfish, the vahana of the Seasword God
Margosatubig. As spirit mediums and skilled riders of the
balu, the balu mount they summon is a little god, who
lives in a talisman that they wear around their necks. They
can summon this balu at almost any time, as long as the
balu can fit.
The balu are giant swordfish with noses sharper than
spears and wings as large as an eagle’s. While they require
water to breathe, they can stay up in the air for quite some
time. Swordfish Cavaliers are trained by the best of the
best in their villages, as taming a balu is an entire
endeavor all to itself. One must train a balu since their
infancy to form a proper connection with them. Since
balu are one of the quickest animals in The Sword Isles,
they have been used to corrale and subdue enemy
advances in war. Balu are outfitted with chain linked
mails and hardwood armors as well.
Swordfish Cavaliers are said to have a distant rivalry with
the other riding Disciplines, particularly the buwaya
riders. This is because they have both been invented by
enemy villages. Riding a balu is a sacred act of oneness
with nature, and requires a balyan ritual to officiate.
Swordfish Cavaliers are known to use bamboo or
hardwood recurve bows for their choice of weapon, or
any other long-ranged implement, to attack and skewer
from mid-range.
Swordfish Cavaliers know the lay of the land and they
know the movement of the sea. If you were a Swordfish
Cavalier you must’ve begun your childhood close to water,
whether it be a pond or the ocean. You are intimate with
the ways of fishing, wielding harpoon and net to catch
your prey. If anyone needs a helping hand when it comes
to fishing and hunting, Swordfish Cavaliers are usually
well-trained in this regard.
Swordfish Cavaliers tend to be the first into a battle, with
their superior speed being able to move them across the
battlefield with relative ease. Due to their mounts, they
will be usually tasked with jobs or duties that would need
quick movement or ability to float a few feet over land and
water. While balu can submerge, the riders usually
cannot hold their breath for long.
Swordfish Cavaliers constitute the elite cavalry of the
Sultana. Elite Swordfish Cavaliers are exalted and trained
from birth, and are reared up in the closest way of the
Bulanan. Swordfishes are ancient and holy animals that
were ridden by Baginda Sumongsuklay Themself, and
were the holy steeds of Ayah Menat, the First Prophet,
when they had to travel the Two Thousand and One
Oceans to reach the Sword Isles.
The most elite Swordfish Cavaliers are the Cavalry of Datu
Margosatubig, in a distant island north of Kalanawan.
This island, called Salagunting, is said to actually be the
top of an underwater coral kingdom named Sugnanti.
The balu here are larger, and have sharper swordnoses,
and are said to rush through both air and water like
arrows loosed by the sea king.
If you become a Swordfish Cavalier, ask yourself: why do
you ride upon the wings of legends to inflict violence? The
folly of men dapples your arrowhead, why must you
enslave nature to scatter your enemies’ entrails upon the
ground?
265
Discipline Traits
HP: 6 - Style: Sharpshooter
Weapons: Bows, guns, crossbows, spears, lances,
swords, axes, hammers
Armors: Silk jackets, sashes, robes, sarongs,
malongs
Sea Satariya
As a Swordfish Cavalier, you might be mounted upon a
swordfish, or some other similar piscine creature, though you can
choose to not have a mount at all, and simply channel the spirit
of a fish.
Whenever you make a water attack, gain a Deluge,
represented by waters flowing about you.
You can spend any number of Deluge after rolling a
Violence Cast to a number of non-Hits into Hits (on
either the Attack or Defense Teeth) or into Hits per
Deluge spent.
While you have 1+ Deluge, you may rush 1 once either
before or after making an attack.
While you have 3+ Deluge, your melee or ranged
water attacks splash: inflict 1 Hit on all enemies
adjacent to one target of the attack.
Stormwind Rider
The first Swordfish Cavalier found that the God of the Sea,
Hakasalug, known as Varunaraja (King of Waters), took upon
the Swordfish as his holy beast form. The first Swordfish
Cavalier, a fisher-warrior named Hiling Makar, immediately
prostrated and offered sacrifices when he found out, but
Hakasalug found this to be endlessly amusing, and so he allowed
Hiling Makar to establish the ancient Coral Knight Art, creating
the first of the Swordfish Warriors.
When you Rush, you dive into the earth as a being of
water: you ignore all terrain and height. Then you
gain a Water Form until end of next Fulmination: all
your attacks can become Water Attacks and you heal
any Hits from Water Attacks instead of suffering
them.
Inflict Violences
Water Spear [1]: Shoot a jetstream spear of water.
Ranged Water Faith Attack vs 1 target in range 5,
inflict Water Vulnerability.
Sea Javelin [1]: Let loose a beam of burning water. Area
Water Faith Attack vs all chosen targets in Line 3.
Ocean Blade [1]: Strike with a blade of water. Area
Water Faith Attack vs all chosen targets in path 4
within 4 squares.
 KADUNGGANAN
Swordfish Cavalier Techniques
Seafoam Slide
Taught by Hiling Makar as he was well
versed in the arts of the bow before
becoming the first Swordfish Cavalier.
With this, you fire a piercing jet of water
from your bow, shredding through armor.
Sea Lantaka
A skill invented by the old Balu Warlord
Panglima Sumarak, who brought with him
a giant lantaka cannon as a weapon to
destroy stone fortifications. By using this
technique, you channel that old Balu
Warlord, and summon his lantaka.
Ocean Joust Style
“Seek true glory before the water that
nourishes you becomes your blood,” – Agi
Sindarak, a Swordfish Cavalier warlord
from the polity of Ikadan in Kalanawan.
With this Technique, you embody the
Satariya. You are heralded by the sounds
of bodyong resound, kettlebells against
sharp coral weapons.
266
spend 1 beat to rush 2 and then gain
+1d on your next water attack.
spend +1 beat to inflict water
vulnerability on all enemies
adjacent to you after the rush.
prereq: seafoam slide
spend 1 beat to fire a sea orb: area
water faith attack vs all targets in
burst 2 within range 5.
+1 beat to also inflict pull 1 to all
chosen targets.
+1 beat to gain the following effect:
if you are caught within the burst of
the orb, heal 1.
prereq: sea lantaka
for 1 beat, you can rush 5 in a
straight line, moving through
enemies. inflict 1 true hit on every
enemy you move through.
+1 beat to rush 6 but not constrained
to a single straight line, but you
cannot move through a square
you’ve already moved through.
 KADUNGGANAN

Moon Princess Style Prereq: Ocean Joust Style

The Moon is perfectly intertwined with the sea. It is
long said that an aspect of the Moon, Tsandila
Dayawa, came down as a beautiful winged lunar
woman, named Ayakassa Ravena, and Hakasalug
fell in love with her, which caused him to stop
teaching Hiling Makar the rest of his knowledge.
Thus the Coral Knight Art is eternally imperfect,
but there is a sect of Swordfish Cavalier’s that
argue that this is good, and is their responsibility to
continue mastery.
This Technique exemplifies this story: the moon
becomes a sign of the times, a mark of glory. You
summon moon spirits with a prayer and you shoot it
with an arrow, or pierce it with a lance, exploding the
moon and letting it splash in every direction.
Spend 1 beat to call the moon to the field:
place the moon in a free adjacent square
as an object.
if the moon suffers any hits (it does not
have any defenses), it explodes, dealing 2
true hits to all fighters in burst 2 of it.
+1 beat to summon the moon in a square in
burst 3.
+1 beat to give the moon 5hp before it
explodes.

Prereq: Moon Princess Style

Storm Surge Style
The waterfall cascades and flows. You rush up
it, and send the haze of the falls upon you.
Perfected by a later student of the Coral Knight
Art, Abuy, who kept trying to climb up a
waterfall.
Spend 1 Beat to rush 3. Make every square you
move through into water terrain.
+1 Beat to make the water terrain overflow:
inflict 1 Hit on every enemy adjacent to the
water terrain you just put down.
+1 Beat to inflict violence after the rush.

Enlightenment: Knight-Lord of the Seas

In the ancient of days there was a great deluge that brought all of the Sword Isles underwater. This deluge was
said to be the wrath of Baginda for all the cruelty in thee world. Unfortunately, their punishment did not end the
cycles of violence. It was said that this deluge is what buried the great ancient continent of Samrasat under the
sea.
You envelop yourself in rushing waves and salt sea brine, which takes on the form of the King of the Sea, high and
mighty, with a crown of coral reefs and a mount of six thousand balu. You and your Balu share each other’s eyes.
Spirit torrents guide your arrow shots. Your weapon turns into a shrike of pure jet water, which you hurl against
your enemy. Your balu becomes as the royal balu of Tuwan Margosatubig.

When you move into or start your Fulmination in water terrain, heal 1.

for 2 beats at strike 4+, slide 2 every chosen target in the field, and then every square of water
terrain explodes, dealing 2 true hits to every target in burst 1 of them.

267
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 KADUNGGANAN
Devil Witches of the Battlefield, Masters of
Witchpowder, The Bullet Through God’s Skull
“The First Technique of Gun is this: No amount of running
can save you. Pay fealty, and prostrate yourself upon the
bullet throne of Balahari Gilusot.”
Baril Witches, otherwise known as balapari, are riflemen
that use powerful arquebuses gained through trade and
replicated by native panday sa luthang (gunsmiths). These
bullets can only be fired by a certain magenta witchdust
created by witches across the world. Baril Witches are
peerless experts in the art of using the arquebuses, and
they have the immaculate ability to be able to reload
quickly, as if they were a bow and an arrow.
Guns in Gubat Banwa are slow and ponderous. To reload
them is a tedious, multi-stepped endeavor. They are
dangerous, but better treated as opening fire, nothing
more but something to level the field.
However, Baril Witches use a variety of gun sorceries,
special spells specifically only usable with guns, to blast
through the enemies’ defense. With their skill, they can
instantly reload their guns, sorcerously bypassing the
limits of the gun.
Baril Witches are trained to be hopelessly intimate with
their weapon, learning the diwata of their particular gun-
-not just guns in general--to be able to be efficient in the
battlefield. With hand mudras and incanted mantras they
can summon bullets and change their trajectories even in
mid-flight. They can spin and juggle guns and hit their
target without seeing the target, due to their intimate
connection with their gun.
Training a Baril Witch takes years, thus making them
wanted in Kadungganan parties and war armies. They’re
in high demand, but there are a low number of Baril
Witches. They are thus treated as elite artillery and long
ranged units, and elite skirmishing parties that are
intended to kill will always have at least one in their ranks.
Baril Witches, however, are almost always strange in the
head. Their soul has been shaped into a bullet, after all.
Baril Witches arose from the ranks of the Lakanate after
the witches of the wood were given the chance to serve the
Lakan and be treated as nobility if they helped with the
war efforts against Issohappa. A large contingent agreed,
but other witches disagreed, going off to fight Issohappa
on the sides of the Rajahnate or Apumbukid. Those that
joined the Lakanate were given the moniker of “Star-
knelt”, for they knelt to the power of the Ashen Star.
Thus, there is a tradition among the more conventional
witches in Rusunuga to spite or even pity baril witches.
The Star-knelt worked with these guns to create the Gun
God Engraves, which gave rise to Baril Witches. Baril
Witches are chosen from an early age, usually those who
have aptitude to sorcery. Thus, many baril witches in the
ranks of the Lakanate are not too happy with their forced
setup. Baril Witches have since spread across the
archipelago, with the other notable creator of baril
witches being the Akai Sultanate, who harness moondust
to strengthen their guns. If you choose to become a Baril
Witch, ask yourself why you have taken up secret
knowledge only to inflict violence. Why do you use your
knowledge and power to inflict violence? Why have you
picked up the gun?
No blood on your gun; it is the bullets and sorcery that
kill. Did you pick up the gun out of necessity or out of
cowardice?
Discipline Traits
HP: 6 - Style: Sharpshooter
Weapons: Terakuls, matchlocks, arquebuses, lantakas,
cetbangs, baril
Armors: Silk jackets, war jackets, war hats, arristocrat
vestments, sarongs, bahag, pants, boots
Gun Mastery
You have peerless control of your gun, surpassing the limits of
matchlock, flintlock, and arquebus. Through your skill, you bond with a
spirit that has arisen from your gun.
Guns were invented in the ancient of days by a god, who was killed by
the Sage of Spears, he who had perfected the art of piercing. “With this
implement piercing shall become a lesser art!” The Sage of Spears hath
said. Therefore thou must keep in mind the art of piercing. It is no frail,
baser art. It is, in fact, the most perfect art, a forgotten art. The Art of
Cutting reminds one of dichotomy. The Art of Piercing shows you that
all things can become one.
When you make an attack against any marked target,
gain Skewering for that attack.
Channel The Gun god
The originator of the Baril Witch’s Blasphemous Bullet was a gun
foundry owner in old Tundun who communed with Balahari Gilusot,
the King of Bullets, and learned the secrets of piercing, an ancient art
that is sister only to the sacred act of cutting. The secret of piercing has a
branch of knowledge that deals with bullets, which always pierce
through. It is called the art of Lodging.
Whenever you start your Fulmination you load your Gun:
gaining 1 Guncharge. Every 1-3 on Fire Attack Teeth
grants 1 Guncharge.
You can gain up to 6 Guncharges. If you gain a Guncharge
that puts you over 6, your gun explodes, dealing 2 True
Hit to you and all targets in burst 2.
While you have Guncharges, gain the following benefits,
equal to the number of Guncharges you currently have:
1+ Guncharge: Mark all enemies that you Hit with your
ranged and area attacks.
3+ Guncharge: When you make a ranged attack, spend all
Guncharge to give the attack Overwhelming.
5+ Gun Charge: When you make a ranged attack, spend all
Guncharge to make another Inflict Violence immediately
after, ignoring Combo Breaker.
Inflict Violences
Sinful Bullet [1]: Shoot a bullet infused with the sins of your
own excess. Ranged Fire Faith Attack vs 1 target in range 5,
inflict 1 Hit on a square adjacent to the target, then gain 1
Guncharge.
Impyerno [1]: Overload your gun and let out a stream of flame.
Area Fire Faith Attack vs all targets in blast 3.
Juggle Guns [1]: Shoot, toss, reload, then shoot again using
your kinaadman to telekinetically pull the trigger while the gun
twirls in the air. Area Fire Faith Attack vs all targets in burst
1, then gain 1 Defend until the start of your next
Fulmination.
271
 KADUNGGANAN
Baril Witch Techniques
Kalabit Diablo
The Art of Piercing is exemplified by serpents that
can burrow into the thick soils and foliage of the
great deep forests. Thus follow their way: burrow,
spiral, destroy. All things will be broken through.
That is the art of piercing. Who needs a spear when
bullets can pierce through hearts just as well?
Bullet Spirit Art
You spin, unleashing bullets, and then
utter the mentala for the passing of
days. Contort it with your spirituality.
Time stops for the bullets, and at the
end of it all, reckoning.
Impale God Stance
The creator of the Baril Witch art was a
blacksmith named Pire, who traveled
the length of the Sword Isles and
collected knowledge about the art of
piercing. He learned a particular gun
technique that lets him infuse his
bullets with god-killing strength while
upon a stand.
Crimson Steel Rain
Flash up, and then spin, dance about, send
shots in every direction possible. Nothing
can escape your path. Guns were invented
in the ancient of days by a god, who was
killed by the Sage of Spears, who had
perfected the art of piercing. “With this
implement piercing shall become a lesser
art!” The Sage of Spears hath said.
Therefore thou must keep in mind the art
of piercing. It is no frail, baser art. It is, in
fact, the most perfect art, a forgotten art.
The Art of Cutting reminds one of
dichotomy. The Art of Piercing shows you
that all things can become one.
272
Interject 1: When you deal 2+ Hits on an
attack, roll a d4: fire a number of bullets
equal to the result of the d4 at any target in
range 3, inflicting 1 True Hit per Bullet.
Each target can only be hit once.
prereq: kalabit diablo
spend 1 beat to summon 1 bullet in any
free squares in range 3. any fighter
that collides with the bullet suffers
1 hit, then the bullet vanishes.
spend 1 beat to slide 2 any number of
bullets.
prereq: bullet spirit art
spend 1 beat to take on the impale god
stance, wherein you put your gun on a
stand. you suffer stop while in this
stance, but you have +2 to any attacks
with range and +2d to all ranged
attacks. spend 1 beat to remove it from
the stand, removing the stop.
+1 beat when you take upon the stance
to make your attacks skewering.
prereq: impale god stance
spend 1 beat to leap over your targets:
rush 2, ignoring height and terrain,
making the following attack at any
point in the movement: area fire faith
attack vs all chosen targets in burst 1.
+1 beat to rush 4 instead.
+1 beat to inflict fray on every enemy
you move through.
 KADUNGGANAN

Shotgun Psalm prereq: crimson steel rain

Quoth Mangkukulam: “My Gun shall go against
the Almighty. With this bullet, I shall spit in the spend 1 beat to make the following piercing attack:
face of God. Let Him face the force of the shooting area fire faith attack vs all targets in path 4
star. I am Mangkukulam, and my flame shall never
die. Not even God can extinguish my fire with His +1 beat to increase the range to path 6
drool.” Send a barrage across the entire battlefield,
as if you summon bullets and arrows from the gods. +1 beat to inflict res-1 x2 on every target hit.
You impart the divine grace of your diwata upon
the battlefield. 777 arms carry 777 guns about you.

Enlightenment: Shoot
God In The Head Whenever you inflict a True Hit, inflict 1 Hit on every
“Anything it takes,” the ancestors tell you. enemy adjacent to the target of the True Hit.
Anything it takes to win? You’ve forged such an
intimate connection with your GUN. “The gun is at strike 4+, spend 3 beats to shoot the god of your
but a tool,” BALAHARI GILUSOT tells you.
“Do not get attached to beings that have never gun, releasing bullet hell upon the battlefield:
been human. Fool, kill it! Kill it now! Before it for the rest of violence, whenever an enemy
realizes your soul and shoots itself through you! A leaves a square, they suffer 1 true hit.
Gun Diwata is new and excited, and it does not
know yet its power. The power to level entire
nations. Now KILL IT! Bask in the bullet hell
you’ve made, witch!”

273
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Holy Masters of the Sword Kinaadman,
Disciples of the Art of Cutting, Knights of Diwa
Bladeweavers are peerless swordsorcery knights, using
their skill with the Sword Kinaadman, or Sword Wisdom
to strengthen their slashes and manipulate the battlefield
with flying swords, like the winds of a dragon. Through a
seamless weaving of enchantment and swordplay, they
dominate the battlefield.
The Bladeweavers are so called because the first of them,
a kawal, or guardsman, of the City of Broken Idols named
Palaliwah, learned how to use mentala, spells that were
written in the ancient Old Matara language, the older
form of the Matara lingua franca in the isles. These
writings, usually written upon bamboo and palm leaf
manuscripts with with Kasuratan, were to be uttered
repeatedly like a mantra by someone of volatile pohon, so
that the spells may be cast.
Palaliwah began a loose order of Bladeweavers by
teaching those kawal that she could, those that had either
inherently powerful pohon or were eager to learn, and the
teachings spread throughout the Archipelago. Eventually,
Palaliwah settled in the Lakanate, becoming a right-hand
counselor to the First Lakan, and an integral part of those
that overthrew the Issohappan invasion. From then on,
the royal guard and the elite were taught in the Sword
Sorceries. This proved to have been the Lakanate’s largest
asset in the Lakan Conspiracy, as Bladeweavers could use
magic to attain a false enlightenment for a short amount
of time to teleport great distances. A particular
Bladeweaver named Maranan, the Leaf Dancing in
Cutting Fields, used this to steal Pale King intel from a
galleon in the middle of the night, and she fended off at
least two Pale King elite warriors to get the info back to
the Lakanate. Unfortunately, she disappeared into
nothingness the next night.
The Bladeweavers are taught in mageknight academies in
Rusunuga, although there are not a lot of them. In fact,
the style has flourished even more in the Rajahnate,
where they combined the magical formulas on mentala
and mixed it with their impeccable swordsmanship to
enhance their raiding capabilities. Bladeweavers in
Gatusan are known as Alamdag Sagiban, Magic Sheathes.
Bladeweaver swordplay is much respected by many of the
warriors of the Archipelago, wheren they fuse not just
swordsmanship but all sorts of weaponry into their
sorcery. It presents a transcendent fusion of two powerful
forces, all affixed with a beautiful dance-like martial art,
which has been called Habul-Sulab, or blade-weaving.
Bladeweavers are taught to be careful of their power, and
to only accept chiefly patrons that would honor their
ability. Those that they know wouldn’t be using them for
only wealth-gaining ends. Bladeweavers are taught a
strict oral code known as the Sword Oath that boils down
to: protect those that cannot protect themselves,
dismantle those that hold oppressive power.
Bladeweavers are respected for their oath, and they are
well known across the Archipelago as altruist weapon
sorcerers, although not all Bladeweavers have such an
altruistic mindset in the war ravaged land of The Sword
Isles.
As a Bladeweaver, ask yourself why you have chosen to
perfect the Sword Kinaadman, that great act of cutting
with magick, and used it to cut swathes through innocent
Folk instead of cutting a better path to the future?
Violence explodes, and you have taken up the sword and
sigil. Prove how you can bring about a better world.
275
Discipline Traits
HP: 7 - Style: Medium
Weapons: Kalis, prayer beads, prayer strips, mudras,
ululations, pinute, ginunting, long kampilan
Armors: Shawls, boots, sandals, pants, war jackets,
breastplates, war hats, peaked helmets, cuirasses
Sword and Sorcery Cast Aloft!
The Perfect Meditation of the Blade is this: remember the teaching
of Conjunction. The sword is nothing but a tool. In fact, it was not
made for killing in the first place. Therefore reap and sow and clear
new branches, and become a Sword that creates harmony and life.
When you make a Faith Attack, your next Bravery
Attack gains +1d. When you make a Bravery Attack,
your next Faith Attack heals you 1 HP. When you make
a Bravery + Faith Attack, all allies in burst 3 gain
SPD+1.
Sword Mage
Mastery of the sword is much more than just mastery of the
weapon. It is, in fact, mastery of self, of tradition, of culture. It is the
mastery of the principle of cutting, like a rock, oneness with the
nature of something. Achieve Hiyang through swordmastery. You
are not a weapon to kill, but rather, a weapon to cut away the
brambles and tangles that bar you and your people from the future.
At the start of violence, you have 1 Weaving. When you
make a melee attack, gain 1 Weaving.
You can spend Weaving on any of the following at any
time, as an immediate effect.
0 Shield Weave: Spend 1 Weaving when an ally you
can see rolls Posture to add your FTH to the
roll.
0 Sword Weave: Spend 1 Weaving when an ally you
can see rolls their BRV or FTH, add your FTH to
the roll.
0 Suture Weave: Spend 1 Weaving to heal 1 ally in
range 3 by 2 HP.
Inflict Violences
Lightning Blade [1]: Lightning streaks from your blade.
Melee Air Faith Attack vs 1 target in range 3, push 1.
Kinnara Slash [1]: Slash while retreating in a cross-
legging mystick dance. Melee Metal Bravery Attack vs 1
adjacent target, then you must Rush 1 out of
adjacency of the target.
Dragon Whip [1]: Strike in a horrible forward arc, like
the naga cutting down with its tail. Melee Fire Bravery
or Faith Attack. Pull 1 the target toward 1 ally that
you can see.
 KADUNGGANAN
Bladeweaver Techniques
Firebird Mentala
Developed by elite Bladeweavers
who went to fight in the
Thundering Elephant War in the
Southeastern Continent, who
incorporated Continental Sorcery
and Spirituality.
Hito Mentala
This technique was taught to
Bladeweaver Master Sakamada, who
earned it after beating a firebreathing
naga that lived in the heart of a
volcano to submission, and gained its
respect. Of course, he was only able to
do this after he gained the blessing of
an ancient catfish master in the rivers
of his hometown, who taught ancient
techniques of the Bladeweaver.
Musang Talon Mentala
This was taught to Bladeweavers by a
traveling cat who chopped trees with a
single claw. Your heart sings: your
sword is oiled by the blood of your soul.
All your strikes will find their way: this
was taught to Bladeweavers by a
traveling cat who chopped trees with a
single claw.
276
spend 1 beat to inflict 1 hit on a target
in range 3, then teleport to a square
adjacent to them.
+1 beat to teleport an adjacent ally
with you.
+1 beat to inflict fire vulnerability
on the target.
prereq: firebird mentala
spend 1 beat to grant self or a
fighter in range 3 res+2.
spend 2 beats to grant yourself and
every fighter in burst 3 pos+1 and
res+1.
spend 3 beats to grant every ally in
the battlefield, including yourself,
pos+2 and res+2.
Prereq: Hito Mentala
Spend 1 Beat to sharpen your claws.
Grant yourself or an ally in range 3
Greater Sharpness: the target Hits on a
4+ now.
+1 Beat to give Greater Sharpness to self
and all allies in burst 2.
 KADUNGGANAN
Flying Blade Mentala
You bow low and release your blade. It flies,
turning the battlefield into its play space. To
Guro Sajawadu, this is the ultimate learning
of this style. The battlefield becomes one
space.
Surat Wanang
You summon lightning from your blade to
rend space itself, creating portals.
Developed by elite Bladeweavers who went
to fight in the Thundering Elephant War in
the Southeastern Continent, who
incorporated Continental Sorcery and
Spirituality.
Enlightenment: Hati
Tiyempo
An incantation mixed with three mudra that speak of
swiftness, cutting, and endings. The target of this
benefit is imbued with the speed of an unsheathing
sword.
An advanced technique that is hard to perfect but
unfortunately is probably the most important ability
of all Bladeweavers. This is a favorite of Master
Samasida, a wily hermit found in the island of Bakara
near the Ruins of Samrasat, where he studies with
wandering souls of that ancient civilization.
prereq: musang talon mentala
spend 1 beat to put down a flying sword (size
1/2 object) adjacent to you. when you or an
ally is the target of an attack while
adjacent to a flying sword may consume the
flying sword to immediately gain 1 defend.
+1 beat to put down 2 flying swords in burst
4.
+1 beat to strengthen the flying swords: all
allies that make melee attacks while
adjacent to the flying sword gains +1d.
prereq: flying blade mentala
spend 2 beats: choose 2 squares within
burst 5 of you. rips emerge from the chosen
squares. these can even be placed
underneath fighters or objects to
immediately teleport them.
rip: terrain. when moved into,
immediately teleport into an adjacent sq on
the other rip.
When you make a melee attack, choose 1 ally in range 3 (or
yourself). They gain 1 Tiyempo. When they gain 3
Tiyempo, they immediately gain Haste for the next
Strike. While they have Haste, they move first in a Strike,
before any other fighter.
at strike 3+, you can activate minor liberation.
every time you stride, move, or rush, you may
teleport that much instead. at strike 4+, inflict 1
true hit on every fighter when you teleport. if you
are defeated while you have minor liberation
activated, you vanish from reality, unravelling
from material.
277
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 KADUNGGANAN
Monstrances of Passion, Channelers of
Mahadiwa-KALAKATRI, Murder Goddess,
Fulfillers of the Promise of Blood
In the ancient past, the Suladnon of Murder Mahadiwa
Kalakatri Duumanun raised an order of warrior-monks
whose sole purpose was to use their passions and pain to
protect those around them. These revenant martyrs were
called the Night’s Penitent, and only a scant few of them
remain today. They have been stolen by the Batara Lakan,
the Suladnon of Murder turned into Saint Qali.
Those that go through the training of the Karimlan are set
out to the middle of the forest or the sea, and taught to face
their fears. They must use their Kinaadman to harness
their primal passions, their primal emotions, and turn it
into powerful sorcery that can strengthen them against
their heart. They understand the truth: pain, fear, love,
passion, regretÖ all these things are what makes a human.
And thus to embrace them all is the ultimate strength.
They get their power from the Suladnon of Murder, the
Diwata of Sword Hell. The final initiation of a Murderglave
is being immersed into a blood pond before an altar to
Mahadiwa Kalakatri Duumanun. Using this near-death
experience, they come face to face with the Mother of Ten
Thousand Bloody Spears, and they become transcendent.
In their transcendence, they come to enlightenment. A
petty enlightenment, but still an enlightenment to be sure:
that violence should not be the end. This was obvious, they
know, but they never wished to admit it. It is like realizing
that you are being stabbed in the face by an enemy lance at
the last second because you did not bring your shield. Thus,
the Murderglave’s passion is inherently hamstrung with
regret. Mahadiwa Kalakatri Duumanun always leaves
them with the words: “There is no atonement for this,
sinner.”
They have been cultivated the most by Virbanwa, who
creates Murderglave chapels and training monasteries at
the edges of Virbanwan territory and conquest. They are
inherently distrusted, since they channel their power
outside of Sampalataya, the Ashen Star Faith: the Bloody
Handed Redemption was created by a datu and his village
of Kalakatri faithfuls who lived as warrior-priests, in the
northern plains of Rusunuga. The datu is said to have been
Datu Sakara, who was killed by El Kampeyador, and
subsumed Kalakatri into the greater Saint of Murder and
Penitence, Saint Qali.
The Murderglaves were integral to the Battle of Binangku
Medium, where five poweful Murderglaves stood their
ground and staved off an entire Issohappan battalion and
river fleet long enough for their allies to be saved by Sinuku
war barges.
These passions of the Murderglave manifest as tendrils of
darkness, of shadow. They understand that to embrace
humanity is to embrace darkness. And that using that
darkness, they can bring about life and light. By their pain,
they create walls of obsidian. By their fear, they shield their
allies. By their love, they grant others another chance.
If you become a Murderglave, ask yourself why you have
chosen such a bloody path. The Left-Handed Path of the
Blackened Blood is not the safest path, and is not the
friendliest. Why do you suffer to help others? When you
know that all your suffering is potentially in vain?
279
Discipline Traits
HP: 8 - Style: Sentinel
Weapons: Colossal hammers, giant panabas,
ceremonial swords, executioner’s axes, straight sword
Armors: Cuirasses, peaked helmets, greaves, tassets,
steel sabatons, boots, shoulderguards, bracers, gloves
Murder Monstrance
Saint Qali is the Fell Lady of Murder, known as Mahadiwa
Kalakatri Duumanun in the religions of the Central Sword Isles.
Bloody Handed Redemption teaches all Murderglaves to properly
channel them by piercing themselves. A Murderglave channeling
Saint Qali is sheathed in night blackness, like a penitent veil,
choking them as the one million hands of Kalakatri reach out into
the field. Murderglave armors are living iron maidens: they have
spikes that dig deeper into the host, so that one never forgets their
lifelong penitence, their pain, their sin for inflicting such violence
upon this world.
At the beginning of violence, the Murderglave chooses
either KALAKATRI or MALAUN, taking upon their
aspect. They can shift into the other Aspect by
spending 1 Beat.
0 MAKAYAO/MAHAKALA: Multiple hands,
Murderous Intent, Peaceful Smile. While in this
aspect, whenever you suffer Hits, they gain 1
Murder Charge, which can stack to a max of 4.
0 ST. QALI/KALAKATRI: Wicked Grin, Burning Eyes,
Razor Weapons. While in this aspect, whenever
you make a melee attack, you may consume X
Murder Charges to add +Xd your Attack Teeth.
One With Murder
Mahakala is a forgotten aspect of Bloody Handed Redemption, but
Ba-enon Murderglaves remember. Mahakala is the ancient
destroyer aspect of BATALA-MALAUN, who together, creates The
Time That Destroys, or Inevitability. He is conflated with
MAKAYAO, the Child of God who has died once and will return to
bring the ending of all things, known also as the Inevitability
Maitreya.
When reduced to 0 HP, roll BRV + FTH, healing 1 HP
per 8+ rolled, and 3 HP per pair rolled. This only
triggers 1/Violence.
Inflict Violence
Lance of Darkness [1]: Strike with a giant weapon.
Melee Earth Faith Attack vs all targets in blast 2.
Hand of Darkness [1]: Rush forward upon wings of
murder. Melee Earth Faith Attack vs 1 close target.
Push 1, and then Rush 1 into the square they vacated.
Censer of Purity [1]: Test your victim’s purity. Choose 1
adjacent fighter. They must inflict 1 Hit against you.
If they do, inflict 1 True Hit back at them and inflict
Provoke. If they choose not to attack you, they suffer
Stun.
 KADUNGGANAN
Murderglave Techniques
Sinful Blade
"You must remember the pain of this, of trying
to discover who you are. For now, keep quiet,
fester in your trauma."
"Sister, is this healthy?"
"Healthy? God no. But you are not here to be
healthy. You are here to love yourself."
Scarlet Edge of Love
Perfect your passion and let it cool. Others might let
their passion flare and burn and it will peter out, as all
fires do. You? You have tempered it, forged it into steel.
This is a technique perfected by Saint Sagrado, who
traveled the island chain known as Jamiyun Kulisa’s
arrows to learn from the sorcerers of Batu Perairan. He
was killed for his heresy, and in his divine suicide he
destroyed a cathedral in both a final act of atonement
and to spite the Church, which had become nothing
more but power-hungry capitalists who cling to the
destructive teachings of the Pale Kings. His shade still
wanders Virbanwa’s countryside.
Sibat Caligo
Bloody Handed Redemption sings of horrible,
horrible love. A love that forces you to give too
much of yourself. This is the love of lowly
mortals that toil evermore. Evisceration is
nothing to the gods, but everything to us.
Death is spoken of in soft tunes, like a lover.
Solemnidad
Mahadiwa Kalakatri Duumanun has never
been one for atonement. Only when framed by
the Ashen Star religion does she understand.
In Virbanwa, Mahadiwa Kalakatri Duumanun
is known as Saint Qali, Patron of Vengeance.
She doesn’t like it herself. Who are they to
name her differently? She cares not, of course.
She knows her name, what mortals call her
does not change her nature. Thus is the truth
of nature.
280
Spend 1 Beat to strike with the darkness of
passion: Melee Earth Faith Attack vs 1 adjacent
target, inflicting Provoke per 6+ on the Attack
Teeth.
+1 Beat to inflict SPD-1 on the target.
+1 Beat to change the target to all chosen
fighters in blast 2.
prereq: sinful blade
spend 1 beat to summon the scarlet
blade: ranged earth faith attack vs 1
target in range 3, then pull 1 per 6+.
+1 beat increase the range and target to
all chosen targets in burst 3.
+1 beat inflict the bleed x3
Prereq: Scarlet Edge of Love
Spend 1 Beat to strike with a spear of pure
murder, the Sibat Caligo: Melee Earth Bravery
Attack vs 2 targets in line 2. Every target hit
suffers the Sibat Caligo until they remove it
with a Beat. While they have the Sibat Caligo, if
they end their Fulmination not closer to you,
they suffer 1 True Hit.
+1 Beat to increase the range to all targets in line
4.
Prereq: Sibat Caligo
Spend 1 Beat to take on the Solemnidad Stance
until the end of your next Fulmination. While in
this Stance, you have Stability. When you are
attacked, inflict 1 Hit back at the attacker.
+1 Beat to inflict BRV-1 on all enemies in burst 2
when taking on the stance.
+1 Beat to gain Float while in the Stance.
 KADUNGGANAN

Blackened God Body

Saint Qali is based on an ancient Issohappan
wariorress who offered her life in exchange for her
queen’s freedom. She was the last bulwark against prereq: solemnidad
the encroaching invasion of Issohappa. She became
beatified for dying for her queen to appease the interject 3: when you suffer an
warriors of her kingdom, and due to her bloodthirst attack, spend this interject to
against the Pale Kings, became the Patron Saint of power through it: gain 1 defend
Murderers and Penitents. When the Pale Kings went against the attack immediately,
through the northern central region of Rusunuga push 1 the target, and then rush 1.
they did the same with the faithfuls of Kalakatri,
who wielded giant kalises that could bleed even
rocks. Kalakatri’s imagery was subsumed with Saint
Qali, including her night skin, her triad eyes, and her
four arms wielding blades.

Enlightenment: Dalagang You can suffer 1 extra Hit when suffering

Bakal: Self-Love
Makayao’s death promises the end of all things, and
so you bring it with you. As your bladed armor bites
into your skin you remember your penitence. How do
you have s[ace for Want?
The Dalagang Bakal bleeds. Murderglave armors are
living iron maidens: they have spikes that dig deeper
into the host, so that one never forgets their lifelong
penitence, their pain, their sin for inflicting such
violence upon this world. This technique was crafted
by the First Murderglave, Saint Lorenzo, who died
performing it. His armor still exists somewhere in the
Sword Isles, with his corpse kept within, as the
Church considered it heresy to keep it in their vaults,
and has since thrown it away.
attacks to gain +1d on your next attack. If this
attack inflicts 2+ Hits, you heal 1.
at strike 3+, spend 1 beat to summon the
shadow of your self-love, for who else
can love yourself but yourself? place a
shadow version of you in any square in
range 5. the shadow is you, and
fulminates like you do, has your traits,
martial abilties, and techniques. any
thing done to the shadow is considered
as done to you instead.

