1
Public Playtest 2
Writer and Developer: Joaquin Kyle “Makapatag”
Saavedra (@makapatag)
Art Director: Dylan Briones (@illsvillainy)
Artists: Dylan Briones (@illsvillainy), Jul A. Refugia
(@JuiceUrLemons), Noriz Mora (@Togidemi), Tamara
Catada (@tanorochen), Xrystina Marcos
(@SweetCyanid3), Ahron (@daffonahron), Gen
(@Shaolinfan1), Luisa Odulio (@ghostprinceee), RM Banas
(@rmbananas), Cams Cabezas (@breezamiii), Trina Laya
(@tumbke), Fae (@indignoir), Kai (@ClickClacKAI), Taters
(@thistaters), Raj (@rajavlitra), CamChua (@frillion)
Kasuratan Font: R- (@kathanglangit)
Playtesting: Sean Chingkaw, Kate, Noriz Mora, John Erwin
Casia, Benedict Mangahas, Luisa Odulio, Aryelle Sison, RM,
Lance, Jey, artspinapl
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!
On 1st Edition
To you all Kadungganan, who has eviscerated me: Hey all,
Waks here, again, unfortunately. Hopefully for the last time
(this is wishful hoping, because Gubat Banwa still needs to
blow up), but here we are.
This is particularly heartfelt because this is the longest time
I’ve taken to update this wretched, lovely game. As I work
on this version it did kind of feel like a goodbye: I was
returning to the earliest versions of this game and taking
the best parts of those, along with the things I’ve learned
from the current versions of this game, and synthesizing
them. In a sense, thanks to my disgusting hyperfixation on
this game, I’ve put my players through at least 15 editions of
this game before we got here. I am apologetic, but also, it
was a fun ride, right? Hopefully.
A poet once said that love is obliteration. It’s true. I was
eviscerated working on this game: from preconceptions, to
game mechanic practices, to realizing the difficulty of every
aspect of game design (from conception to marketing). As I
write this, I feel like I have been cleaved to my very core.
Unfortunately there’s still more to do.
I’ve rambled on for enough, I think. In 1e, you will find
different War Drama mechanics, a fresh and clean combat
engine, tighter Discipline design, a three sectioned
progression system (Techniques, Anting-Anting, and
Treasures), horizontal progression, cooler enemies, and
even more evocative worldbuilding, along with a number of
tables to help you on that font. I hope it’s enough.
Thanks again for sailing these waters with me. Sunder the
world with your sins, become Hiyang, and rejoice in the
glory of combat.
- Waks
 Table of Contents
3
Table of Contents 3
The Wandering Sheathe 4
Poems of the Past 12
What is Gubat Banwa? 14
Where is Gubat Banwa? 15
The Five Major Mandalas 18
How To Play 23
Tactical Martial Arts 43
Kadungganan and Warbands 58
Disciplines and Anting-Anting 139
Disciplines 140
Anting-Anting 240
Songs of the Umalagad 245
Umalagad Characters 260
And Heaven Will Be Ours 286
The Manuscript of Songs 296
Combat Summary 312
 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.
4 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, 5
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.
6 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 power of
‘we’.”
***
The next morning, Odyong arrived at the shore of the village
to the sound of a bodyong being sounded.
The sound echoed across the entire island.
Odyong leapt out of the foliage and met the incoming Biray.
“What took you all so long, mga buang?” Odyong said, a
small smile breaking out from her stoic face.
Upon the prow of the ship, four warriors met her. One sat on
the side: a beautiful, rose-eyed man wielding a long kudyapi,
wearing no armor but a colorful and golden-tasselled saob-
saob only worn by royalty.
Another sat by the outrigger, a young boy with a bow longer
than him. Another sat behind the prow, a large woman with
a large iron gut. She’s the one blowing the bodyong. Her
sundang glinted in the rising sunlight.
The last one was a man with an almost flamboyant baro and
sarong get up, whereupon he wore plumage upon his
pudong. Using sorcerous wind, he leapt from the ship’s prow
and landed upon the shore.
“Ah, have patience with us, Odyong,” said the man, grinning.
His gold-pegged teeth made it look like his mouth was made
of sunshine. “Kara-Kara over there couldn’t help but stop by
a nearby settlement to have a chance at their shrimp dishes.”
Kara-Kara, the boy with the sikarom, leapt off from the
outriggers and onto the shore. “They had buttered hipon,
how could I say no! Bangol, come on, you’re with me on this,
right?”
Bangol, the iron-gut warlord, leapt down from the biray and
onto the shore. “Ah, don’t bring me into this. I have nothing
to do with that,” she said, grinning.
“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, the occasional gun and bow. Off to the
sides, standing upon balay roofs, war drummers wrapped in
drab sack cloths banged upon agung.
Despite being of Virbanwa, their war tactics and traditions
still echoed that of their roots. The warriors wanted nothing
but to fulfill their debt to their masters, while those in the
ranks that were wrapped in armor and wielding shields and
ceremonial blades no doubt wanted glory. Those richer
warriors, wrapped in decorative jewelry, painted armors,
wearing pants and sarongs and pudongs bespeckled with
carnelians and ivories, looked almost bored--some even
apalled or disgusted--that their entire army had been
amassed to face this small contingent of five warriors. Five
Kadungganan.
Five Kadungganan.