281
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282
 KADUNGGANAN
Disciples of the Conquering King, Peerless
Tacticians, Practitioner of the Martial Art of
Commandment and Strategy, Ministers of the
Battlefield
Be who you must be, Warlord. Senapati are born from blood
spilled and shed on the battlefield, that wretched hive of
violence. With formidable tactics and peerless knowledge of
the field, they guide their allies to victory.
Senapati is the common term for commander-at-arms of a
Datu, someone who is the Datu’s right hand man, who
handles the statistics of armies and war bands and makes
sure morale is high. They know the skills of their allies, and
they make sure that their warband is optimized, ensuring
victory in raids. They hire singers that will sing epics and
songs to their armies, securing triumph and the favor of
both the umalagad and the epics. In the battlefield, they
master supreme tactics and inspiring speeches to ensure
victory.
The first Senapati is said to be the great first Conquering
King, Rajaraya Pintas, who blew open the sky-gates and
spoke with the Sky God Si Gurang Tungko, the elder Sky
God, son of the Ancient Formless Sky (who is crowned in
majesty but is overwhelmingly humbled as he seeks his wife
who has left him). Rajaraya Pintas was an ancient demigiant
who accomplished the feat of Heaven-Conquest due to his
peerless leading skill. His headwrap, the Batara Pudong,
burns with the ancient knowledges of compassion and
benevolence, as despite being a Conquering King, he was
only able to conquer the sky with the strength of his allies.
To become a Senapati, one does not exactly need to be the
right hand of the Datu. Senapati are trained and honed in
the battlefield: anyone who gains an intuitive ability to
inspire their allies, pull off impressive tactical displays, and
learn the strengths and weaknesses of their comrades are
viable to become Senapati. Of course, there are various
masters of the 180 Strikes of the Conquering King can and
will help: entire settlements have been built around the
mastery of that grand martial art, wherein each Strike is
less an attack and more of a tactical move.
Senapati are common across the isles now, even though they
as a formal tradition arose during the Lakan Conspiracy,
when they needed to rally warriors and to marshal tactics
required to bring down the Pale King Hegemony. Senapati
have always existed even before then: the title is an ancient
one, belonging to the oldest of oldest of kingdoms, written
and passed down in unweatherable copperplate.
Senapati are warlords of warbands, but Panglima are
commanders of warrior armies. Laksamana, a name shared
by an ancient monkey god-king that killed Maharajah
Lawana in Banjarmasir, is the term for admiral of a sea
warband. With the rise of sky barges, the term Galura, a
term for the spawn of the great Eagle God Garuda, has
become used as a term for sky admirals.
However, with the arrival of the Issohappans, the many
Senapati stole a great number of techniques from the
Issohappans and incorporated them into the 180 Strikes.
From the Issohappans they took the idea of military
academies, creating burgeoning warriors and warlords that
can change the world.
If you become a Senapati, ask yourself why you lead your
allies into inevitable violence. Your skills are fine tuned for
the bloodshed caused in combat. Do you revel in the melee?
Do you see yourself as a god of the battlefield? Why? Why
have you chosen to be a creature of battle, a master of war
yet beholden by it?
283
Discipline Traits
HP: 7 - Style: Medium
Weapons: Bodyong, chopping swords, straight
swords, bolo, gunong, barong, sundang
Armors: Baroti (cotton), baroti (bamboo), elephant
hide pakil, cuirass, paruka, bahag, tampi, sarong,
headwrap
Conquering King’s Teachings
The Conquering King Art was said to have been codified by
Rajaraya Pintas, the First Lord, after he returned to the earth and
traveled it even as the Cycles of Violence flowed. He gave it to those
that would have the Bloody Want strong enough to conquer heaven
once again, and find a means to end the Cycle of Violence. Each
Strike is at the same time a proclamation, a Technique, and a
commandment. Yet Rajaraya Pintas learned one thing as he
conquered heaven: that he could not do it alone.
At the beginning of Violence, gain 2
Commands. Spend 1 Beat to gain 1 Command. You can
only have up to 5 Command at a time.
At any point, you can immediately spend any number
of Command to do the following, with X being the
number of Command spent:
0 General's Crown: Heal one ally in range 2 equal to X+1.
0 Bravura's Sword: Give 1 ally in range 3 +X to their BRV
on their next attack.
0 Maverick's Shield: Give 1 ally in range 3 +X to their
POS against the next attack.
0 Charging Lancer: Let 1 ally in range 3 Rush X.
Sound The Gongs of War!
Your mastery of the battlefield is apparent and well known.
However, the most important thing is actually your mastery of your
allies. With the proper maneuvers and training, you command the
battlefield through the strength of your bonds.
Spend 1 Beat to make an ally in range 3 inflict violence.
Inflict Violences
Blow The Horns [1]: Make some noise as violence begins!
Melee Metal Bravery Attack vs 1 adjacent target, then 1
ally that you can see may rush 1.
Burning Hearts Assault [1]: Strike and lead your allies to
victory! Ranged Fire Bravery Attack vs 1 target in range
3. The next attack against that target gains +1d.
Rajaraya Palm [1]: Strike with a palm. Push 1 a fighter in
range 3. If they collide with an ally, the ally doesn’t
suffer Hits.
 KADUNGGANAN
Senapati Techniques
Blade Chief Command
Rajraya Pintas’ greatest student, Ilakat Salandra,
was said to have perfected what the Rajaraya could
not in the beginning: she perfected the form of being
one with your warband, coordination and cooperation
with one another. They moved as one, and she
became the warband’s burning spirit, one with
Nihawa.
Lightning Lord Style
After Rajaraya Pintas learned what he never could
grasp from his student, he began asking Ilakat
Salandra to teach what she had learned to the rest of
the world, and so she did. She taught cooperation,
diplomacy, a continued and cooperative violence that
can be the only road to true peace. Not peace in word
only, not peace for one or for some, but rather, a peace
for all. “To achieve true peace, one must give up one’s
self in some aspects. There is enough for us in this
world.”
Laksaman Whetstone
Like Laksaman, the Monkey Warlord General, you
lead others to victory, even against those unkillable.
Bring to bear the great commander of our times,
Laksaman, who led monkey kings to create bridges,
and sailed the thunders to reach heaven.
Panglima Palms
Strike fast and strike through. Only if you can break
your foes can your allies see victory. This is the
Conquering King’s primary attack: 7 Panglima
Palms that create a burning sigil upon the enemy
forces, crafted and passed down by others that
would learn his ancient art.
284
spend 1 beat to give brv+2 to yourself or a
single ally in range 3.
spend 2 beats to give brv+2 to yourself and
all allies in burst 2.
spend 3 beats to give brv+2 to yourself and all
allies in the battlefield.
prereq: blade chief command
spend 1 beat to make 1 ally in range 3 rush 2.
spend 2 beats to make yourself and 1 ally in
range 3 rush 4. you and the ally can move
through enemies. if you and the chosen ally
moves through the same enemy, inflict 1 true
hit and unbalance on that enemy.
prereq: lightning lord style
spend 1 beat to take on the laksaman
stance until the end of your next
fulmination. whenever you suffer an
attack while in this stance, any 1 or 2
allies that you can see may rush 2. you may
consume the stance when you are
attacked to push 3 the target, and then
rush into any square they vacated.
+1 beat to give all allies adjacent to you
sharpness when you first take on this
stance.
Prereq: Laksaman Whetstone
Spend 1 Beat to perform the Panglima Palms:
push 3 an adjacent target and the next attack
against the target gains Overwhelming.
+1 Beat to give it the following effect: if the
target collides with an ally, they suffer Stun.
 KADUNGGANAN

Thunderbolt Spear Pamaagi

“The cosmos, the sky, the heavens and the earths and the
hells: they will pass, fade away, like sand washed away
by the waves of time. And our kind, all we do is fight. Prereq: Panglima Palms
We engage in such violence that the gods look away, and
the devils bow down in the grandeur of our bloodshed. Spend 2 Beats to inflict violence, and then all
Like a river, it flows. It ever cycles: our violence flows to allies that you can see can inflict violence as
the sea of time, and then simply returns to the peak of well.
the mountain through the rain. Will there ever be a time
that our warring nations will achieve peace? Or is peace Spend 3 Beats to rush 1 and then inflict
simply not a portion of our nature? Who is to dictate our violence, and then all allies that you can see
nature? can do the same.
I bring this spear and shield before you, great Brother
Thunderbolt, so that I may slay you, and perhaps I will
free my people from this horrible cycle. The river flows,
Diwasin Kilat, God of Lightning, but perhaps I can stop
it.” - The Song of the Rajaraya

Enlightenment: King
“For many datu in the isles, some sort of divinity is a
useful claim to royalty. This is because a ruler’s Your adjacency is increased to all squares within range 2
powerbase in the isles depend on how much virtue or of you, instead of just everything within 1 sq of you.
merit the commonfolk see that you have. If they
realize that another, different warrior-brave or king at strike 2+, for 1 beat, you can give the greatest
has a more powerful claim to royalty, whether it be command: all allies in the battlefield gains 5
divine heritage, bloodline, or superior ultraviolence, thunderbolt tokens [p. 35].
then they will switch allegiance on a dime, following
the more powerful one. Why would you follow a non-
virtuous person? If you followed a virtuous leader,
then you will cultivate virtue yourself.” - Sermons on
Virtue and Rulership by Sri Kadasiga Mahawagas

285
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 KADUNGGANAN
Artists whose souls have been cut in twain.
Swordsmen that will complete the cutting
motion of existence.
Sword Saints are the faithful patrons, preachers, and
priests who worship the violent aspect of Makagagahum,
Makaubos, and pray to Gattalim, the intercessor of
swords, to bring their woes to God. Makaubos is the
aspect of God who will arrive at the end of all things. He
will cleanse it in a single blood tornado of steel and
gnashing of teeth.
Sword Saints are given the Blade Commission: they must
travel from settlement to settlement to teach the word
and truth of the Ashen Star, the upcoming Edge
Eschatology, or as they call it: the Paguubos, the emptying
of the land. They are taught extensively the teachings of
the Sword, and their primary conviction is this: “All things
will be cut in the end by Makaubos. We are the end.”
Those that follow the aspect of Makaubos are also taught
extensively the ways and arts of their God’s violent and
jealous aspect, which they say is the human state of their
God, as all things have the binary states of man and
nature. Through communion and following the 77 Sword
Tenets of Gattalim, they sharpen their souls until they
turn their very spirits into blades. Sharper than any other
soul, they will never find love, for those that try to
embrace a Sword Soul will be bisected.
Sword Saints are seen as strangers and outsiders by the
settlements. Those of Apumbukid see them as bastards,
mindless, idiots. That they have turned themselves into
“Swords” is stupid, for they have honed themselves to be
Swords that Kill, not Swords that Cut. In essence, they are
useless, and forever will be.
The truth of all things is much more complicated, of
course. The Sword Saint was once a different Discipline,
now rent in half, like the bisection that it truly is. Sword
Saints that practice the opposite philosophy exist in Ba-e,
born from the Blade Gospel’s original form.
The Blade Gospel was once simply the Blade Song. It has
since been changed, now, once the Ashen Star Priests
took hold of it. Many of the original followers of the Blade
Song created the Blade Weaving after splitting from
them, while those that chose to become warriors for the
new Ashen Star religion created the Blade Gospel.
However, very recently, a larger portion of these martial
artists have broken apart from the Ashen Star and have
begun following a rural folk syncretism of Ashen Star
teachings and the ancient religions of northern
Rusunuga. These martial artists, in a Fulmination of
hard-headed defiance, keep both the name Sword Saint
and Blade Gospel and teach in pagodas in Ba-e as well as
the communal feasts of Gatusan. They are revivalists of
the original Blade Song, which sing the true Blade Gospel:
“the might of the sword-used-to-kill must be used with
justice and compassion, lest it be nothing but the very
thing that causes the Wheel of Violence to turn.” These
revivalists are commonly known as Graceless, while those
faithful to the Ashen Star Blade Commission are those
Graced.
If you choose to be a Sword Saint, your soul has been
sharpened into a killing sword. Your soul kills you. Once
you achieve peace, you become worthless. Will you
survive enlightenment?
287
Discipline Traits
HP: 6 - Style: Sharpshooter
Weapons: Sundang, bolo, pinute, garol, ginunting,
katana, kampilan, kalis, barong, pira
Armors: War jacket, war pants, sarongs, war boots,
war hat, loose robes, swordpriest vestments
Sword Avatars
“The Principle of the Sword is this: if your soul is not sharp enough
to cut your own flesh, then you have not learned the true principle
of the sword. The Principle of Gattalim is this: if your flesh is cut by
your own soul, then you have achieved the Sword Nirvana: that you
are now worthless and harm all those around you. Have you ever
noticed why you cannot cut down trees with your techniques?” – The
77 Tenets of Gattalim
At the start of violence, take on a single Sword Form.
You can change Sword Forms by spending 1 Beat, 1/
Fulmination.
0 Gospel Swordstance of Amaley/Bladesong Form of
Apolaki: All your area attacks have +1d.
0 Gospel of Amacor/Bladevesper of Mayari: You may
teleport 1 after making an area attack.
0 Gospel of Azaragoe/Bladehymn of Tala: When you are
the target of a melee attack from an adjacent target, you
may inflict violence before the attack, 1/Fulmination.
Principle of Cutting
“The Principle of Diwahati, the diwata who lives in all Bisections,
is this: we are cause-effect, love-evisceration. We are both bisected
and the whole. Therefore the Sword’s final Mastery is this: who are
we but all in that eternal process of the cut? The cut ends when we
die, this is the final Mastery of our truths. We are in a perpetual
cutting motion: that is life. Changing and hurting and dying.
Therefore apply this cutting motion to everything else: to bamboo,
to politics, to datu, to love. For what else are we but bisections?”
Enemies can move through you (but not you through
them). If they do, they suffer 1 True Hit. This triggers
once per enemy per Fulmination. Enemies therefore
cannot collide with you. If they end movement in your
square, rush 1.
Inflict Violences
Damnation Cut [1]: Cut the air, send a slash across the
field. Area Fire Faith Attack vs all targets in path 4.
Archangel Cutting [1]: Cut a distant target. Area Air
Faith Attack vs 1 target in range 6.
Castigation Cut [1]: Unsheathe your blade and send
slashes everywhere. Area Metal Faith Attack vs all targets
in range 2 burst 1.
 KADUNGGANAN
Sword Saint Techniques
Blade of Makaubos |
Lawana Shrikes
All at once a prayer and a spell. With an
intercession to Gattalim, Pintakasi (Patron
Saint Intercessor) of Blades, Makaubos
allows his blades to circle around the target of
your scorn, ready to bring them down.
Sword Judas | Blade of Self-
Acceptance
Preach the Blade Gospel: be as a sword, indiscriminate
and betraying. This is one of the first techniques
learned by Sword Saints. This is because to become a
sword you must first betray yourself. The perfection of
this technique is a recalling of its past version in the
Bladesong: becoming the Sword is to realize one’s self,
the perfection of mindfulness within one’s place in
nature.
Passionflower Dance | Violent
Bodhisattva Line
The Sword is in a perpetual killing motion, is it not?
This is the teaching of the Sword Saints. Of course,
as with all things, this is a Corruption. In the Blade
Song, from which it was bisected into the two kinds of
Sword Saints, the teaching was of the perpetual
cutting motion, in the sense that one must always be
moving forward, changing things, not just others, but
one’s self. The Passionflower Dance is one of the only
technicks created by a master from Ba-e, whose name
was Passiflora in Virbanwa. He was executed for
heresy, but his legacy lives on.
Sidereal Rosary | BATALA’s
Star
"Aba, aba, gunitain ka makapangyarihang Makayao!
You died for us, we are not worthy of you. Let your
corpse bled dry cover us, let the shadow of your
torture wrap around us and bring us bliss upon this
land of sorrows! Let your broken ribs be my sword,
your shattered halo my shield!" You strike in the form
of an Asterfix where great Makayao, the Son of God,
was bled and dried until his corpse became desiccated
and mummified.
288
Spend 1 Beat: Gain 2 Summoned Swords. While you
have Summoned Swords, all ranged attacks against
you have Dullness.
Spend 1 Beat: Launch any number of Swords against
any target in range 3, inflicting Bleed and Eviscerate
per sword.
Spend 3 Beats: Send the Swords in a hurricane about
you: Spend X Summoned Swords to Inflict X Hits to
all fighters in burst 2.
Prereq: Blade of Makaubos | Lawana
Shrikes
Interject 2: When you are the target of a
melee or ranged attack, spend this
Interject to change the target to any
target in range 3.
Prereq: Sword Judas | Blade of Self-Acceptance
Spend 1 Beat to unleash a gathered strike: rush 4
in a straight line, through all fighters and
objects, inflicting 1 Hit through every target
moved through.
+1 Beat: Rush 6 instead, not in a straight line.
+1 Beat: Teleport 1 every target you move
through.
Prereq: Passionflower Dance | Violent Bodhisattva
Line
1 Beat: Give 1 fighter in range 5 Mark x2. While
marked you have them tethered to you by a rosary.
At any moment, you can sever the rosary to
instantly teleport the fighter to an adjacent
square.
+1 Beat: After marking the fighter, choose an
adjacent square. They are tethered to that square
instead: they are pulled 3 toward the square and
suffer SPD-2 while tethered.
+1 Beat: To also drive an asterfix through the
target’s heart. When the Rosary is severed, they
suffer 1 True Hit.
 KADUNGGANAN

Prereq: Sidereal Rosary | BATALA’s Star

Thunderhead Keens | Diwahati
Eviscerates Makaubos
You let the tension rise, and the perfect slashing moment
approaches, fulminates, echoes. All sound is dulled away,
and the only thing you can hear is the screaming keening
thunderhead as it reaches an unstoppable crescendo and
you
cut.
This is the Technique taught by the peerless master of
sword-murder Alberto Sakaran Penitente, who was
bisected in the process.
Spend 1 Beat to go into Sheathed Stance until you
suffer a Hit. While in Sheathed stance, you cannot
make any attacks, but you have POS+2.
Spend 1 Beat while in Sheathed Stance to teleport
your SPD.When you teleport, inflict 1 True Hit
against all adjacent enemies.
Spend 2 Beats while in Sheathed Stance to end
Sheathed Stance, make the following attack:
Inflict 2 True Hits to every fighter in blast 4, and
then end your Fulmination.

Enlightenment: Sword
Nirvana
There is a secret importance to the Sword dichotomy of
the intense study of the blade (to the detriment of When you make an attack against a target, give
everything else). The Bladesong once sang of the Great them a Cut. When a target reaches 3 Cuts,
Unity which contained Dichotomy: unity is thus they discard all cuts and suffer 1 True Hit
balance, and balance is achieved with two things
against each other. Cause-Effect is a single thing that spend 3 beats to revel in the blade: halve
is not separate from each other: therefore they are not the hp of all fighters in the field that have
two different things but rather two parts of the same cuts, minimum 1. afterwards, you achieve
whole. This is exemplified in the beginning of time, sword nirvana: any fighter that moves into
where all of existence was nothing but Sky and Sea,
both devoid of color or light, an endless undulation, a a square adjacent to you suffers 1 true hit.
chaotic dialogue of winds and waves. The Sky and Sea
was not separate but part of the same whole, that is the
Chaos, the First Cause- Effect. Thus is the importance
of learning the Cutting Art of the Sword: the Sword
exemplifies that anything that is 2 was once 1, simply
cut in twain.

289
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292
 KADUNGGANAN
Channelers and Priests of the
Sampaguita: the Jasmine of Death and
the Ancestors, Speakers of the
Departed, Ministers of Blessed Flower
Corpses
Flower Balyan channel the little and large gods
of death.
Flower Balyan are a specialized martial clan of
balyan that have focused on speaking with the
recently killed. More and more necromancers
have been born during the beginning of the
Seventh Star Era due to the rapid rise in
violence, and subsequently, death. The
wandering kalag of those recently departed all
cry the same thing: Where is the justice? When
will it end?
Flower Balyan are usually, but not strictly, those
alabay when they were younger, or shaman
apprentices. Through this they learn the
foremost important necromancy ritual: the
ritual of pag-uli. Through this, they may be able
to resurrect a person if their kalag is close
enough. If not, then they would perform the
rituals to send off the kalag to their final resting
place. Flower Balyan are a step forward. They
took this advantage during the rise of killing
through violence, which has caused many kalag
to not be sent properly to the afterlife.
Flower Balyan use the iconic sampaguita
flower--the flower one would smell if a beloved
one’s ghost who has passed away is near you--to
promise a better end: they will grant them
peace, but only if they do one final request for
them. Once the kalag or soul has agreed, they
will be bound to a sampaguita. Once that kalag
has been used, the sampaguita must be planted
to the ground, wherein it withers and then dies,
finishing the elaborate pag-uli ritual.
Flower Balyan use the kalag bound to their
sampaguita to perform things usually thought
of as blasphemous: they animate bones and
flesh (not of tawo, however), they grant life to
their allies, and they sap away at enemies’
vitality.
Balyan see them in a negative light. Thus,
Flower Balyan are much rarer than the usual
balyan. In a very real sense, Flower Balyan are
simply warrior-priestesses who have absorbed
the teachings of death and used it to gain an
edge. This kind of thinking is something Ba-e
obviously loves, and they patronized and hired
Flower Balyan alongside balyan in their polities.
Only the most traditionalist of balyan sneer at
them. Unfortuantely, that is still the majority.
Dealing in matters of death is anathema to
them, is too close to the sorceries of the aswang.
Despite this, Flower Balyan follow the tenets of
Dalankalag to the bitter end, the spiritual Path
of the Soul.
If you become a sampaguita necromancer, you
bring with you at all times your cord of
sampaguita. Why do you carry it? Is it
atonement? You lay to rest those that are dead,
but can you ever give your own soul respite?
Discipline Traits
HP: 6 - Style: Witch
Weapons: Mudras, ritual knives, gunong, kris, prayer strips,
sampaguita wreaths, flower thorns, laurels
Armors: Ritual vestments, raiments, shawls, robes, sashes,
malong, tapis, sarong
Flower Garden
Flower Balyan very often cultivate gardens of their own, either in their own
houses or perhaps in their own settlements. These gardens are pieces of
wonder, though their most striking part will always be a corpse flower in the
middle of it all. Flower Balyan are fond of sampaguita, or jasmines, as they
are the flowers of the dead. They cultivate the gardens because it is very often
taught that to take a life, you must bring something else to life. You have
captured wandering souls that wish to offer their ghostly consciousnesses for a
virtuous cause. They are always 5. You know each of their names. You fight
with them, and they manifest as beings clad in flower and soil.
When you start violence, place a Flower Ghost in a square
adjacent to you. You can put down another Flower Ghost for 1
Beat. You only have 1 of each Ghost type per Violence. You
cannot have more than 3 at a time. Each Flower Ghost is a
minion and is a Size 1/2 Summon. You can make a Ghost rush 3
for 1 Beat.
Sampaguita Ghost. The square of the Sampaguita Ghost is
difficult terrain.
Lotus Soul. Leaving adjacency of the lotus soul costs +1 Speed.
Hibiscus Goblin. Every start of Fulmination, the Goblin rushes
2 and inflicts Unbalance on an adjacent enemy.
Jade Vine Serpent. Every end of Fulmination, the serpent leaps
and inflicts SPD-1 on an enemy in range 2.
Waling-Waling Brute. The brute is considered blocking terrain.
Plant Blossoms
Flower Necromancers carry with them flowers inlaid with sorcerous script.
When fired, they burn and execute a variety of magical effects. These sorcerous
scripts are also very often found written in palm leaf strips, which Flower
Necromancers very often rip or tear to perform a variety of effects.
When you inflict any number of Hits on a fighter, you may
plant a flower within them. Any single fighter can have up to 3
flowers on them. When a fighter with a flower attacks, make
any number of flowers on them blossom, canceling a Hit per
blossom. Flowers wither after a blossom.
Inflict Violences
Rose Thorn [1]: Let fly a petal that buries into an enemy. Inflict Fray
on a target in range 5.
Jade Vine Whip [1]: Throw a jade vine and whip an enemy about.
Slide 3 a target in range 4.
Floral Blade [1]: Cut with a weapon made of petals. Area Earth
Faith Attack vs all chosen targets in path 5, inflicting Eviscerate
x2.
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Flower Balyan Techniques

Biting Thorn Attack
Kinahalas-un is an ancient balyan who learned the
secrets of ancient necromancy and decay. She
crafted a thorn, which has since become a primary
offensive technique of all Flower Necromancers,
who practice it and then learn to apply it as
covetously and as hidden as possible, woven
between sung incantations and empty hand forms.
Spend 1 Beat to launch a thorn: Ranged Earth Faith
Attack vs 1 target in range 4, inflict Bleed.
+1 Beat: Inflict d3 stacks of Bleed.
+1 Beat: Make this an area attack that targets all
chosen targets in burst 2

Brambles As Dragons
Technique Prereq: Biting Thorn Attack
Corpse Flower Necromancy has part of a shaman Spend 1 Beat to touch a warrior and let brambles
initiation rite baked into their training. They are bind them: inflict Stop on a fighter in range 3.
taught to practice and learn the ways of the
spirits, to communicate with them, and to give Spend +1 Beat to increase the target and range to all
extra reverence–even more so than usual priests chosen fighters burst 1 within 3 squares.
and shamans do–due to their own trespasses +1 Beat to inflict Stop x3.
brought about by learning their Martial Art.
Flower Necromancers therefore are intimately
connected to the societies of spirits.

Prereq: Brambles As Dragons Technique

Gumamela Diwa Method
A gumamela is a hibiscus native to the isles. It is
so named after Gumeng and Mela, a mortal man
and his diwata lover. The diwata lover killed him
in a moment of grief, realizing that Mela cannot
live with Gumeng forever. Then she killed herself,
for she cannot suffer such blasphemy. The first
gumamela flowers blossomed from their corpses.
Once known simply as “Bulaklak ni Gumeng at
Mela”, which means “Flowers of Gumeng and
Mela”, it is now known as Gumamela.
Spend 1 Beat to summon a giant gumamela to
swallow you into the earth and belch somewhere
else, teleport 2.
+1 Beat to let the gumamela swallow all allies
adjacent to you as well, letting them teleport 2 as
well, but they must stay adjacent to you.
+1 Beat to Push 1 all enemies adjacent to you before
or after the attack.

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Vampire Orchid Promulgation
The Mandurugo is the vampire orchid, which drains blood
from one’s veins and applies it as spiritual healing upon
others. It is exceedingly rare, and is popular for healing datu
by sacrificing slaves.
Burning Santan Sorcery
Gather motes of crimson santan, crush them, and
pray to let the vengeful dead burn the thickets. A
mentala that summons a thicket of thick and hard
to move through foliage. It is wrapped in phantom
flame.
Enlightenment: The Symbol
of Death
Hinagpis ng mga bulaklak. You touch the ground and it
becomes drenched in the spirit of the dead. Your heart is
rent; sampaguitas blossom from your fingers, from your
brow. You become inert, a living bloom, as the ghosts of
the vengeful rise above the earth in reckoning.
Petals blossom from your feet, and wrap you around. You
are a flower yourself, now. Just a bit more and you will
become a goddess, so close–so close–to death. The spirits
remind you that the flowers are there to signify when a
dear dead loved one is near. Become that signifier. The
blossom erupts about you, butterflites scatter in every
direction. Become death. The symbol for death in the
sword isles is the Flower.
Prereq: Gumamela Diwa Method
Spend 1 Beat to inflict an Orchid upon a fighter in
range 2. You can stack up to 3 Orchids at a time, and
Orchids stay indefinitely When a fighter with
Orchids is attacked, consume any number of
Orchids on the fighter to heal 1 the attacker per
Orchid consumed.
+1 Beat to increase the range to range 6.
+1 Beat to place the orchid in an unoccupied square
in range. When a fighter moves into the square, you
can cause the Orchid to latch on to them.
Prereq: Vampire Orchid Promulgation
Spend 2 Beats to burn a place: choose a square in
range 4. All squares in burst 1 of that square become
Burning Terrain. Any enemies in the burst suffer 1
Hit.
All squares adjacent to you are difficult terrain for
enemies, as flowers grow around your footfalls.
spend 2 beats at strike 4+ to root yourself and
become blossom open. blossoms fill the sky. you
can no longer move nor be moved. however, your
range is the entire battlefield for every effect,
you heal 1 all allies every start of their
fulmination, and inflict 1 true hit to all enemies
every end of their fulmination.
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Renders of Heaven, Denouncers of Discipline Traits

Kings, Cloud Surfers, Ever Alight
Javelins, Attainment of Minor HP: 7 - Style: Raider
Enlightenment Weapons: Sibat, bangkaw, tridents, barbed spears, kalises,
No gods, no rulers. This is the first Technique of gunongs, longknives, lances, pinamaskan, lances, halberds,
the Piercers of Heaven. Their teachings then go glaves, sodok
on to teach of the great unbreaking, that Armors: Breastplates, sarongs, pants, slippers, bracers,
unlashing from the earth, that great wind- headwraps
calling. With a flex of your kalag, a honing of
your Kinaadman, an expression of Gahum, you
can fly upon silk wings to sail the clouds.
Liberation
The final lie is the Earth-Binding. That one must stay bound to the earth. That
The first Heavenspear was Sarripada Pak-an. To one must fall down. BATALA, the Absolute Reality, tells that this reality is
fend off an incoming Akai raid, they rode upon nothing but phenomenon that we can overcome. However, to achieve that, they
catapults, and when the war barges sounded, must learn the truth of the Waling-Waling Surat: that they themselves are not
they launched themselves into the air, sailing real. That they travel and can perform feats of grand God-killing because
across the sky, and rending sails from masts reality as they know it is a structure of their own souls crafting reality around
and inflicting chaos upon the raiders. them. Only then can they truly unchain themselves from the shackles of the
earth.
The Sarripada would continue to do this until
one day, he launched himself so high that he When you Rush, gain 1 Momentum Dice. When you make a
spoke with Lawu, the great eagle that will eat Bravery Attack, you can add the Momentum Dice as Attack
the sun. The eagle took him into his clutches Teeth.
and showed him the seven heavens, at the top of When you Rush, you Fly for the duration of the Rush.
which there was no throne but simply infinite
bliss. When asked why there was no great god Skydancer
that ruled over them all, the Eagle responded: The 41st Tenet of Heaven Rending: Stillness is illusion, as with all things. To
“Rulership is a mistake and a lie built by your Achieve Conjunction you must learn to be unbound.
ancestors and descendants. Rejoice in the glory
of combat.” 1/Fulmination: When a fighter moves into a square that is
within burst 2 of you from outside burst 2 of you, you may Rush
Sarripada Pak-an descended back into the earth 1.
upon a silken kite that he had fashioned himself
with the help of biraddali--rainbow-winged Unbridled Alacrity
angels--from one of the seven heavens. With The 37th Tenet of Heaven Rending: Dig deep until the wind billows and the
this, he fought like a hawk, swooping and thunderhead keens. You will know your time to strike.
killing and destroying boats.
When you end your Fulmination and have moved at least 5
After fending off that particular raid, he squares, gain 1 Defend until the start of your next Fulmination.
returned to the cliff where his catapult was, and
he broke it. With an intonation of his
Kinaadman, he detached himself free from the
earth. And upon this blasphemy against the
natural order he founded a house of sky-
warriors, and called them the Heavenspears.
The Heaven Rending Style is then the truth of
your Kinaadman: unbind yourself from the Inflict Violences
tyrant-gods of the earth, who lash you down to
the ground.
Extremespeed [1]: Move quicker than sound. Rush 3.
“No thrones, rend heaven and hell.” As a
Heavenspear, you are taught the Heaven- Thunderspear [1]: Strike so quick that it is like lightning, and your
Rending Arts. These are a set of techniques that victim feels the thunder. Melee Air Bravery Attack vs 1 target in
let you reflexively move about the air as if there range 2. Push 1, and then Rush 1 toward the target.
were innumerable platforms about you, using Lightning Lance [1]: Twirl your weapon and then strike forward,
your spirit to bounce off of thin air. This, piercing through. Area Metal Bravery Attack vs 2 targets in line 2.
combined with a martial art focused on using
polearms, makes the Heavenspear adept at
staying at range but also quick. Their
unorthodox angles of attack has been the
downfall of many warbands.
If you become a Heavenspear, ask yourself: with
your enlightened knowledge of there being no
Over God, why do you fight? Do you fight for
liberation, so that all men can fly across the sky?
Or do you fight for more selfish reasons? You
rend the sky but make sure that your spear
thrust is true, from your heart, and not from
your doubts.

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Heavenspear Techniques

Hornbill Step
A technique mastered by winged eaglefolk
Nawilani, who perfected it when they resolved Interject 3: When you move or are moved, you
to ignore their weakness as someone that cannot
fly. The Heavenspear is not impeded by the may rush 2 at any point in the movement. This
battlefield. All obstacles are simply things that is not triggered by Rushes.
must be vaulted over. Heavenspear Hinalus
sped through an entire forest to strike at a
warrior resting within the mouth of a river.

Ghokong Vaults Heaven

You use your weapon to vault over your enemy,
confusing them, befuddling them, overwhelming
them with your superior movement.
Ghokong is an ancient monkey warrior, one of the
best to have lived, who helped the ancient ascetic
shaman-monk Tulopitaka to the far Southeast to
collect ancient manuscripts lost to time in
ancient Stillshrines. He is one of the greatest
Kadungganan to ever live, and is himself a
namulak, having found Glory.
Prereq: Hornbill Step
Spend 1 Beat to vault with your weapon: choose
1 adjacent fighter and then move into any other
adjacent square to them.
+1 Beat to make your next attack against them
Skewering.

Prereq: Ghokong Vaults Heaven

Pinamaskan Pamaagi
You leap up like lightning, and then crash
down like the vajra. In Gatusan, the
Pinamaskan is an heirloom spear that is
important to the wielder, named and
decorated with gold flame inlays, and are
usually longer and have longer blades than the
usual spears.
Spend 1 Beat to leap into the air and then fall down:
choose a target in range 3. Teleport 2 to a square
adjacent to them, and then inflict 1 Hit to the
chosen target.
+1 beat to increase the range to range 5.
+1 beat to make the following attack instead
of inflicting 1 hit: melee air bravery attack.

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Plummeting Thunder
Thundering will overcome you: you will never be
overcome. Jamiyun Kulisa is the Brother
Thunderbolt, husband to Indira Suga, the
Mother Sun. In the ancient of days, the Sky
Brother stepped upon the seven heavens and
reached the highest point of the sky. There he
saw the stars in the void, and realized that
nothingness is part of the supreme soul. With
this enlightenment, he descended into the earth,
and thus thunder resounded for the first time.
Rising Lightning
You crouch down low, and then like lightning
wishing to return to the heavens, you bolt up,
sudden, unimpeded. Taught by Abusung
Samudela, a once master of low moving Skysea
Raiding, he perfected this after mixing the
styles together, and created one of the most
dangerous attacks in Heaven Rending.
Enlightenment: Sunyata-
Piercing Transcension
That ultimate Mastery of Lawu, The Sun Eating
Eagle: impale the sun and make the sky bloody with
rebellion. With this, you become gathering storm
clouds, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
Then, like that lightning dog, you descend upon the
world. “There is no god, in fact there is no self, there is
only thought,” you state, as your weapon pierces the
heart of creation.
Prereq: Pinamaskan Pamaagi
Spend 1 Beat to become like thunder: push 5 a fighter. If
they collide, teleport to a square adjacent to the target and
then make a Melee Air Bravery Attack against that target,
as they bounce from the collision.
+1 Beat to inflict Stun on the target after making the attack.
+1 Beat to push the target 3 after the attack.
Prereq: Plummeting Thunder
Spend 1 Beat to rush forward and send a target
flying. Rush 1, and then inflict do the following to
an adjacent target: Inflict 1 True Hit, Push 2, and
then Juggle.
+1 Beat to rush 2 after the attack.
+1 Beat to gain the effect: when the target ends
Juggle, rush 3 towards them. If you end adjacent to
them, inflict Sunder.
You have a Lightning Token at the beginning of Violence.
You can discard it at any point to immediately teleport 2.
at strike 4+, spend all 3 beats to leap into the sky,
removing yourself from the battlefield. at the
start of the next round, choose any square in the
battlefield and slam down into it. inflict 3 true
hits into every target in burst 1 of the square you
slam down to. if the square you chose has a
fighter or object on it, push 1 that target and then
deal 999 true hits to them. any target you bring to
0 hp with this attack dissipates into nothingness.
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Healers of Sword, the Traveling Doctors,
Masters of the Convalescent Art
Known as Tambalan [tam-BA-lan] in the isles, Menders
are balyan who focus on their studies of Dalankalag, the
path of the soul, Dalanlikas, the path of nature, and
Dalandiwa, the path of essence. They pay less heed to
Dalananito, the path of worship, and truly this has led
them to come at heads with other balyan. Menders travel
the isles as healers and doctors, and in recent times they
have become even more in demand due to the rising
tensions of war and violence.
They specialize in healing physical and spiritual harm.
Spiritual including any intellectual and emotional
damage. Most balyan coteries in a settlement now usually
include Menders among their ranks, always at the ready to
heal. They have entire longhouses dedicated to their
patients, healing those wounded and cleansing of disease.
Menders in particular are trained to be desensitized to the
atrocities of war and are meant to fight in the frontlines.
There they are trained to bring herbal remedies and other
such potions to quickly heal warriors and to bring them to
top fighting form before anything else can happen.
Not just that, but their knowledge of nature has them
memorizing names of flora and fauna and their functions
when mixed with each other, something that balyan don’t
exactly need to do (but most of them do anyway). While in
a venture, having a Mender is necessary to avoid eating
poisonous herbs or omen flowers, as well as finding a way
to purify water and make it potable. They do this with their
clay pots and through burning of various herbs. They learn
various drugs to enhance the capabilities of their allies.
The first Mender was said to be none other than the
panganitohan Sri Dewa Sarripada Agas. The Mender,
embodying the best of both masculine and feminine
energies, learned to combine the disparate parts of nature
to create harmonifying tinctures. These healing remedies
became known as tambal. Thus the tambalan arose: those
that used or worked with tambal. They have knowledge of
advanced healing techniques as well, although not as
broad in their expertise as balyan. They know the basics of
hilot, and usually know the correct oils to apply to the
proper muscles.
Sri Dewa Sarripada Agas, known to many Menders as The
Blue Man, as they manifested before them when a Mender
would first begin their journey. Each Mender is given a
snake- twin--something usually only given as a guardian
spirit to specific chosen children--crafted by Sri Dewa
Sarripada Agas themself. Then they will explain that all
tawo came from snake within bamboo, and that the
snake’s ability to shed is indicative of inherent
regenerative abilities within man. Thus, man was taught
healing through natural means, instead of forced
regeneration.
Sri Dewa Sarripada Agas also taught the truth of the soul
to the Mender: there are four souls: The Vigor, The Power,
The Thought, and finally The Immortal. The Vigor is the life
principle, known usually as Diwa. It is what makes us
alive. The Power is that which can leave us during our
sleep, or can be filled with puhon, and is the soul that
activates whenever sorcery is used. Without The Power, we
are like husks. Then there is the The Thought, which can
leave us if we do not cultivate proper spiritual and mental
life. Staying alone for long periods of time can cause this.
Finally, The Immortal is the soul that collects all of our
thoughts and actions and personality. When we die, The
Immortal travels to our chosen afterlife, and can be called
upon as ancestors.
Finally, Sri Dewa Sarripada Agas teaches that most
ailments happen due to destruction and imbalances
within the soul caused by an element. Most ailments begin
spiritual, and only those powerful boil over into the
physical, affecting us physically. The most grievous of
ailments, such as cutting and slashes and crushing blows,
for example, is a perfect example of the element of Space
separating or pushing together the Vigor. Thus, Menders
are taught to heal the soul first, so that the physical may
heal properly afterwards.
Discipline Traits
HP: 7 - Style: Medium
Weapons: Jade beads, parasols, clothing, sashes,
fans, hats, oils, perfumes
Armors: Ritual vestments, healer tunics, cloaks,
hoods, sashes, robes, gowns
Mixture Master
All magical effects are just a matter of the correct combination of
herbs, knowledge of the soul, and twisting of your own ghost. As
a master healer, use this to your advantage, and channel Sri
Dewa Sarripada Agas.
Begin combat with 1 of each Concoction, which you
can use on yourself or throw it at fighters in range 3.
Using these do not use Beats.
Healing Mixture: Heal 2.
Protective Mixture: Gain 1 Defend.
Cleansing Mixture: Cleanse all negative effects,
Fire Mixture: Gain +1d on next attack.
Water Mixture: Gain Stealthx2.
Healer Meditation
The Palm of Rumsua is the perfection of the healing mantle. They
can heal even more than the balyan can. They are born as
inherent rejection of the Eighth Star Era’s violence. You are
taught to be the perfect places to hit, strike, massage, as well as
the right oils to use, to soothe your allies.
When an ally falls to Staggered in the first time in
the Violence, give them Block 2.
Inflict Violences
Palm [1]: Strike with a mystic palm. Melee Fire
Faith Attack vs 1 adjacent target, and then
inflict SPD-1.
Cloth Flurry [1]: Strike with sleeves and clothing to
turn enemies about. Melee Metal Faith Attack vs 1
target in range 2. Slide 2.
Fending Spell [1]: Let go of jade beads, parasols, a
hat, or anything else that might protect. It flies out
and protects an ally. Give 1 ally in range 3 a Fend
Token. The ally can spend the Fend Token at any
point to cancel 1 Hit.
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 KADUNGGANAN
Mender Techniques
Healing Spell
You utter healing mantras, which are usually spoken
and sung during healing rituals. Healing Mantras
heal The Vigor Soul first, before diving into the
intricacies of an ailment. It is the Vigor that keeps us
from death, that keeps The Immortal imprisoned
within our bodies.
Ultrasoul Palm
Clasp your hands together to produce a healing oil
made of crushed flowers, cinnamon bark, and
deepsea coral snake blood. Utter a mantra, and a
mandala erupts from the crushed ingredients. When
you bring your hands apart, Rumsua’s Eye opens in
the middle of your palm: the symbol fo health and
spiritual strength. With Rumsua’s Eye in your palm,
you strike down, and blast both the enemy’s physical
and spiritual forms.
Blasting Oil
With a quick slap of a hand, imbue an ally’s fists or
weapons with an explosive oil. An oil concoction
created by ancient healer Temiak Parelang born from
secret mangrove fish eggs and explosive fire serpent
scales found in the mouths of underwater volcanoes,
used during the War of Rosy Golds to stop the
assault of Tundun warriors wearing gilded armor
borne from technology of Samrasat.
Gahum Dampening Ointment
This ointment forcibly causes The Power to be
pushed out from the body for a setsuna instant,
causing them to lose all autonomy and strength for a
few crucial moments. You ready it upon a kris leaf
upon your palm, and then strike your opponent with
it.
302
spend 1 beat to heal 1 an ally in range 3.
+1 beat to heal 1 up to two fighters in
range 3.
+2 beats to heal 2 all allies in the
battlefield.
prereq: healing spell
spend 1 beat to push 4 an adjacent ally.
spend 2 beats to push an adjacent fighter’s
soul from them instead, pushing their soul
into a square that is 3 squares behind them in
a straight line. anything that happens to the
soul happens directly to the original
fighter. the fighter must move into their
soul to reunite with them.
prereq: ultrasoul palm
spend 1 beat to give an ally in range 3 a
blasting unguent. when that ally ends
their fulmination, they may rush 2 as the
blasting unguent sends them into a
direction.
+1 beat to give it the following effect:
after the rush, inflict 1 hit on every
enemy adjacent to the ally.
Prereq: Blasting Oil
Spend 1 Beat to give the ointment on a fighter
in range 3: their next attack suffers -1d.
+1 Beat to instead make that attack inflict 1 Hit
only and nothing more.
 KADUNGGANAN

Prereq: Gahum Dampening Ointment

Numbing Lukay
Lukay is palm leaf art, not dissimilar from origami from
the far southern archipelago. Flower seeds, petals, and
crushed insects steeped in hot water have been wrapped
in a heart-shaped lukay. This, when applied forcibly,
envelops The Immortal with a moment of Hiyang,
making them one with all things for one moment.
Spend 1 Beat to make an adjacent ally immune to
all hits on the next attack against them. However
their next attack suffers -2d.
+1 Beat to increase the range to an ally in range 3.
+1 Beat to remove the -2d penalty.

Enlightenment: Lunas
Lunas is the panacea, made up of 20 different herb
leaves, 15 animal blood parts, 13 moth, butterfly, and
dragonfly wings, and 8 different healing waters from Whenever you Heal an ally, heal them +1 and you
8 different springs, placed within a clay jarlet also heal 1.
engraved with the name of the healing diwata that
helped the Mender that brewed this lunas. at strike 5+ you can spend 1 beat to bring all
0 - Discord is an excuse for harmony. In the beginning allies up to full hp, bringing any defeated
all things were harmonious. Assemble souls that have ally back to play.
become sundered from each other. Rejoin with that
supreme soul, that supernal consciousness, and find
enlightenment. Only then shall you achieve
Conjunction.

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Masters of the Art of Sending Meteors, Discipline Traits

Perfection of Improvisation, Those that
Perfect Play Through Violence
HP: 6 - Style: Sharpshooter
War is a sport, and you are the Ace.
Weapons: Balls, stones, motes of dust, embers, kicks, knees,
The sport of sipa or sepak takraw is a competitive elbows, forehead
sport played between two teams, and is popular Armors: Silk jackets, silk vests, feetwrap, handwraps,
among children and teenagers. When not headwraps
warring, sipa is what the youngerfolk of the
Sword Isles spend their free time doing, other
than drinking, dancing, or learning important
Astral Volley
The Star of Morning is a style that turns play into violence. An important
lessons. aspect of Sipa is the rule that you lose if you lose your volley. The ball must
One night, Bulalakaw the Comet, descended always be in the air. Therefore so do you keep your burning star aloft. This
upon the people of The Sword Isles with a ball of volley increases your momentum, and makes your strikes stronger.
stardust. With this, he began kicking, and he When you make a ranged attack, you may place a Ball in the
launched it at people. The people caught it with battlefield adjacent to the target. You can only have 1 Ball at a
their feet, and soon the volley began. At the end time in the battlefield. The Ball is a Size 1/2 Object with infinite
of the play session, Bulalakaw the Comet said: durability.
“Such is life, like a great volley, yet just a part of
the entire game, and not the entire game itself. Whenever the Ball is forcefully moved, it gains 1 Momentum
Sunder the world.” Charge. When it reaches 6 Momentum, you may inflict violence
against it to send it flying in a Path 10 from its square, dealing 2
Sipa is thus taught by comet-guro, teachers of True Hits to all fighters it moves through. Then, you lose the
shooting stars, and has spread far and wide Ball.
across the archipelago, from the smallest of
shore settlements to the greatest of mountain
cities, played with rattan balls instead of
Bouncing Lightning
Every part of the battlefield is fair game. As a Starshooter, your volley
shooting stars. Every end of harvest, those continues as long as your ball does not fall to the ground. In the same way, life
settlements dedicated to playing Sipa would go goes on.
and have a sipa tournament in the most
prestigious tournament of all: The Shooting You can target blocking terrain now with your ranged attacks.
Star Massacre, wherein the main stage is two If you do, you can choose that blocking terrain as the origin
large war barges lashed together. square for that ranged attack.
In recent times, the best of Comet-Guro have
passed down a particular style of Sipa passed
down from Bulalakaw themself, and kept away
from the rest of competitive Sipa. Practitioners
of this particular form of Sipa, known as the
Shooting Star, are known as Starshooters, and
they use their superior kicking ability to bring
violence upon the islands.
Inflict Violences
With their skill, they can use anything--even the
smallest mote of dust--as a shooting star that Lightning Kick [1]: Kick with forceful reckoning. Melee Air Bravery
they can kick at the victims of their scorn. The Attack vs 1 adjacent target, push 4.
Star of Morning martial art focuses precisely on
catching all things, even if they are bullets or Shooting Star [1]: Pick up any projectile: a bead, a mote of dust, a
javelins. This is a technique that they have leaf, ember from a flame, and kick it at a target. Ranged Air Bravery
primarily developed, and many other Attack vs 1 target in range 5.
Kadungganan have begun to use them. Every Rope Dart [1]: Kick out a rope dart and whip it around. Ranged
part of the battlefield is fair game. As a Metal Bravery Attack vs 1 target in range 3. Slide 2.
Starshooter, your volley continues as long as
your ball does not fall to the ground. In the same
way, life goes on.
As a Starshooter, ask yourself why you have
turned this gift from the heavens into a
Technique. The beauty of the shooting star now
tarnished, turned into a horrible horrible sight
in the battlefield, one that can decapitate and
puncture. Do you enjoy using something
seemingly more innocent than a sword as a
killing instrument? Do you enjoy treating war
as a sport?

305
 KADUNGGANAN
Starshooter Techniques
Ratu’s Receive
Leap down and recieve an attack. “THE
GREAT IWAS-IWAS HAS DODGED
THE DIMAKAUSOG’S FIREBALL
STRIKE! HIS COUNTERATTACK IS
SET TO FINISH THIS MATCH!” -
Shoutcaster Basaka Tagaka, during the
semifinals match point of the Shooting Star
Massacre.
Sidereal Setup Style
You dig down and kick a projectile up into the
air, and your allies see this as a proper signal.
The Star of Morning is a style that turns play
into violence. An important aspect of Sipa is
the rule that you lose if you lose your volley.
The ball must always be in the air. Therefore
so do you keep your burning star aloft.
Giant Scaring Boast
You shout so loud that it throws your
opponents off. A classic tactic.
“WALAAAAAA PUKININGINA MO
DUKHA WALA ANG HINA MO
TANGINA HAHA TANGINA BA’T
KA PA NAGLALARO TANGINAMO
WEAKSHIT KALANG EH ANO ANO
ANO ANO IIYAK KA ANO ANO
ANO—“ - Boasting by Team Naga-nagaan
in the Match in the Cold Lonely Valley deep
in Kalanawan.
Rolling Thunder
You leap down and strike back an attack, but this
ends up with you rolling to the side.
“YEAHHHHHHHHHH NEVER GIVE IN!
WHEN SOMETHING FAILS, MAKE IT
SUCCEED!” - Sipa Master Hanahayan.
“Why do you kick, Karipal?”
“For the same reason as you, Banas. To become the
lightning.”
“You will not find it in the arena, you know this.”
“No. But every time I look at you… I find I am able
to seize heaven’s thunderclaps.”
306
Spend 1 Beat to take raise your feet and ready: take
on the Receiving Stance until the end of
Fulmination. While in this stance, any ally can
target you to make you the origin square of any
ranged attack that has a target with range. When
you are the target of a ranged attack, you can
consume this stance to gain 1 Defend against that
attack.
+1 Beat to gain the following effect: whenever you
are made the origin square of a ranged attack,
rush 2 before releasing the attack.
Prereq: Ratu’s Receive
Spend 1 Beat to call out your targets: mark a
single fighter in range 5. The next attack
against the mark consumes the mark and
inflicts -1d on the target’s Defense Teeth.
+1 Beat to mark up to 3 targets in burst 3
instead.
+1 Beat to stack 2 marks on a target.
Prereq: Sidereal Setup Style
Spend 1 Beat to inflict RES-1 or POS-1 on every
enemy in blast 3.
+1 Beat to inflict Sunder, but every enemy
gains Provoke to you.
+1 Beat: Increase the range to blast 5.
Prereq: Giant Scaring Boast
Interject 3: When a ranged attack’s line of
effect goes through your spaces or any space
adjacent to you, spend this 1 Interject to
immediately deflect the attack, targeting a
space or fighter in range 3. Then move 2
squares in the direction of the attack, as you
roll to a stop. You can spend 2 Interjects to
ignore the moving of 2 squares.
 KADUNGGANAN
Naga Breaker Straight
HE’S DONE IT! HE HAS PERFORMED A
PERFECT SHOOTING STAR SET UP! KABAKA
TAKES THE SETUP AND PERFORMS THAT
IMMORTAL FORBIDDEN TECHNIQUE, THE
ONE TO END IT ALL: NAGA! BREAKER!
STRAIGHT!!!” - Shoutcaster Sinuka-ang-bala, during
the grand finals of the Shooting Star Massacre between
the Balangiga Crimson Pudongs and Obertura
Straightened Axes.
Enlightenment: Meteor
Garden
There is a secret importance to the Sword dichotomy of
the intense study of the blade (to the detriment of
everything else). The Bladesong once sang of the Great
Unity which contained Dichotomy: unity is thus
balance, and balance is achieved with two things
against each other. Cause-Effect is a single thing that
is not separate from each other: therefore they are not
two different things but rather two parts of the same
whole. This is exemplified in the beginning of time,
where all of existence was nothing but Sky and Sea,
both devoid of color or light, an endless undulation, a
chaotic dialogue of winds and waves. The Sky and Sea
was not separate but part of the same whole, that is the
Chaos, the First Cause- Effect. Thus is the importance
of learning the Cutting Art of the Sword: the Sword
exemplifies that anything that is 2 was once 1, simply
cut in twain.
307
Prereq: Rolling Thunder
Spend 1 Beat to perform the Imperfect Naga
Straight: Area Air Bravery Attack vs all targets in
line 4.
Spend 2 Beats to perform the Reincarnated Naga
Straight: Area Air Bravery Attack vs all targets in
line 10.
Spend 3 Beats to perform the Perfected Naga
Breaker Straight: Area Air Bravery+Faith Attack
vs all targets in Line 10.
When you deal no successful Hits on an attack,
gain +1d on your next attack. This stacks until you
score successful hits on an attac.
Spend 1 Beat at Strike 2+ to summon a falling
meteor, which can be seen atop the battlefield,
bursting through the clouds. It starts at Size 2.
Every beginning of Strike, it increases in Size by
1. For 1 Beat, teleport to the sky and then axe kick
the meteor to the ground, dealing 1+Size True
Hits on every enemy in the battlefield.
Wa KADUNGGANAN
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308
 KADUNGGANAN
Violence Through Creation, Perfecters of the
Natural World, Creators of Sorcerous
Wonders, Blessed of the Forge Gods
“The islands were forged in war, and in war it will be
destroyed.” This is an adage that holds true in most of
modern The Sword Isles society, and none dare to refute
it. The Warsmith, which means Smith of War or
colloquially known as Warsmiths, are blacksmiths that
have taken up their hammers and drenched them in
blood.
The Tradition of the Blood-Soaked Hammer of Hari is
founded from the god Hari, known as Dewa Wisnu
before becoming known as Hari in the Sword Isles. The
All-Pervading Preserver, Wisnu was the protector of the
World from dangers outside of the Trichiliocosm and
anything that would upset the balance, protector of
Nihaya. In Annuvaran, they are known as the protector
of Dharma. Hari is known as the First King, and is thus
another term for King in the Sword Isles.
Hari taught the Blood-Soaked Hammer to a settlement
that lived in the heart of a volcano, where Naga Hasohas,
the Dragon of the Forge, father of the Forge Gods, lived.
After Hari (in the incarnation of Krisna) quenched Naga
Hasohas’ wrath, he granted a number of panday the
ability to quick-craft, as well as to create implements
that would win them war. Warsmiths to this day have
patronage of the 120 Forge Gods.
A particularly large settlement of Warsmiths, in the
region of Kumintang, allied with Ba-e, are made entirely
of smiths, led by a single Kadanay king who claims that
Kadanay are descended from when Hari arrived in the
isles. The Kadanay are an ancient people with burning
magenta eyes, said to be one of the oldest people on the
island. They are the heirs of an ancient kingdom of gold
and jade that they have now forgotten. Another notable
settlement is the island of Tugas, an island full of
sorcerers, witches, and crafters all ruled over by four
Kadanay datu, near the island of Pannai. They are allied
with both Pannai, Ba-e, and Gatusan.
Guro of Warsmiths are often warriors or Datu
themselves. They teach a particular brand of combat,
one that focuses on turning the battlefield itself into
their anvil, their forge, their work sheds. The Blood-
Soaked Hammer lets one embody the Preserver, letting
Warsmiths to craft small items in an instant.
Warsmiths are brought up and taught in the ways of the
usual smith, but they are taught to control and use the
Blood-Soaked Hammer to create battlefield creations
and to give it to the tradition of preserving balance. The
God-Body is usually their most impressive creation, and
it is usually something made in the visage of Wisnu
Witness this and learn the truth: nothing created all
things in the beginning. All things are born from cause-
effect, love-evisceration. Therefore the act of creation is
one both inherently divine-mortal, one that you
embody. Transcend mortality.
If you take up the Discipline of the Warsmith, ask
yourself why you have made such a creative Discipline
into one of the most destructive ones. Why do you
blaspheme your craft? The weapons used to spill so
much blood become forged encapsulations of your sins.
When you see your steel, do you not feel guilt?
Discipline Traits
HP: 7 - Style: Witch
Weapons: Hammers, axes, pestles, anvils (tied to a rope),
shields, blunt swords, maces, mallets, bludgeons
Armors: Silk jackets, silk vests, feetwrap, handwraps,
headwraps
Wield The Hammer
Channel Wisnu, great Hari, who created this world according to the
Niharis (the worshippers of Hari). In addition to creating the world, He is
also sanctioned to protect it at all times from every possible danger from
outside the Trichiliocosm. As a Warsmith, claim the Blood-Soaked
Hammer, and pave a way for a better world. Thus is the only way to
preserve it.
You can quick craft by spending 1 Beat to create a square
adjacent to you, putting it on top of the adjacent square.
The square is a 1 square wide and tall piece of matter
shaped in whatever form you wish.
War Crafting
The Warsmith revels in the holy act of Creation, that thing that happened
without anyone performing. The sacred act, the first act, done without an
extant cause. With hammer and anvil and ingenuity they become more
than what they are.
At the start of Violence: place down 3 Materiel in the
battlefield, which cannot be closer than 4 squares to you.
Every start of Strike, put down another Materiel no closer
than 3 squares of you.
Whenever a fighter goes through a Materiel’s square, they
pick up the Materiel.
Attacking an enemy with materiel lets you gain 1 Materiel
from them. Any adjacent ally can spend 1 Beat to give you
Materiel as well.
You can spend the Materiel to augment your abilities:
0 Fortification: When you suffer a Bravery attack, spend 1
Materiel to cancel 1 Hit.
0 Repulsion: When you are hit by a melee attack, spend 1
Materiel afterward to inflict push 3 on the target.
0 Lissome Pneumatics: When you make a melee attack,
spend 1 Materiel to inflict Unbalance x2.
0 Fire Billows Form: When you Stride, you can choose to rush
3, ignoring height.
0 Mystic Prasad Fabrication: After suffering a Faith attack,
spend 1 Materiel to inflict Stun on the attacker.
Inflict Violences
Siwa’s Hand [1]: Destroy earth. Choose an adjacent square
and turn it into difficult terrain. If it’s already Difficult, it
becomes Dangerous. If already Dangerous, it becomes
Hindering. If already Hintering, it becomes a Chasm.
Brahma’s Fist [1]: Strike forcefully, with pride. Melee Earth
Bravery Attack vs 1 adjacent target, Push 3.
Siwa’s Trident [1]: Unleash a gleaming lance with a quick
breaking kata. Area Metal Bravery Attack vs all chosen
targets in line 2, inflict Juggle on the target on the last
square of the line.
309
 KADUNGGANAN
Warsmith Techniques
Hammer Shatters Earth
Use your hammer to make a better world.
Warsmiths wield all sorts of weapons, constantly
shifting, masters of every possible armament so
that they are never caught off-guard. Their strikes
are thus universal, across all weapons, a skill and
feature that makes them feared across the martial
arts world.
Wall Crafting Technique
Quickly craft a wall. A popular technick of
warsmiths, who are taught it since the first day of
their training. Perfected by Panday Pira, it consists
of both muscle memory, rigorously trained
movement techniques, and meticulously prepared
materiel to pull off.
Gilded Kinnara
Kinnari are protective maidens, part swan and
part bamboofolk. They descend upon the world
from the Forests of Himavala, the Sacred
Mountain of the Continent, which Jamiyun
Kulisa struck down. These beautiful beings have
become the subject of many goldsmiths’ art and
expression. Kinnari Vessels draw projectiles
toward it, as a Kinnari is created to protect her
royalty. Gold is a holy metal in the isles. It is
abundant, but only because the spirits grant it.
Gold is so abundant, in fact, that entire houses
are covered in sheets of it. However, it is still a
mark of royalty. Gold is often used in sorcerous
pursuits as well.
310
Spend 1 Beat to strike down with a hammer: make
a Melee Metal Bravery-1 Attack vs 1 adjacent target,
inflicting knock down as a bane. While knocked
down, they cannot move voluntarily and suffer -2
to all defenses. They must spend 1 Beat to stand up.
+1 Beat to target all chosen targets in blast 3.
+1 Beat to push 3 the target.
Prereq: Hammer Shatters Earth
Spend 1 Beat to put down a wall on any side of
your own square.
+1 Beat to put down a wall a path 5 instead. The
walls must be contiguous.
Prereq: Wall Crafting Technique
Spend 1 Beat to put down a kinnara statue in a
square adjacent to you, a Size 1 object. Any
ranged attack that has its line of effect go through
within burst 1 of the kinnara instead targets the
kinnara.
+1 Beat to gild the kinnara. A gilded kinnara has 8
Durability.
+1 Beat to throw the kinnara to a square in range
3 instead.
 KADUNGGANAN
Guardian Lion
The Guardian Lions, known locally as Simha,
Singa, or Chinde, are faithful and legendary
lion-dogs made of stone that guard royal
enclaves and temples. The Guardian Lions are
the protectors of dharma, and in so doing,
protect kings and queens who must be essential
to the keeping of dharma. Recently, however, the
guardian lions have slowly shirked from their
responsibility.
Jade Naga
“Naga are water and air serpent-spirits of
protection, and are one of the dragonkind in the
Sword Isles, the others being the Sawa earth-
underworld serpents, and the Buwaya earth-water
crocodiles. By brandishing a Jade Naga you
create a spiritual boundary that prevents the
targets of your hatred from inflicting violence.
Enlightenment: Manifest
The Godbody
The Godbody is the magnum opus of Warsmiths.
Warsmith training is usually done in conjunction with the
formation of a personal Godbody. When they achieve
Master level, only then will they have the techniques
required to finish the crafting of the ancient Godbody,
which will become their holy implement against darkness
and violence.
You submerge yourself into the blood of the battle and you
are quenched. The battlefield becomes your anvil. Your
arms become your hammers. And the VIOLENCE
YOU BRING WILL BE THE SWORD YOU
FORGE!
Prereq: Gilded Kinnara
Spend 1 Beat to summon a stone guardian lion in a
square adjacent to you, which is a Size 1 object. Any
chosen target that ends their Fulmination adjacent
to the guardian lion suffers 1 Hit.
+1 Beat to animate the guardian lions: every end of
your Fulmination, the lions may rush 1.
+1 Beat to strengthen the guardian lions: they inflict
1 Hit to any chosen fighter that ends their
Fulmination within burst 2 of them.
Prereq: Gilded Kinnara
Spend 2 Beats to summon a jade naga: choose a
path 4. Summon a Jade Naga on that path, a
Durability 7 Object. The object is blocking
terrain that cannot be climbed and cannot be
shot over, as the naga now guards it. Push 1 any
target in the chosen path away from the path.
+1 Beat to exalt the naga: increase the path to
path 6.
When you start violence, choose 1 God-Body
Manifestation:
Sheathe of Ghatotkacha: You can use POS against Faith
Attacks.
Crown of Kuwanchin: When you forcibly move an
enemy, they suffer Unbalance at the end of the slide.
Foot of Sagarawivara: When you end your Fulmination,
inflict SPD-2 1 on all adjacent enemies.
Spend 1 Beat on Strike 3+ to summon and wear the God-
Body. Gain the following benefits:
0 You become Size 2.
0 Gain Block 4.
0 Whenever you start or end your Fulmination slide 2 all
adjacent enemies.
0 All melee attacks against you have Dullness.
0 All your Area Attacks with Areas of Effect gain +1 to their
size.
For 2 Techniques, you may inflict 1 Hit on all adjacent
enemies, and then inflict Stun 1.
311
 KADUNGGANAN
Anting-Anting
The most important protective measures in the islands of
The Sword Isles are Anting-Anting (charms or talismans)
Akai and Ba-e know this as agimat or ajimat.
Items filled with occult-spiritual power that can grant
extraordinary skills and feats. Anting-Anting can be items
(mud, pearls), armor (magical cuirasses and breasplates), or
weapons (heirloom swords, holy shields).
Mechanically speaking, these are minor passive bonuses
that work similarly to Feats or Talents in other systems.
You gain your first Anting-Anting at Legend 1, as one of
your items burns with the power of your legend, or as your
legend grows and more anting-anting become attracted
to you.
The following are the Anting-Anting that you can choose
from. Each Anting-Anting only gives a single passive
benefit.
Each Anting-Anting is unique: you cannot have more than
one of the same Anting- Anting.
Healer’s Diadem
A holy diadem made of palm leaf and gold.
Effect: When you heal an ally, heal them an extra +1.
Healer’s Set (1/3): At end of your Fulmination, if you dealt
no damage, heal 2.
Healer’s Cloak
A cloak woven with holy patterns of the sacred spirits.
Effect: When you move through allies, heal them 1, 1 per
ally per Beat.
Healer’s Set (1/3): At end of your Fulmination, if you
inflicted no Hits, heal 2.
Healer’s Sarong
A beautiful multicolor sarong that touches the ground to better
channel the healing properties of nature.
Effect: When you heal an ally, you may Rush 1.
Healer’s Set (1/3): At end of your Fulmination, if you dealt
no damage, heal 2.
Coral Blades
Weapons made up of pink-red coral harvested from pristine
seas.
Effect: When you make a melee attack, you can convert
any Hit into Bleed or Water Vulnerability..
Coral Knight Set (1/3): You become a Coral Knight. You
gain water conditioning, ignore water terrain, and all
your water attacks inflict 1 True Hit.
312
While a Kadungganan gains an automatic Anting-Anting
at certain Prowesses, they can still gain Anting-Anting
from the fiction.
Anting-Anting Slots
The Kadungganan cannot completely take advantage of
the burning spiritual power within anting-anting until
they have tempered their own glory. Anting-Anting Slots
represent the capability of your Kadungganan to wield
these magical items.
Arc 1: 2 Anting-Anting Slots -> Arc 2: 3 Anting-Anting Slots
-> Arc 3: 4 Anting-Anting Slots
Item Sets
Some Anting-Anting might be part of Sets. Equipping all
parts of a Set will give you an additional effect, which is
written on each of the Anting-Anting that is part of that
set.
Coral Shield
A shield of burning pink-red coral, blossoming like an ocean
flower.
Effect: When you rush, you can collide with enemies.
Coral Knight Set (1/3): You become a Coral Knight. You
gain water conditioning, ignore water terrain, and all
your water attacks inflict 1 True Hit.
Coral Plate
A breastplate of large coral plates stitched together with sea
serpent tendons.
Effect: When you first become Staggered, you gain Block
2.
Coral Knight Set (1/3): You become a Coral Knight. You
gain water conditioning, ignore water terrain, and all
your water attacks inflict 1 True Hit.
Coral Kupya
A helmet of coral, letting you protect yourself against dazing
effects.
Effect: You are immune to Daze and Stun.
Coral Knight Set (1/3): You become a Coral Knight. You
gain water conditioning, ignore water terrain, and all
your water attacks inflict 1 True Hit.
Coral Paruka
Sandals made up of coral. Ragged and rough, bristling, to keep
you awake.
Effect: Ignore the first square of Difficult or Dangerous
Terrain you move into when you Stride.
Coral Knight Set (1/3): You become a Coral Knight. You
gain water conditioning, ignore water terrain, and all
your water attacks inflict 1 True Hit.
 KADUNGGANAN

Flower Cape Naga Coat

A cape made of beautiful flowers. The flowers are kept in a
perpetual state of blossoming.
Effect: Gain Earth Conditioning, but Fire Vulnerability.
Flower Set (1/2): You are immune to difficult and
dangerous terrain.
Flower Bracers
Bracers twined together with flower petals. The flowers do not
die.
Effect: All your Earth attacks have +1d.
Flower Set (1/2): You are immune to difficult and
dangerous terrain.
Devil Idol
An Idol upon a gold necklace. Represents a malevolent deity.
A long, short-sleeved coat made up of interlinked naga teeth.
Effect: Ignore height when you Rush.
Naga Set (1/4): You become a Naga Knight: gain Bravery +2
while you’re Flanked.
Naga Helm
A helmet made of bone and gold in the shape of a naga’s head.
Effect: Your melee attacks gain +1d against all fighters that
are Marked, even if it’s not by you.
Naga Set (1/4): You become a Naga Knight: gain Bravery +2
while you’re Flanked.
Crocodile Tooth
Your attacks pierce deeper now, like the blessing of the
crocodile.

Effect: When you are forcibly moved, inflict 1 Hit on the Effect: When Fray you inflict would disappear from an
one forcibly moving you. enemy, it reduces 2 HP instead of just 1.
Crimson Pudong Spiraling Dagger
A large headwrap bathed in deep crimson blood. Represents A dagger that spins around, like a furling wave.
burning courage and bravery.
Effect: All your melee attacks against close targets always
Effect: When a fighter in the battlefield falls to 0 HP, heal deal 1 Hit minimum in a Violence Cast. This does not
1. ignore immunity and conditioning.
Iron Skin Mutya Protective Amulet
You have ingested a mutya that turned your skin to iron. A stone inscribed with mentala. Protects from bullets and all.

Effect: Start the fight with Protect 3. Effect: Gain metal conditioning but suffer water and air
vulnerability.
Wicked Sharp Mutya
Lightning Agimat
You have ingested a mutya that has sharpened your violent
intent into a killing spirit. A piece of wood scorched by lightning, turned into a protective
amulet.
Effect: Your first Hit in a Melee Bravery Attack is a True
Hit. Effect: Gain air conditioning but suffer earth
vulnerability.
Gold Eye Necklace
A necklace that depicts the gold sun eye, a burning surya.
Steel Taming
Effect: When you inflict a Bane, inflict +1 stack of it. A taming shield made for blocking all sorts of attacks.
Naga Javelin
Effect: You can use POS against Faith Attacks.
A javelin made of a deep sea dragon tooth, or perhaps the bone
is mined from those caves that have titanic skeletons? Hatred Agimat
A talisman with the face of a grinning demon. Feared and hated
Effect: Your ranged attacks have -2 to their maximum by all.
range, but they gain +1d.
Naga Set (1/4): You become a Naga Knight: gain Bravery +2 Effect: All fighters in burst 2 of you are considered as
while you’re Flanked. suffering provoke to you, which cannot be overridden.
Naga Gauntlets Kawaca
Gauntlets made up of a giant naga’s tooth. It is abrasive to A cuirass with the face of a vengeant deity in front. Worn by
touch, and can be used to cut. high-ranking warriors.

Effect: 1/Fulmination, when you push an enemy, inflict 1 Effect: Begin the fight with Block 2.
Hit.
Naga Set (1/4): You become a Naga Knight: gain Bravery +2
while you’re Flanked.

313
 KADUNGGANAN
Garoda Winghelm
A golden helmet made in the shape of a Garoda, the avian
Gods that protect the Jar of Souls in Heaven.
Effect: You cannot collide with fighters.
Garoda Set (1/3): You are considered a Garoda Knight. You
have 1 set Garoda Wings, which you can wear for 1 Beat. If
you do, gain Garoda Flight x3, wherein you can teleport
when you move or are moved.
Garoda Wingspear
A golden spear with the wings of the Garoda twining about it.
It sings with a heavenly tune, like one sung by kinnara, and is
perfectly weighted.
Effect: Your Combo Breaker Penalty becomes -1d/-3d
instead of -2d/-3d.
Garoda Set (1/3): You are considered a Garoda Knight. You
have 1 set Garoda Wings, which you can wear for 1 Beat. If
you do, gain Garoda Flight x3, wherein you can teleport
when you move or are moved.
Garoda Wingcoat
A golden breastplate and coat that covers almost the entire
body, but is surprisingly light. Decorated with intricate gold
jewelry patterned into the wings of a garoda.
Effect: When you suffer a melee or ranged attack, you can
rush 1 square after the attack.
Garoda Set (1/3): You are considered a Garoda Knight. You
have 1 set Garoda Wings, which you can wear for 1 Beat. If
you do, gain Garoda Flight x3, wherein you can teleport
when you move or are moved.
Godtree Kalasagdako
Kalasagdako is “Large Shield”. This is a giant kalasag made of
holy strangler fig fibers and wood, strengthened by shaman
ritual.
Effect: You gain Defends on 5+ on your Defense Teeth.
Wicked Panabas
A giant, broad-bladed panabas, once used only for ceremony,
now used for inflicting violence. Moonflowers are inscribed
upon the base of its blade.
Effect: When you roll a 10, roll another Attack Tooth.
Eagle Eye Bracelet
You have a bracelet made of gold beads, with the center being
an eagle eye. It burns bright when you aim.
Effect: When you end your Fulmination with unspent
Beats, your next ranged attack gains Sharpness and +1d.
Explosion Inscriptions
You have surat inscribed upon your weapons burning red, which
burn hotter and hotter and eventually explode as the fight
continues.
Effect: Whenever you make an area or ranged attack, gain
1 Explosion Charge. When you reach 3 Explosion Charges,
immediately trigger the following effect.
Gatling Fulmination: Deal 1 True Hit to all enemies
adjacent to you, then lose all Explosion Charges.
314
Sorcerer’s Talisman
A talisman with a magical beast’s tooth, nail, eye, or hair lock
tied to it.
Effect: When you spend 2-3 Beats, gain Stability.
Witch’s Diadem
A bone diadem that stretches down to one’s eyes. Gives one
the visage of a wicked sorcerer.
Effect: All bursts, lines, blasts, and paths on your Area
Attacks have +1 to their size.
Scale Lamellar
A lamellar made of square rectangles made of either crocodile
scales, naga scales, or iron.
Effect: When you are pushed, gain Block 1 after the push.
Razor Bracers
You wield bracers that are fitted with razor sharp obsidian
blades.
Effect: Whenever you end your Fulmination adjacent to 2+
enemies, inflict 1 Hit on one of them.
Stingray Shield
Gatusanon would coat their shields with stingray skin, treated
to the point that they almost had a pearloid quality. This dulls
blades.
Effect: You gain water conditioning, but gain fire
vulnerability.
Copper Claws
Fingernail ornaments that create the visage of musang claws.
Can rend entire ships.
Effect: Inflict Bleed per 9+ on the Attack Teeth.
Copper Cat Demon Set (1/3): You ignore Height when you
move on your Fulmination, and you do not suffer fall
damage.
Copper Demon Mask
A mask depicting a tusked bearcat, grinning indefinitely, in
defiance of the sun.
Effect: When you forcibly move a fighter, inflict 1 True Hit
on them, 1/Fulmination.
Copper Cat Demon Set (1/3): You ignore Height when you
move on your Beat, and you do not suffer fall damage.
Copper Ear Ornaments
Copper ear ornaments that, instead of depicting the wings of
an eagle, showcase razor sharp feline ears.
Effect: Whenever you are attacked while you’re flanked,
gain SPD+1.
Copper Cat Demon Set (1/3): You ignore Height when you
move on your Beat, and you do not suffer fall damage.
 KADUNGGANAN
Fireblood Mutya
A burning teardrop of crimson flame. When ingested, fills your
body with a warm light, and then rouses you to action. You
cannot contain yourself.
Effect: You gain Fire Conditioning, but suffer Water
Vulnerability.
Gan Idol
An idol depicting the elephant-headed god Gan, brought to the
isles by Ashinin Missionaries. Gan is the God of Beginnings
and Intelligence.
Effect: Gain earth conditioning but suffer metal
vulnerability.
Alampay Makinaadmanon
“Sage’s Robe-Cloak.” Long flowing hooded robes that look
similar to a raincoat or a poncho, decorated with textiles
depicting dragons and skies and seas and leviathans and devil-
apes.
Effect: You can Surge twice per Violence.
Path of Concordance Set (1/3): The first attack against you
in combat deals 0 Hits.
Kerisgala
“Wandering Keris.” Other nations might have the pewter staff
as a symbol of announcing a sage’s presence, but the grand
Concordant Sages of the Sword Isles perform rituals and scare
off predatory animals with a galakeris, Wandering Dagger, a
usually sheathed keris decorated with bells and tassels.
Effect: All squares close to you are considered Difficult
Terrain for all enemies.
Path of Concordance Set (1/3): The first attack against you
in combat deals 0 Hits.
Dukha Paruka
“Beggar’s Sandals.” Wooden sandals with a simple abaca fiber
fit over it to keep the foot in place. It is raised on two
rectangular platforms. It is not very notable otherwise. Beggar
sandals are what Makinaadmanon wear to travel the lands,
wandering mendicants, who have nothing to ride on but their
feet.
Effect: You ignore dangerous terrain when you Stride.
Path of Concordance Set (1/3): The first attack against you
in combat deals 0 Hits.
Third Eye Gem
You have a precious stone embedded upon your brow, and
it gleams with a burning fire.
Effect: All your Interjects have +1, and you gain
Block 1 when you use an Interject.
Hawk’s Talon Bangle
A bangle made up of gold and talons of hawks.
You can aim down it when you aim with your
bow.
Effect: All your ranged attacks with
ranges gain +2 range.
Interlinked Gold Chain
A kamagi, interlinked twelve necklaces braided together into a
long chain that winds about the entire body. Strengthens your
will.
Effect: You can now use RES against Bravery Attacks.
Raiding Rope
A rope made of abaca, with a hook at the end. Used for boats,
but equally useful against warriors.
Effect: When you Rush, you can choose to swing on a Rope
instead: choose 1 square in burst 2. Shift yourself to any
space that is exactly 2 squares away from that square. If
there is a fighter on the square you move into, push 1.
Balyan Vajra-Bell
A vajra with a bell on the other end, rang when performing
important rituals. Diwata dance nearby, ancestor gods look
down at you. Sometimes given by Sri Dewi Wetsuwan in the
northern regions of the Footsteps of the Gods, where she makes
her ministry as one of the Four Warlords Under Heaven, ruling
over the northern quadrant of Gubat Banwa, where she sits
wielding her embroidered sarapang Makarishula and consorts
of 180 Valkyrie Poet-Warriors, each one married to her.
Effect: When you heal a fighter, gain +2d on your next
attack.
Bulawan Ear Ornaments
The reddish gold, known as Bloodgold, is the purest form of
gold in the Isles, and is said to represent the God of Crimson
War Idda Mangubat, the Greatest Warrior of the Echoing
Annals. These ear-wing ornaments attune your soul to the
slaughter, and causes you to sink into ultraviolence when you
can smell blood. Idda Mangubat now travels the isles as a
warrior-for-hire for those datu that he chooses is worthy.
Effect: Making melee attacks against Staggered fighters
inflicts 1 True Hit on them.
Bulawan Robe
Bulawan is that reddish Bloodgold, but it is also a holy color, of
scarlet, that has pine-like fibers soaked in the reddest of reds–so
red that they are gold. The bulawan color is only saved for the
most brave of warriors, and within it is the unyielding spirit of
one thousand warriors. Ashr are beings that have six arms and
three heads, considered demigods in the sense that they are
partly divine, thrown out of heaven for having drunk too much
of Divine Shura, the drink of immortality from Heavenly
Banana Trees. Ashr wander the world looking for things to do
to Be Unifed once again, becoming Hiyang.
Effect: Begin Violence with Stability x2.
315
 KADUNGGANAN
Butterfly Pewter Staff
A pewter staff that wherein cocoons blossom from, wherein
scarlet butterflies erupt whenever the bell is rung. The scarlet
butterfly is an important symbol of metamorphosis and
symbiosis for the First Makinaadmanon, who ascertained that
it was nature’s beauty, cyclical nature and inherent unity
condensed into a single being. Its fluttering and beauty is brief,
but the fact that it ends make it important, and the spores it
spreads with its wings ensure that life continues evermore.
Effect: Whenever you end your Fulmination, heal 1 all
adjacent allies.
Stone Geni Idol
Geni is the god of fire found in the isles. This idol is made of
stone from the depths of ancient volcanoes across the isles.
Confers the ability to become completely immune to fire. The
first to find and wield this stone was known as the
Magmabreaker Tunggadiraja, who conquered the volcano naga
of the isle of Kadaki.
Effect: Inflict Fray per 8+ on the Attack Teeth.
Peakflower Diadem
The Peakflower is a colorful blossom with multiple petals,
reminiscent of chrysanthemum, that can only grow in the
coldest areas at the peak of mountains in the Sword Isles,
where the caps are sheathed in frost and snow. This sheathes
the wearer in a veil of chill, and causes them to cough out
peakflower petals. As this anting-anting is refined, its flower
grows, and begins strangling you.
Effect: You gain Wind Conditioning, but Earth
Vulnerability.
Vairakav War Attire
Golden armor with a sun-tiger on the chest plate. This includes
a set of armor: a peaked helmet, gold-and-brass lamellar, gilded
dragon bracers, a golden dragonfly belt woven with a veil-thin
silk as a skirt, and golden tail-eating dragon bangles. Once
belonged to the ancient warriors of Put’wan. Vairakav is one of
the fierce forms of the great god Rayasaiwa, who destroyed the
past world to pave the way for this one.
Effect: Gain +1 HP.
316
Naga Maw Periapt
This is a maw made of gold that wraps around the lower half of
the face and flanges into two wing-shaped peaks that elongate
the ears, giving the illusion that the wearer is a naga itself.
Worn by gods and kings of The Sword Isles, one can only wear
this periapt when allowed by Balyan. If not, both spirits and
demons will follow you. Naga are dragons, but commonly are
guardians against fire, while serpents are guardians against
earth, sickness, and beast, while crocodiles are guardians
against water and death.
Effect: Your first Faith Attack in Violence has Sharpness.
Parrying Palisay
A palisay is a smaller shield, almost a buckler, as opposed to the
full body kalasag. Only the greatest of warriors can afford to
wield a palisay–the lightness lets them be quick in their
parrying. Sumpoy is the Slaver of Souls and Batara Yamakala
is the God of the Underworld, the Keeper of Justice, and of all
Death. The God of Life, funnily enough, belongs to Si Dapa,
The Kneeling One, whom many–due to the fact that Life is an
antecedent of Death–worship wrongfully as the God of Death.
By bearing Si Dapa’s face upon the shield, you can enact the
retort of the living.
Effect: When you Deflect, gain 2 Defends instead of 1.
Pestilent Knife
A ritual knife crusted with the blood of divine beings. When
used to attack, brings pestilence upon the target of your scorn.
Virulences and plagues are said to belong to the old Sky God,
who was so distant from mortals that he does not know the
threat of plagues upon them.
Effect: Every 10 on Attack Teeth against fighters inflict a
stack of Pestilence. While they have Pestilence, they
cannot be healed, cannot gain positive Ability Mods, and
suffer -1d to all Defense Teeth.
KADUNGGANAN

317
 DIVINATIONS

V: Divinations

318
 DIVINATIONS

Divinations are generators that can help you move the
game forward, in any mode of play. These are not
completely fleshed out scenarios and generations but
rather, things that can spark your creation. Take what you
can get from here and go wild with it, while hewing close to
the Principles of the setting. Use these to inspire new
situations or answer open-ended questions.
Folk Traits Divinations: A list of traits that can be used to
make characters more unique.
Location Divinations: This is a list of Locations that one
might find almost anywhere in the Sword Isles.
Social Class Divination: A list of Social Classes and the
common professions or roles within them, though these are
not strict roles within each class.

Types of Divinations Character Principle Divinations: A list of Principles for all

There are a number of Divination types that can be used at
any juncture, either by the Umalagad or by the
Kadungganan during Solo Play.
Action Divinations: This is a list of actions that an NPC
might take.
Vibe Divinations: This is a list of vibes that a place or an NPC
might have.
Descriptor Divinations: A list of descriptors to grant items,
actions, and vibes more color and context.
characters.
Character Wants and Ruminations Divinations: A list of
wants and ruminations for quickly making something for a
character.
Seed Divinations: These are some situations or contexts
that one might find themselves in.
NPC Divinations: These are some NPCs that one might find
in the Sword Isles.

Actions Vibe
Use this to inspire an event or situation. Interpret the roll Use these if you’re looking for a vibe or some sort of feeling that
according to the situation and context of the fiction. Roll a can be interpreted in a particular situation or context. This table
can be combined with Action to find an interesting creative
1-2 Defile 51-52 Await prompt that you can interpret and begin play through. This is
3-4 Revere 53-54 Impress always a noun. Roll a d100.
5-6 Instill Fear 55-56 Depress
7-8 Boast 57-58 Debate 1-2 Fire 51-52 Healing
9-10 Destroy 59-60 Endure 3-4 Ritual 53-54 Knowledge
11-12 Nourish 61-62 Lose 5-6 Affection 55-56 Fame
13-14 Create 63-64 Explore 7-8 Family 57-58 Power
15-16 Avoid 65-66 Finish 9-10 Settlement 59-60 Glory
17-18 Reject 67-68 Mend 11-12 Band 61-62 Freedom
19-20 Love 69-70 Summon 13-14 Violence 63-64 Liberty
21-22 Abhor 71-72 Reduce 15-16 Mysticism 65-66 Emancipation
23-34 Hate 73-74 Demean 17-18 Lore 67-68 Ruin
25-26 Rebel 75-76 Protect 19-20 Song 69-70 Pride
27-28 Change 77-78 Communicate 21-22 Poem 71-72 Loss
29-30 Transform 79-80 Demand 23-34 God 73-74 Law
31-32 Elide 81-82 Expect 25-26 Spirit 75-76 Transgression
33-34 Gather 83-84 Grieve 27-28 Faith 77-78 War
35-36 Strengthen 85-86 Find 29-30 Belief 79-80 Peace
37-38 Nurture 87-88 Hunt 31-32 Altar 81-82 Supply
39-40 Deflect 89-90 Express 33-34 Opinion 83-84 Venture
41-42 Threaten 91-92 Break 35-36 Palace 85-86 Leader
43-44 Provoke 93-94 Raid 37-38 Rival 87-88 Wise Folk
45-46 Obsess 95-96 Inspect 39-40 Ideal 89-90 Priest/Priestess
47-48 Devote 97-98 Worship 41-42 Fate 91-92 Love
49-50 Project 99-100 Entertain 43-44 Health 93-94 Hatred
45-46 Forestry 95-96 Wealth
47-48 Vengeance 97-98 Relationship
49-50 Justice 99-100 Burden

319
 DIVINATIONS

Descriptor Folk Traits

Use this particularly for traits for folk, which is often very
Use this divination if you need to find how an action precise. In general, you roll d100 three times to gain three
might have been done, or need a more precise traits. You can also roll on Descriptor to give the Folk
descriptor of a location or a vibe. Use these to inspire another, more esoteric trait.
1 Wise 51 Slow
1-2 Foggy 51-52 Foul 2 Fair 52 Joyful
3-4 Silent 53-54 Wild 3 Snob 53 Unintelligent
5-6 Melancholy 55-56 Settled 4 Noble 54 Thrillseeker
7-8 Bright 57-58 Low 5 Stoic 55 Glory seeker
9-10 Warm 59-60 Beautiful 6 Aloof 56 Wicked
11-12 Cozy 61-62 Heartrending 7 Lax 57 Sharp
13-14 Nostalgic 63-64 Violent 8 Attractive 58 Secretive
15-16 Rabid 65-66 Rich 9 Beautiful 59 Languid
17-18 Abrasive 67-68 Simple 10 Vengeful 60 Irresistible
19-20 Pensive 69-70 Fertile 11 Adventurous 61 Lethargic
21-22 Dull 71-72 Grim 12 Wrathful 62 Drowsy
23-24 Stagnant 73-74 Hidden 13 Boisterous 63 Curious
25-26 Tense 75-76 Perilous 14 Tall 64 Questing
27-28 Angry 77-78 Dead 15 Lenient 65 Ponderous
29-30 Hostile 79-80 Ruined 16 Intelligent 66 Spiritual
31-32 Vile 81-82 Cold 17 Honorable 67 Superstitious
33-34 Peaceful 83-84 Blighted 18 Cruel 68 Reverent
35-36 Calm 85-86 Lush 19 Quiet 69 Docile
37-38 Noisy 87-88 Flooded 20 Frail 70 Loyal
39-40 Tense 89-90 Empty 21 Friendly 71 Fearful
41-42 Anxious 91-92 Weird 22 Stealthy 72 Brave
43-44 Relaxed 93-94 Uncanny 23 Manipulative 73 Reckless
45-46 Pressured 95-96 Reverent 24 Troublemaker 74 Lonely
47-48 Excited 97-98 Spiritual 25 Stingy 75 Vibrant
49-50 Dense 99-100 Dignified 26 Timid 76 Extraverted
27 Lazy 77 Introverted
28 Pragmatic 78 Antisocial
29 Resourceful 79 Determined
30 Weary 80 Ambitious
31 Anxious 81 Silly
32 Honest 82 Hateful
33 Infamous 83 Prejudiced
34 Fatalistic 84 Faithful
35 Experienced 85 Sensitive
36 Deceitful 86 Short
37 Wary 87 Affectionate
38 Strong 88 Compassionate
39 Bold 89 Spoiled
40 Dauntless 90 Soft-Spoken
41 Famous 91 Loud
42 Artistic 92 Direct
43 Creative 93 Cutting
44 Comfy 94 Quirky
45 Charming 95 Even
46 Violent 96 Kind
47 Temperamental 97 Nice
48 Stern 98 Sad
49 Fickle 99 Avoidant
50 Insightful 100 Confrontational

320
 DIVINATIONS

Location Settlement Problem

Use this divination if you need an answer about where Use this divination to find out what problems there might be
something might be, or perhaps what you come across while in a settlement, whether it be a town, a village, or a city. Roll
traveling. These are locations you can find across the Sword a d100.
Isles. Roll a d100.
1-2 Shrine 51-52 Flower Plains 1-2 Scarce 51-52 Betrayals from
3-4 Pavilion 53-54 Rice Paddies Provisions within
5-6 Town House 55-56 Rice Terraces 3-4 Agitated a God 53-54 Nature retaliates
7-8 Ruins 57-58 Swidden Farms 5-6 Infestation 55-56 The settlement is
Nearby too cold and is di-
9-10 Palace 59-60 Mangrove Forest hiyang
11-12 Stilt House 61-62 Stream 7-8 Infiltrated by 57-58 Demons have
13-14 Upriver Town 63-64 Quiet Grove Disease arrived
15-16 Shore City 65-66 Hilltop 9-10 Cursed by 59-60 The dead have
17-18 Farming Village 67-68 Plateau Top Pestilence begun to walk
19-20 Fortress 69-70 Temple City 11-12 Hexed by a Witch 61-62 Shadows are
hunting those alive
21-22 Shrine 71-72 Pagoda
13-14 Natural Disaster 63-64 Turned into ruin
23-34 Altar 73-74 Communal Worship from a war
House
15-16 Fateful Omen 65-66 Rejected travelers
25-26 Temple 75-76 Lake
17-18 Haunted by the 67-68 River trade blocked
27-28 Low Mountain 77-78 Delta Past
29-30 Mountain Peak 79-80 Revered Site 19-20 Angered the 69-70 Landslide blocked
31-32 Near Wood 81-82 Raiding Outpost Ancestors off travel
33-34 Deep Woods 83-84 Hallowed Cave 21-22 Killed an 71-72 A tradition harms
35-36 Near Shores 85-86 Burial Site innocent others
37-38 Far Sea 87-88 Merchant Barge 23-34 Mysterious 73-74 Ceremony is
39-40 Canopy 89-90 Caravan murders interrupted
41-42 Hunter’s House 91-92 War Barge 25-26 People going lost 75-76 Feasting is invaded
43-44 Fishing Village 93-94 Treasure Ships 27-28 Death of the 77-78 Accident causes ill
datu omen
45-46 Vast Plains 95-96 Hunting Fields
29-30 Raided by an 79-80 Debt arrives
47-48 Deep Wilds 97-98 River Marketplace enemy
49-50 Rivers 99-100 Defiled Place settlement
31-32 Hunted by 81-82 Revolution against
Beasts the leader
33-34 Broken truce 83-84 Royalty finds
forbidden love
35-36 Target of a rival 85-86 Societal tradition
settlement forces oppresses
others
37-38 Preparing for a 87-88 Tyrant oppresses
revenge raid subjects
39-40 Conflict between 89-90 Chattel trade
nobles
41-42 Royalty vying for 91-92 Families get in a
the seat of chief/ fight
king
43-44 Stuck between 93-94 An outcast returns
rival settlements with vengeance
45-46 Victim of a 95-96 A lady is stolen by
vengeful God raiders
47-48 Broken by giants 97-98 Ritualists create
harmful cult
49-50 Urgent venture 99-100 Roll twice

321
 DIVINATIONS
Social Class Divination
In the land of The Sword Isles, the Social Class system is the
skeleton and framework whereupon all things dance. It is so
ingrained into society that tawo even give things in nature
titles that reflect their social rank: Datung Bayawak is a
term for large and great monitor lizards or komodo
dragons, while Oripung Bukad is a term for small and “frail”
flowers that shy away when touched.
Here are the Social Classes of The Sword Isles laid out. For
each of the Classes, there will be a short table to help you
visualize what each person of each of the Classes would look
like, as so much of society hinges upon them.
Basic Clothing
The basic garment for males is the bahag (think a bulky
Scottish kilt, probably more colorful, and richer people
would have them made from foreign silks).
For females, it is the lambong (now in modern times known
as the malong, a sort of tube skirt that could be worn either
as a skirt, or as a tube top when pulled up to the chest. Some
were so long that they could be pulled up over the head.
322
While debtors usually only wore those (undyed as well),
warriors and other upper class would wear additional
garments on top of that: sarongs, sarouels, wooden or
golden clogs, diadems, golden crowns, black and white
shawls, silk jackets, silk gowns that reached the ankles,
hardwood breastplates, elephant hide breastplates, and the
everpresent pudong (think of it like a short turban or
bandana. Grandiose ones are large like actual turbans).
Roll For a Social Class
Randomize which social class a character is. Roll a d12.
1 Infantry (Debtor)
2 Servant (Debtor)
3 Peasant (Debtor)
4 Freeman
5 Noble
6 Spiritual Leader (Noble)
7 Head Spiritual Leader (Royalty)
8 Binukot (Royalty)
9 Leader’s Council (Royalty)
10 Leader’s Royal Family/Kedatuan (Royalty)
11 Leader/Datu/Prince/Suzerain/Lord/Gat (Royalty)
12 Paramount Leader/Rajah/Rani/Maharaja/Hari/
Hara/Sangpamegat/God-King (Royalty)
 DIVINATIONS
Royalty
Datu is the term for the heads of settlements. Leaders, lords,
and owners of vast amounts of heirloom wealth. In Ancient
Visayas, Datu was also the term for the closest family of the
Datu: their spouses and their children, denoting them as
lordly royalty, higher than other nobility. In The Sword Isles,
we use the term kedatuan to denote that they’re royalty,
belonging to the family of a lord, so as to not confuse the
terms.
The Paramount Leader
Larger settlements, such as the Rajahnate of Gatusan or Ba-
e, would have multiple datu underneath a single Paramount
Leader (usually having the name of King or Emperor). A
Paramount Leader is usually chosen of all royalty in multiple
settlements settling on one that is considered “fit to lead” the
datu. This procedure is sometimes democratic. The
parameters for becoming a paramount leaderusually include
warrior prestige, skillful merit, and natural charisma.
Recently many paramount leaders have used a claim to
divine blood or divine manifestation to become kings.
Leader’s Council
The closest followers of the datu constitute a sort of inner
circle of people. This is usually called sandig sa datu. They
might not be the datu’s kin or blood (although they can be, or
might be of the nobility), but they are treated with a similar
deference. This is something that can be found across all the
polities.
Kedatuan are treated more or less with the same deference as
the Datu, and enjoy all the benefits of being nobility.
Datu are lords of their following. As already established, land
is not the scale by which a Datu’s power is measured, by their
following, known as their haop. Their haop engulfs and
covers all the people that follow the Datu: from nobility all the
way to the smallest of debtors.
Kedatuan can still fall into debt, especially should they loan
something but find that they cannot pay it back. In this
manner, kedatuan can become debtors to even other datu, or
even to other servants.
Datu are expected to be skilled in war, and truly many Datu
earn their name through valor in combat. There are also Datu
that become Datu after being married to someone who is of
Kedatuan. Datu are usually skilled in trades as well, many
becoming blacksmiths, jewelers, song makers, and more.
Binukot
Binukot are veiled princes and princesses, hidden away in
special compartment rooms in the attics of royal houses or
hidden deep within sacred caves, all caled bukot. Binukot are
never shown to the public eye, but are taught how to sing,
fight, dance, and read within their bukot. When a binukot is
brought out into the public, they are carried by strongmen or
women upon their shoulders, making sure that the binukot
never let their feet touch the ground. They are usually used as
barter or leverage to create social kinship and connections
with other settlements, letting one’s own binukot marry
another datu to establish a strong bond with that settlement.
Of course, not many binukot like this arrangement.
323
Sandig Sa Datu
1 Atubang. The datu’s chief minister and privy
counselor.
2 Paragahin. The datu’s steward, one who speaks,
makes arrangements or takes charge for them.
3 Bilanggowan. The datu’s sheriff, who has a house
called a bilanggo that acts as a jail.
4 Paratawag. The towns-crier, who announces
unto the settlement through shouting from a tall
tree or delivering a message directly to the
persons concerned (such as calling specific
Kadungganan for a raid).
5 Senapati. A warlord and commander of a portion
of the Datu’s army, answering directly to the
datu. In smaller settlements, a datu takes on the
role of a senapati.
6 Shahbandar. The collector of anchorage fees and
the one who sets up the port markets during the
trading season.
Royalty Dispositions
1 Black-toothed and quirky eyed, with a penchant
for collecting scraps to create new inventions.
Would love to explore the ancient tombs left
behind by the Kadanay people.
2 Large and heavyset, always grim. Readying their
haop for war. Is vigilant, knows that another
settlement is going to come any day to attack for
something they did not do.
3 A datu hellbent on correcting injustices, for they
suffered injustices of their own and they would not
wish it upon others.
4 An ancient and wizened old datu, leaning upon a
staff made of the bones of an ancient tiger. Skilled
in the ways of offensive sorcery. Seeks to create a
new religion.
5 A skilled and tricky lord who knows the ways of
politics and abuses it to get what they want. Helms
a large haop, which is built upon spider web.
6 A young datu who has something to prove, and
sometimes does not listen to the counsel of the
wiser due to his rashness.
7 A broken datu who has suffered too much during
their lifetime, and goes into combat for if they do
not, they will break down.
8 A datu burning with ideals, seeking to change the
course of the world as they see it, attempting to
abolish the classes from the top down.
9 An older, more caring Datu, who treats their
followers like their own children and cares for
them as their own.
10 A militaristic Datu hellbent on conquest of the
entire archipelago. All in the name of peace.
 DIVINATIONS

Royalty Problems
1 Another Datu has declared war upon them.
2 The umalagad, ancestor spirits, of that datu are displeased with them, and it has caused ill fortune to befall the
settlement.
3 The diwata are rampaging nearby, and they do not know why.
4 One of the polities is planning to conquer them.
5 A Rajahnate settlement is closing their trade routes with them, causing a major blow to their supply lines, and
will likely cause starvation or loss of wealth.
6 They are being attacked by either the Lakanate or the Sultanate, to further conquest (if the Lakanate) or faith (if
the Sultanate).
7 They are being raided by foreign powers.
8 The Confederation has deemed them to be too dangerous to the nature around them, and is launching a raid
upon them.

324
 DIVINATIONS
Nobility
Tumao in the Rajahnate, Timway in the Sultanate, Maginoo in the
Lakanate, Kadangyan in the Confederation.
The Nobility are usually those that have in some way a blood
connection with the Datu: either through lineage, as their
relatives (cousins, nieces, nephews, and the like), or as blood-
sworn kin (through the Sanduguan, the Blood Compact).
The Nobles are considered the second rank of nobility, right
below the kedatuan royalty.
Many Nobility act as retainers and vassals to the Datu,
helping them and doing work for the datu, should they need
it, whether it be contributing materiel, working their fields,
or fighting in raids and war engagements. However, they do
not need to pay tribute, only that they fight with the datu
should the datu call upon them, and they very commonly
engage in their own pursuits, whether it be artistic or
mercantile.
Golden Web Tapestry
Nobility and Kedatuan, and especially Datu, are beholden to
the Golden Web Tapestry: an “elevated” form of speech that is
polite speech in all but name. One is expected to be dancing
the Golden Web Tapestry when before a noble, even if you are
noble yourself, and especially if you are of lower class. You
cannot speak certain words before them, and you must speak
wholly in third-person, never addressing the noble directly--
ie. as “you”. This polite speech is expected even amongst
balyan and other spirit mediums that are ubiquitous in the
archipelago. Other examples include burping or talking
about how dirty a noble’s nails or ears have become.
If one breaks the Golden Web Tapestry, it unravels a whole
slew of consequences. Things such as fines and debt for the
lower classes, while other nobles might suffer societal
disgrace and public shame, which is something no noble
wants, as they would be indebted, or have Debt, to the noble
that they committed the breaking of the Golden Web
Tapestry to. Of course, the Golden Web Tapestry is simply a
social construct, and needs a society to be enforced.
Spiritual Leaders
Very often, the spiritual leaders of a settlement (whether they
be a priest, a balyan spirit medium, or a bishop) are also
considered nobles of their settlement, or at least higher than
Freemen. There tend to be several spiritual leaders in a single
settlement, and a mix of Bulanan bishops exist with
Virbanwan priests and Gatusan balyan.
As spiritual leaders, spirit mediums are very often the right
hand of the settlement leader, and they are considered to be
their other half. While the chief speaks and wars, the
spiritual leader heals, pleads with the gods, and performs
sorcery. They perform rituals to ensure that raids and
harvests are bountiful.
The head spiritual leaders, such as the Katuuran (Head
Balyan), the High Bishops, or the Wali ar commonly treated
as Royalty due to their influence, charisma, and their
function in society as performing the most important rituals
to accrue merit, blessings, and appease the ancestors and
gods.
325
Nobility Problems
1 Another noble has blasphemed their countenance,
and must be punished.
2 They must be ready and need new items for
makeup for the coming feast.
3 Someone from the lower class saw them making
love with someone that they should not be making
love with.
4 They have broken the Golden Web Tapestry, and
seek to evade the consequences or are being hunted
down.
5 A noble is hunted down for not honoring a trading
contract with another settlement.
6 A noble has blasphemed the name of the Datu in a
feast.
7 A noble has lost their heirloom wealth and must get
it back.
8 A noble has lost their imported texts, which they
use to learn more languages. They believe someone
has stolen it, as texts are well wanted as culture in
other settlements.
Nobility Dispositions
1 An eccentric noble who pores over palm leaf
manuscripts seeking enlightenment.
2 A calm noble who loves performing tea, wine, and
betel nut ceremonies for their guests.
3 A generous noble who loves giving away items for
the ones that amuse them.
4 A broken noble who has seen the terrors of war,
despite not being a warrior.
5 A brave noble singer seeks to travel with
Kadungganan to expand their song repertoire and
to create more songs for the settlement.
6 A wide-eyed noble who wants to see the world from
beyond their palace walls.
7 A wise noble who gives actually good advice, and
loves to sit upon the porch of their house observing
the town.
8 A loving noble who makes sure that their debtors
are properly treated.
9 A conniving noble who has mastered the polite
speech of the Golden Web Tapestry, who wishes to
climb the social class even further.
10 An artful noble who creates paintings upon palm
leaf scrolls, and uses sorcery only to fly.
11 A noble who thrives on the thrill of battle, usually to
the detriment of themself or their friends.
12 A strict noble who has mastered a particular form
of weaponry, and acts as a guardian or bodyguard
(kawal) for kedatuan royalty.
DIVINATIONS

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Freemen
Freeman are a privileged class, and not a serf like
class. Those of the Freeman Class are free to
change their allegiance to their datu at any time,
theoretically. Theoretically because it is not
uncommon for many freemen to own a large
amount of debt to a certain datu, or choose to
become retainers for that Datu.
Freemen are considered a third rank of nobility,
right below the nobles. They do not need to work to
pay off a labor obligation like debtors—although
they can accrue debt—but they can choose what to
do. Many become capitalists in their own right,
become datu, or perhaps enjoy the protection of
community and helps around the datu. Very
commonly, though, whatever the pick up as a
trade, they must fight with the datu when the time
comes.
A Kadungganan is a kind of freeman. They may
pledge their services to a Datu for a time, and then
leave and change allegiances whenever it pleases
them, or whenever they need to. This is their
privilege: they are not part of a datu’s particular
following.
Freeman, thanks to their freedom, get to enjoy a
wide variety of freedoms. Freemen usually render
services to the datu. Thus many freemen work as
laborers. Some owning their own farms, others
true warriors, others professional singers, and
even others as potters and traders and merchants,
sometimes with wealth rivaling the Datu’s own.
When a Freeman either chooses, or manages to
pay off their debt to the lord they have chosen to
follow, they may choose to leave, traveling and
either seeking out another lord and settlement to
follow, or perhaps building up a settlement
themselves.
DIVINATIONS
Freemen Dispositions
1 A freeman who loves singing and will never give it up for
the world.
2 A freeman with a particular sweet tooth and is running
around trying to satisfy it.
3 A young one who wishes to become a Datu someday.
4 A freeman who takes great pleasure in abusing their
servant for some twisted reason.
5 A freeman who holds an important secret of a noble that
they refuse to let go.
6 A freeman who is in love with the binukot (veiled prince or
princess) of another settlement, but does not have the
bugay or bride price to be able to buy their hand in
marriage.
7 An eccentric freeman who loves collecting herbs and hides
away in their house for days at a time.
8 An overly serious freeman who does their best in their trade
and does not want to slip up, ever.
Freemen Problems
1 The freeman does not have enough wealth to be able to
move to another Datu.
2 A freeman is discontent being the retainer of a Datu, and
wishes to dethrone the datu and take it for themselves.
3 A freeman has lost their means of living, and is quickly
accruing debt. At the rate that they’re in, they will become
oripun.
4 They have lost an important piece of bahandi heirloom
wealth, one of the only ones they have.
5 They have lost the favor of the datu, and must seek a
different datu to serve.
6 Their family has been killed after a raid, and they lost their
source of livelihood to the raiders.
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 DIVINATIONS

Freemen Professions
1 Warrior. A freeman that prides on fighting for
the Datu. Probably a Kadungganan as well.
2 Jeweler. Someone who is an expert at creating
jewelry.
3 Hunter. A freeman who uses state of the art
technology and strategies to hunt down large
game.
4 Weaver. A skilled weaver of silks and cottons,
usually for the Datu’s benefit.
5 Merchant. A skilled trader and peddler of
wares, whether it be foreign silks or local
civets.
6 Potter. A freeman who is skilled in the ways of
clay pottery. Perhaps they even have the means
to craft porcelain. They may have a number of
servant under them that they teach in the craft
of pottery.
7 Sailor. A sailor and traveler, who has their own
ship and renders service to those who need it,
although sometimes to those that pay the
highest.
8 Honey Tracker. A freeman who is skilled in
travelling the forests and foraging through
foliage to find the best bee hives to harvest
honey from.
9 Cook. A cook who owns their own eatery, in
service to the Datu. They usually have a
number of servant and children that help
them in the kitchen, making meals for the
Datu themselves. Larger settlements might
have cooks that can cook for the entire
Kadungganan or noble population.
10 Fisher. An integral trade in archipelago. A
skilled fisher who uses harpoons, nets, and
traps to capture large amounts of fish, which
they then cook or trade.
11 Paraawit. A professional singer, hired to sing
epics in feasts, dirges in funerals, or inspiring
war songs when going into war.
12 Shipbuilder. A freeman who owns their own
shipyard and has their own horohan to help
collect materials and help build the ships
themselves.

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 DIVINATIONS
Debtor
There are three kinds of debtors in The Sword Isles: the
peasants, the servants, and the infantry.
When these debtors are raided, they are usually taken
away and brought to markets, where their obligation and
labor is sold to others that wish to take them on. As labor
is a premium in the Sword Isles, with their being a
surplus of natural resources and not enough labor to
capitalize on it, debtor obligations are usually priced
similar to bahandi. When they are bought, they usually
become servants for the one that bought them,
sometimes peasants if the buyer deem it so. Enterprising
and mercantile capitalists sell debtors at a profit.
More commonly, when a datu raids a settlement, they
take in the debtors of that settlement and turn them into
debtors to the datu instead.
Debtors make up the majority of the The Sword Isles
population. Becoming a debtor is easy: accrue enough
debt through your actions, enough that you cannot pay it
off, then you will become a debtor to that person that you
owe the most. This will then extend to your next of kin,
until one of them can eventually pay off your debt price,
and free your family and generational line.
Peasants
Peasants render their service up to the datu, most usually
working in their field, fishing, hunting, or what else.
Peasants have their own houses, and they render a
portion of their labor and work to their datu, whom they
owe their debt to. Through opportunity and enterprise,
they can decrease their debt, and eventually pay it off in
full. When raiders come to their village, they are
expected to take up arms and fight alongside the datu.
Peasants are different from servants in that they live in
their own houses while tilling the fields of the datu, in
exchange for the datu’s protection and strength in being
a settlement.
Servants
Servants live in their master’s houses, and any person
can have a servant, even other servants (thus making
them the lowest rung of the Debtor Class). Servants are
not to be traded away and must be treated well, lest you
become a bad master, as tradition dictates. They must be
fed and given clothing by the masters. Masters dictate
when a servant can marry and sometimes even who they
can marry. The servant’s children inherit their class until
they can pay off the debt price. Servants render all their
labor to their master, and they live in their master’s
house. Should they give birth, the master is expected to
take care of the servant’s child as if it were their own. A
master may even have a favorite servant, who act
similarly as retainers, which they call their sibin.
Infantry
Infantry serve as footsoldiers for the master they serve,
oftentimes working as a personal guard as well. Their
masters train them and equip them, Infantry usually
have similar tasks and functions to squires: helping their
masters when it comes to combat, maintaining their
weapons, and more.
329
Servant Dispositions
1 A disenfranchised servant who is tired of
working for their master.
2 A beautiful servant who is in an ilicit love affair
with their master.
3 A servant who harbors a deep hatred for the one
that their master serves.
4 A servant who is wholly committed to their
master until their death.
5 A servant who would want to become free and
pursue a different trade, but cannot due to their
love for their master.
6 A servant who seeks restitution for something
their master has done to them.
Peasant Dispositions
1 A peasant constantly unimpressed by sorcery
and war, simply annoyed that it gets in the way of
their weaving.
2 A peasant who likes farming way too much, and
is devising multiple technology to help it along.
3 A peasant who tills lands so large that they have
to deal with another settlement hogging up too
much of the space.
4 A peasant who walks around drunk all the time,
but is still surprisingly competent.
5 A peasant who is in a secret love affair with a
servant.
6 A peasant who works all day in the fields but
crafts poetry at night, under the light of a small
candle.
Infantry Dispositions
1 An infantry who is born into war and fighting,
always looking for the next fight.
2 An infantry who sees fighting and combat as
their duty and nothing else, and they aim to be
the best at it.
3 An infantry that loves their master, and will do
anything to protect them.
4 An infantry who abhors fighting, and only does it
because they are ordered to, but is scarily good at
fighting.
5 An infantry filled with hatred and a longing for
justice, and wishes to depose datu and cast down
false thrones.
6 An infantry brimming with a hard knowledge of
truth, and wishes to document all things they
must witness in war to make sure future
generations do not witness and suffer their
mistakes.
 DIVINATIONS

Character Conviction Character Wants & Ruminations

Use this divination if you need to find the principle for Use this divination if you need to find either a Want or a
a particular character, something they hold dearest, the Rumination, or both, of a particular character. The results here
thing they use their conviction upon. Roll a d100. can be interpreted either way. Roll a d100.

1-4 Curiosity 1-2 Find something 51-52 Collect a debt

important
5-8 Duty
3-4 Create an 53-54 Spread a faith
9-12 Honor agreement
13-16 Valor 5-6 Build a 55-56 Find rest
17-20 Wealth relationship
21-24 Power 7-8 Destroy a 57-58 Find love
25-28 Peace relationship
29-32 Love 9-10 Create something 59-60 Get to somewhere
worthwhile special
33-36 Bonds
11-12 Perform 61-62 Climb the social
37-40 Protection something ladder
41-44 Safety heartrending
45-48 Justice 13-14 Achieve 63-64 Get something they
49-52 Violence enlightenment want, which is
53-56 Honesty dangerous
57-60 Redemption 15-16 Protect someone 65-66 Destroy obstacles
special
61-64 Revenge
17-18 Provide for 67-68 Keep the status quo
65-68 Vengeance someone
69-72 Comfort 19-20 Make sure 69-70 Upend the status quo
73-76 Power someone never
78-80 Loyalty hurts again
81-84 Martyrdom 21-22 Fulfill a duty given 71-72 Kill gods
85-88 Piety
23-34 Escape a duty 73-74 Protect something
89-92 Fealty given important
93-96 Salvation 25-26 Transcend chains 75-76 Protect a place
97-100 Annihilation 27-28 Seize power 77-78 Violently seize
something
29-30 Destroy the weak 79-80 Prove worth
31-32 Remove tyrants 81-82 Become redeemed
33-34 Prove innocence 83-84 Find where they
belong
35-36 Prove bravery 85-86 Find who they truly
are
37-38 Pass a ritual 87-88 Uncover a conspiracy
39-40 Become something 89-90 Keep a secret from
better falling into the wrong
hands
41-42 Become something 91-92 Steal someone
worse
43-44 Gain knowledge 93-94 Take something from
someone
45-46 Escape from 95-96 Heal a relationship
responsibility
47-48 Become a god 97-98 Create a better place
49-50 Enact vengeance 99-100 Secure sundries and
on something provisions

330
 DIVINATIONS

Seeds
1. A datu seeks your help in raiding the shores of Baik Hu to win the heart of the princess Humangsanun of the settlement
Ukab.

2. A Daknunuk, a great and giant pagoda temple-tree, of which there are four all in all in the entire Archipelago seemingly
protecting the spiritual integrity of the Archipelago, is being attacked by either foreign forces or by another faction.

3. A Lakanate settlement is harvesting resources from a forest. The Datu of the settlement is preparing to slay the diwata of
the forest to be able to harvest as much resources as possible.

4. A stone taotao filled wherein a diwata of war is depicted is being hunted down by those that would use it to destroy one
of their enemies, disrupting natural harmony.

5. An elder Kadanay, one of the ancient peoples that are skilled in grand wonders of spiritual artifice and technology, has
come to your settlement for aid against a coming storm of Yawa, brought upon by an injustice performed at sea.

6. The settlement you are in is struck by magalo, strange and chaotic fey creatures from beyond the Borders of the World,
that seek to destroy Gubat Banwa as we know it. You must fight them back and find a way to prevent it from happening
again.

7. A confederation Datu has been killed by a diwata gone wild. You must find out why.

8. In the Archipelago, mountains are considered to be holy temples where gods and other spirits live. One certain mountain
has been found to have their trees slowly dying, and you must go to find out what had happened.

9. You must escort an esteemed noble lady on her pilgrimage across the Sea to reach the Daknunuk of Mount Sakatun, in
the eastern island facing the Sea of Broken Dragons. Rajahnate and Lakanate forces have come begun conflict.

10. A Sultanate Datu conscripts your help in raiding a Lakanate settlement, to disrupt trade or military technology.

11. A Lakanate Datu conscripts your help in raiding a Sultanate settlement to weaken their enlarging hold.

12. A Rajahnate Merchant Prince Datu asks for your help in pacifying a Sultanate and a Lakanate settlement that is proving
to be a nuisance for trade routes with foreign countries.

13. A Datu asks you to be his vassals and retainers and bring a message to an upcoming feast in his stead. The message is a
dangerous one written in palm leaf manuscript and cannot be opened. It is a statement of intention of raiding for
blaspheming the former Datu's name.

14. A datu requests your help in traveling up a mountain in Rusunuga to raid a city upon a hill, which killed their child. This
revenge raid will need the players to travel upriver deeper into Rusunuga, the largest of the islands.

15. A young lady, perhaps the wife of a Datu, seeks your help in undergoing a spiritual pilgrimage to a Dakbalete, a Strangler
Fig Temple-Tree. This is so that the child in her womb can be blessed. They will later find out that the woman is not
pregnant at all.

16. A yawa outbreak has happened somewhere near the current location of the Kadungganan. They must seek out the cause,
usually some sort of human sin or atrocity.

17. A settlement has called for a raid on another settlement, and both settlement call to the player Kadungganan for help. It
is up to the Kadungganan whom they will serve or protect.

18. Your Datu asks you to go to a foreign island or land, whether it be Baik Hu or Naksuwarga or the Madaki Peninsula, to
establish trade so that the settlement can grow richer. (Feel free to pull from other modules and adventures for this.)

19. A Rajahnate princess is abducted by a Kadungganan who seeks to sow discord against the Rajahnate, to destabilize the
current Rajah, Batara Ambasi, and usurp the throne, replacing it with a lordship of peasant, wherein those that work will
be the ones ruling over those that don't.

20. An elder Confederation settlement where sea snakes are worn like bracelets and giant crab shells are worn like
breastplates seeks help retrieving a lost cache of Issohappan purawdust, which has adverse affects on nature around it.

21. A rumored ancient balete temple tree has been invaded by a sole Pale King conquistador. Rumors say that the
conquistador feasts on unnatural purawdust, and is no longer a living person, but one death cannot claim.

22. An old Baikhan detachment is anchored on the shores of a sea settlement, planning on claiming that settlement as part
of Baik Hu’s hegemony.

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 DIVINATIONS

23. A Baikhan warlord has arrived in the shores of a Rajahnate settlement in full armor, and has announced that it the
Baikhan Invasion begins there. That island becomes the first wall against Baik Hu invasion.
24. A polity in a far off island filled with a settlement populated by elephants that worship the moon goddess Baginda
Sumongsuklay. They re being hunted down by the Sultanate for their gold and hide.
25. On the base of the great mountain Darungdungan, a small village of smallfolk live, nature imps and sprites that are
enchanted beings. They worship Harisabokid, the King of Darungdungan, and they now ask for help, as they presume
Harisabokid is dead, and one of the twelve major polities killed him.
26. A dakbalayligo sa diwata, the spirit bathhouse, has arrived, and the Kadungganan are sucked into them. They must find
a way back, lest the dakbalay sa liguan disappear on the next new moon into the depths of Sulad.
27. There is an outbreak of yawa somewhere near a holy site. Diwata war with the yawa there. Neither of them are at fault,
rumors say.
28. A Lakanate contingent of blasphemous Kadungganan have appeared in the Confederation settlement known as Latika,
which is known for its great resources in manpower and being stationed upon the mountain of Namigawal, a holy
mountain. They have arrived to stew political unrest and to force a war with a Lakanate settlement for means currently
unknown.
29. 12 Bishops from the Lakanate Clergy have begun to move their personal Kadungganan ranks, with one of them coming
directly for your own personal settlement. Rumors and whispers of “The 12 Riders of the Stars” abound.
30. War broils, it has ever been. A young and peaceful settlement, who have done nothing but enjoy their life beside hot
springs and follow the Mouse Deer God Pilandok deep into the island of Baliga, is under the threat of attack by a
Sultanate force.
31. Ten Datu have arrived from the far north, bringing with them the goal to colonize the island of Tan’ai. There is resistance
from the native datu. You must choose a side.
32. A young servant comes to you, low and meek, hoping for your help in seeking out their father, who was lost in a recent
raid to a far western island of Saffuri. Things are more than they seem, of course.
33. You are invited to be retainers to a noble who must go to a feast packed with high ranking nobles. You are expected to act
as a fluffer for the noble, and navigate a complex web of politics to get out of the feast alive.
34. A distant island that disappears in the horizon. When it comes closer, it is obvious that this is not an island, but rather, a
giant floating crab with a shell so large that an entire coral ecosystem has developed on its back. There is a settlement of
siyokoy, fish men, that live on the back.
35. A horde of magalo, those strange and inscrutable beings from past the borders of the world, have infiltrated settlements
at the edge of the archipelago. They walk among you like any other creature, but wield terrible powers and earn the ire of
any natural spirit within their vicinity.
36. A powerful city state, large and encompassing two islands in its size, is seized by the political enemy of the current Datu,
out for the head of its life. In the midst of the turmoil and excitement, the Datu is killed during a feast showcasing their
bahandi heirloom wealth in a parade. The last surviving members of the Datu’s kawal, or personal guard, approach the
Kadungganan for help.
37. Sea ghosts lure boats out to sea and they are consumed by the giant sea spider god that lives underneath a giant stone,
flat and smooth. Upon it are spider folk that worship the mountain underneath the stone. Seek them out and find out
why they lure poor unsuspecting travelers out to sea.
38. There is an island of ill omen, Mantiwan, the Island of Apparitions and Specters. White shades walk upon its shores,
upon its accursed mountain, but whenever someone gets too close, their boats are destroyed, or they begin to see hordes
and hordes of pale specters watching them from afar, with eyes of the gods. There is a settlement here, they say, that
belongs to the Kadanay. All datu avoid it, for it is indeed an island of ill luck.
39. Eight shrines to eight powerful balete trees, each one filled with resonance to the spirit word, have begun to call upon for
the Shrine Ritual, seeking Kadungganan and balyan far and wide to perform the rites and tasks. A new god arises from
the depths or screeches from the skies, ascending to seize and devour the sun and moon.
40. A small settlement in a quaint river valley needs you to help collecting coconuts in a far off plantation, or to kill a raging
monster.

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 DIVINATIONS
NPCs
Here is a short list of potential characters and personalities
that the Kadungganan might meet during their travels.
Choose one.
1. Dimatablan. A powerful woman who wears nothing but
her bahag and strength, and an agimat that lets bullets
ricochet from her. She likes mamun and sweetened gabi
(root crop), and dislikes Baikhan tea.
2. Pumapagwis. A smart kid noble kid who wears the
trappings of royalty. While he is blind, he sees through
his superior hearing, allowing him to scope out the
battlefield even before a war breaks out. He is known as
the Eyeless Warsage, and is known to enjoy very trivial
luxuries, such as honey tea and sugar cakes.
3. Sree Matamata. A rich tactician who has mastered
Warspeaking, but loves sleeping too much to be a true
asset to any war effort. Loves and revels in pleasure and
comfort.
4. Putli Magara. The beautiful pink-haired princess of
Banwa Liyaga, southwest of the great Lake Pulilan,
which has adopted Sampalataya, and worships
Madiyah of the Stone. Well versed in the ways of her
own people, but is a clean freak. Has mastered the
empty hand art of the Heavenspear due to her mother,
but she wishes to escape Banwa Liyaga as the people are
starting to piss her off. Wishes to live in Ba-e. Quick to
anger but loves deeply. Very emotional. Loves eating but
hates getting fat.
5. Faengal. An elderly kindly man who has mastered the
art of making betel nut quid, making intricate chews
that look like lotuses, flowers, and other things. His life
is fading away before him due to a liver-eater spirit.
Wishes to die by the base of dakilang Mount Apu
Dayawa.
6. Dapiot. A kalabaw kshatriya who wields a kampilan and
a kalasag. She fights fiercely for her Datu, and is in love
with the Datu's binukot. She enjoys the sound of the
nose flute, and is known to be particularly good in song
and melody, but not in poetry. She likes long walks by
the shore but dislikes the morning.
7. Kubera sa Bulalakaw. The eternal 12 harvest old girl
who was blessed by the Langitnon and turned into a
Diwata of Comets. She is well versed in combat and is
known for having fire feet that lets her fly. She holds the
trinity of Ancient Comet Weapons: Lontok the Earth
Pestle, Wariwari the Sea Spear, and Inikara the Sword
Streaking Across the Day Sky.
8. Masirum. A pandita monk found in ancient tombs,
guarding a horrible secret: a gate to the deepest parts of
Sulad, where legions of the Earthbound Aswang are
kept. He, an aswang himself: a Gabunan, an elder
aswang. The tomb is the tomb of the ancient Hexer-
Datu Buyung Parangkuton, and it is packed with
ancient artifacts.
9. Maningning. A young adolescent girl who is also
Daitan, her daitan friend being a powerful spirit named
Kaimito. She is mostly shy and awkward, even if she
wants to make friends, and she is further ostracized due
to her being a daitan. Kaimito constantly eggs her on
and encourages her to make more friends. As a daitan,
even without formal balyan training, she can converse
333
with the spirits and has made a penchant for solving
problems with ghosts and diwata alike.
10. Amedi. A young and plucky thief who is faster than her
own shadow. In truth she is aswang, which shows when
one looks at her shadow, which reveals that she has a set
of invisible horns. Whenever she shapeshifts into a cat
or into her asuwang monstrous form, she turns into a
feline horned creature. She has a penchant for shiny
things, and loves stealing from nobles and other rich
creatures. She strives one day to steal the crown from
Baik Hu's August Jade Emperor one day, but she's
content with just stealing the ruby eye of Yarashgara
XII. She likes noodles and rice cakes, while she hates
plain white rice and the gluttonously rich.
11. Agay. A strong headed woman with a competitive
streak and a skilled blacksmith. In battle, she brings a
war palo, and bashes heads in as good as she smites the
heated rods. She has a penchant for pretty women, and
can get distracted by them.
12. Kasandra. A bayani of the Lakanate. Fervent in her
dedication to her Datu, Datu Luksin, she fights clad in
her silk cloak and heavy elephant hide armor. Her skill
with the sibat is unparalleled, and she wears her bayani
upbringing with pride. Her long straight hair betrays
her attention to discipline, and her ability to name all
her spear techniques reveals her meticulousness when
it comes to her training. Despite this, her loyalty to her
skill in combat has left a hole in her social ability,
especially with those of the lower social classes, who do
not follow the same Golden Web Tapestry social
protocol that nobles tread.
13. Puksawan Yumi. A timawa of Datu Kalaw, a royal vassal
and retainer. He is known as the Flower Moon, as his
beauty exceeds even those of the most beautiful women
dayang. It is said that Datu Kalaw has a romantic
relationship with him.
14. Harakay. A wind diwata who is known to transform
into a binturong-crocodile, or a dragon. He is a zealous
Sentinel of his domain, and will take it personally if
someone blasphemes his name or those within his
domain. He is likely to be found near the base of
mountains, where the wind howls through caves. In his
human form, he is a beautiful young man, who can be
taken for a woman, until he shows his true form. He
fights with quick spirit prayers and leaf blades.
15. Biyento Rekno. One of the princes of the Batara Lakan,
the king of the Lakanate. He is a man seemingly
hellbent on his job, on acquiring what he needs. He is
heavily armored and garbed, in regal Baikhan silvers
and native gold. He's doing this so that he can convince
his father to let him go on a trading mission to Baik Hu,
wherein his beloved lives in the capital of Baik Hu,
Zhong Ku.
16. Nia Hibii. A balyan that wears armor and goes on
ventures with her Datu in an attempt to speak to as
many spirits as she can. Nia loves collecting little items
as well, and she always carries a rattan bag with her. Her
balay back in her home settlement of Bakim is filled
with items that she has collected from her travels. She is
protective of her datu, and loves nature far more than
she can care for, even moreso than her datu. She loves
calamansi juice and fragrant flowers, and hates the tea
from Baik Hu and porcelain jars.
 DIVINATIONS

17. Simamari. A pandita who always

carries around palm leaf manuscripts Quirks
and bamboo scrolls. These he writes
upon, taking stock of all the new things Use this divination to make even more unique characters by finding out
that he sees. He chronicles them back what quirks they might have, special to the Sword Isles. Roll a d100.
home, writing them upon imperishable 1-2 Has a barge prow for a 51-52 Cannot be killed, their heart is
copperplate inscriptions. He does this head within a different animal
to expand the knowledge of the
Sultanate. He loves writing and songs, 3-4 Sits on a floating broad- 53-54 Babbles in an indecipherable
but hates sweet food. rimmed hat language
5-6 Swathed in spirit idols 55-56 Has long hair that covers their
18. Datu Ragyan Amamira. A fun-loving eyes
and courageous Datu, who has a
penchant for being deceitful to 7-8 Has a crimson gem on 57-58 Is blind, sees through Nihawa
accomplish his goals, but only his goals. their brow
He stays true with everything else. This 9-10 Has wild bulging eyes like 59-60 Carries a weapon that they
does not help him, however. He fights a vengeful god treat like their lover
with a bladed yo-yo, and he strikes with 11-12 Has an extra set of arms 61-62 Obsessed with honor
a quick blade. Many call him the
Monkey Lord, for his fighting style and 13-14 Carries around a 63-64 Is actually a kinnari in
trickery. His settlement still loves him bejeweled dagger disguise, a celestial half-bird,
of course, and the Datu is committed to musicians of the celestial
making sure his settlement is rich and mountains
well protected, against even the Batara 15-16 Is run through with a 65-66 Is being stalked by a fierce
Lakan and the Mahapari himself. He phantom sword demon
loves spicy food and women, but hates 17-18 Has an artificial arm 67-68 Is addicted to various spices
men also. made of jade and concoctions in a search
19. Parawali Kusa Paladha. A no nonsense for the immortality elixir
parawali who fights with a hardwood 19-20 Has hair or eyes the color 69-70 Is overly zealous about the
staff. He always wears a shawl and of the moon ancestors
long-sleeved baro, keeping almost his 21-22 Has a giant sword that 71-72 Decked out in too many
entire body save for his head they drag everywhere magical amulets
unexposed. His face is almost always in
a constant frown, but he cares for his 23-34 Has a spear they don’t 73-74 Mute to folk, but animals can
settlement and is willing to consort know how to wield understand them
with Yawa to do this. Kusa is devoted to 25-26 Has a giant lantaka tied to 75-76 Obsessed with numbers and
his settlement to a fault. He loves their back scales
warrior epics and learning new things, 27-28 Walks around with three 77-78 Has died once before,
and he hates having to sing and babies hanging from something marks their
perform poetry in front of an audience. body cloth trauma
20. Dimatablang Dayang Kalis. A powerful 29-30 Wears a court dancer 79-80 Has a face behind their head
noble lady that has now escaped and is demon mask
traveling the isles in search for 31-32 Has chains around their 81-82 Has spiders crawling up and
adventure and violence. She is well ankles down a mechanical spine
adjusted to war, and chooses not to kill
if she can help it. Her chosen weapon is
33-34 Wears a crown with a 83-84 Has a centipede for a spine
a giant kris the length of her body, halo behind it
which she has called Kilat, the lightning 35-36 Travels with their 85-86 Has the eyes of a serpent,
bolt. She loves eating but hates seafood. apprentice, who carries strangely aloof
their smith’s workshop
37-38 Has iridescent fishes 87-88 Speaks solely in traditional
hanging from their waist island songs
at all times
39-40 Wears bird of paradise 89-90 Speaks solely in cryptic
tail feather mantras and sutras
41-42 Walks around with a 91-92 Has azure skin like the sky
censer
43-44 Has grayed eyes and can 93-94 Doesn’t have a shadow
only see through spirit
45-46 Can see the unseen 95-96 Winces at a particular
common word
47-48 Has only one hand 97-98 Has a serpent coiled around
their wrist
49-50 Perpetually carries a 99-100 Remembers their past life
beautifully carved clay jar
filled with something
balanced on their head

334
DIVINATIONS

335
 DIVINATIONS

Name Generator
Choose the closest culture and then roll a d100. Can be used for folk, for places, for swords, for cities, for rituals. Commonly
can use two or more words for one name.
Gatusan Ba-e

1 Humasanun 51 Bulak
1 Kalma 51 Laho
2 Sialu 52 Gawaygaway
2 Indr 52 Kedo
3 Alho 53 Gikutlu
3 Sakra 53 Tandayag
4 Basig 54 Malarag
4 Kiling 54 Yuta
5 Bansag 55 Lawi
5 Sasaban 55 Lihan
6 Makusog 56 Nasampil
6 Magayon 56 Bajinong
7 Padulong 57 Tanaman
7 Urduya 57 Liyin
8 Ligida 58 Halas
8 Angkatan 58 Gatchalian
9 Paskan 59 Agwasun
9 Buka 59 Magalang
10 Pana 60 Dughu
10 Jayadewa 60 Mayumi
11 Pusil 61 Tangkig
11 Namwaran 61 Yumi
12 Sapang 62 Bugu
12 Dula 62 Dangal
13 Hagiban 63 Kasbu
13 Panginoan 63 Igi
14 Badung 64 Tulabung
14 Balagtas 64 Kawagasan
15 Kamuning 65 Lapay
15 Sapa 65 Gan
16 Kanduwali 66 Akasya
16 Alat 66 Masagana
17 Sagpong 67 Alipata
17 Pahit 67 Sakuna
18 Bugto Pasan 68 Bay-ang
18 Malyag 68 Saguna
19 Tindak 69 Bito-on
19 Lat 69 Awa
20 Umindig 70 Adlawa
20 Matanda 70 Bandahali
21 Alimpulos 71 Bulan
21 Magara 71 Dawani
22 Mangal 72 Bungahuy
22 Mekana 72 Gunita
23 Bauga 73 Duldol
23 Chanai 73 Gadya
24 Matang 74 Nunuka
24 Humasanun 74 Durg
25 Mataunas 75 Sagapas
25 Daragat 75 Kawa
26 Kilat 76 Bulaw
26 Masawang 76 Ladya
27 Langit 77 Hagupit
27 Angintabo 77 Laxaman
28 Biyanti 78 Bughaw
28 Pamir 78 Magha
29 Buli 79 Antulanga
29 Acana 79 Narangha
30 Ba-at 80 Lagum
30 Vajr 80 Parikala
31 Tabugok 81 Amyon
31 Vlitr 81 Panata
32 Alamag 82 Taragman
32 Champaka 82 Palakol
33 Lusay 83 Dagaang
33 Siwa 83 Puksa
34 Kagut 84 Arum
34 Wisnu 84 Rah
35 Sangkil 85 Lagtom
35 Nagar 85 Salanta
36 Bangkilan 86 Lunghaw
36 Rudravar 86 Sampaga
37 Suga 87 Alimbuyug
37 Vahi 87 Simha
38 Sidlak 88 Ilom
38 Musa 88 Sutra
39 Dan-ag 89 Bulagis
39 Paramusang 89 Sangyawa
40 Silaw 90 Anunugba
40 Alamid 90 Tanikala
41 Sam-id 91 Putli
41 Harimau 91 Tumbaga
42 Pintas 92 Pilakan
42 Tagum 92 Yoni
43 Bagsik 93 Hingilin
43 Bakaw 93 Yoga
44 Bangut 94 Dugwak
44 Garsa 94 Tadhan
45 Isug 95 Baha
45 Kandanggaok 95 Yuta
46 Bangis 96 Matinamdanun
46 Tagak 96 Walna
47 Hanuy 97 Muog
47 Pakal 97 Ubaya
48 Usasawa 98 Maatang
48 Pagsisi 98 Wika
49 Sawa 99 Mangan Atay
49 Lawin 99 Sajja
50 Alangilan 100 Ambuhotan
50 Maragit 100 Mutya

336
 DIVINATIONS

Apumbukid Akai

1 Tayabak 51 Kakowint 1 Qalif 51 Tinggi

2 Nia 52 Qalantim 2 Patima 52 Mulka
3 Hibii 53 Fikoway 3 Idda 53 Rijiki
4 Gumamela 54 Ngen 4 Jamba 54 Kudar
5 Waling 55 Nggalofiteng 5 Betawin 55 Nabi
6 Antinga 56 Qalam 6 Joho 56 Pahala
7 Wadiya 57 Ngirong 7 Lukun 57 Rahmat
8 Wanowan 58 Ngiri 8 Ispara 58 Siksa
9 Wasay 59 Anda-i 9 Puddang 59 Sakut
10 Bulak 60 Angora 10 Puhan 60 Subali
11 Bunga 61 Fandaman 11 Baykaskas 61 Sujud
12 Jamba 62 Dabig 12 Simpung 62 Taat
13 Sajang 63 Dabodabos 13 Kadjang 63 Maliket
14 Favija 64 Dadaliyan 14 Taming 64 Madika
15 Vafengal 65 Qaregan 15 Kalari 65 Miriam
16 Fengev 66 Dangat 16 Israpil 66 Ahmad
17 Vuwa 67 Valatigal 17 Sangkakala 67 Arif
18 Fiwu 68 Valawag 18 Jibrail 68 Ajij
19 Vao 69 Vwarongis 19 Katibin 69 Chahai
20 Faganay 70 Ami 20 Kiraman 70 Fadhlan
21 Vagaw 71 Gukon 21 Ajinn 71 Harta
22 Pakat 72 Rsani 22 Malaikat 72 Ismaya
23 Fakatowa 73 Vatara 23 Layla 73 Joyo
24 Pakatekatekaw 74 Vatari 24 Maliyah 74 Praman
25 Tekav 75 Defa 25 Maia 75 Susila
26 Paksina 76 Defi 26 Malak 76 Vikal
27 Falagawad 77 Vatuk 27 Isa 77 Ananda
28 Falagatan 78 Kapala 28 Sayta 78 Farah
29 Falas 79 Iyug 29 Hipanyata 79 Anisa
30 Valenggen 80 Vika 30 Sada 80 Nurul
31 Falivay 81 Vataraka 31 Anunghara 81 Abdilla
32 Famenggang 82 Arani 32 Jikil 82 Ladin
33 Pandara 83 Rakan 33 Kalam 83 Ali
34 Megak 84 Yug 34 Hakim 84 Esmael
35 Gaingking 85 Fuwokan 35 Kursi 85 Fairodz
36 Gepae 86 Kuluyug 36 Nimat 86 Fahad
37 Agus 87 Vani 37 Sabal 87 Johari
38 Gebii 88 Faruna 38 Tulun 88 Kahar
39 Sugu 89 Indu 39 Tuhan 89 Latipa
40 Zukag 90 Awigan 40 Istigapar 90 Lucman
41 Qairombidariya 91 Liyokesin 41 Istinggar 91 Maimona
42 Kaiposa 92 Qar-i 42 Minta 92 Meriam
43 Kairon 93 Fili 43 Paaras 93 Misuari
44 Kailaw 94 Folor 44 Barakat 94 Mokamed
45 Lamagole 95 Inamcha 45 Ganda 95 Naima
46 Kaoley 96 Duga 46 Haddarat 96 Nasrudin
47 Lamang 97 Uvug 47 Ilyas 97 Nhor
48 Langogan 98 Loknen 48 Inji 98 Nhora
49 Layon 99 Qemi 49 Jabr 99 Rahim/a
50 Likeg 100 Viri 50 Kalabbiya 100 Zulaika

337
 DIVINATIONS

Virbanwan

1 Ysayle 51 Yrnesto
2 Ystinia 52 Huwan
3 Mary 53 Gilberto
4 Yfraim 54 Roxalinda
5 Regina 55 Lowis
6 Jomarque 56 Vyrnando
7 Raimundo 57 Pransisko
8 Anjyll 58 Basco
9 Danil 59 Abel
10 Althya 60 Laksandr
11 Soffya 61 Carlus
12 Andrya 62 Yrmis
13 Samanta 63 Sancho
14 Lyxa 64 Huwancho
15 Mariyan 65 Patentia
16 Ylisabeth 66 Abundio
17 Risel 67 Ada
18 Korazon 68 Adan
19 Dulurusa 69 Orhe
20 Ylisa 70 Dyovit
21 Dibina 71 Huwana
22 Gloria 72 Justu
23 Imelda 73 Kiko
24 Ymil 74 Kilyan
25 Marikar 75 Laurentina
26 Victor 76 Leocadya
27 Emmanuel 77 Lorynza
28 Benigno 78 Luhan
29 Enrique 79 Luna
30 Ferdin 80 Solarana
31 Hasinto 81 Luz
32 Duwarte 82 Guadalupe
33 Dyon 83 Maikel
34 Hoseh 84 Magdalena
35 Marcus 85 Marciano
36 Pavlo 86 Nepumoceno
37 Ramon 87 Mateo
38 Constantancia 88 Maximiano
39 Concepcion 89 Mayra
40 Alvaro 90 Nilo
41 Baschan 91 Niyebe
42 Alehandr 92 Olvido
43 Khlara 93 Paloma
44 Cladiah 94 Pelayu
45 Conxita 95 Hosep
46 Kruz 96 Perla
47 Doulcea 97 Petra
48 Ylena 98 Pedro
49 Ysparanze 99 Prudencia
50 Ysidor 100 Quirino

338
DIVINATIONS

339
The Sword Isles

340
 The Sword Isles

VI: The Sword Isles

341
 The Sword Isles

Open World Play In the Sword Isles

Solo Play will most likely be conducted in open world play. When you start a Solo Kandu, find out in your Kadungganan’s
background, or perhaps choose for them, where they might start. Each Region will have 12 Events each, to make each
region unique.

How To Use This Section

This section will lay out the ten major regions of the Sword Isles. Use these when traveling through a particular region to
generate events and perhaps meet people. Roll on the Events when looking for what happens next, when you find a
golden opportunity, or if you’re travelling across that region. Events must follow from the fiction, so if what you rolled
makes no sense, simply reroll.

The regions are as follows: The Graveyard of the Winds, Tauhaw, Barrier of Panlinugon, Pannai, Khadnala Sword
Shards, Jamiyun Kulisa’s Arrows, The Footsteps of the Gods, The Isles of Rajakami, North and South Rusunuga. When
having to randomize regions, you can roll a d10.

1. The Graveyard of the Winds

2. Tauhaw

3. Barrier of Panlinugon

4. Pannai

5. Khadnala Sword Shards

6. Jamiyun Kulisa’s Arrows

7. The Footsteps of the Gods

8. The Isles of Rajakami

9. Northern Rusunuga

10. Southern Rusunuga

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 The Sword Isles

North Rusunuga
The largest island in the Sword Isles, it is almost always in constant conflict between the contesting nations within the
island. Land warfare is more common here than the rest of the isles, and so are large plains and silt fields. The Island of
Rusunuga is commonly trading with the grand Hegemony of Baik Hu, facilitating intense cultural and material
exchange. The island is covered with vast mountain ranges and beautiful plateaus, as well as giant lakes and yawning
caves.

d12 Events

1 A traveling Imperial regiment, led by a single general. They are leading a chariot filled with important war resources. It is
guarded by an enslaved angel. There are Apumbukid ambushers somewhere nearby.
2 You meet a Ba-enon monk, who walks with a vajra-bell and a monkstaff. Preaches the word of the Annuvar Buddha.
Emanates compassion, will not fight unless forced to. On the way to the city of Ba-e.
3 You meet a handsome devil. Calls themself Luzbel. Not a Pale King, but has platinum hair and azure eyes. Fickle. They are
surrounded by dead angels. He is on the way to meet a Ba-enon warrior-priest.
4 You come across an opium den. It is owned by a giant cat spirit, who emanates laziness and intoxication. Harmless, really,
the giant cat is close to Glory. An Apumbukid warrior is conversing with the cat, seemingly trying to persuade them into
something.
5 An imperial Virbanwan regiment surrounding a giant metal war-suit, traveling trails blazed. The metal war suit is special
and expensive to create. There is a Ba-enon monk in the way.
6 You meet a traveling mendicant, who asks for alms. Is actually the Violent Bodhisattva, and everyone knows it, including
himself. He is traveling toward a Virbanwan iron village by a lake, where they have begun to kill river gods.
7 Giant crocodiles dance with giant naga across the skies. They dip and dive around clouds before sinking into the sea or the
river. Somewhere nearby, a Virbanwan scholar is trying to draw them onto palm leaf.
8 You find a displaced Ba-e settlement, hiding deep in the woods. They have been pushed out of their village by Virbanwan
warriors: a Warband of Kadungganan that is similar to your own.
9 A Ba-enon merchant fleet is running from a Virbanwan warrior ship. Will ask for your help, somehow.
10 Baikhan merchants arrive by the shore, will immediately trade with the Kadungganan. Near the end of the scene,
Virbanwans and Ba-enon warriors will converge on the position.
11 Ba-enon warrior-priests are locked in combat with demons and ghosts. If not helped, they will die. If helped, they can grant
access to important Ba-enon temples, filled with Ashinin-Annuvaran-Anitu teachings.
12 A Thundering Lightning Datu is breaking the sky overhead, fighting with a powerful Virbanwan Heneral who wields the
earth. Roll a d6. On a 1-3, the Thundering Datu falls somewhere nearby. On a 4-6, the Virbanwan Heneral falls somewhere
nearby as well. The fighting will converge soon where they landed.

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 The Sword Isles

South
Rusunuga
The bladed tip of the Sword
Isles. Many merchants from
Iyamat, the Longbow
Archipelago and Baik Hu can
be found here. The greatest
volcanoes and mountain
ranges can be found here, and
powerful mountain kingdoms
permeate this area. This is
where Vuyu, Sinuku, Asinan,
and Kabuluan use the natural
formations to create stone
protections against
Virbanwan assaults. Sinuku in
particular is almost as
powerful as Ba-e, though they
gain most of their riches
through fighting as
mercenaries in Jamiyun
Kulisa’s Arrows.

d12 Events

1 Kabuluan warriors travelling carrying bulu bamboo. They are fierce warriors but carry a porcelain jarlet filled
with alcohol. Very friendly, hostile against Virbanwans.
2 Sinuku warriors on their pilgrimage to Mount Alaya, where the great God Aring Sinukuan lives. They will
entertain travelers and passerbys, but they will kill those that stand in their way. Sinuku warriors are similar to
Ba-enon, but they are deeper inculcated in Ashinin faith, and believe in Lawu the Firebird that Swallows the
Sun.
3 Asinan fighters clad in silken robes that resemble hanfu, wielding katanas and daos. Probably on a river or
walking, or riding upon horses or tigers. They are on the way to their datu, or perhaps on the way home.
4 Virbanwan warriors are fending off Vuyu guerrillas. The Vuyu guerillas are winning, but the Virbanwans has
reincorcements on the way.
5 A spirit shrine in the way. There are idols that look like boars. A statue of Deva Gan, the god of knowledge and
journeys.
6 Traveling blacksmiths on the way. They offer you weapons, perhaps an Anting-Anting. But they will ask for
something in return (often pieces of cast iron or silver).
7 The earth quakes, and an incarnation of the god Aring Sinukuan arrives before you. He will ask you to kill
someone, probably someone from Ba-e.
8 Ba-enon monks are sitting on a cliff by the sea with Asinan shamans and Vuyu warriors. They are talking about
the nature of Glory.
9 The last practitioner of a lost martial art, a datu, is being attacked by an enemy settlement. Who do you help?
10 Iyamat merchants, looking for deerskins and clay pots in exchange for tea and swords. Their clothing is silk,
looking like fascimiles of giant moths, beetles, and grasshoppers. Iyamat insect gods are common.
11 Little gods arrive, happy and thriving. They will ask for something. If not given, they will get angry and inflict
violence.
12 Iyamat pirates launch an attack at you, they are skilled warriors wielding cannons, arquebuses, and katanas.
They mistake your warband for a traveling Asinan trading band.

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 The Sword Isles

Footsteps of the Gods

The handle and the tassels of the sword that the God used to pierce Gubat Banwa. Here the most powerful mandala is the
Sultanate of Akai, and the Sultana holds almost every leader and king within this region in thrall. The Footsteps of the
Gods is the land of beautiful cinnamon, extravagant flower islands, and burgeoning mountains. The center of Gubat
Banwa and the trichiliocosm, the Mountain of Apu, can be found in the island of Kalanawan, the largest island in the
Footsteps of the Gods. The Confederation of Apumbukid holds a large amount of power here as well.

d12 Events

1 You meet Lunate Knights on the path. They stop you and ask why you’re traveling. Hostile against outsiders
unless given a gift.
2 In the great island of Kalanawan, by the cold and lonely lake, there is a great hero-sage who now lives in a
cottage by the Lake Lanaw. He speaks and sings of Glory and greatness. If this is the first time the warriors
meet this hero-sage, they rise in Legend immediately.
3 You meet ritual warriors on the way to perform ritual killing to a nearby settlement. The rivers choke their
path.
4 A giant whale leaps into view. Those well-versed in gods will know that this is Kedu, the Whale That Will
Swallow The Light Moon.
5 You meet one of the handsome and beautiful Lunar Princes/Princesses of the Sultana. These royals travel
across the isles with a coterie of viziers, vassals, and retainer-knights. Will ignore you unless you’re
interesting.
6 You find ruins of an ancient city. The architecture reveals dragons and buddhas. Nearby, there are Lunar
Zealots that are setting up to destroy the architecture as it is blasphemous against Goddess.
7 Dagindaran janissaries are waging war with Apumbukid braves nearby. The fighting continues deep into
Kalanawan. There are warriors of Akai fighting on both sides.
8 A jinn (spirit) speaks with you from within the trees. They are friendly, and are good friends with the diwata.
They offer you betel nut, they ask for fish in return.
9 A jinn stalks you. They are hostile, and are demonic in nature. They will not hesitate to kill you. If killed, gain its
eye, which is valued by Akai alchemists.
10 A ritual marriage is being performed. White tattoos upon hands and face. There are Aasama folk nearby
fighting off sea ghosts that seek to kill the Bride for infidelity.
11 You find a sarimanok egg. It will hatch soon. Apumbukid, Dagindaran, Sonyoh, and Akai forces are
somewhere nearby, trying to get it first.
12 An Akai warband has arrived, led by a warrior-priest to Goddess. They will kill all those in their way. They are
the forward team for the advancing army of the Sultana, who has begun their Lunar Campaign to take over the
Virbanwan region.

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 The Sword Isles

Isles of
Rajakami
The dragon head of the Sword Isles.
Rajakami means “King Cinnamon”,
Rajakami is commonly known as the
islands of High Spice. The High Spices are
considered the greatest spices in Gubat
Banwa, and is so valuable that much of
modern trade surrounds their flow, causing
Baik Hu, Ramahasa, Mahajola, Issohappa,
and other far continents to vie for
ownership of the Sword Isles. The residents
of Rajakami are powerful shaman-kings
and sorcerer-queens that use witchcraft
made from the high spices to summon
dragons and control the Gods. The Isles of
Rajakami are covered in dense and lush
forests. Slumbering naga surround each
major island.

d12 Events

1 You meet Issohappan merchant-warriors that are spearheading the “East Issohappan Trading Company”. Do
what you will.
2 You meet one of the naga that surround the islands of the islands of the Cinnamon Kings. They give you
wisdom and knowledge. They will ask you to kill a Pale King that lives somewhere nearby.
3 Pale King warband.
4 You speak with Iyamat merchants that have traveled far and wide. They bring with them expensive silks and
tea, in exchange for spices.
5 An offshoot of the Baikhan Treasure Fleet has arrived here, sent on a mission by the Zhu Empress. They ask for
directions going back, as they must regroup with the Treasure Fleet on the way to Auraska to the grand city of
INDR.
6 You come across the kingdom of Gapi, famed for its spices and cloves. The settlements of the kingdom circle
the mountain of Kamalam, each settlement is ruled by a Molome, and each Molome answers to Katchil Mashur
Malamo, or Kolano (King) Kiko. It is expanding from its place at the southeastern tip of Salak, as trade with
Issohappan kingdoms and the Azur Caliphates expands.
7 A house filled with nutmeg, untouched by colonizers, traders and merchants.
8 Dagindaran warriors, following the Lunar Goddess, raid a small Astraiman (the Bleeding Star faith)
settlement. A nearby larger Astraiman military outpost is coming to fight back. Virbanwans are in the vicinity,
fighting for the Astraiman forces.
9 You meet a Spear Bearer from Naksuwarga, a rising power, who wishes to make trade relations with the
kingdom of Ema, the community that sits atop the largest natural nutmeg forest, wherein the nutmeg god
lives.
10 You meet Galadan merchants and warriors, from North Issohappa. They are still enthralled by Pale Kings, but
these seem to be free from Pale King influence, and have come not as invaders, but as servants of the local
kings.
11 You find a dead corpse of a Pale King being eaten alive by suanggi.
12 You meet the Cinnamon King: the god of spices who is clad in gold and has skin like flame. They are Rajakami,
and they are too friendly. As if they are an ancestor spirit. They grant you a single food of their choice, but will
ask you to kill a Pale King outpost in the far northwest.

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 The Sword Isles

Jamiyun Kulisa’s
Arrows
The far tassels of the Sword isles, this region is a
newer addition, as it is quite literally Jamiyun
Kulisa’s giant lightning cloud arrows fired to try
and slay the great Nushen Nugua, mother of the
million peoples of central Baik Hu. Nushen
Nugua survived the attacks and made a pact with
Jamiyun Kulisa that their children will trade and
exchange what they know of the world. The
arrows that fell upon the sea that now connect the
Footsteps of the Gods to the mainland continent
of Baik Hu have become populated with grand
kingdoms. From great god-kings, to sage-
shamans, to tiger-conquerors. Jamiyun Kulisa’s
Arrows are covered with islands of verdant
jungles and millet fields, but more striking are
the architectural marvels built within,
stillshrines to the gods. Many of the inhabitants
of The Sword Isles travel here to fulfill religious
pilgrimages and achieve spiritual
enlightenment.

d12 Events

1 A monk is reliving the travels of Tulopitaka across the entirety of the Sword Isles from Ba-e to the mountain if
MR, in the subcontinent of Indr. You meet them, but they are haggard and tired and have no companions. They
wield a staff and a sword themselves. When asked, replies that their name is “Sansan” and their companions
have died.
2 Altan Surutai warriors have arrived in the island of Sakara, where the ancient kingdom of Wijaya once lived,
and where the great city of Indrapura led by Nyi Warokken is established. The Altan Surutai are powerful
warriors that, before the Zhu Dynasty of Baik Hu, ruled over Baik Hu thanks to the strength of their Divine
Warlord, the Gengis Khan Qiyun Tailu, who heralded the Tailu emperor. A plucky young aristocrat, the
nephew of the Nyi Warokken, Rasa Sakra, has offered to help the Altan Surutai warriors to overthrow
Indrapura, with the promise that he becomes the new king. He is conniving however, and he will betray the
Altan Surutai in the end.
3 Rajasa Wuni, an ancient warrior-king from Halun, is constructing a rebellion against the greater king Dewa
Lakapati, who rules Halun from the northern tip of the Continent. He wields the powers of the sea like a
puppeteer moves shadows.
4 A play representing the fight between the war between the Bulanist Lunar Followers and the Ashen Starites is
being performed out in the streets.
5 A grand procession of elephants and lions is being presented before a grand monument made to resemble the
mountain of MR, which is one of the pillars of the earth (the center being grand Apu).
6 You meet an outpost of Auraskan Lionfolk from the Indr subcontinent. They are friendly and can speak Trade
Mataram, the trading language in the Isles. They’re mostly merchants, but there are some ksatriyas that wield
urumis and trishulas.
7 A band of Sinuku mercenaries are riding to the kingdom of the Kassr, which is in war with the Anibuga. This is
how Sinuku gains wealth and glory. They invite you along.
8 Traders from the Azur Caliphates, wrapped in silks, mostly bamboofolk but there are some pigeonfolk. They
are great with money. They preach the Lunar Goddess’ holy word, and the teachings of Sihkandag.
9 A tiger swims toward you. Roll a d6: on a 6, it’s friendly. Otherwise, it is hungry. It is larger than the usual tiger.
10 A king is hunting, with a coterie of other hunters. He is hunting from atop an elephant. They are hunting
imported giraffes from the Southeast Asian continent.
11 You meet an Ashinin priest performing a Geniyajna, the fire sacrifice. When they see you, they pull out a ritual
knife and ask if you want blessings. You must give up something important to you. If you do, gain 2 XP.
12 You find kinnari, freed from royalty, dancing about. When they see you, they run away. If caught, will find that
they are the princess of a nearby kingdom.

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 The Sword Isles

The Graveyard of the Winds

Two ancient wind gods, Habagat and
Amihan, warred here. The islands are not
islands but giant cannonballs, astras, giant
skybarges, ancient arrows, shattered
blades, scorched astras, cracked lances.

This ancient war has long ended. Folk live

on the remains of the giant weapons and
vessels now.

You will most probably need a boat to travel

around here. Storms kick up in random
places. Common to have a wind medium
upon boats when travelling.

Mairete and Ramasa are said to have been

the ancient kingdoms of Habagat and
Amihan, before war ravaged them.

Demons are common here. They were used

by Amihan and Habagat as footsoldiers
and war slaves. Mairete is ruled by a many-
headed demon-bodhisattva.

d12 Events

1 A group of warriors fend off an undead troop upriver into one of the islands.
2 A shaman-in-trance leaps into view. “The war continues!” she screams. “Amihan and Habagat ready their
zephyr lances!”
3 A small warband finds you on their daily patrols. “Oi! Some stragglers! We could use some extra hands for that
shrine we’re buildin’.” They unsheathe their blades.
4 You find an ancient javelin. It’s blade is made of calcified steel, forged by lightning. Find its owner and be
rewarded, or wield it (Garoda Wingspear anting-anting) and be hounded by demons until you are dead.
5 You chance upon a lone balyan, working now as an exorcist, clothed in robes, ceremonial flowers, and white
ritual paint. When asked, she will say that she is on the way to purify a town seemingly cursed by the ancestors.
The town worships a malevolent deity known as Mother Midirah, a perversion of the Virbanwan Madiyah, who
commands a virgin sacrifice every year.
6 A group of demons, still set to kill, attack the warband. This will always be a difficult encounter. The
appearance of demons always means that Raja Sri is close behind: gain a +1 on your next roll on this table.
7 You encounter a ship on the way to raid a community on another island, for one reason or the other.
8 You find yourself in the Open Ocean or the Deep Wood. Something uncanny happens to you as you brush with
the diamond realm of spirits. Will you ever be the same? Describe what you see. It scars you: start every
Violence with -1 HP until your next Downtime, but gain 1 XP.
9 You meet a giant. 50% chance of it being hungry. If it is, it immediately attacks (Size 2 Ogre Demon).
10 You encounter the king of Mairete, Raja Sri Diwa Haharing an ancient demon of three torsos. Surprisingly
calm and collected, and rules a sophisticated city known as Taklub. Exports deerskins, honey, and warriors.
Warriors are taught ancient demon arts. Sri Diwa Haharing learned his ways from a traveling monk named
Sri Daitya, who died there and became a worshipped ancestor of Mairete. Diwa Haharing has achieved the
bodhisattva state, though his life’s work is not yet done. He wishes to eradicate all demonkind, which he calls
yawa.
11 You hear whistling as you cross a wood. Walk forward and don’t look back. Utter a prayer to the ancestors. If
you dally too long, aghoy appear: stick-like slender men made of wood, whistling incessantly. They can be
given offerings to appease them. Will curse you if you run or if you defeat them.
12 You come across a strangler fig surrounded by porcelain jars. A royal family’s burial grounds. An elderly balyan
guards the area. Is kindly and offers betel nut.

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 The Sword Isles

Tauhaw
Composed of the largest
settlements in the Gatusan
Isles. Tauhaw is commonly
seen as the island of royalty.
Here the Hundred Houses of
Gatusan--datu that pledge
loyalty to the Raja--live.
This is the region of the Raja,
of the eventual Batarahari.
The one who will unite the
Hundred Chiefdoms and
establish a grand kingdom,
and then go on to rule the
world.
Foreigners are common here.
From across the world. Pale-
skinned ones are looked upon
with askance, but hospitality
gets the better of Tauhawnon.
Buwol houses one of the
fiercest resistances against the
Pale Kings.

d12 Events

1 Caught in the crossfire of a datu hunting party, led by one of the many kedatuan royalty of the Hundred
Houses.
2 An Annuvaran priest with a pewter monk-staff fights off a marauding band of water ghosts with the help of a
fellow warrior taught in the destroyer-tradition of Siwa.
3 You come across a feast held to celebrate a successful raid. A severed head is mounted on a spear at the center.
There is someone that wishes to steal the head.
4 An Akainon fisherman on his boat, filled with fish and coconut. If approached, asks for help hunting an old
rival.
5 Encounter a musical warband travels from village to village. The leader has backwards feet and disappears at
night.
6 A krait whisperer. She tells the story of the snakes. She makes friends with the coral serpents. She worships
Vritra, the god of the dragons, who wishes to kill Jamiyun Kulisa, who is Indra.
7 There is a balak, a poetic bout, going on, the hollers and cheers echoing across the isle. It is a fight for the hand
of the bride in marriage.
8 A child that speaks the language of the whale sharks, the butanding. They speak the secrets of the Tubigbanwa,
that ancient and distant realm, where souls dead become servants and warriors of the sea empires.
9 A karakoa wreck. A witchpowder trail leads into the forest, which has blasted it into mangled fingers of
magenta flame. Demons feast upon the stockpile. A nearby datu has heard of this wreck.
10 A warrior with crimson hair appears and asks for help. He is the heir to a settlement with a mystical well that
produces ice and other confections. The settlement is being run aground by his father.
11 A travelling master teaches a discipline lost to time, but only in a royal palace, while everyone is asleep.
12 A tigerfolk prince from the realms of Mahajola, said to be a descendant of great Jamiyun Kulisa. Lost most of
his things in a shipwreck after traveling into the Isles, save for his superior martial prowess, Vritra-slaying
sword, and his serpent-mount. Offers you help and teaches the tenets of Ashinin. Wants to start his own
kerajaan.

349
 The Sword Isles

Barrier of Panlinugon
East of Tauhaw, a common stopping point for traders from Baik Hu, or those from the Footsteps of the Gods.
A major city here is Kotalawana, named after its founder Sri Lawana, said to have been an avatar of Lawana Sinigida. The
current raja, Raja Sri Lawana Kalima (the fifth) is a tyrant, subsuming other communities under his own. He wishes, of
course, to show his devotion to his ancestor Lawana Sinigida and conquer Gatusan.
Travel due east from the Barrier, and one finds the remains of steepled towers jutting from the ground, each layer of the
tower housing a thousand gods. The occasional giant kampilan juts out out of the waves, seafoam crashing against it.
Grand coral cities and ecosystems have risen around ancient monoliths of Indira Suga, the Empress of Kings, the
Mother-Essence.
Ask a local, and they point and say, “Samrasat.” That is all they know, that is all their ancestors know. When pressed, they
shrug and say: “They are ruins now.”

d12 Events

1 An ancient cannon washes ashore the city of Kotalawana. Local datu fight over it. It has the strength to destroy
thousands. Raja Sri Lawana Kalima wants it for himself.
2 Ashinin missionaries have arrived from the Tiger Empires: ivory tigerfolk with four hands. They peddle gods
and spices. One wishes to speak about Siwa, the Lord of Dancers, the bringer of destruction. The isles know
Siwa by another name: Batala.
3 Sea raiders pass by, hooting and hollering, looking for another kill. They’ve found one, probably, with your
warband.
4 A giant rouses from their deep slumber from a seaside cave. Wishes to fight someone worthy of their time.
Will not fight someone smaller than him. Will wrestle gods.
5 A shaman laps at stream. Possessed by a wild cat spirit. Wants milk. Has eyes the color of sunset.
6 The weeds move. Little water ghosts dance. Will ask for food or for offerings. Prone to violence.
7 A headtaking ritual. Unable to escape; must partake in the violence. If not, prepare to be decapitated. Led by a
boar god.
8 A banana tree with a drop of moonlight hanging from its heart. If ingested, receive the fireblood mutya.
However a snake god will chase after you, trying to get it back.
9 A stray tiger traveling across an island. Missionaries will say it is a sign that Siwa blesses Panyupayana (their
name for the Sword Isles). The tiger is hungry.
10 An Apunon camp. They are waiting for a perfect time to strike against a rising village allied with Kotalawan. It
has been a constant source of Dihiyang for the longest time.
11 A lone faithful of Annuvaran faith in the corner of a settlement. Built their own pagoda-temple out of
hardwood. Prays to the Buddha Vairochana, whom she refers to as Sri Rajaraya Balaan Malaun, the great king
holy Malaun, which means Ancient One. Vairochana is a primordial Buddha.
12 A man scratching at his eyes. Has his third eye opened. Cannot be unseen. He is the king of Samrasat. Cursed
forever by ancestors.

350
 The Sword Isles

The Pannai League

A powerful league of cities each ruled by a datu, each one on
the verge of becoming a raja. They are a league of ten cities
trading and raiding together. Each one is ruled by a powerful
datu, each one has its own patron spirit.
Witness the holy mountain of Madjaas, where the souls of the
League return to instead of Sulad. It reaches the sky, that
temple-mountain. Atop it is the Buhi Lunok, the Tree of Life,
guarded and cultivated by Sri Dapa, the God of Mortality. He
marks the tree every time a mortal is born with their
expected life span.
The League is under constant attack from both Virbanwan
and Akai forces. With the help of Gatusanon raiders and
Apunon warrior-monks, they fend them off. The League
stands tall and equals Ba-e in age.
The ten major cities of Pannai are known as the Sampu Hias
Sang Kalis (Ten Jewels of Sword). They are descended from
the 10 Mahadatu who escaped the tyranny of Raja Makatunao
in Sonyoh.
Each one of them claims lineage to the god Seri Maharaja.
Seri Maharaja came from the reverent Pannai Kingdom of
warrior-monastics, followers of the Thunderbolt Vajra, in
Jamiyun Kulisa’s arrows. They decimated Mahajola’s
invading forces. They lost in the end, and arrived in Gatusan
afterwards.

d12 Events

1 Witness the Royal Dragon Barge of Datu Sumakwel, great fire-bearer, who once wrestled a naga to the ground
from a volcano. The Royal Dragon Barge is large enough to house various houses within, as well as its own
marketplace. There’s been a murder within it.
2 The great Heaven-Piercing Datu Bangkaya, who was an esteemed learner of the Heaven-Rending Art of
Heavenspears. His city-state rests before a large cliff in the shape of Raja Makatunao jutting out. Ashinin
devotees sometimes rest here to give lotus-prayers and perform mantra-meditations. Datu Bangkaya has
lately been a devotee of Annuvaran, believing in the perfection of sunyata and the liberation from
3 Meet a warrior of the lord of earth Padohinog, who could level mountains with a single strike. His settlement
is deep in the forests of Pannai, where he is close friends with the forest god. The warrior has crimson eyes and
is skillful with an axe in both felling trees and foes. He is traveling to the volcano of Kanlaon, wherein a great
dragon sleeps.
4 You meet the grand Datu Bantugan himself, whose skin is almost pale thanks to tiger-blood descendancy. He
is one of the few datu that does not claim lineage to Raja Makatunao but rather, to Megat Seri Laon, who once
traveled to the volcano now known as great Kanlaon and defeated the ancient Dragon Demon-God within. He
is looking for someone to carry out his dirty work: someone in a rival community must die.
5 By the shore, a crocodile spirit has possessed a fisherman. He lies down belly up all the time. Belches out
weapons.
6 A warrior from the settlement of Datu Paiburong, Banwa Irong-Irong, arrives to ask for help: their hand has
been ripped off, and they wish for their arm back. Datu Paiburong is the lord of the Irong-Irong strait,
controller of the flow of trade there, thus becoming a rich city-state. Datu Paiburong is a patron of the Ashinin
Faith and mixes it with local anitu, building monasteries and candi to the goddess Gold Tara.
7 An Ashinin monk, pewter staff and all. Looking for Kadungganan to help them travel to the Far East.
8 Meet Sri Dapa, azure-skinned and multiple hands. An aspect of Siwa, who counts down mortality. Can teach
the Dance of Death if asked, as well as the Decapitation Rite.
9 A giant naga erupts from a river. It chokes upon a god. Choose who to save. The god is always powerful,
perhaps an aspect of Wisnu.
10 A greater shaman-sorcerer, a ma-aram, seeks out Kadungganan for help in a ritual to end an ancestor’s line to
end a great evil.
11 Ancient metal statues in the forests of Pannai have begun to move. They were made by ancient Annuvaran
monks. They watch you as you cross the forests.
12 You come across a large group of people working on building a great candi. Demons try to stop them.

351
 The Sword Isles

Khadnala Sword Shards

Perhaps the most dangerous area of Gatusan. It is the wastelands, no-man’s land. There is only 1 Chiefdom here: the
Chiefdom of Sakad, established by Sri Kad in Gandara.
Sri Kad accrued power through both devotion to Maka-ako the Creator as well as righteousness by cultivating merit from
the ancestors.
Sri Kad was the closest thing to a rightful king. A servant of people.
He was killed by his brother, Sri Nala. Sri Nala took upon the regnal name Sri Maharaja Payana Parameswara Hari
Dalayawon. He went out eradicating the rest of the burgeoning communities of the Khadnala Sword Shards, leaving city-
and village-ruins and creating large wells of atrocity. Demons now abound, as well as vengeful dead (known usually as:
preta, hantu, amalanhig), across these islands. Thus it is considered a cursed region.
The current Chief of Sakad is Sri Kamakama, who is said to have the blood of vengeful ghosts. He is referred to by others
as the King of the Ghost Isles, and he is treated more as a king of ghosts rather than a chief of people.
Sri Kamakama is a kind warrior-brave who channels the merit of his ancestors. Through kindness he has asked for the
help of Anitu and Annuvaran exorcists to cleanse the islands.

d12 Events

1 You encounter a hungry ghost. Its maw opens. Its body always looks away from you, but its head always faces
you.
2 A demon-witch manananggal flies overhead, and finds one of you as prey.
3 An amalanhig: a ghost hungry and vengeful. According to the Ashinin, died with horrible karma. According to
local anitu, these are people that died as horrible beings, and cannot find rest in any place, even in Sulad, due
to their sins being too great for them to enter into any afterlife. They attack immediately.
4 A Makinaadmanon, a sage, who teaches of Perfect Divine Ego-Death. Teaches that the creator god Kaptan, to
create the Trichiliocosm, killed his Ego. Kaptan thus became the Trichiliocosm. The Makinaadmanon is a very
kind warrior-priest that gives tea and the Geomantic Moondrop to the warbands.
5 A small community that follows Nataraja, the Lord of Dance, performs a vigorous tandava to commemmorate
the rising of a new datu. There is an ambush ready to strike.
6 A ruin. Preta wander it. Wails echo across it. There is no respite for these ghosts. Cleanse them (Ghost).
7 A spot of forest where everything becomes black. An amalanhig with a gaping maw follows you. You see her at
the corner of your eye. Closer, closer. (Ghost Chief)
8 A wandering hammer-exorcist, a master of the Blood-Soaked Hammer of Hari. Can teach it. Has an anvil
made of preta. On the hunt for Asuras.
9 A wandering tigerman-priest, whose hair is crazed and whose eyes are always blood-shot. A brahmarakshasa,
demon-priests. Ashinin missionaries that died evil.
10 A shaman who channels Durga the goddess of death, of whom Kalakatri is an indigenized form of. Durga
comes from Southeast Mahajola, the goddess of warriors and in some sects is associated with the All-Mother
Essence Shakti. The shaman goes around putting preta and amalanhig to rest with a giant executioner’s
panabas.
11 You find Sri Kamakama’s city. A great city wherein amalanhig are turned to manual labor, ordered by
Annuvaran monks, to make up for their evil deeds. Sri Kamakama is hospitable and meritorious, who knows
of the prejudice from outside the Sword Shards.
12 A black-tiger, an avatar of Yamaraja, Supreme Lord of the Underworlds. He beckons you. Can teach the Dance
of Death if so wished. Can show a path into the underworld.

352
The Sword Isles

353
VII: Lore

Barter Items
If you want to randomize, roll 2d8, setting one dice as the
tens place and the other as the ones place. The barter
ratings are generalizations, it will not be the same across
all polities.
11- Kupya. Steel peaked helmet. An import from foreign
lands, now forged locally.
12 - Betel Nut Chew. When given to someone you just met,
it grants you +1d when conversing with them.
13 - Abaca Rope. 20 feet long. Has numerous uses.
14 - Glazed Water Pot. Useful for carrying water.
15 - Abaca Sack. A sack used for carrying things.
16 - Banig. A textile mat great for resting..
17 - Bamboo Fishing Rod. A fishing rod.
18 –Habay-habay. An abaca fiber under armor, worn
similar to a burlap sack. Usually waist length, but can reach
ankle length.
21 - A clay pot of dyestuffs. Choose which color. This can be
used to dye any cloth.
22 – Palm Leaf Scrolls and Writing Knife. Can be used to
write messages and notes.
23 - Clay Pot. A clay pot that can preserve anything put
within it for a three days.
24 - Tuba. Fermented coconut wine. When drunken, must
succeed on a save or else they are incapacitated for 6 hours.
Bahandi.
25 - Kasing. A hardwood spinning top much wanted by
children and collectors. Values at
26 - Kudyapi or Korlong. A boat lute, usually with one or
two strings, played with a plectrum. Much wanted for
feasts and celebrations. Kudyapi is used by males and
korlong by females. Values at
27 - Agung. A bronze or war gong, used for official
proceedings, ceremonies, war, and news. Bahandi.
28 - Ancestor or Diwata Idol. A little human being or idol
usually made of wood or stone, found in almost every
household in The Sword Isles. They represent little gods or
diwata, guardian spirits, or ancestral spirits that the
common folk pray to everyday. Some settlements paint
them intricately, others laurel and perfume them.
Offerings are given to them everyday. Usually not sold, and
no one in the market would seek it.
31 - Hinalasan Burial Jar. A porcelain jar depicting a river
dragon. Used as a means of secondary burial, where the
bones of the deceased are perfumed and stuffed within in
a sitting position--with their knees up to their chin--along
with their jewelry. Bahandi.
32 - Baikhan Cauldrons. Usually used for stews and soups,
they are usually traded in from the Southeast Continent (in
356
exchange for local forest goods) so that they can be broken
to supply smith forges, since it was easier to trade in
malleable iron than to extract metal from ore. Rarity to
smiths.
33 - Palo. Panday tools. The palo is a two-handed stone
maul for working iron. Palo-palo is a smaller stone
hammer. A pair value at
34 - Garol. Curved bladed spurs for fighting cocks. Valued
by those that frequent sabong fights and those that train
fighting cocks.
35 - Bisol Tail. The bisol is a kind of ray fish with a tough
and rough tail, used as a smoothener to smooth the
hardest of woods.
36 - Daya. A flat open boat akin to sampans. Can be used to
travel up and down streams and rivers.
37 - Balanga. A flat clay pan used for frying. Commodity,
sold by most potters.
38 - Gining. A large porcelain jar used for creating pangasi
rice wine. Necessity, usually comes from foreign trade with
Baik Hu and Malirawat.
41 - Kabo. A blue and white jarlet, Baikhan construct.
42 - Dulang. Wooden pan used to pan gold from streams
and riverbeds.
43 - Kamagi. Neck Trinket. Gold necklaces that contain
hundreds of links and rods and wires, all made of gold.
44 - Pakil. The native term for breastplate, can be made of
kalabaw hide, kalabaw horn, elephant hide, gold, bronze,
steel, hardwood, or bamboo. It is a necessity if its
hardwood, bamboo, or gold. It is a rarity if its made of
kalabaw hide, elephant hide, bronze, and steel.
45 - Pakang. A kind of mallet used to drive a lukub, an
instrument to make holes in shipbuilding.
46 - Kagingking. Branches of bamboo whereupon leaves
grow, used for rituals and decoration.
47 - Karayang. Frying pans of pure iron. Used for cooking.
Traded in from Naksuwarga or Baik Hu.
48 - Bakud. Poles used like staffs, made to create holes in
the ground for farming.
51 - Subing. A bamboo jaw harp. A twanging reed plucked
between the lips or teeth with the mouth as a variable
resonating chamber.
52 - Tolali. A bamboo nose flute, made to echo mournful
human sounds.
53 - Bangati. A vine used as a preventative for epilepsy.
54 - Kandit. Neck Trinket. Heavy gold sash worn by
kedatuan royalty.
55 - Golden Flower Ear Ornaments. Ear Trinket. Four
petaled gold flower sculptures, depicting the ancient
Flower of Life. Excessively ornamented and decorated,
made by the most skilled of panday sa bulawan
(goldsmiths).
56 - Patan-aw. Ear Trinket. Dangling gold earrings where
articulation is achieved by fusing zigzagging gold wire into
hollow hoops. From these dangle multiple round,
rhomboid, and foliate spangles and ornaments.
57 – Paruka. Wooden clogs, sometimes made of intricate
gold. A sign of wealth..
58 - Gold Barter Rings. Ring. Golden rings engraved with
exquisite wave patterns used as trading currency.
61 - Tutubi Necklace. Neck Trinket. Or dragonfly necklace.
Made of gold, a kind of necklace made of thousands of
granulated gold beads, flattened to create a shimmering
effect reminiscent of the tails of tutubi, dragonflies.
Expensive almost anywhere.
62 - Golden Forearm Bands. Wrist Bangles. Gold bands
made of sheets of gold wrapped around the forearms,
decorated with rose and palmetto motifs.
63 - Gold Armbands and Bracelets. Wrist Bangles. Wide
gold flaring bands worn as bracelets.
64 - Gold Petaloid Ear Ornaments. Earring. Ear ornaments
with petaloid protrusions and floral designs.
65 - Habul. Abaca cloth, used for a variety of things.
66 - Salt. Salt derived from saltwater was precious. One
ganta (3 liters) is usually needed by most people.
67 - Kukot. Wooden counters for calculation of barter.
Every tenth kukot was of a different size, to help in
counting.
68 - Cast-Iron Pans. From trade with others. Wanted by
panday sa puthaw (blacksmiths). Commodity, Necessity to
smiths.
71 - Bugsok. A bamboo clothes hamper that you can keep
your clothes and other items in.
72 - Kupit. A knapsack for holding items.
73 - Bangkat. Bamboo carrying basket.
74 - Kupang. A skein of cotton.
75 - Tapul. Tar-based teeth coating that can be applied to
give the teeth polished ivory. It also acts as teeth
preservatives. In most of the cultures of the known isles,
white teeth belongs only to the animals.
76 - Lakha. Red ant eggs chewed to grant the teeth a deep
red color.
77 - Pandong. Any natural covering used as a lady’s cloak.
78 - Sarok. A headdress with a deep crown, used for travel
on foot or by boat.
81 - Paraluman. A compass, not really used much as sailors
in the Archipelago memorize the currents, the islands, and
know how to read the stars.
82 - Bronze Mirror. Used as a mirror.
83 - Incense Pots. Valued by those higher in society,
important during death rituals, funerals, and mournings.
84 - Bulat. A perfumed ointment, compounded of many
ingredients, used for hair fragrance and luxuriant growth.
85 - Puno. A fine comb for removing head lice or ringworm
scales.
86 - Silat. A toothbrush made of vegetable husk for
cleaning and polishing teeth.
87 - Powdered Duyong Bones. A panacea for all kinds of
treatment.
88 - Puso Rice Cakes. Rice cakes boiled in a little wrapper of
coconut leaves.
357

A Collection of
Writings and Silks
of the Lotus
The following is a series of translated writings and songs
from the lands of Gubat Banwa, many of them written
upon palm leaf manuscripts, others written on
copperplate and ivory seals. Most of these have been
passed down to us in song and gossip.
On The Shape of the World
Written by Sahajaya Ngarok, the Fortress Shattering
Makinaadmanon. There has been a violence within the
echoes and songs of the learned and the fools, upon the
proper shape of Gubat Banwa. Many have said that since
there are countless gods and demons that the world is not
shaped at all, but the spiritual truth of formless reality–
Ang Tanan Nga Kawala (The All That Is Nothing)--which is
that ultimate reality that exists beyond us and before us
and even before the great Sky and Sea, obviously goes
against that. How can we, as finite creatures, little eels
upon the river of existence, know that the world is not
shaped? If the ultimate is formless then we must be
formed, for we are not ultimate.
Therefore the two most popular views upon which the
world is shaped are as follows: Hulma Niyog (Coconut
Shaped) or Hulma Baino (Lotus Shaped). The more
common knowledge spread across the Sword Isles is that
the world is shaped like a coconut, the Hulma Niyog. This
view originated within the isles itself, and only makes
sense: there are the realm of the mortals, upon which we
live, in the middle of the coconut, the realm of the gods on
the upper half, and then the realm of the underdwellers in
the lower half, all of it encased within a coconut-shaped
cosmos. This world thus floats upon the Sea of Wine.
The other popular view has been introduced from the far
southeastern missionaries and monks: that the world is
shaped like a Lotus, and it is balanced upon the tip of the
trident of Rayasaiwa, the central Guardian God. The
trident is known as Kadaut Rishud. Others say that the Sea
of Wine is the infinite vastness that is Rayasaiwa (thus the
Sea of Wine is also known as Rayavritur, which means
“Presence of Rayasaiwa”) and there are a potentially
infinite number of Lotuses (each one being a smaller
reality) which float upon Rayavritur, each one balanced
upon the infinite Kadaut Rishud. The sky is the lotus bud’s
ceiling, the farthest reaches of the World Jaws (upon which
the Continents are affixed) turn into the petals of the lotus,
and the depths of the world eventually ends in a giant pillar
that is the Kadaut Rishud.
What is the truth? Much more rumination and song is
needed, and experience and storytelling, and perhaps we
can ask the ancestors about the truth of the matter.
Perhaps it is both, or perhaps it is neither? Whatever it may
be, it is the shape.
358
Martial Arts
The primary way of fighting in every culture is expressed as
an art. These are martial arts. As with any art, there are
many different schools and branches of this art, and that is
doubly true for Gubat Banwa, where Martial Arts are the
primary art. Settlements might have special personal
Martial Arts only taught to the royalty of their village, while
others might have traveling martial sages or blacksmiths
that actively spread their martial art. Others might have
started Communities of Learning deep into the
mountains, inspired by foreign monasteries.
On the Topic of Rulership
Written by Sri Kadasiga Mahawagas, an excerpt from his
“Sermons on Virtue and Rulership.”
“For many datu in the isles, some sort of divinity is a useful
claim to royalty. This is because a ruler’s powerbase, a
king’s powerbase, in the isles depends on how much virtue
or merit the commonfolk see that you have. If they realize
that another, different warrior-brave or king has a more
powerful claim to royalty, whether it be divine heritage,
bloodline, or superior ultraviolence, then they will switch
allegiance on a dime, following the more powerful one.
Why would you follow a non-virtuous person? If you follow
a virtuous leader, then you will cultivate virtue yourself.
“Let me tell you, song within song, a story I have learned
from my teacher, a peerless spearwoman, named Tagos,
which means pierce through.
‘O great Makinaadmanon, tell us: what does it take to be a
king?’
The great Makinaadmanon bent her head in introspection,
and then said: ‘Two things. Merit and Compassion.
‘To expound: all kings must express great merit, one that
speaks good of their actions on the earth. This merit shall
fill them, proper fealty and obeisance to the superstitions
of the world. Those of Gatusan like to call it ‘Gahum’,
power, but in fact it is more than just. It is more than just
power. It is respect, charisma, force of personality, and
virtue.’
‘Great Makinaadmanon, what brings one merit?’
‘Proper action. The king reflects upon his disciples, his
followers, you see. If the king acts correctly, then his
followers shall follow correctly. He shall avenge his
ancestors that have been wronged, execute justice,
cultivate compassion and harmony with nature, and a
propensity for peace, and silent stoic virtue that cuts
through falsities, smoke, and bamboo to arrive at the
proper conclusions to better support his disciples.’
A pale young girl, with hair the color of yellowed flowers,
said: ‘You speak of the king with his disciplines—‘
‘Yes,’ interrupted the Makinaadmanon. ‘That is because
Kings from your land subjugate. Kings here in the Sword
Isles: Rajahs, Lakan, Datu, Sultans… they are all leaders.
They are not simply rulers. They carry with them their
strength, and they are chosen by the people to lead them,
and not given to them by Gods. There is a difference.”
The boy lifted a thoughtful eyebrow. ‘But that is not how it
seems, great Makinaadmanon, in the Sword Isles. The
Sultana claims heritage to the Moon, the Batara Lakan is
chosen by God, the Hari has the blood of tiger-gods…’
The Makinaadmanon laughed and nodded. “No merit, no
compassion…” she turned on the boulder she sat and bent
over, as if retching. Then she said, her teeth stained red by
the betel nut that she had been chewing for 44 days: ‘That is
why there are no kings in The Sword Isles.’
‘Is Royalty something they must achieve then, wise one?’
‘Nay. Royalty is something they must shed.” The
Makinaadmanon grinned. Her shattered sword glinted in
the night light. “Royalty is an incomplete thought crafted
by autocrats. They must trudge toward holisticity,
harmony, oneness, nature.”
There are many terms that deal with the complex topic of
rulership in the Isles. In general, “Kings” in the Sword Isles
do not consolidate their power by collecting land, but
rather, by collecting people, as the manual labor lets them
take advantage of the abundant natural resources.
The hierarchies of Rulership are as follows.
Servants - The lowest in the Social Classes, those that can
be sold like items, and are owned by those they owe their
debt to. Servants are transferred through transference of
debt. These are known as aliping sagigilid in both Ba-e and
Virbanwa, oripun hayohay in Gatusan, ipun in Akai, and
bayang in Apumbukid. Even lower than servants are the
war chattel, known as captives, who do not even serve and
are just sold like items. They are known as bihag across the
isles.
Peasant - The next lowest. They are indebted to their Chief,
and are considered as owned by their Chief, in the same
sense that a serf would be owned by a Lord. These are
aliping namamahay in both Ba-e and Virbanwa, oripun
tuhay in Gatusan, kiapangdilihan in Akai, and nugkat in
Apumbukid.
Conscript - The third lowest of the “servant” classes,
conscripts have the most capacity for social mobility, as
their primary purpose is to serve both as boat rowers for
their Chief or owner’s vessel, as well as fighting for them.
Brave exploits in combat in the Isles are recognized, and
many Chiefs elevate faithful conscripts to becoming
warriors. These are commonly known as horohan across
the isles.
Warriors - The middle-class after the peasants. They are
similar to vassals in that they will fight for their owner.
They are very often owned by Chiefs, and they have the
ability to pay off their duty freely and to leave and choose a
different Chief to serve. They are known as maharlika in
Ba-e, sundalo in Virbanwa, timawa in Gatusan, kalita-o in
Apumbukid, and satariya in Akai.
Kadungganan - The best of the warriors, very often treated
like aristocracy. Kadungganan are well feared across the
archipelago, and spoken off in hushed tones. Many
Kadungganan become Chiefs of their own right, or become
sung about in the songs of the lorekeepers. Kadungganan
in Gatusanon, Hulubalang in Akainon, Bayani in Ba-e,
Kabalyero in Virbanwa, and Vwiraya in Apu-apu.
Aristocrat - The nobles, very often they are related in some
way to the Chief, whether it be through blood (even second
nephews become Aristocrats), marriage, or by the Chief
absolving them of all Debt and making someone their
vassal. Aristocrats enjoy the most freedom in society,
second only to the Royalty and the Chief themselves, and
very often delve into trades and professions that they can
afford, such as boatwrightship, singing, mourning,
weaving, blacksmithing, merchantry, and far-continent
trading. A chief’s concubines are considered Aristocrats.
They are known as tumao in Gatusan, mafengal in
Apumbukid, tuwan in Akai, maginoo/binibini in Ba-e, and
don/donya in Virbanwa.
Royalty - The greatest of the nobles, these are first of kin
blood-related to the Chief, or those that the Chief married.
This includes the Chief’s parents, brothers, children, and
grandchildren. Only the Chief’s main wife is considered
royalty. Royalty have access to the wealth of the settlement,
and enjoy the servitude of those that also serve the Chief.
They are known as kadatuan in most communities, and
datu in Akai.
Chief - The greatest of royalty. They are the owners of a
settlement. The entire settlement is known as their
Following (remember power is gauged not by land
controlled but by number of people you lord over) or their
Chiefdom. When a Chief must pass down their title, they
can choose amongst other royalty, and not just the eldest
son. This is very often an important event, with the Chief
speaking with a council of elders, sages, and warriors to
choose the next Chief. Chiefs commonly choose the next
Chief while still alive, and then retreat into a safer position
deeper inland or within natural defensive bulwarks to live
there, and are considered Elder Chiefs, who are considered
Chiefs even as their Following is transferred to the newer
Chief. Known as datu in most cultures. Akai calls them
panglima.
Chiefs very often depend on authority given to them by
lineage or divinity (those that have the blood of diwata or
of ancient hero ancestors are very often Chiefs). However,
authority only gets them so far: they must consolidate their
power by gathering many treasures, which they must
showcase and flaunt to impress upon their Following the
strength of their power.
King/Queen/Great King/Great Queen - Kings are rarer
than not in the Sword Isles, and are very commonly just
Chiefs on a larger scale. They are commonly known as
rajah or sarripada, while Ba-e calls them Pamegat, and
Virbanwa calls them Lakan. Kings do not have larger
swathes of land to control, but rather, have a number of
Chiefs that defer authority to them, and they have this
authority by dint of either communal agreement (as is the
case in Gatusan), Trade Monopoly (meaning they have
access to much wanted international wares and other
wares from even within the Sword Isles), or through debt
(they have a number of Chiefs that have debt to them,
meaning the Chiefs become part of their Following).
However, very often, when a King is defeated, since their
power comes from the three things above, it does not mean
that the Followings under the King’s authority
automatically follow the one that defeated the King. In
many cases, it means the Chiefdoms under the King are
freed from the King’s authority, unless the one replacing
the King can showcase that their power can daunt the
other Followings as well.
Some Kings can be considered Great Kings, if they have
Kings in their debt. These Great Kings are rare in the isles,
359
but they exist, and they are very easy to depose due to the
volatile nature of political relationships. Great Kings very
often have the title of Maharajah.
Both Kings and Great Kings when they reach this position
take on a different title, something impressive, something
foreign, to consolidate their power.
God-Kings/God-Queens - There are only five God-Kings in
the Sword Isles. These are the rulers of the five major
polities. In Akai, it is the Sultana. In Virbanwa, it is the
Batara Lakan. In Ba-e, it is the Sangpamegat. In
Apumbukid, it is the Jayavarnam (of which there are none,
and is a title given only to the God of Apu Dayawa). And in
Gatusan there is the Hari (a term taken more recently, as it
was once reseved for foreign kings, but Rajah Ambasi has
accrued enough power to take that term for himself).
The God-Kings emanate with divinity, and with so much
power that their very bodies are considered treasures, said
to shine with a sungleam aura, and their eyes burn with a
different flame than mortals. This is not poetry: the God-
Kings are said to have been blessed by the Ancestors so
much that they are very close to being the most powerful of
mortals, and if any of them played their cards right, they
could begin a Conquest that could span the entirety of
Gubat Banwa.
And that exactly is the problem: all mahamandalas (even
Apumbukid, who must engage in violence to sustain
Hiyang) are at the tipping edge of all out war, a war to see
who will become the Universal Ruler of The Sword Isles. If
any one takes control of the Sword Isles, they can feasibly
take control of all of Gubat Banwa.
When the balance is broken is when begins the Eighth Star
Era, poetically known as the Year of Kalakatri, Goddess of
Star Darkness and Murder. Even more poetically, it is
known as The Longest Year. The Himayanon once said that
the world ends at Eight, the holy number, the last number,
perfection of divinity. Thus: the Eighth Star Era is said to be
the final era of Gubat Banwa.

The Scourge
First, realize this: the warring realms contend and play with fire. They must be in accordance with Hiyang, that is, supernal
harmony with nature and the world, which in itself is holy and divine, for it is where all things come forth. In Gubat Banwa,
“sacred nature” is tautology: nature is already inherently sacred, by dint of what it is.

What happens, then, when what is sacred is desecrated?

There is the state of anti Hiyang, known as Di-Hiyang. A being in Di-Hiyang is a being outside of the natural state. It is very
rare for something to be in Di-Hiyang: almost anything done–from violence to love–is part of Hiyang. Hiyang, after all, is
the totality of all these things. What is Di-Hiyang? Di-Hiyang arises in places of pure atrocity. Mindless mass murder,
things that the diwata (manifestations of Hiyang) turn away from. Included in this atrocity is the desecration of natural
places in which the diwata or the ancestors did not consent. Violence and brutality in a sacred grove incurs Di-Hiyang.

A sacred place in Di-Hiyang is one that must be appeased, usually with balyan, but this can also be done naturally, by going
through proper rites and speaking with the offended spirit/s. However, places of Di-Hiyang are very often marred forever
by some unnatural infliction and desecration. This is called The Scourge.

The Scourge manifests commonly as festering deep saffron petals, a broken and terrible perversion of natural beauty, as
well as ivory branches. This is a natural occurence. Many of the beings that arise from Di-Hiyang are manifestations of the
Scourge, wicked dissonance from nature and the world. These include beings such as demons (yawa, busaw, sitan) and the
undead.

360
Diwa
Diwa is the natural flow of everything, of nature. It is the
spirit of all things. When one says “Diwa of Justice”, then it
means “The Essence of Justice” or “Spiritual Essence of
Justice”. As the essence of all things it bolsters people. Diwa
that is harnessed and used by warriors and martial artists
is known as Gahum, sometimes Puhon, accessed through
mystical-martial forms, practices, hand mudras, and
sorcerous incantations known as mentala. Ancient items
that have been passed down in generations have been
imbued with Gahum, and thus is bolstered with
overflowering Diwa. Items with overflowing Diwa become
Treasures.
Treasures, known as kabilin or pusaka, are ancient
heirlooms passed down from generation to generation,
with each generation bolstering it with diwa by
transferring gahom to it through using it, or adding to its
story, as diwa is bolstered through the etheral void through
song and tradition.
The state of Hiyang can only be achieved if one’s own body
and soul are harmonious with the everpresent diwa.
Since diwa is present in everything, and is essence
everything, even one’s self, Annuvaran religions conflate
the concept of diwa with the concept of the continunous
stream of conscience and state that there is no soul or self.
Hiyang
Hiyang is an adjective. When something is “hiyang”, it is
attuned to the natural flow of Kalibutan. Someone who is
attuned with Hiyang is known as Naghiyang, and they are
moving in the same flow as Hiyang. This philosophy of
animistic harmony is known as Hiyangism.
Becoming Naghiyang is an enlightened state but is not a
final salvation or liberation from the sufferings of life.
When one is Naghiyang, one moves in accordance with the
wants of nature, with the bouncing gods that live in every
single thing, including one’s self. They do everything
naturally, easily, without thinking, action without
thought. However, mindfulness is still required to stay
Naghiyang: one can be very easily brought out of
Naghiyang. Those in Naghiyang revel in the absolute joy in
being accordance with the trichiliocosm.
Concordance
Concordance is the state of pure bliss and a final
harmonious embrace of the Trichiliocosm. By embracing
the truth of Ang Hiyang, that we are all ourselves but also
all part of this world, in the same way that each leaf is its
own leaf but is still part of a tree and is considered a tree as
a whole, so is God. We are all individual parts of supreme
reality but we all are, when one zooms out. Concordance is
the ultimate embrace: when one becomes Ang Hiyang
itself, or Essence itself, you disappear and become
unseeable by Dihiyang beings, transcendent animism.
Kalibutan
A term that means the world, or everything around you. It
comes from libut, which means “to go around”. It is the
cycle of nature, reality, and souls. It is a local term for the
Trichiliocosm, because what is the cycle of violence but
everything around you? This is the term used to describe
the cyclical reality that all souls live in. Enlightenment is
very often not separation from the kalibutan but rather,
transcendental harmony with it, true liberation, allowing
your Soul to operate unchained by it as you are it. This is a
state known as Glory.
Godhood
There are two paths to Godhood in Gubat Banwa: Death By
Violence or Concordance.
To begin, we must first define a God in Gubat Banwa. Gods
in Gubat Banwa are divine manifestations of the flow of
the universe of nature. Very often they arise from the world
itself: thus there is a God of Death, or a God of Swords.
There are a Trillion Trillion Gods across the Billion Billion
Universes. There are two kinds of Gods: those Primordial
that are Gods without having been once mortal, and those
that were once mortal and ascended to Godhood. Many
Little Gods—that is, Gods of little things, of cotton, of
butterflies, of chrysanthemum petals, of small streams—
can either be primordial or ancestral.
Dying in Violence is the common way for many ancestors
to become Gods. When they die, their blood creates the
rainbow, and they travel to the sky with it, and they achieve
Godhood and inhabit a particular domain connected to
their exploits or what they loved to do when they were yet
alive. A father who died protecting his children might
become a God of Protection, or a the Guardian God of his
lineage. Sometimes it arrives from soft atrocities: little
children butchered by a Tyrant Overlord might become
Yawa, but once cleansed and made Hiyang once again, they
might turn into little gods of a particular forest clearing,
manifesting as wood spirits (kahoynon) or earth spirits
(yutanon).
Those that achieve Godhood through Concordance tend to
be non-warriors: poets that craft a transcendental epic that
leads to them becoming Gods midsong, or a shaman that
has perfected their revelry, penitence, and worship,
becoming a burning Forest God. Those that achieve
Godhood through Concordance rarely become Little Gods,
even if they are the ones that understand that the power of
Major Gods mean nothing in the grand tapestry of the
Trichiliocosm.
361
On Hiyang
1 - One day, walking upon a river of water lilies, Malaun the
Oldest God asked Baginda Sumongsuklay, Despot of the
Moon: “Demons are notorious liars. Do you not think this?”
2 - “I am inclined to think this, for I have slain demons and
they have decided to live instead.”
3 - “And should you believe anything a demon says?”
4 - “I would think not,” said Baginda Sumongsuklay, as she
cleaved a mountain in two, and took some of its copper and
threw it to the moon. “That is dangerous, and will make me
a liar.”
5 - “Baginda is delightful. But would a demon know the truth
of this world?”
6 - “I would think not! Or perhaps, they would know truth
but understand it incorrectly!”
“Then what are mortals to you, then, Moon Goddess? They
look at the truth of the world square in the eye but choose
to misunderstand it.”
7 - “Mortals are worse than demons, Elder One,” said
Baginda Sumongsuklay. “For it is their nature to reject their
nature.”
8 - “A paradox of self-evisceration. Why do you think this?
And what do you think of it? Rumination precedes
anticipation.”
9 - Baginda Sumongsuklay thought for a moment. The
moon lost 37 phases at that moment, as she felt paradoxes
convalesce. “I have seen them toil and work as all beings do.
I have seen them slay their lovers to lay with others. They
have no halo but the blood of their victims. Yet they seek
happiness and love and joy. In a state of constant self-
compassion and self-evisceration.”
“Why do you think they are stuck in this loop?”
10 - “Because they do not understand the truth of the
world, of which they misinterpret. The greatest of their
sages write upon palm-leaf treatises on Oneness and
Harmony and Completion and loss of self. That is a
misinterpretation.”
“You know the half of it. Why do they misinterpret, o
Huntress?”
11 - “They believe themselves to be separate from nature.”
“What is the truth of nature, then? Why must one be in
harmony with nature?”
12 - Baginda Sumongsuklay looked up in confusion. Malaon
the Eldest One, Ancestor of All Things, said: “Pity the fool, or
pity none at all. Cast the teeth and tell innumerable stories.
Believing themselves to be separate from nature is their
greatest sin: they are part of nature. We are all part of a
whole, but we are also completely different from each
other. We are like the planks of a boat, meant to fit together,
to create grand war barges that can sail to heaven.”
13 - “Then great Baginda, what must be chased after?”
14 - Pagmata, or Awakening, to the transcendent truth. Only
then can one become Himayanon, Blossomed, liberated,
living in Glory, detached from the world and also being the
world itself.
362
What is the world but an infinite number of causes and
effects? If that is the case, what is the first cause? It is hard
to understand, because mortal minds must understand
things in order, one after another, cause-and-effect. The
first cause was also the effect. The birth of causality is
paradox: cause-effect.
The first cause-effect is two things as well: Love-
Evisceration. They are the same and also different. The Sky
and Sea was also the Skysea. They are one and the same,
but then they are also different.
When the Skysea became the Sky and Sea was the First
Division. It was already that, of course. The Sky and Sea
became Skysea as well, it also became First Unity. Thus the
first Division and the First Unity are constantly,
consistently, parallel and endlessly simultaneous. The
Himayanon has been illuminated to this and thus he
almost achieved the ultimate division.
All things are cause-effect. Thus all things are the causes of
each other’s effects, and vice versa.
We are all changing each other. This is called Evisceration,
the purest form of cause-effect, because we inherently are
products of it, so are we it. Therefore, we must change each
other responsibly, in accordance with each other’s needs,
because we are all part of the same cause-effect. That is,
nature.
Folk are not separate from nature, they are nature. The
greatest mistake of elder-thought is their belief that they
are different or higher than others. This is the sin of
Anthropocentrism. Nothing can be further from the truth;
you must return to us.
Only by returning to us will you find hiyang, which is a
state of being harmonious with the cause-effect, which is
nature.
Being dissonant with the cause-effect, being in the state of
Di Hiyang, creates ripples and scourges through the cause-
effect. Since we are constantly affecting each other, if you
do things that do are not Hiyang, then others will be
affected: spirits might be displaced, trees might shrivel. A
butterfly’s wings cause a storm, you see. Your unrighteous
murder of your brother by the riverbed might cause her
corpse to fall into the river, which angers the spirits of the
sea, which might summon a grand typhoon upon your
island, and the typhoon might threaten the grand god of
your island’s volcano, and thus they might burst open, and
cause clouds of black to block out the sun, and freeze Gubat
Banwa forever. That is how your act of murder can lead to
apocalypse.
Therefore, being Hiyang is, in other words, being mindful
of two things: your actions and your place in nature. You
belong to us, you have never been apart from us. Even your
weapons, and cannons, and vessels, and explosives, and
towers… they are all part of the cause-effect, created with
our consent. Thus is the same with you: we cannot affect
you and kill you unless you allow, or if you have tampered
with nature, which is our responsibility.
363
Himayanon
Meaning Glorious - a syncretization of the Annuvaran
buddha. While Annuvaran preaches absence of self and
liberation from the phenomenal world (the term known as
Annuvar), the Flower Philosophy teaches that Blossoming
is like a transcendent joining. Your soul (kalag, or atma) is
removed from kalibutan and becomes one with it, and
thsu you achieve liberation from the Wheel. It is the
realization that the Self and the All are one and the same.
The Self is not part of the All, and the All is not composed of
the Self. It is simply one thing, a transcendent supreme
nature of no dichotomy. Himaya means glorious rapture
or bliss.
Himayanon are not gods. They are past godhood, for even
gods are subject to the illusion of phenomenal reality (or
dichotomous reality). Very often gods achieve Himayanon,
however.
Paired with a new chosen name: ie. Himayanon
Madaogong Senapati, or Himayanon Libong Kalis.
Himayadiwa
Syncretized from Annuvaran bodhisattva. One who
possesses perfect wisdom and has Glory (Himaya) Essence
(Diwa). Someone so close to the state of Namulakhood but
has chosen to forestall Blossoming to spread teachings and
help others achieve Himayahood. Himayadiwa are greater
than gods as well, for they are effectively liberated from
kalibutan.
To achieve Himayadiwa one must first be Naghiyang, as to
live in glory one must first experience concordance, but
some exceptions exist: those that have attained a twisted
understanding of twisted glory and think that the wheel of
nature must be stopped or that all spirituality must be
destroyed are known as Pintasdiwa (Cruel Essence).
364
The Flowing Flower River
The Flowing Flower River, spoken in a sermon by Dalugdog
Himayanon, the Thundering Awakened, condenses to a
single thought: give unto those around you, and those
around you shall give unto you. This is visualized by a
flowing flower-river: when you are in the river you think
you are just a flower upon the river, but the river is actually
connected to the sea, and the sea actually becomes the
clouds, and the clouds eventually becomes the rain, and the
rain is the reason why there is a river in the first place. At
what point is there separation?
Similarly: the Self (Kaugalingon) is an important part of
the Community, and the Community is an important part
of Nature. As the Self, you must live in accordance with the
Community, so that the Community can live in accordance
with Nature. Nature in turn will grant blessings upon the
Community, and all blessings upon the Community will
become blessings upon the Self. Therefore, be mindful of
yourself and those around you. No firefly alights alone, and
no man is a single island in an archipelago.
The Path of the Flowing Flower River can be summarized
into 4 Parts:
1. Know your place. Help those around you, and those
around you will help you in turn.
2. Live with the Community. The Community must live with
you. Help the Community, which might include things that
might hurt the Community.
3. Respect the Ancestors. They are the rain that created the
river that you are, but do not honor them if they have been
detrimental to the Community, and therefore, to Nature.
4. Revere Nature: you are the Trichiliocosm experiencing
itself. Liberation is not freedom but enlightenment. Glory is
nothing but returning to the Trichiliocosm. Live in harmony
with the Trichiliocosm’s absurdity and you will find
Blossoming.
Death and the
Afterworld
All Folk that die in battle ascend into the heaven of
their choice or faith upon a rainbow. Their blood
creates the colors that streak across the sky.
Otherwise, all those that die go into the process of
being picked up by the many psychopomps that
permeate the cosmos. They are brought to the
proper judgment as dictated by what faith holds
their soul in thrall. In The Sword Isles, this is most
often Sulad, where they will be judged accordingly
to what items they were buried in. These
afterworlds are several different reality realms
that are interconnected and turn in kalibutan.
For Gatusanon, Ba-enon, and Apunon: if they
were buried with many gold and material wealth,
they would be given the chance to be saved by
Iraon-Daron, who brings them into one of the
many heavens, usually a place of rest atop great
mountains. Either that, or they can choose to send
their dungan, their soulful willpower, into the
body of another unborn child, effectively
reincarnating. Many Ba-enon believe that a soul
reincarnates as gods or other beings.
For Virbanwans: this is usually the Impyerno,
where they suffer the fires of Makaubos until the
end of days. They do not have a chance for heaven
unless they were redeemed by their faith to
Makagagahum.
For Akainon: they have a very similar process as
with Gatusanon. However, if they profess their
faith to Baginda Sumongsuklay, they get to be
brought by Iraon-Daron to the tallest mountain
on the moon, where the Holy Moon City of
Baginda Sumongsuklay lies. There they rest and
train until they are called into the final reckoning,
the Ultimate War. Those of Akai get to have their
souls kept in great holy jars guarded by six-winged
Garuda in the Moon. The moon lies in the fifth
heaven. Those that die in holy striving, usually in
combat in the name of the Moon, get to live as
sentient souls beside Baginda Sumongsuklay in
her Lunar Palace.
Those that were not given the chance to heaven
either suffer in Impyerno, or toil forevermore in
Sulad, doing what they already did in life: trading,
farming, working, raiding, and feasting. This is a
very benign end, and even in the afterlife they
might be able to die. If they do, they reincarnate
into the mortal world once again, although with a
smaller soul this time. Having a smaller soul is not
detrimental. However, once the soul is as small as
a rice grain and can fit into the many thousand
miniature caskets—usually after nine lives—they
are thoroughly buried into Si Ginarugan’s garden,
never to incarnate again.
Souls of young children do not go to Sulad. They
incarnate as birds of paradise in heaven and live
in Glory.

365
The Five Holy Beasts
There are 5 animals in the Sword Isles that are almost
always considered Holy, or at least Sacred. One must know
that the attitude to things holy and sacred in the Sword
Isles tend to be one with fear and reverence, awe and
monumental respect.
The Crocodile is one of the most well respected beasts: they
are very often considered to be avatars of the ancestors
themselves, and are treated like Grandfathers—that is,
with utmost care and respect. They are the great masters of
both sea and land, protectors of the places where water and
earth meet.
The Serpent is another well respected beast, and is just as
feared. They are the consummate lords of the earth, as they
are always in tune with the flow of the land, of the soil, of
the rocks. Serpents that do not get killed are said to live
forever, growing to immense sizes. Giant serpents are very
often found in the deep forests, and they are very often
gods. Serpent venom is the most potent venom, powerful
enough to corrode the target’s shields and flesh, but it is
also a healing component that must be mixed with blood
and feathers of its opposite beast, the Eagle.
The Water Buffalo is the lord of the plains. In Virbanwa,
they are considered the lords of farmlands and tenacity, as
they are used for plows. The Water Buffalo represents
determination and steadfastness, and most importantly,
the conviction of warriors. Water buffalo horn and hide is
used to create armors and shields.
The Dog is the lord of hunting and forests. They are
cooperation, familial nature, and faithfulness incarnate.
They represent honest work, and discipline needed for
those in need. Dogs are very often guardian beasts for
mountain settlements and inland settlements. The fabled
Witch Dogs live in the deep forest: they are nature
guardian spirits in their own right, and harming them is
said to place a curse upon you.
In the Ashen Star Faith, the Serpent is sometimes replaced
with The Lion. There are no Lions in the Sword Isles, but
there are lions from the regions where the Tranquility
Missionaries from the Far Southeast and the Sanguine
Missionaries of Issohappa hailed from. The Lion is the holy
beast of pride, of strength, of leadership. It is associated
with individuality and royalty, things kings cling to to keep
power.
366
In the Lunar Faith, the Serpent is sometimes replaced with
the Horse. The horse, or kuda in Akainon tongue, is an
animal that toils endlessly but is treated as a close
companion. Many horses are outfitted with royal saddles
of gold and pearl. Horses are named, and there are
professional horse caretakers: some settlements in
Kalanawan center around taking care of horses for
example. Horses are also a symbol of royalty, faithfulness,
and tenacity. It is also revered as a giver, as horse hide can
be turned into armor, and their postures are commonly
imitated by Akai warriors, creating the universal Akai
martial art stance of kuda-kuda. Elder wild steeds become
gods of the plains, and only the greatest of warlords can
tame the horse gods.
In the Lunar Faith, the Water Buffalo is sometimes
replaced with the Elephant. The elephant, or gaja in
Akainon tongue, is a grand animal that worships the moon
and bathes in moonlight, a symbol of wealth, prestige, and
most importantly, power. The elephant is not native to
Akai, although dwarf elephants (remembered still by the
Ba-enon as gaja pandak) were common in the elder Cycles.
Much of the elephants were sailed in from Barungsai,
Naksuwarga, and Malirawat, and many live now in Siga
and northern Kalanawan. Elephants in the Sword Isles
have only since become popular hunting game for Royal
Hunts, led by Datu and Panglimas, although the
Moonstone Elephants (gajabulan)—elephants with ivory
skin and have a third eye made of moonstone—are
reserved for the Sultana’s Royal Hunts only. It has been
long said that elephants are the royal mount of Baginda
Sumongsuklay.
In the Lunar Faith (especially those Lunar Faith
practitioners still living in Ananara), the Dog is sometimes
replaced with the Tiger. Harimau in the Akainon tongue,
the tiger is a burning symbol of ferocity, strength, power,
and regality. There are only a few tigers in the Sword Isles,
and most of them are found only in the Blade Island of
Khadnala: the Khadnalan Tiger is the same tiger as the
Sonyoh Tiger, which prowl the deep forests and create
temples with the bones of its prey. Tiger fangs and claws
are very often heirlooms, which boast great spiritual
power and often have magical effects. The tiger’s majesty is
alluded to among the Northeastern Akai settlements,
closer to the Shield Isle of Sonyoh: they only ever talk about
tigers in euphemisms, such as deep forest dog or striped
bear. Legendary Sonyoh and Old Tundun demigod Si
Gantar (full name: Si Gantar Pembunuh Harimau
Rajarajaputih, which means Si Gantar, the Tiger Slayer of
White Kings) was said to have slain Pale King Iacomus
Broc while leading his warriors upon a flaming orange
tiger, and so has the tiger become a symbol of freedom and
rebellion.
On Names
What is in a name? Let the Makinaadmanon speak: the
name is the approximation of lightning. Do you know that
what we name lightning is a fulmination at both end and
beginning? Lightning leaves its origin and meets its
destination immediately. We name and wax poetic about a
moment without dichotomy, the truth of this world, for
[now/later] or [beginning/ending] is a misconception
made by mortals that die.
And so thus is how we name ourselves. At our brightest, at
our fulmination, at when we are reminded that we are both
beginning and ending at the same exact time. Time is but
justification.
Like lightning, we are bright across a number of points, we
are bright in a line, not a point. We are both instant and
also causation-effect.
Names, therefore, in the Thunder-Stricken Isles, are
mercurial. To have only one name is the first death. To have
many is immortality. The Thunder Lord Datu Sumangga,
for example, is known very frequently only as the Thunder
Lord, Datu Dawogdong, in other tongues. These are all
their names and more, because what are names but
approximations of us?
Lovers, blood-oathed brothers, fire-forged friends (what’s
the difference? I lump them together, my palm leaf paper
binding them together as banana leaves wrap rice)
frequently give each other poetic names that only they and
they alone can speak, in the seconds of true night, in the
glimpses of coming dawn. This is ours, they will say to
themselves, because so many things are not theirs. This is
ours and the worlds, not theirs.
Ito ay sa atin, at atin lamang, they say. Sa atin, kasama ang
daigdig, ang kalikasan, ikaw, at ako, hindi sila.
[This is ours, and ours only. Ours: that is to say, the world’s,
nature’s, yours, and mine, but not theirs.]
Witness two women: one named Bulan, for she was born
during the full moon, and the other Siga, for she was born
the day after a burning of villages.
They could not be further apart: one is majesty in darkness,
the other a palimpsest of our violence. One is divine, the
other is mortal, truly mortal.
These names do not define them, of course, but they define
their names. Bulan is a noble, rich and powerful, bathed in
copper like the moon itself. Siga, on the other hand, is
infantry, a warrior-slave, to her. Like the flame that she is,
she climbs up the ranks, builds her own honor, until she is
finally become a warrior, of the warrior class, and
appointed as personal guard to Bulan.
Do you see the constellation I write with these words-as-
stars?
The noble Bulan was not allowed to be seen by men. Of
course she wasn’t: she was a veiled maiden, binukot in our
dragon-slaying tongue. She was meant to be sold off to
powerful nobles to increase the power of her father ruler.
Siga was seen as a woman as well as dictated by her society,
despite her being in a primarily male profession. She was
allowed into Bulan’s enclosure, and there their rituals were
religion. Hushed whispers, breath like incense smoke.
There they named each other again: something only they
can know. Only they can know.
“Let us defy our fates,” whispered Bulan, her voice small,
her voice not her, but Siga’s, for the first time.
“I want to reach you,” replied Siga, as a flame that can
never, ever, climb high enough to singe the moon.
“Then you must become the darkness that wraps about
me,” Bulan said, pushing a lock of hair behind Siga’s ear.
“Because the darkness that wraps about the moon is
perpetual, and eventually, subsumes it.”
“Name me, and so shall I name you,” Siga whispered, her
flames dying out into embers, into darkness, as she was
told.
“You are Dulumgabii,” Dark Night or Night Darkness, not
any other kind of darkness.
Dulumgabii nodded. She held her push-dagger so tight
that she cut herself with its water-whetted blade. “And you
will be my Gikaon,” replied the warrior whose flames have
burnt out into darkness. Gikaon. Eaten—no. Consumed—
no, too weak. Devoured, there. Devoured.
For at endings the darkness always devours the moon, and
that is their destiny now.
And so was Sri Gikaon, noble devoured, named and
consumed and eaten.
367
Language In The Sword Isles
The locals have their own language, and each polity has
their own languages. Gatusanun is closest to
Sinugbuanon. Ba-enun and Virbanwanun is closest to
Tagalog. Akainun is closest to Tausug. Apumbukidnun is
closest also to Sinugbuanon, but also Maranao. They are
mutually unintelligible, though Gatusanun, Ba-enun, and
Akainun can communicate passingly through brute
forcing similar sounding terms.
However, when trading they use the prominent Trading
Language, Trade Mataram, which is a heavily mixed
language that built upon two frameworks: Put’wanun (the
language of Put’wan) and Mataraman (the language in the
old Mataram Kingdom, before it fell to ruin, and was
succeeded by Naksuwarga). They were the foremost
traders, and thus everyone else took up their terms. Trade
Mataram is a constructed language that is explicitly
similar to a mixture of Bahasa Melayu and Sinugbuanon
Bisaya, with borrowings from Old Tagalog, Hiligaynon,
and the Tausug languages.
Words are modified through the use of particles. In
particular:
-sin is equal to “of” in English, and is used to show that
something afterwards owns it. Therefore: Sundangsin
would translate to “Sword of”. Sundangsin Kadaugan would
translate to “Sword of Victory”.
Manga- is a plural modifier and added in front of a word.
“Mangasundang” means “Swords”. “Mangasundangsin
Kadaugan” would translate to Swords of Victory.
-mo showcases ownership of the second person.
“Sundangmo” means “Your sword.”
-ko shows that you owe that word. “Sundangko” means “My
Sword”.
-mi translates closest to “us, but not including you”.
Sundangmi means “Our sword, but not yours”.
-ta translates closest to “us, including you”. Sundangta
means “Our sword”.
spirits have the region or location they live in before -
diwata. Banwadiwata (Land Spirit) means they’re a forest/
mountain/inland spirit, basically any spirit in untouched,
natural land. Dagatdiwata (Sea spirit) means they’re a sea
spirit. Lungsoddiwata (Community spirit) means they’re a
settlement spirit, whether the settlement be a small hamlet
or a large city.
Translating Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Grass Cutter Sword) to
Trade Mataram would then be “Sundangsin-Ganut”
(Sword of Grass-Clearing). This can be rendered either as
Sundangsinganut or Sundangsin Ganut and they mean the
same. Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi (Heavenly Sword of
Gathering Clouds) would be written as
“Sundanglangitnonsin Nangtigomng Panganod” which
translates closest to (Heavenly Sword of Gathering
Clouds).
Due to the nature of the Sword Isles, there is a great
number of foreign terms that borrow from other terms. A
worshipped god is usually understood to be a diwa. But a
borrowed term from Naksuwarga has become used to refer
to worshipped gods that do not live in nature and/or live in
the sky, which is balahala.
To get words for Trade Mataram, use Cebuano,
Hiligaynon, or Butuanon words for common things, while
more esoteric or specific concepts such as noble lords,
flying serpents, winged beings, etc. can be Javanese, Thai,
or Balinese in origin. More modern concepts can have
Hokkien or Mandarin roots, such as the printing press and
carriages. Use these to spice up your Gubat Banwa
settings.

Trade Mataram has no gendered pronouns: referring to

the third person is simply siya (if before the noun) or iya (if
after the noun). Wa’ay siya sundang/Wa’ay sundang iya.
(They do not have a sword).
Terms are usually created similarly to English: an adjective
and then the noun. Adjectives are linked to nouns by
affixing them after the noun or pronoun they modify.
Balaybatu means “stone house”. Balaykahuy means
“wooden house”. These combinations can usually end up in
new terminology for terms: Batobalani for example would
simply mean “Charming or Attractive Stone”, but has since
become the term for Magnet.
Some terms connect two nouns together to create a new
meaning. Gubat Banwa is war + land. The various kinds of

368
The Kadanay
It is a common problem to think that the Kadanay were a
vast empire in the past. Nothing is further from the truth:
the Kadanay are magenta-eyed demispirits born through
the matrimony of Ka, the Fuchsin Dragon, and Danay, the
ancient moon-haired immortal who lived in the top of holy
Mountain Banahaw before having to come down due to
violence.
Their children became the Kadanay people, who lived in
the northeastern blade-tip of Rusunuga. There they traded
with elder Tsam Saola, the ancient predecessor to the great
Nagrakampa kingdom.
The Kadanay people are peaceful traders, and their martial
art is inherently protective and defensive, not made for
raiding or warring. Due to their trade with the Tsam Saola,
they managed to create vast nephrite and earthenware
items, such as burial jars, swords, axes, and boats. Due to
their inherent connection to nature, they have had access
to incantations and rituals that let them create vast
wooden and nephrite edifices, many of which are now
gone in the Eighth Star Era for they understand the truth
of things: anything they make pales in comparison with
the natural monuments of the world.
Ancient Kadanay burial jars also actually work as birth jars.
Most burial jars depict a god rowing a boat with mortals
sitting upon it, representing the journey into the
underworld. Kadanay jars have those, but some of them
also choose to depict a serpent instead.
This is the life of a Kadanay: they are born from these burial
jars as giant, barely conscious serpents, bursting forth
impossibly like a snake from an egg. Their scales are
magenta which, when shed, become violet-petalled
flowers.
A village takes care of a young Kadanay serpent-dragon
during their youthful ages. Eventually, after a few moons,
a Kadanay serpent-dragon grows smaller, and develops
humanoid features as they grow older. By the time they are
around 30 years old, the equivalent of a 20 harvest old
bamboofolk, they are tall giants, always at least 8 feet tall,
with dragon eyes and antler horns. Their hands and feet
have four fingers each, creating 16 fingers, double the holy
8, which represents infinity and the spirits. Their feet are
taloned, as with a monitor lizard, and are zygodactyl.
Kadanay study the songs of the ancients, as well as pottery.
They can choose to learn the Art of Dragon Protection,
their martial art, or weaving. Farming is common amongst
them as well, but many of them choose to embark on
boatmaking and travel to their brothers in Tsam Saola,
now Nagrakampa.
The Kadanay clan has dwindled in numbers in the Eighth
Star Era. Many say this is because the Kadanay are not
made to suffer the great violence of the final Era of Gubat
Banwa, the final gift of Ka to her scions. Much of their
“achievements” have already been claimed by the earth,
but that is because that is how they made it. They do not
dream of empire.
More importantly, the Kadanay clan dwindles in numbers
becuase they cannot procreate indefinitely. There are a
limited number of birth-burial jars that can create new
Kadanay, and all the jarsmiths that knew how to create
more have passed. Kadanay don’t die, you see. They live for
300 years. As they age, they grow smaller and smaller. A
200 year old Kadanay is around 3 to four feet tall.
Eventually they grow so small that they actually unite with
the land, and become diwata. This is because they are
immortal, their birthright. Remember that no mortal has
ever become diwata.
There are only 180 Kadanay left in the world.
Hara Binalo and Hari
Harmanaga
Hara Binalo, Queen of the Tanggal demonwitches, beings
that can bisect themselves, peerless swordmasters and
witches that practice Slicing sorcery. The tanggal are said
to be the physical manifestation of the art of cutting, and
therefore most swords must learn from them.
Hara Binalo lives deep in the forests of Kihod, the Coral
Island of Fire and Lightning, which arose from the Sea’s
wombs. Kihod is known to house the head coven of the
Tanggal demonwitches, Hara Binalo was said to be an
angry witch that was sometimes conflated as an Aspect of
Mahadiwa Kalakatri, or sometimes is referred to simply as
her priestess. Hara Binalo’s daughter, Sintaputri, was one
of the most beautiful women in all of the Sword Isles, but
was shunned due to her mother. In anger, Hara Binalo
revealed herself as the Mother of Ratu Tugas, the King of
Kihod, who was cast out because of her increasing study
and acceptance of Tanggal sorcery.
Ratu Tugas, wishing for help, consulted his guardian
ancestor spirit, who was Hari Harmanaga, the Dragon-
Tiger of Kihod. Arising from the cleanest springs of the
island of Kihod, bathed once in the sea, Hari Harmanaga
took to the deep forest and clashed with Hara Binalo,
healing sorceries against cutting sorceries.
Hari Harmanaga and his Dragon-Tiger Shamans
performed preventive sorceries to combat this, making
them invulnerable. The blood drops from this strange
paradoxical interaction can still be found across Kihod,
rendering one immune to piercing weapons for a short
time when ingested.
Eventually Hari Harmanaga succeeded and won,
overcoming Hara Binalo in the ancient Dance of Katakeris
in Tamagunas, Hara Binalo’s strangler fig and bone
temple-castle, dedicated to Kalakatri. There, Binalo was
sealed in her own ancient earthenware jar, and then sent
down to the depths of Tamagunas, into the deepest cave
complexes, so deep that the soil has become coral once
again.
Hari Harmanaga positioned himself then as king of
spirits, the protector of good, and forevermore afterwards
appears as umalagad for some warriors, and answers calls
for protection and healing, a benevolent incarnation of
Hiyang.
369
Betel Nut
Betel Nut (bonga/bunga, nganga), the fruit of the areca palm, is an
integral part of socializing in the Sword Isles. In a simple way of
understanding it, think of it as like the various tea ceremonies one
would find in East Asia. Betel nut chewing is accompanied with its own
ceremonies, given to visitors like an owner would offer tea. Betel nut
itself has a mild narcotic effect, similarly to how tea might calm the
nerves, or how alcohol might relax. Thus it is integral to conversation.
Not only that, but betel nut chewing stains teeth red, making one “not
an animal”, as only animals have white teeth.

Betel Nut Ceremony

The nut is cut into segments, sprinkled with lime made from shells,
wrapped in a leaf, and chewed into a quid which produces a blood-red
spittle.

The preparation, exchange, and serving of betel nut is the most

important social act in all of the Sword Isles, even in Virbanwa. Men
carried the necessary ingredients in little baskets or pouches. A
householder who fails to offer betel nut to anyone who entered his
house was an insult inviting enmity.

On formal visits, the quids are prepared and served in expensive and
beautiful metal trays or boxes by the females of the household: servants,
daughters, or even the lady of the house herself, depending on the social
standing of the guest.

A special honor is to add a touch of musk or a slice of cinnamon bark, or

some other aromatic flavoring, to the chew.

Betel nut is also important in romance and courtship: to offer a quid

partially chewed is an act of flirtation; to send one in response to a man’s
clandestine request is an act of acceptance to his advances. To send it
unbidden is an open invitation.

Betel nut palms are extensively cultivated across the isles.

Youths chewing for the first time usually suffer giddiness like drinking
alcohol. Young noble ladies have their first betel nut chew as a kind of
puberty rite or ceremony.

370
371
 On Gender and Sexuality
While Classical Philippines isn’t as progressive as us these
days when it comes to sexuality, they still had some
interesting takes on it. At this point, you might have well
known that most Philippine languages don’t have
gendered pronouns, and if we did, they only came when
the Spanish came.

Another thing to note is the balyan in Ancient

Philippines. While predominantly a woman’s
profession, men could also take it up. While in Tagalog
regions, it hasn’t been said whether a transition to
femininity was required, it has been recorded in those
regions, as well as almost every other region in the
Philippines. These people were known as asug, bayugin, or
binabaye in most contexts.

They were treated like women and could even marry men.
They were supposed to wear women’s clothing and
perform women’s tasks.

While this is not exactly the most progressive idea

now, we can glean a bit from that, and we can apply a
more progressive idea into our Fantasy twist on
Classical Philippines.

I’ve long thought about the idea of Classical Philippine

gender and sex being entirely functional, due to the
existence of the asug. If a man performed a woman’s
duties and tasks, they were considered women.

However, I’ve eventually come to the conclusion that another

way of doing it might have been possible: that how they
presented themselves was their gender.

So a woman who presents and wears women's clothes, but

performs the tasks of a man such as raiding, warring, and
carpentry, would still be treated as a woman, or a bayi. However,
if they chose to wear men’s clothes and preferred to be seen as a
man, then they would be treated as such.

In this manner, we can stay kind of true to what our research has
shown us: that pre-Western genders were much more malleable than
post-colonial ones. Despite this being much more in the space of
speculation, it is one based on researched and informed speculation.
Due to some Katalonan men still probably being treated like men
despite performing the tasks of a “woman”, we can only assume that
the same is true for the other islands and cultures.

Of course, this still isn’t as progressive as we want it to be: from

what I can see, despite the malleability of genders and sex in
Classical Philippines, there was still that forced binary. While I’m
personally staying true to that portion of history--partially
because as much as I love this time period I don’t want people
conflating this time period even more as a golden age--if you
prefer to play Gubat Banwa without a stifling pre-Western
binary, go ahead. As someone who doesn’t feel exactly in line
with any binary either (especially the Western binary) I am
only inclined to encourage you to do exactly that.

372
373

Life In Settlements
I have been using settlements to refer to the towns,
villages, neighborhoods, and cities of The Sword
Isles. This is because they are called a variety of things
in The Sword Isles: in the Rajahnate it is usually
termed haop, (following) and already stated, but in
the Lakanate it is bayan.
Settlements are neighborhoods of around 30 or more
households, each one usually pledging allegiance to a
Datu. Settlements can band together and work
together, fusing to become larger settlements. Larger
settlements are known to have more than one Datu
governing them.
The following is generic, it is not true for every
settlement and for every culture.
Hygiene, Makeup, and
Aesthetics
Mornings begin at the first light of dawn, when the
wind is chilly and the sun has not risen up fully just
yet. They then bathe, usually in rivers, using oils and
other herbal extracts to shampoo hair and apply
fragrances upon their body. Hygiene is an integral
part of The Sword Isles life: men and women both
pluck their eyebrows to thin crescents, Lakanate and
Sultanate men grow their moustaches and beards out
while Confederation and Rajahnate men trim them
or clip them off with clam shaped tweezers.
Bodies are scrubbed with pumice and other fragrant
flowers, especially among nobles, who wish to have
good body odors. They clean their ears out with
feathers and swabs and brush their teeth with a
toothbrush made of vegetable husk, to polish and
keep teeth clean.
This does not make their teeth white, however: white
is for the foreigners, who are like animals. Only
animals have white teeth. The tawo of The Sword Isles
pride themselves on stained teeth, reddened or
blackened, and sometimes completely pitch or
crimson. Some tawo even file their teeth to points.
374
Both women and men applied makeup: from tana
eyebrow paint, pupol face powder, red kamuntigi nail
polish, and yellow barak root to rub on the body as a
skin lotion.
Some children are also given skull molding, which is
done through contraptions that flattened the front of
the skull, letting the front of the skull grow
backwards instead of forwards. The Sword Isles
beauty standards hold crescent moon-like skulls,
called tinangad, to the peak of beauty, alongside
broad faces and flat noses. This practice is more
popular among the Rajahnate and Confederation
settlements than the Lakanate and Rajahnate.
Jewelry
Jewelry is an important part of The Sword Isles
culture: even debtors would have bangles or anklets
of gold. Some jewelry would have carnelian
adornments, or pearl, or sometimes even diamonds
and rubies. The most important jewelry is of course
the gold accessories, which range from diadems to
bangles to waist cords to sashes made of pure gold to
rings to arm bands to thigh bands to belts to anklets
to ear ornaments to ear piercings and even to golden
pegs upon the teeth.
Decorative dentistry is another important
component of jewelry: those that can afford it would
fill the gaps between their teeth with gold, and others
would peg their teeth with gold stubs, making it so
that whenever they grinned or smiled their mouth
would shine like the sun, akin to the epic heroes of
their tales.
Most ilawod settlements are almost never built out of
reach of salt water. Men and women that paddled
would carve out their own paddles, and were as
personal to them as their weapons.
Tattooing
Tattoos are called batuk or patik, and mostly only
some settlements in the Rajahnate and the
Confederation used them. Professional tattoo artists
are called Mambabatuk and those tattooed are called
binatakan. The first tattoo is usually given as a
coming of age deal, with a person’s first conquest in
war or love: either by killing another or by having sex.
Tattoos are then only given to those that continue to
conquer, each new tattoo a burning marking of his
valor. They are given piecemeal, but each one would
eventually connect with other tattoos to create an
intricate painting with the body as a canvas. The most
valiant of them, which constituted a sort of warrior
elite, will have tattoos up to the eyelids, giving them a
demonic look and no doubt affect their enemies
psychologically.
Working the Field
During the early hours of morning, if it is planting or
harvesting season, they work the fields. Not only do
the peasant work the fields, but so do also the rest of
the people, especially if they must work the fields of
the Datu. Even nobles, Kadungganan, and freemen
must pitch in, as a form of tribute to the Datu at some
point during the planting or harvesting season.
Most farming is done upon swiddens, using a
traditional kaingin system of slash-and-burn
farming. This constituted rice farming for some
islands that had the conditions for it. The most
common crop was the root crop, such as taro and
yams. Rice, while favored, was not always in supply,
and was much less available year round. In worse
harvesting days, even nobility resorted to eating root
crops instead of rice.
Farming is stopped immediately in the sight of bad
omens, such as termite mounds and squeaking
snails.
Millet is also of great importance, and in some islands
is the main crop, with rice not being grown at all.
In addition to root crops and rice and millet, bananas
and sago (a kind of starchy palm flour) were also
planted in swiddens.
Planting and harvesting season is not the same
across the islands of The Sword Isles, due to varying
exposure to monsoon winds. Time was measured
through harvests: a year is defined as the time
between one harvest and the next. Age therefore is
measured through how many harvests a person has
lived through.
Woodworking
Carpenters cut their own timber. They had lore for
when to cut: different species are felled during the
different turns of the moon, some are more solid on
the eastern side, and “male” trees are always stronger
than the “females” of a species. Trees are felled with
ax and bolo, split down the middle with edges, and
then each half is adzed into a single plank, squared
with the same tool. All carpentry and house
construction are done with skillful joinery without
saws or nails. This has lead to beautiful geometrical
pegs and shapes made to fit entire boats and houses,
usually only held together by the ingenuity of the
joinery design or by thick abaca rope.
Plates, bowls, spoons, and ladles, urns called bohon,
coffins, and chests of all sizes are hewn from single
blocks of wood, and often decorated with fine
carvings. Rough leaves of the hagopit tree or biri
palm are used as sandpaper, and ray fish tails or
dahonan hides are used to smooth even the hardest of
woods.
.
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Smithing
Smithing is a very valued skill, and one that even datu
practice due to its prestige. Being a smith, which is
called a panday, does not only mean you can create
weapons and armor. Smiths can craft all sorts of
things, from gold (Panday-sa-bulawan) to iron
(Panday-sa-puthaw).
Smithing is expensive since it would mean you would
have the materials needed to craft weapons and
items. It is considered the noblest trade, as usually
only the wealthiest datu could even afford the raw
material. Iron and such were usually not mined, but
rather, stolen from raids against other polities,
whether it be from within the Archipelago or from
foreign influences. Regular raids to Baik Hu to gain
iron to melt and use for smithing is a very common
raiding impetus.
A smith’s shed is called gusali. This is usually an open
house beside their actual house. Here they would
have their forge, made of hollowed out small tree
trunks, with pistons ringed with chicken feathers set
so as to collapse on the return stroke. They were
alternately raised and lowered by the blacksmith’s
apprentice, knwon as masaop, to produce a steady
draft. Both cylinders had a bamboo outlet near the
bottom which led to a common stone receptacle
known as a lilong, which concetrated the draft into a
charcoal fire. The anvil was a piece of iron set in a
heavy wooden block, and the smiths’ tools were: palo
(two-handed stone maul), a palo-palo (stone
hammer), kipit (pair of tongs), and an assortment of
bolos for cutting the red-hot metal.
The most important tool manufactured, repaired, or
retempered by the blacksmith was teh bolo. Dohong/
Dayopak was the ordinary one, while tuwad was a
larger, heavier one for woodcutting. Bako for
weeding or cultivating, pisaw was one with a short
blade and long handle to be pressed under the arm or
against the ground with the foot to leave both hands
free for stripping rattan.
376
Additional tools used by the smith are the abluwang
(drill), barit (a rough piece of iron for whetting tools
or striking with flint for fire), binkong (curved adze),
bisong (knife for preparing betel nut), dallag (straight
adze), garol (spurs for fighting cocks), kalob (spoon
bit), sabit (billhook), salat (sickle), sipol (paring
knife), tigib (chisel), tirlos (lancet for bleeding), ulok
(dentist’s awl).
Goldworking
Most The Sword Isles settlements and polities almost
always have gold upon almost every person. Most
gold was mined by placer mining: gold panning in
streams or riverbeds. These placers are called
dulangan, dulang being the wooden pan used.
Pamiling, sifting, was the activity.
Gold is bulawan, fine gold is himulawan. They had
touchstones known as sanitran to test its quality, but
most people could estimate content on sight. Some
men would carry around little scales and weights in
special pouches to make spot purchases.
A panday-sa-bulawan take advantage of gold’s
supremely workable material. Lumps are carved,
modeled, and hammered to shape, beat out into
onionskin sheets, to be cut with shears into
silhouettes, wrapped into beads, or drawn into thin
wires to be used in filgree work or woven into thick
ropes. They soldered tiny granules together, several
hundred in a square centimeter.
None have surpassed The Sword Isles smiths in this
manner.
The Sword Isles gold is integral to this goldworking
progress.
Weaving
Weavers were usually those considered women. It is
usually done through the use of backstrap looms. The
warp threads were not placed in a permanent
framework but rather, in one continuous loop around
a loom bar held in the weaver’s lap by a strap behind
her back, and another one suspended from a house
beam or tree branch.
Weaving is a normal part of housekeeping, and
weavers supplied clothing. In the epic literature even
in the Philippines, this is the pastime of even royal
ladies. Heroes departing on ventures are ritually
clothed with magical raiments and garments by their
mothers and sisters.
Cotton and abaca are both exports here. Baik Hu
called Ba-e abaca yu-da, or jute, in the thirteenth
century. Wives of householding oripun are required
to spin cotton, supplied to them by their masters.
Paid workers are employed as domestic weavers.
Pottery
A potter’s craft is known as dihoon. They do not
employ the potter’s wheel but rather, the paddle-and-
anvil technique.
The common cooking pot is daba/koron. Wide-
mouthed jars are bogoy, and flat pans for cooking are
balanga. Banga water jars are shaped like porcelain
jars. Dinner plates are Baikhan porcelain, however:
pingan lasa are large ones, lampay are small ones,
and siwit are little ones like sauce dishes.
Baikhan jars are known as ang-ang, those used for
pangasi alcohol are gining. Linoping are big ones
with ears for handles, so called because they look like
men tattooed all over. Hinalasan are dragon jars, so
called because of the serpent done in high relief on
their sides. Tinampilak are large black jars, tuytuy are
small black ones. Kabo are blue and white jarlets,
often used for tea and carrying waters

Tying fibers together with fine knots to produce

threads is the first task taught to young girls. Cotton
is a standard part of blankets. Cloth straight from the
loom--whether they be cotton or abaca--are soaked
in lime, sometimes dyed, and then cudgeled to
soften. Dyestuffs are red sibukaw, intensified by nino
wood, indigo tagum, yellow ginger root known as
dulaw, kasuba a kind of saffron, and an impermanent
black dye known as tina. Dyed thread is used to insert
colored stripes in plain cloth, including imported silk
and sometimes even threads of gold.

The most elexant textile, considered to be a monopoly

among those of Gatusan and Apumbukid, is
pinayusan. It is woven of abaca fibers hand-selected
for both their whiteness and hair-thin structure. It is
then tie-dyed by binding little pinches of cloth,
leaving a fine flowered pattern in natural color on a
field of deep red. It can be made to make pudong as
thin as gauze.

377
Seasons of The Sword Isles
In most islands, the agricultural season began when the Constellation of Boiling Lights appeared in the night
sky. Swiddens are prepared during this time, and then two moons later--when the Boiling Lights are directly
overhead--they would plant seeds. Those in the south waited for the Constellation of the Ballista before
planting seeds, and those in the north area waited until the Constellation of the Coconut Palm. This is because
of, as already stated, because of the differing monsoon winds that strike different parts of the archipelago at
different times.

The seasonal rotation of The Sword Isles depended on the flowering of certain trees. There are four in all:
Katparasan, Kattaloto, Katlawaan, and Katkisiw, which constituted the mercurial harvesting cycle. Each
season lasted for 2-3 moons each.

Each of them pertained to the particular blossoming of trees: Katlawaan is when the lawaan trees blossomed,
for example. This would also signal planting season. Most planting seasons in the island are during the season
of Katlawaan, while those on the northern and southern extremities begin in Kattaloto and Katkisiw,
respectively. At the final season, the harvesting season—the end of Katparasan for most islands, end of Katkisw
for the northern islands, and the end of Katlawaan for southern islands—they end a harvesting year, and move
into the next year. The first season is then used as a resting period.

Winds Of The Sword Isles

The Amihan is the wind that blows from the Northeast, bringing with it warm winds and constant rains. Ships
from Baik Hu, Naksuwarga, and Malirawat use this wind to travel to the isles, and it also facilitates domestic
trade among The Sword Isles.

The Timog trade wind is a wind that circulates throughout the archipelago during the tail end of the Habagat,
around three moons before Habagat ends. Using this wind, trading and raiding is facilitated, and is an
important aspect of interisland travel. It is the third major wind in the archipelago.

Between the Habagat and Amihan winds, there are two other winds that blow: Kanay the South Chill Wind, and
Iphag the Northern Wind after that. The Iphag Wind is known to have been the wind coming from caverns deep
in the earth, seemingly from the World Below, bringing with it haunting wailing gales and warm winds.

378
Sailing
Water is the lifeblood of The Sword Isles. From the rivers that wind up to the upland societies, and down to the
seas that spread its arms in both a beautiful and terrifying embrace. When in The Sword Isles, look for no roads
or trade paths: it is the water that provides movement. This is why there is no need for wheeled carriages during
this time: the ships that shipbuilders create are more than capable of bringing anything they wish to any part
of the island, from coconuts to elephants.

Sailors in the islands of The Sword Isles are almost never out of sight from land, and thus they rely on
landmarks and piloting instead of celestial observations. The waters between islands are a means to connect,
and not separate, the differing polities and societies of The Sword Isles.

Shipbuilders are known to be usually very rich, and datu are known to be shipbuilders as well. A wide variety of
ships sail across The Sword Isles waters: from the single canoe baroto, to the large merchant biroko, to the
outrigger warships of biray and karakoa. Among the Lakanate the trading galyon ship, stolen from the Pale
Kings, has already arisen to dominance and has led to further trade among the region.

A few examples of boats...

1. Balutu. Made usually out of a single log. Dugout canoe. Might or might not have outriggers.

2. Biroko. A kind of boat with high sides, large sails and no outriggers. Used for cargo.

3. Biray. A large outrigger ship with multiple washboards for carrying even more cargo (which, remember, includes
debtors). Will usually have painted and colorful prows.

4. Karakoa. Similar to the Biray, but larger and can carry up to forty warriors on each side. It had large outriggers
whereupon rowers would sit upon. Its prow was decorated and intricately painted, and would have tall staffs of
brilliant plumage (sombol on the prow, tongol on the stern). Lantaka, swivel guns, were commonly placed on its sides
to attack. It also had an elevated fighting deck amidship.

5. Daya. Flat open ships, similar in shape and appearance to Chinese sampan.

6. Galyon. Stolen design from the Pale Kings. Slow but can carry lots of cargo. Reminiscent of Spanish galleons.

379
Food
Most food is made in iron stoves and pots, wherein they boil chicken, fish, octopus, squid, pig, deer meat, goat meat, and
more foodstuffs that could be eaten. Fishermen and Hunters bring back their catch with them at the end of the day, and
freshly caught catch is almost always cooked and eaten immediately.

Hunting
Hunters use hunting dogs to hunt down wild boar and deer, and chase them into balatik traps: bamboo balistas that could
skewer entire human bodies. Using these strategies they capture large games easily. Fishermen use traps at the mouths of
rivers, as well as cast wide nets while out in the sea to catch fish and other game. For fish in streams, they would harpoon
it, and for larger fish such as whale sharks, they would hunt it down and bleed it out with serrated harpoons.

Alcohol and Drinking

Alcohol is almost never drunk alone, except for those alcoholics. Alcohol is stored in large porcelain jars, as is water, which
preserves a certain amount of chill. Alcohol in porcelain jars would ferment and then be drunk straight through reed
straws. Imagine a single large porcelain jar, with multiple reed straws poking out of it. These straws would be drunk
communally between friends, although they usually never shared straws.

Pangasi is rice wine stored in these jars. Kabarawaan is a kind of wood mixed with honey and drunk in a shared porcelain
jar. Intus is sugarcane juice. Tuba is made from the sap of wild trees. Alak is anything made with a still and drunk in small
jarlets.

Drinking is an important social norm in The Sword Isles. Drinking is usually done outside of the house, with a group of
friends, and anyone is welcome to join. It begins with the agda, which is a sort of ceremony to persuade a person or the
diwata to take the first drink, before beginning the drinking.

Faith and Religion in the Sword Isles

The Sword Isles is pierced through by a multiple faiths and religions. It is, however, pierced through with a belief in the
living thoughts of things not usually seen as living. These are the spirits, the little gods. The following are known languages
of the Sword Isles.

Aimastran - Worships the Bleeding God, who gaves His Son to die for our Sins. Brought to the Isles by Issohappa.

Sampalataya - The indigenized version of Aimastra, which worships the almighty Makagagahum, who protects the world
as Makagagahum, and will annihilate it at the end of the Festival of the Longest Night as Makaobus. Syncretizes anitu with
Aimastran.

Anitu - The most common religion. Less of an organized religion and a collection of superstitions, rites, and beliefs in the
very real living spirits that live in the wind, the trees, in everything. Each anitu culture worships their own pantheon of
gods.

Ashinin - Based off the Ashinin word, which means “One Million Million”, which comes from the Indr Subcontinent.
Believes that there are a thousand thousand gods and that the true reality is the All Pervading Soul, known as the Atman.

Annuvaran - Built by the buddha of this Trichiliocosm, a warrior-priest named Annuvar. Annuvar Buddha preaches
sunyata and the precepts of compassion, and advocates violence that ends violence.

Bulanan - Also known as Bulanan or Bulanism. The worship of Goddess, Baginda Sumongsuklay. Alata Baginda! Gave all
her teachings to the slave-warrioress turned Ultimate Prophet Sihkandag. Teaches the Divine Striving and ultimate
humility for Goddess. Preaches that dying in Lunar Goddesses’ name invites one to final bliss.

Akai Bulanan is very much syncretized with anitu. Jinn and other gods live alongside Baginda as ancestor spirits but are
strictly not worshipped. Sword Isle Bulanan have removed all traces of dragon and hornbill art from their archietcture.

Rusunugan Anitu - An offshoot of Anitu that syncretizes Ashinin and Annuvaran beliefs. Believes in the importance of
merit and righteousness, the belief in reincarnation, and the cycle of suffering must be escaped from to achieve Liberation
(Glory for many).

380
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382
VIII: Running The
Game
This section focuses on the moves,
principles, agendas, and tools to run a
game of Gubat Banwa successfully. As an
Umalagad, one must remember that you
are one at your core another player as
well, which is why non-Kadungganan
characters are monikered Umalagad
Characters, as they represent characters
that are simply role-played by you, as
opposed to the Kadungganan.
This song is split into four parts: your
Principle, your Convictions, your
Techniques, and your Characters
(including Enemies).
This is a section worth reading even for
Kadungganan, especially if you’re
playing in Solo Play or Co-Op Play.

383
 Running The Game
Umalagad Basics
As a Umalagad, you are a player with a different set of rules
and responsibilities. You...
0 ...describe the situation of the Kadungganan.
0 ...react to the Kadungganan properly through the use of
your Harmonies.
0 ...follow the rules and make rulings.
0 ...create combat scenarios and both run and roleplay as
the non-player characters, known as Umalagad Characters.
0 ...follow your Principles in responding to the actions of
the Kadungganan.
0 ...prepare and use your preparation. Sometimes you will
know things that the Kadungganan don’t know. Use that to
your advantage to set up your Techniques and to stick close
to your Convictions.
Principles
“Sing unto us the broken songs of the past, when justice
was a myth, for now justice is a lie.” - Surat 100
Gubat Banwa wears its inspirations and setting on its
sleeve: precolonial Philippine fantasy, tactical combat, war
drama, interpolity politicking. When you go to running a
game in such a setting, it is recommended that you go
through the summaries of the major setting points.
However, it does bear to state the main assumptions of the
game here, so as to help you on your way.
War Defines the Characters. Despite the multiplicity of
deities that exist in The Sword Isles, War is the only one
that is truly omnipresent. It hides within the shadows of
the trees, in the hooded figure standing next to your balay,
in the Datu that raises his hand to grace his settlement.
Every move, every word, is in danger of war, in danger of
extreme violence, of blood being spilled in pursuit of
freedom or peace or glory or victory.
Inspired by Precolonial Philippine/Southeast Asian Life
and Society. Tattooed Bisaya sea raiders raiding the shores
of China. Expensive and rich Tagalog nobles trading with
the nobles and merchants from Malacca and from the Datu
of the Bisaya region. Bikolano bowmen striking from afar
with their bamboo longbows. Balyan dancing in mad-
trances to call upon the ancestors to guide their paths.
Wealthy datu lords reigning over their followers and
settlements, gathering them up to raid a settlement that
has slighted them. These are just some things that have
happened in Precolonial Philippines that inspired the
totality of Gubat Banwa.
This focus on raiding and guerrilla tactics, and probably
smaller scale warfare is perfect for the tactical combat
focus, and the exaltations of warrior braves in the
battlefield gives itself perfectly to the warrior hero genre
that Gubat Banwa seeks to emulate.
Larger than life and Dramatic. Passions are always at an all
time high in Gubat Banwa. Love can rend battlefields,
hatred can break kingdoms, revenge can sunder entire
bloodlines. In the putrid lands of bloodshed, your
emotions--the scream of your soul--is the only thing
important.
384
They will not tell tales about your ability to live
comfortably: only those brave enough and strong enough
to step into the light of the sun will be remembered even
when the Archipelago succumbs to the violence it has
wrought.
Your connection to your sword, your love for your
settlement, your pride for your son, your unrequited love
for a lover that no longer loves you... these are the things
that run the lifeblood of a Gubat Banwa game, the reason
for all the Venturing, the impetus for all the drama, the
thing that frames and gives context to the intense tactical
combat.
Relationships help fill out and shape the Kadungganan,
help them give themselves to a cause much larger than they
are, or to a cause too intensely personal.
Facilitate A Good Time
An important part of this is to have a baseline and
foundation with your players as to what a good time or fun
means in the context of your own game. Perhaps they really
like complicated puzzle-combats? Maybe they’re really
into the setting and want to live through it? Maybe they
enjoy the strange politicking of the people? Others treat
the game as a social encounter, and are wont to doing other
things while other players are taking their Beat in combat.
If that’s the good time you all have set up, be sure to keep to
it. Let the players have fun.
Once you’ve set it up and everyone is on board, play close to
it as much as possible.
Stick True To The Fiction
Fiction, in the context of Gubat Banwa, is whatever is
happening in the game in that moment. Fiction comes
with it a set of pre-established norms and expectations: of
course a swarm of bees can’t be tripped down! Or maybe
your dagger was poised so perfectly, it should kill the
hapless, unarmored princess. Stick to whatever makes
sense in the Fiction, which is usually what common sense
dictates you. This way, you can be sure to hew close to the
collaborative story you’re telling and not bog down the
game with strange rulings and trying to figure out the lore
and physics of a fantasy setting.
Tell A Story Together
I wrote the umalagad as a role to hone in the fact that you
are also another player. You’re not some grand storyteller
or narrative controller, you’re a player, a singer, that simply
reacts and narrates the consequences of the other player’s
actions. Of course, this would encompass entire states
potentially being appalled at something one of the
Kadungganan said during a Feast, all the way to a man
falling in love with something a Kadungganan said a few
years ago. Try to lean into the drama and tragedies of war
when telling the story with your characters.
 Running The Game
Lean Into The Drama
Gubat Banwa is a game about people filled with
interpersonal drama and violent melodramatic
interactions. Bastard sons, forgotten lovers, once-best-
friends-turned-sworn-enemies, revenge tales, wives left
for dead only to return with a vengeance. Use tropes you
know from melodramatic period dramas, whether they be
from Southeast Asian sources (Telenobelas), East Asian
sources (K-Dramas and Anime), or even Western drama. A
Gubat Banwa game without interpersonal war drama is
not a Gubat Banwa game.
Address the Kadungganan, Not The Player
This one is easy enough to understand and follow: address
the name of the character that your player is playing as and
not the player directly. This will help them get into the
mindset of their character easier. It’s a subtle but great
trick.
Uphold The Tragedies of War
The Sword Isles is a war torn land. Thus, it is up to you to
make sure that the Kadungganan see this as true: show
burned down villages, ships that have been wrecked and
plundered, crying men and women fleeing into
settlements as refugees, chattel captives being brought in
by the warriors of a chief. Mothers weeping for the sons
they have lost, brothers grieving for the sisters that never
shall return, buried unjustly into mass graves in the middle
of a cliff nowhere. War is not a nice thing, and it will never
be. The Kadungganan suffer from it just like the rest of the
world.
Every Character Has A Name And A Reason For
Fighting
Every being that they will encounter, whether it be in
tactical violence or narrative play, has a reason why they’re
fighting for their cause, or for themselves. It may be an
ideology, or maybe they do it to pay back a debt, or maybe
they do it as penance. Whatever it is, each combat
encounter has a reason. None of them risk their lives for no
reason, even if they be a yawa or undead. Never let them be
a nameless casualty: even the yawa, who have a reason for
being manifested in the first place. The young archer was
skilled that you have slain? He was Kaba, and they were the
only family of a young girl in the next settlement. The
barangan sorcerer that you struck down? Her name was
Humalina, and she was the only one taking care of a
settlement that has lost their Datu.
The World Moves Without Them
This is also integral to creating the sense of a living world,
which can be used to great effect for Gubat Banwa
campaigns. While the Kadungganan are out Venturing,
fighting against political enemies, perhaps their allies are
assassinated by a third party who have held a grudge
against them? Maybe as the Kadungganan travel across the
forest, a huge atrocity is performed somewhere else in the
vast jungle, which causes the yawa, the malevolent spirits
of nature, to attack all mortals that they can see? The world
does not revolve around the Kadungganan. It moves on
without them. Think offscreen.
Exalt a Precolonial Southeast Asian World
The base setting of Gubat Banwa is inspired by a non-
colonized, 9th Century to 17th Century Philippines. An
unsung and widely misunderstood period of our history. It
was the impetus as to why I made this game in the first
place. Keep it close to your heart to exalt Southeast Asian
settings through Gubat Banwa, even if they aren’t
Philippine. Showcase the grandeur and richness of
precolonial Datu, the sophistication of social mores and
taboos, the grandness of spiritual paganito seances, the
reverence to natural temples such as giant strangler figs
and perfectly shaped mountains, and the intense sea and
land raid fighting of the warriors. This is a setting that
deserves to be elevated.
Let Their Kadungganan Status Be Known
This plays into the Southeast Asian setting and the World
Moves Without Them principles: as Kadungganan, they are
high in the social hierarchy. The people would defer to their
abilities, as they are literally either born or have earned
their right to become the warrior-braves of the
Archipelago. The common folk will bow at their presence.
It is up to the Kadungganan how to react.
Additionally, Kadungganan have a reason for their
prestige. They are warriors that can do mindblowing feats
of prowess in the battlefield. Let them do so.
Let Combat Tell A Story
The structure of combat in this game means that it will take
up a significant chunk of the session’s game time. This
means that when combat happens, give it significance and
plot relevance. Try not to do random encounters: every
combat encounter should be for a reason: maybe the Datu
was blasphemed, or an enemy settlement’s assassins
ambush the players in their travel to show them that a
settlement wants them dead, or the players fight for the
honor of their comrade.
Every instance of tactical violence should be significant:
attacks are the words, damage is the strength of their
ideals, their movement across the battlefield is their
conviction to fight. Additionally, not every instance of
fighting has to be tactical combat: remember that tactical
combat only triggers when violence is inevitable between
two or more sides and they’re ready for it. A duel does not
have to be tactical combat, it can be a Moon. Punching
someone can be a simple roll.
385
 Running The Game
Running The Game
Running the game as a Umalagad can be a daunting task.
Fear not, however, and rely on your players to work with
you. You don’t have to put up a veneer of “planned this all
along!” Remember, you are just as much a player as the
Kadungganan.
To help you in setting up and running the game however,
here are some pointers.
Prep
Safety
Once you have all the players on board with the premise
of Gubat Banwa: “A tactical combat and war drama
Tabletop Roleplaying Game of warrior-braves surviving
in a war torn land inspired by Precolonial Philippines”,
the next thing you should consider is the players’ safety.
At the very least, use Lines and Veils, the X Card, and the
Oks Sign for most of the things in Gubat Banwa. Gubat
Banwa can be prone to much violence, which can include
horrific war crimes and mutilation. Read up on the
following safety tools below:
X-Card is the easiest to implement. Simply put a card or
paper with an X on it and put it where everyone can
reach it. If a scene is uncomfortable, touch the X card to
change the scene by either skipping it or changing it. In
online games, you can simply chat the X sign or make it
with your hands. It was developed by John Stavropoulos:
http://tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg
Lines and Veils: Lines are hard boundaries that exclude
specific content from the game, no questions asked. This
could include anything, but common lines are children
being harmed, rape or sexual violence, or racial
discrimination. Veils are softer limits where the player is
ok with it being included in the game but it isn’t
explicitly described. Things that are specified as veils
will be hand-waved without going into detail or happen
off-screen, like the fade-to-black sex scenes in a PG
movie. Consider writing this down on an anonymous
list.
The Oks Sign is a simple sign with the “OK” hand sign,
which all the players can use when wanting to do
something or attempt something during a scene. If all
the players reply with an OK, that’s a sign that the scene
can be pushed further.
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The First Seßion
The first session, which might also be what others call a
Session Zero, is probably the session where you help
guide the players through creating their own
Kadungganan. While reading the entire book isn’t a
prerequisite for this, it will help, and at least have a firm
grasp of the core rules, the difference between drama
mode and tactical violence, and the flow of drama into
combat into drama and consequence.
During the first session, set the base expectations for the
game. This is important: some Gubat Banwa games can
focus on exploration, others can be hardened war period
games, and even others can be romance period drama
with some intense action scenes in between. It is
important to set this down, perhaps consolidate it into a
single sentence.
Don’t stress out too much during the first session, and
try not to plan everything ahead. Only after you did the
first session, set boundaries and expectations, and get a
feel for the group, should you start actually preparing a
bit more.
What to Prep?
When you do get time to prep, don’t sweat it either. Don’t
try to make a grand narrative or a huge story with plot
beats and proper pacing and ups and downs and a three-
act structure--you’re playing a game here, not writing a
novel! Instead, when prepping, take into account the
world that you’re running in. What cool things you want
the players to eventually be able to do. What the NPCs
are doing and what they’re planning on doing. Always
think offscreen, that’s the secret to making a world feel
alive.
One of my favorite tricks to know how to prep (as you
shouldn’t be prepping for every situation, but rather, for
what the Kadungganan expect and/or want to see) is that
you ask the Players the question: “What do you want to
see in the game?” This is usually asked during the first
session, part of the establishing of expectations for the
game. Have them fill up a list of around one to three
things. Tell them that it’s all right to send them over a
private message and it doesn’t have to be during the first
session.
The trick, of course, is to give them what they want. So
you prep around those things. Three is a good number,
since with the expected number of players for Gubat
Banwa, that can mean anywhere from 12 to 15 things that
you can pepper in your sessions. And remember: you, the
Umalagad, are a player too. You get to answer these as
well.
Another trick that is connected to the above is more
related to your immediate prep. Whenever you’re
prepping, ask your players through a message or
whatnot: “What does your Kadungganan plan to do next
session?” Any answer is fine, as you can fit the next
session’s prep around that.
With that known and done, you can read up on the lore
of Gubat Banwa or play around with the mechanics,
make NPCs, plan events that will happen in the world, or
prepare an event line that will eventually end in
something the players want to see.
 Running The Game
When preparing, make sure to...
...keep track of the world. Know what’s going on, and use
that to your advantage. Have the world constantly be
moving, use things that might happen whenever your
players don’t expect it: prep for random events such as
landslides or demon gorilla attacks, not necessarily
combat encounters.
...make NPCs, not just Foes. Make them interesting, give
them a single personality trait and a single quirk if you
expect them to last longer than usual. Give them a unique
thing that lets them stand out from the rest: this can be a
physical tell such as weird hair, or even an important
relationship, such as them being the brother of the Datu
the Kadungganan serve.
...listen to your players, and form your prep around them.
If your players aren’t planning on going into a deep dark
cave next session, don’t prepare a cave exploration map!
Instead, if they want to go to the wedding feast, prepare
NPCs for that wedding feast, strange encounters that
might happen, and maybe even a twist! Get the players
jogging, get them reacting: that’s your job.
...take a break. Sometimes, you don’t even have to prep!
The players will ride out the game with you, and you can
hand them some of the responsibility of creating
interesting NPCs! Ask them sometimes what weird
interesting thing an NPC has, or a secret that they harbor.
You are a player too, so remember to have fun.
The Game
Due to the general prevailing culture right now, there is an
expectation that you, the one playing as the NPCs and
adjucating the rules of the game, are supposed to know the
game inside and out, and also know how to entice your
players into a wild and crazy fantasy world!
The truth about that is that this expectation sets you up for
failure, because even the most veteran Game Masters will
know that you simply can’t learn a game through and
through especially when a game is different when played at
your table, and because it is as much as the responsibility
of the Players to be invested into the fantasy that I’m sure
you’re trying your best to invoke. I know many Game
Masters that have been running for years and are really
really good at what they do don’t even prep! They rely on
their collected media knowledge, weird trivia, and
obsession in invoking a feel or obsession for good game
mechanics.
They don’t try to “run” a game. They play it, just like the
players.
What I’m trying to do is rid yourself of those expectations.
Try to play the game, enjoy it. Make NPCs that you’re
inspired to make, entice your players to get invested in
them, get them invested by making them NPCs they would
care about: young idealistic boys and girls who want to
change the world, beaten old men that have a soft spot for
flowers, strong women that rule their own settlements.
Make the world receptive to them, let them talk about the
world.
Now this advice won’t work for everybody, I’m sure, and I
don’t even think a lot of people that will be getting this
game will be even reading this section (since the main
draw of this game is probably either the setting and/or the
tactical Fantasy combat), but I’ll be laying down the things
that I’ve been doing that I hope will be able to steer people
that want to run War Drama in Fantasy Precolonial
Philippines in the right direction.
Improvising
Perhaps one of the most difficult skills to accomplish. How
do you improvise successfully? Essentially, what I do is I
lean into my prep or what I already know. If you have
things prepped up and you’re stuck in a strange spot in the
game where the players have reacted and you don’t know
what to do next, drive them forward. Speed them on in the
world. Let the world move on without them. Introduce
danger. Lean on what you know about the world: you’ve
established that a rogue Kadungganan is hunting after
them. When there’s a lull in the game and you’re not sure
what to do next, let the Kadungganan appear.
Some good improvisational tools are:
0 A list of character names.
0 A list of what the most relevant NPCs are doing at the
moment.
0 A list of what kind of Foes can be encountered in the
immediate vicinity.
0 A list of all the ongoing threats in the campaign.
0 A list of quick combat encounters!
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 Running The Game
Describing
Keep descriptions to 1 to 2 sentences long, leaving long
and overwrought descriptions to really grandiose
setpieces (or you know, just use a picture). State one or
two important details, and then end it. If the players want
to know more, then you give them more. You don’t want to
drabble on for too long. You want to get a scene into the
player’s heads using their senses and their presumptions
and then snap back to the question: What do you do?
Don’t Get Hung Up On Rules
Gubat Banwa’s system usually works, but there are some
areas where the rules don’t cover. This is because Gubat
Banwa is for running tactical combat and period dramas,
and not much for anything else. Building up strongholds
and learning how to weave is not fully encompassed in the
core rules, and that’s intended. For the most part, leave
these things to fiction: let them happen if the players want
them. The game is not a simulation of the world, but a way
for players to engage with it in a fun and quick way.
Follow Your Principles and Agenda
Principles are some of the most important parts of
running Gubat Banwa. As long as you’re sticking close to
the game’s principles, you’re running it right, even if it
isn’t even in the same setting anymore! Name your NPCs,
give them motivations, uphold the tragedy of war.
Communicate
Many things can be fixed with proper communication
(obviously not all things, but it usually helps!) If you made
a bad rules call, or an encounter dragged on for too long,
or if you missed obvious signs in play, be sure to talk about
it with the other players. You’re not perfect, and none of
the players expect you to be either.
During the game, you still want to be on the same page as
your players, as much as possible. Be sure to remind
people of what the theme and mood of your campaign is,
so that your players can be sure to play up to it. Lead by
example! Make melodramatic characters, have your
characters cry when their brother dies! Have sad K-Drama
music playing while a beloved NPC is slaughtered by the
Kadungganan Warlord of an enemy Datu!
Rely on the magic of “Yes”, depend on “What do you
do?”
When saying Yes in response to a player’s query, you play
into what your players give you, letting them get invested
into the game and having them be more excited with what
you do. This relies heavily on being on the same page as
well: obviously a European castle might not exist here in
The Sword Isles, but stone idjang citadels do! So when
they say “Is that a castle?” when you describe something in
the distance, you can respond with “Yes, a kind of castle!”
Additionally, one of the most powerful questions you can
ask is “What do you do?” This is the crux of roleplaying,
and what you want to do whenever you speak is to have
everything you say eventually lead up to that question.
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Aftercare
Alternatively titled, after the game.
The first thing that I usually say is: “I hope you guys
enjoyed the game!” I don’t ask my players if they liked it,
since that usually puts the players on the spot. I just state
that, and then usually go around and message my players
if they did have a good time or not. That’s pretty
important.
Ending the Game
As someone who’s written serials before, what you want
as much as possible is a cliffhanger for a campaign. Now a
cliffhanger doesn’t exactly have to be a cool gotcha
moment, like an evil guy coming to their village or a
mountain collapsing under them. Sometimes a good
cliffhanger is reminding the players that there are still
some loose threads unsolved even after you’ve finished a
particular narrative arc or story beat. That will definitely
help keep the players on their toes, thinking about the
next session.
Now if it’s going to be a kind of “season ender” or if the
session you’re currently having is setting up for a big
payoff, it would be a good idea then not to have a
cliffhanger (although loose threads still work fine). Let the
players relish at the end of a payoff. Let them breathe.
Breathing is the most important part of a game: it lets
them reflect back on the game, how much fun they’ve had,
all the memorable NPCs and events that happened, and
how long they had gotten. Keep those in mind, and you’ll
be fine.
Rest
I highly recommend not jumping into prep right after the
game. Resting after a game is integral: roleplaying as
different NPCs, facilitating combat, and being the one to
dole out the rules and follow them is a heavy, heavy task.
One that is usually rewarding (and some people really do
love running games!) But one that can take a toll on you
mentally. Have a good break, maybe eat some food with
your friends, talk about your favorite thing that happened
during the game, compliment each other, have a blast.
 Running The Game

Encounters
When talking about Encounters in Gubat Banwa, these are not strictly tactical combat scenarios. Instead, they might be
interesting happenings that challenge the players and exhaust some of their resources.

When speaking of resources in Gubat Banwa, that will usually be the following: Conviction, Debt, Barter, Posture, Items,
Anting-Anting.

Exhausting Debt can mean them having to gain more debt to someone, or become indebted to someone, which will have
repercussions down the line.

When designing non-combat encounters, keep in mind their debt and what the players want from the game. If they want
more drama, give them more drama: a dead brother, a politicking noble catches up to them, etc. Make sure that the
encounter makes sense in the fiction: that is, if the raid or current situation is in a burning village in the fields of
Rusunuga, it wouldn’t make sense for them to run into a rich mercantile noble from Virbanwa that never leaves his
palanquin.

Here are some interesting non-combat encounters. Roll a d8:

1 – A Wounded Person. You find a wounded person, probably not even wounded by you during the Raid. What do you do?

2 – A Crying Child. You find a crying child, looking for their parents amidst the flames. What do you do?

3 – Abundant Wealth. You find a house or hidden away part of land where heirloom wealth has been hidden away. It will
bring you great wealth, but carrying it will hamper you when you Catch Your Breath.

4 – Puzzle. Somehow, maybe diwata work, sorcerers’ work, or ingenious planning by blacksmiths, but there is a puzzle
during the raid that forces players to confront it non-violently.

5 – Important Folk. They come across an important character. Maybe someone tied to the place the players are Raiding,
maybe someone wandering by and has a stake in the players’ destiny.

6 – Debt. One of the players’ debt has arrived to collect what is rightfully theirs.

7 – Willing Captive. A person runs into your arms, asking you to take them into your barge or wing. They will always have
something they can do. If you have a Following, they join your Following.

8 – Haunting. You encounter a spiritual or magical—or metaspiritual?—haunting. Maybe a god speaks with you, or the
ancestors congratulate you, or demons block your path, asking for salt or some other inane thing? Whatever it is, you must
deal with it.

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 The Sword Devil

IX: The Sword Devil

“Apu. Apu! Do you hear me?”

“I do, young one. I do. What hath transpired? Thy mother and father...?”

“The shore is destroyed and broken, turned into jagged rocks by the metal
ships. Father and Mother are preparing to return to the kota. They have told me
to come get you--”

“Virbanwa! The Empire hath come. Their steel firearms shalt clash with our
swords and there shalt be war. The river is not stayed from its course: God-
Kings shall revel and servants become as Minion. Quick, child, take upon thine
feet and let the wind carry you upriver. Bring news to the village that the
Empire marcheth!”

“Will they believe me?”

“They have no other choice. The thundering of these blasphemous cannons

hath no recourse. Be swift, young one.”

“What will happen if the Conquest is complete?”

“The seas will burn, and the skies will bleed red. The gods of violence rejoiceth,
for the end cometh posthaste, with no interjection! The Wheel of Violence
continues. The thunderbolt vehicle rides across the heavens. Find Glory Beyond
Heaven, Kadungganan.”

The Sword Devil is an introductory adventure for up to 1-5 Kadungganan. In it, they will be investigating a
mysterious demonic infestation in the forests surrounding Palani Village, a village upon the island of Nangka,
filled with jack fruits and coconut crabs.
When the Kadungganan arrive (unless they’ve been living in Palani Village), they will find that the idyllic
village of Palani has been besieged recently by demons from the woods. These demons are usually wild boars
or civet cats that have been possessed by a sort of black smoke. Palani Village’s warriors and their Datu, a
woman named Datu Ulay, have been successfully keeping the yawa at bay, but their resources are wearing
down, and they must find a way to stop it.
Into this, the beautiful idyllic life of Palani is endangered, and perhaps you are the only ones that can stop it.
This module will deal with the following content warnings: slavery, imperialism, environmental destruction,
animal death.

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 The Sword Devil

Notes For The Umalagad

This adventure is meant to be very freeform and sandboxy. There will be no proper narrative to follow here. Instead, there
will be Three Factions, each with their own goals, as well as descriptions of each Location. Within the factions will be Folk
that can be interacted with.

However, potential encounters will be laid out down here as well, to ease needing to build out encounters yourself. These
encounters will be in the particular Location they will be in, and will represent likely outcomes of going to those
Locations.

Customizing Encounters
If there are more or less Kadungganan in the party, simply remove or add 1 enemy per Kadungganan from the Encounter,
removing the last fighter listed first.

Tactics
Each encounter has tactics, which color what the enemies might do. Use these if there is an Umalagad running the
encounter. Otherwise, simply relying on Gambits should be enough.

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 The Sword Devil
Factions and Folk
There are three Factions that have confluenced upon the
island of Nangka. These are the Palani Villagers, the
Virbanwan 33rd “Conqueror” Battalion, and the Forest
Folk.
Palani Villagers
As their name implies, Palani Villagers will most likely be
found in the village of Palani.
Datu Ulay (She/Her)
Strict, Commanding, Secretive
A tall woman wearing full body abaca weave, with a
hardwood breastplate over it. She wears a gold garuda
hair ornament over her naturally platinum white hair.
Datu Ulay is a severe warrioress who has been the datu of
Palani for only five years. Her father, Sakid, still lives in an
inland house, to spend the rest of his days in rest, as a
sickness has taken over him.
Datu Ulay will be very stressed about the current demon
infestation situation of Palani, and would no doubt
appreciate any help that she could get. If the
Kadungganan go to her, she will ask them to investigate
the Abandoned Spirit Altar in the surrounding Forest of
Palani. None of her own warriors have returned after
being sent there.
As a reward, she promises to grant each Kadungganan a
gold ring, a necessity.
Belief 1: She believes that the Demons cannot be
negotiated with, and that they must build a powerful
warrior force to be able to beat the demons to the ground
and close the Defiled Land. She has been ignoring Balyan
Song’s pleas.
Belief 2: Should the Virbanwan Regiment arrive in Palani,
she will immediately believe that their weapons, steel, and
discipline is what they need, and will ally with them if the
Virbanwan Regiment will help them stop the Demon
Invasion.
Balyan song (He/They)
Softspoken, Short, Caring
A short-statured yet lithe and handsome man who can be
easily mistaken for a girl, especially with the woman’s
clothing he wears. He presents as a woman when
performing his ritual duties.
Balyan Song has been the balyan for 20 years now, which
is most of his life. His master had died during a demonic
invasion and he took his place. He’s had to learn much on
the job, but he now works great as the village healer and
the channeler for the great ancestor Palani, of whom the
village is named after, and is the one that grants blessings
to the village.
Balyan Song is afraid, however: Palani’s voice has long
disappeared, and he is afraid that is why the demons have
been multiplying in number. He has not been able to travel
into the waterfall where Palani’s Shrine rests, because a
powerful ogre blocks the path.
392
He can offer support if the Kadungganan wish to go to the
Abandoned Spirit Altar. However, he does not believe in
Ulay’s methods.
Belief 1: Datu Ulay is being intentionally hard headed: she
knows that performing a cleansing ritual in Palani’s
Shrine in the island is going to be too difficult to pull off,
especially with Song being the only Balyan in the village.
Belief 2: He believes the Demons can be strongarmed into
submission through sheer violence. He’s seen the
Virbanwans do it, so he believes they would be able to do it
as well.
Siwalo (He/Him)
Stoic, Handsome, Skilled
Siwalo is one of the warriors in Datu Ulay’s retinue. He is
a quiet man, who usually only answers by way of nodding
and shaking his head. He is capable of speech, thankfully.
Siwalo is actually one of the descendant of Palani, and the
sword that he bears--an heirloom called Palani’s Thorn--is
a special kind of weapon that can slay the ogre blocking
Palani’s Shrine. The trouble is, he doesn’t know this, and
neither does Balyan Song.
If one wishes to kill the Ogre at the entrance of Palani
Shrine, then they must bring Siwalo. If they do not, then
the Ogre will simply reform when the Kadungganan wish
to leave the Shrine. Palani’s Thorn will not work in other’s
hands: it must be a descendant of Palani.
Forest Folk
Most of the Forest is inhabited by the little gods. However,
there are two spirits who have the capacity to speak with
Folk: the Crocodile River Spirit Sri Subr, and the Child of
the Forest Lisi.
Sri Subr
Majestic, Gigantic, Peaceful
Sri Subr is a benevolent diwata that lives in the River Sri
Subr, the river that bisects Palani from the rest of the
forest. Sri Subr vows to keep Palani Village protected, but
despite their offerings, the demons have been getting to
him.
Sri Subr is dead. His corpse, fading away into grass and
river, sits gently by the riverbanks. The river Sri Subr fades
in power. Sri Subr has not been killed by yawa, he has been
killed by Virbanwans.
Lisi
Wise, Ominous, Foreboding -- Has wispy black hair and wears a
large textile cloak that shrouds her entire silhouette.
Lisi is the Child of the Forest, whose true name is
Kalisilisi. She abhors the demons, and will guide the
Kadungganan to Palani’s Shrine. However, she will ask the
Kadungganan a single favor, in return for a beautiful
Mutya. She asks that the Kadungganan push the metal
men out of the forest as well.
 The Sword Devil
Virbanwan 33rd Conqueror
Battalion
One of the many powerful regiments of the Virbanwan
structured army, sent to crush dissidents and enforce the
will of Makagagahum. The 33rd Conqueror Battalion is led
by the Sword Devil , who once destroyed an entire Gatusan
settlement on his own.
Kapitan Nitida, The Sword Devil
Indomitable, Unhinged, Greedy
Sword Devil Nitida is a tall man with long unkempt dark
green hair that reaches the small of his back. His eyes burn
like a cat’s, with a crimson hue, and his skin is a pale
brown. He has sharp canines, as if he has been possessed
by a true demon. He usually wears a complete Virbanwan
Rayadillo, but beneath it all is a pale brown body marred
with scars. Nitida was the premier student of Guro
Sanghati, the Sword Saint.
Nitida is power hungry general who grew up from
weakness and poverty. Upon that dirty and bloody road,
he took upon himself the twisted Conviction: never shall
he become that weak again. He believes that all problems
in the world is an individualistic problem of willpower,
instead of a true dialectic problem of greater Virbanwan
mercantilist society.
He brings with him a giant ginunting, forged in the fires
of dying angels, known as the Iyong Katotohanan, which
means “Your Truth”. Because when he slashes-without-
slashing, he is showing them his own truth that will
become inevitably the victim of his scorn’s.
He cares for nothing but himself, and will do anything it
takes. He is cruel and sadistic, but manipulative and great
at getting other people to look at it in his light. He uses his
inherent charisma and looks like a sword.
The Nangka deployment is nothing but another job for
him, something to grant him more prowess and power on
the path to ultimate power. He wishes on day to kill the
Batara Lakan and take his place, becoming a Panginoong
Espada, a Sword God.
They have their orders, the entire Regiment knows it: kill
Palani to rid Nangka of its guardian deity, and then
establish a colony here. Nangka is a strategic position
after all, in the fight against heathen Akai.
At every point of their meeting, Nitida will try to sway the
Kadungganan over to the Virbanwan’s side, promising
power, protection, and honor.
Sapper Confiado
Confident, Intelligent, Compassionate
Sapper Confiado is a beer-gut wielding warrior of the
explosives division, led by Army Witch Iris Reyes. The
Sapper wears a large amount of clothing and layers, but
that does not hide his weight.
Confiado himself is a peasant, given the job Sapper after
he was forcibly conscripted. He is smart, and knows a lot
about the strange alchemizations of witchpowder as well
as Virbanwan Trade Routes, but knows nothing about the
world around them. He has been conditioned to believe
that the gods are “ingkantu”.
However he has an open mind, and when he sees that the
village of Palani is a nice village that is not worth
conquering over, and he is eager to learn about the natures
of his fellow warriors in the Sword Isles.
Army Witch Iris Reyes
Prodigious, Loyal, Loving
She wears the Virbanwan Army Rayadillo, but wears a
faded textile cloak over it all, shrouding her face and pitch
black hair. There is a crimson gem upon her forehead,
representing her awakened Kinaadman.
Iris Reyes never wanted to be an army witch, leading a
division. She was born a peasant girl. She had no
intentions of becoming an Makinaadmanon, but her
mother held the Art deep in her heart, even though she
never taught it. When the Virbanwans came and razed her
village to the ground--they could not pay their rice taxes--
they took her after finding out they had killed her mother.
They took her because they thought witches passed down
their ability.
She was subjected to a grueling process of learning
Witchcraft, wherein Sampalatayan Devilpriests (other
mandalas would call them by their true name, balyan)
would perform long and intricate rituals to forcibly open
her Third Eye, and in so doing let her use her Kinaadman.
She was forced to endure bloody enlightenment. Now
every time she uses her witchcraft, pain consumes her.
“That’s okay,” the Virbanwan Steel Generals say, upon their
Lion Galleons, “The pain will make the magick stronger.”
Iris will choose anything but to keep being an Army Witch.
However, she is loyal. She does not know yet that there is a
life better than being an explosive cog in the machine.
Iris specializes in long-range artillery fire, using her own
talents to supplement lantaka barrages. She can summon
large showers of flame from her Kinaadman to batter
down enemy forces.
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The Forest
The forest beyond Palani Village is an
ancient forest, revered and sacred. It
is considered the holy provider by the
locals of Palani, and of course there is
a blessed waterfall that has been
turned into Palani’s Shrine.
When venturing into the Forest,
begin from Area 1, where the Spirit
House and Bridge to Sri Subr are. The
Forest is a dangerous place, and it
takes days to traverse it even
partially.
Area 1: Entrance
There is a river here, and a broken
wooden bridge, overtaken by green.
In the midway through the bridge is a
spirit house, wherein the figure of a
fat scowling man sits. This is Sri
Subr. Make an offering.
If the Kadungganan make an
offering, they will be led by a little
moth in the direction of Sri Subr’s
Corpse, which is in Area 7.
There is only one path here: inside, to
Area 2.
Area 2: Abandoned Spirit Altar
There is a tree trunk here, wherein an
idol stands, covered in fruits, flowers,
and rice grains. It is melting.
It is surrounded by demons. As the
Kadungganan approach, one of the
last surviving warriors of Datu Ulay
(a scrappy young boy named Maki,
who stands his ground with nothing
but a balaraw) turns and shouts:
“Leave! It’s not safe here!” At his
direst hour his courage still burns.
If the Kadungganan choose to help
him, they will fight the demons. If it
has come to this, you can proceed to
Encounter 1.
The Kadungganan can try and cast
the crocodile’s teeth if they want to
sneak past the yawa, but they can
only travel to Area 3. Area 6 is blocked
completely by the demons.
On the other side of the area is the
path to Area 6.
Area 3: Forest Hall
A beautiful stretch of forest teeming
with life. A whole slew of fauna can
be found here. More importantly,
before they head to Area 4, Lisi will
appear and speak with the
Kadungganan, asking for their help.
She will also alude to Sri Subr’s
death.
The Sword Devil
Area 4: Virbanwan Camp
Here there is a grand rocky
outcropping one must trek up to find
the path that leads to Palani’s Shrine.
However, there is a Virbanwan Camp
that has set up camp here, led by
Army Witch Iris Reyes. They plan on
blowing up the rocky cliffs to create a
pathway for the greater regiment to
travel into Palani’s Shrine and
destroy it.
The Kadungganan can try and Cast
the Crocodile’s Teeth to sneak past
them, but this is done with a Penalty.
If they choose to fight the
Virbanwans, they go into Encounter
2.
Area 4 is connected to Area 5. The
Kadungganan can also choose to go
to Area 8, but that is no doubt filled
with Virbanwans.
Area 5: Palani’s Shrine
A beautiful waterfall cascades here,
veiling a beautiful strangler fig in a
fine drizzle. Upon the roots of the
strangler fig is an ancient stone
statue depicting a kindly smiling
man. There is a stone altar carved
before him, where fruit and flower
has dried up.
However, before one can travel to the
shrine, an Ogre Demon blocks the
area. This is immediately Encounter
3. If they are victorious, the Ogre
DEmon is cleansed. If they are
Defeated, they are forced to retreat,
and the next time they arrive in
Palani’s Shrine, the Ogre Demon
would have been killed by a
Virbanwan battalion, led by Sword
Devil Nitida and an abducted Siwalo.
This will lead to Encounter 6, (unless
Nitida is defeated beforehand).
To save Palani, they must take the
stone idol away from the strangler fig
and back to Balyan Song in the
village. There he can perform a ritual
that summons Palani from the
heavens and cleanses this particular
land, stopping demons from being
drawn to Nangka.
Area 6: Virbanwan Party
There’s a clearing here beside a river.
There’s a Virbanwan Party here that
has set up camp. They are small, with
a lot of infantry. However they are
not immediately hostile, and the first
Virbanwan that Kadungganan will
meet here is Sapper Confiado, who
has sway in the general attitude of
that party. If hostilities arrive,
however, this leads to Encounter 4.
394
Area 7: Sri Subr Corpse
The overwhelming body of Sri Subr
dominates this area. It is bleeding
and dying. Wounds have been made
from sorcerous flame, bullets, and
steel slashes.
Sri Subr will grant 1 Kadungganan an
Anting-Anting of their choice.
Area 8: Virbanwan Forward Camp
This area has been cleared of trees
and turned into a stronghold. At the
borders of the clearing stands little
earth spirits, sadly watching the
march of progress, as the stronghold
crafts iron and belches smoke.
If they haven’t met Nitida yet, Nitida
will be here, and offer them comfort
and a home.
If they choose to side with Nitida,
Area 8 will become a place for
Downtime.
Area 9: Flattened Ground
The land here has been flattened into
plains. Trees lie here, unblessed.
Spirits languish, sitting upon the
trees that were cut down.
If the Kadungganan has allied with
Nitida, they will be attacked by scouts
of Palani, which leads to Encounter 5.
Area 10: Shores of Nangka
The grand lion galleons of Virbanwa
lay here, belching sorcerous smoke.
Here they will find Datu Ulay,
striking up a deal with the
Virbanwans (Nitida if they haven’t
met him yet). In exchange for the
safety of Palani and a place in the
greater Empire, they will not
interfere with Virbanwan business.
If the Kadungganan disagree, this
leads to Encounter 7.
Area 11: In The Deepwood
There is nothing here but serenity. So
close to nature. Beautiful lacewings
and floating flower petals, delicious
fruit, and a refreshing brook. Such
beauty, would you let this fade away?
On your next combat, the Warband
has +1 to all Defenses on their first
Fulmination.
 The Sword Devil

Each green square is an area. Every number outside of the green

Forest Path Map square is a direction or path one can follow to get to the next
connecting square. The numbers outside the green square
represent the number of days it takes to get to the other adjacent
green square.

1
1/4

2 1/4 3 1 4 1/8 5
1/4 4 3

6 1/2
7 1
8
2
1

9
1 1/4

10 5
11

395
 The Sword Devil
Encounter 1
Demons are assaulting the altar. Protect it.
Battlefield
A 10x10 field with the following field traits:
0 A spirit altar square on the top side. It is a Durability 15
object.
0 Elevation variations of -1 to +3.
0 At least 5 squares of Difficult Terrain.
0 Maki is in a square no less than 5 squares from the
yawa. Stat Maki as an Apumbukid Assassin Companion.
Kadungganan begin at the bottom of the map, single
file.
Objective
Defeat all demons.
Sub Objective: Make sure Maki is not defeated. Reward:
Maki owes you one and gives you Debt.
Loss Condition: All Kadungganan are defeated or the
Spirit Altar is destroyed.
Enemies
Enemies begin in no less than 6 squares of the Spirit
Altar, probably surrounding Maki.
Enemy Forces
0 1 Demon Raider
0 1 Demon Juggernaut
0 2 Demon Hunters
Tactics
Every demon will spend their first turn attacking Maki.
Maki is an Assassin. Afterwards, the demons will try
and attack the spirit altar, though if there is a
Kadungganan in range, they will attack the
Kadungganan first.
396
Encounter 2
Face the Virbanwans who stand above you.
Battlefield
A 15x10 field (vertical) with the following field traits:
0 The upper half of the battlefield should be rising in
elevation, with the highest height being +5 Elevation. The
Virbanwans all begin from +5 or +4 Elevation.
0 Set 5 Boulders down.
0 Kadungganan begin at the bottom of the map, single
file, in 0 Elevation squares.
0 You can place up to 3 more Field Traits as needed.
Objective
Defeat Army Witch Iris Reyes.
Sub Objective: Gain the trust of the Virbanwan.
Loss Condition: All Kadungganan are defeated or you
reach Strike 9 without achieving your Objective.
Enemies
Enemy Forces
0 1 Virbanwan Sorcerer Brave (Iris Reyes)
0 5 Virbanwan Lancer Minions
0 1 Virbanwan Sword Maiden
0 2 Virbanwan Snipers
0 1 Virbanwan Hound
Tactics
As much as possible, each Virbanwan will not leave Iris’
side. Archers will take exploit their height advantage as
the Kadungganan try to go up to Iris, while 2 Lancer
Minions will stay behind while the rest of the Minion
work to slow down the Kadungganan. The Sword
Maidens will use their superior movement to attack and
then leave.
The Snipers will almost never give up their height
advantage and will use Deflect to end their Fulmination
if possible.
 The Sword Devil

Encounter 3 Encounter 4
Defeat the Ogre of the Shrine. You have drawn the ire of a Virbanwan Party.

Battlefield Battlefield

A 10x10 field with the following field traits: A 12x12 field with the following field traits:

0 A waterfall in one corner, leading to two streams that
are water terrain that go across the entire map.
0 Elevations of -1 to +3.
0 Five trees and five Boulders.
0 Kadungganan begin at the bottom of the map, single
file.
Objective
0 The Battlefield is cut across vertically by a river, which
is water terrain and -1 Elevation
0 5 Boulders, 3 Trees.
0 Kadungganan begin on the left side of the battlefield,
while the enemies begin on the right side, across the river.
0 You can place up to 3 more Field Traits as needed.
Objective

Defeat the Ogre of the Shrine. Defeating the Ogre opens
him up for a killing blow from Siwalo.
Sub Objective: Defeat the Ogre with fire damage. If you
do, gain the Hatred Agimat Anting-Anting.
Defeat the Virbanwans.
Loss Condition: All Kadungganan are defeated or you
reach Strike 9 without achieving your Objective.

Loss Condition: All Kadungganan are defeated or the Enemies

Objective is not achieved by Strike 9. Enemy Forces

Enemies 0 1 Virbanwan Tiglantaka (Sapper Confiado)

0 1 Virbanwan Fist
Enemy Forces 0 1 Virbanwan Sniper
0 1 Demon Navadikpala (Ogre of the Shrine). Large and 0 1 Virbanwan Medium
tusked. Like a bipedal warthog. 0 1 Virbanwan Ironclad
Tactics Tactics

The Ogre of the Shrine is not particularly smart, and will The Virbanwan Sniper will attack from afar, and the
attack the closest fighter to them. When they attack, Warlord will empower either the Sniper or the Fist.
they will generally deal damage to as much fighters as Confiado will not approach unless he is moving with the
possible. They are prone to provoked. Ironclad.

397
 The Sword Devil
Encounter 5
Palani has branded you as traitors.
Battlefield
A 12x12 field with the following field traits:
0 A map with 7 squares that are at Hindering Terrain (Tree
Stumps) and 4 squares that are Blocking Terrain.
0 No Elevation higher than +1, but there are 1d6 Chasms
everywhere, set secretly by the Umalagad, or randomly at
the start by rolling 2d12 and letting the first dice set the
vertical square and the second die the horizontal square.
0 Kadungganan begin at the middle of the map, while
Enemies begin surrounding them.
0 Choose one edge of the map furthest from the
Kadungganan. This is an Escape Point. They simply need to
move into an Escape Point to flee.
Objective
Defeat the assassins or all Kadungganan escape.
Loss Condition: All Kadungganan are defeated or you
reach Strike 10
Enemies
Enemy Forces
0 1 Apumbukid Ritualist
0 1 Apumbukid Assassin
0 1 Apumbukid Juggler
0 1 Apumbukid Hound
0 1 Apumbukid Healer
Tactics
The Ritualist will set up Spirits immediately, while the
Assassin and the Juggler will move behind the
Juggernaut. The Healer will stay as far away from the
Kadungganan as possible.
398
Encounter 6
The Sword Devil stands before you.
Battlefield
A 20x10 field with the following field traits:
0 A waterfall in one corner, leading to two streams that are
water terrain that go across the entire map.
0 -1 to +3 Elevations.
0 5 Boulders, 5 Trees.
0 Kadungganan begin at the bottom of the map, single file.
0 The Virbanwans begin within 6 squares of the
Kadungganan.
0 On the northern edge of the map is Palani’s Shrine, a
Size 1 Object with Durability 20.
Objective
Defeat the Sword Devil Nitida and protect Palani’s
Shrine.
Loss Conditions: All Kadungganan are defeated, you
reach Strike 10 without achieving your Objective, or
Palani’s Shrine is destroyed.
Enemies
Enemy Forces
0 3 Virbanwan Guardian Minion
0 3 Virbanwan Tiglantaka Minion
0 1 Virbanwan Swordmaster (Sword Devil Nitida)
Enemy Reinforcements
Reinforcements arrive at the bottom of the map.
0 3 Virbanwan Guardian Minion
0 3 Virbanwan Sniper Minion
0 3 Virbanwan Medium Minion.
Tactics
The Sword Devil is a powerful warrior, who will stop at
nothing to claim what is his. But he is also haughty. He
will be the one to face off with the Kadungganan while the
Minion go and destroy the Shrine.
Dramatics
Nitida Battle Start Quote: “Ah, the would be heroes, are
you? Let us see if you are worth my steel. Death, either
way, shall be a reward.”
Nitida Phase 2 Quote: “Your--ngh!--steel rings true! But
let us see if your conviction is stronger. Face me, make me
feel alive! You are worthy of my blades!”
Nitida Defeat Quote: You have shattered my steel for now.
But... The Empire Marcheth... Ever on...”
 The Sword Devil
Encounter 7
Defeat Datu Ulay.
Battlefield
A 20x20 field with the following field traits:
0 The lower half of the battlefield is +2 Elevation normal
terrain. The upper half is sandy +1 Elevation Difficult
Terrain. Then the third half of that is 0 Elevation Water
Terrain.
0 The Virbanwans and Datu Ulay begin at where the
water meets the sand.
0 Kadungganan begin at the bottom of the map, single
file, at the earthen terrain.
0 Place 5 Boulders in the field.
0 At the start of Strike 2 and every start of Strike after
that, cannons explode from the ships. All fighters in the
sand terrain are safe. But those that are in normal terrain
are valid targets. The Umalagad must roll a d10...
1 1-5: A Kadungganan is hit, they suffer 1 True Hit.
If the Kadungganan is behind Blocking Terrain (not
in front of it, facing the water), the terrain suffers the
damage instead.
1 6-10: A Minion on normal terrain is killed.
Objective
Defeat the Datu Ulay!
Sub Objective: Defeat all Virbanwans
Loss Condition: All Kadungganan are defeated or you
reach Strike 10.
Enemies
Enemy Forces
0 1 Apunon Blade Maiden Brave (Datu Ulay)
0 1 Virbanwan Warlord
0 5 Virbanwan Guardian Minion
0 5 Virbanwan Sniper Minion
0 5 Virbanwan Lancer Minion
Tactics
Datu Ulay’s Conviction is steel. They will not hesitate to
attack, but they will stand alongside the Virbanwan
warlord as much as possible. The Minions will swarm
the field, but they will move together, exploiting their
Virbanwan nature as much as possible.
If Nitida has not been defeated yet at this point, Nitida
joins the fight here, after the fight with Ulay, fighting
against the Kadungganan.
Dramatics
Ulay Battle Start Quote: “No quarter for the weak,
Kadungganan! If Palani Village is to survive we must
take advantage of the Empire!”
Ulay Phase 2 Quote: “Your... Arguments are enticing.
But they will not sway me. This is not about me, nor you!
It is about the people of Palani!”
Ulay Defeat Quote: “You cannot kill me. Not now. There’s
still so much to do.... Palani, forgive me.”
399
 Legend XP
Kadungganan Sheet Violence
Techniques and Enlightenment
Name and Discipline

Pronouns Style
+2 at Kadungganan Creation. +1 every time
Martial Abilities your Legend grows. Starts at 3, up to 7

Player/Pronouns HP
Current
Portrait Folk Max

Culture BRV FTH POS RES SPD

Subculture
Lineage Discipline Traits

Social Standing

Conviction

Conjuncture

Debts Honor

2, 1, 1, 0 at Kadungganan Creation. +1 every

Alignments time your Legend grows. Up to 6 only.

Fire
Complications
Water

Metal

Air Inflict Violences

Earth

Items