Lightning flashed and thunder crashed. Yet the banging of
agung was louder still. The cacophony of war.
Far behind them, standing atop the Lord’s balay, Senapati
Kampiyador raised an excessively bangled hand, glinting
like the sun’s rays.
His right hand man, dripping with jewelry, blew the
bodyong, and its sound ripped heaven.
At that sound, the servant that paddled the biray that the
rest of the Wandering Sword Souls arrived upon paddled
away, as fast as they could.
Just as well, thought Odyong to herself. She straightened
herself, readying her blade and her sheath, her saob-saob
flapping in the cold morning wind.
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
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.
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.
Philippine Folk Literature Series by Damiana Eugenio.
Integral to deep diving into Filipino Culture, and a great
resource for fantastical adventures.
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.
Fiction
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.
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 violence and evil.
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!
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.
There, five souls stood upon the shore, bodies hardened after
a lifetime’s worth of martial training, hands quicker after
three. Weapons at the ready, sorceries prepared.
The legions of the Senapati advanced.
The Wandering Sword Souls strode forward to meet them.
7
Movies and Series
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
8
REALMS OF BATTLE
You can scarcely imagine it. A Sky of a Thousand
Thousand Worlds.
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 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 the First
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. Thus is how the spear continues to
pierce.
9
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
FESTIVAL OF THE
State of Virbanwa. The Crown City, loyal to the Crown of
Issohappa. It was forever different: folk were enslaved, LONGEST NIGHT
given the Red Eyes of Slaves when the Pale King This is the Song of Rage, sung by Suga Nalamdagan, the
Aristocrats Enthralled them. They brought in their First Makinaadmanon:
construction methods, their stone bricks, their silvers
and sweet potatoes from the Near-Western Continent “1 – Become hiyang.
across the Eastern Vastness. They introduced carriages
and plows, just so that the slaves can use them to create 2 – Sunder the world with your sins. Rejoice in
vast farmfields to fuel the Imperial Economy. the glory of combat. The darkness chokes the
10 The Pale Kings were not adept at governing faraway stars. The world shall end after Eight Cycles.
kingdoms, and thus they left most of the governing to the
Mendicants. Pale King friars and priests who spread the 3 - The final number, perfection of divinity. Two
glorious word of the Almighty, Lion of Lions, Lily of the squares interpolated, 8 triangles within. 4 + 1 +
Valley. They preached the Almighty Commission, the 1 + 1 + 1, perfection of glory, of royalty, achieving
Penitence for the death of the Son, the Everlasting Love of harmony with Diwa, the essential flow of
God, the Burning Bloody Daystar. reality. There is no escape from the ancient of
But the spirit of justice and violence broiled in the Lakan days, as the cause-effect crumbles in on itself,
of Tundun. They rallied their revolutionary force, with and love becomes evisceration becomes love.
vast amounts of reinforcements from surrounding
polities: from Sonyoh, Gatusan, Ba-e, Apumbukid, Akai, 4 - We shall be divided infinitely, to the point
Iyamat, Malirawat, and even Baik Hu, and managed to where we are one. What shall come after? A new
siege the Cathedral of the Sidereal Spoke in the middle of
the city of Ananara, Virbanwa’s inner city. There they world, a different one. Will it be better? That is
killed El Kampiyador, the Governor-General, and up for us to decide. Evermore we’ve held the
overthrew them. The old rulers of Rusunuga banded destiny of the world in our hands. Now it is time
together and pulled allegiances from across Gubat to accept responsibility.
Banwa to band together and repel the invaders. This was
the only time the disparate and warring settlements have 5 - Shirk power, for what is power but
ever fought together in complete concert. irresponsibility? Use pride, for what is pride but
a ladder? Craft swords, for what are swords but
ECLIPSE AGE crude manifestation of truth?
There was no 8th Tuig Adlaw nor 8th Tuig Bulan. Instead 6 - Therefore, listen to my plea. The center of
those were replaced with the Tuig Bakunawa, the Eclipse
Era, the only Eclipse Era in the aeons that have spanned the world is the Sword Isles, and that is where
Gubat Banwa. It was an Eclipse because no true the final battles shall take place. From every
enlightenment and peace was achieved. Virbanwa region of Gubat Banwa, warriors shall arrive.
liberated itself but fell into the trap of emulating their They will revel, in this Festival of the Longest
colonial masters, becoming nothing but a semi-feudal, Night.
semi-colonial shadow of its former glory.
During the Tuig Bakunawa, the five major mandalas rose 7 – Damn my eyes, they fail me now. Sight
to power and became the most well known of the without seeing. But sight is not something I
cultures across The Sword Isles. The Rajahnate of need, when darkness chokes the stars. Here is
Gatusan, established during the 7th Tuig Bituon by Sri my final request: Rejoice in the glory of combat.
Maharaja Bishaya. The Sultanate of Akai, established by
Sultan Jaris Akai, who arrived upon a bejewElled jar. The Sunder the world with your sins.
Confederation of Apumbukid, a loose connection of
settlements across the archipelago that fight to protect 8 – Become hiyang.”
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.
 11
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, is 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.
 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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
However, the First
Makinaadmanon, or the
bodhisattva or saint 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.
12

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.
To the Southwest of the center is Hari 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.
13
To the far South of the center is Sangpamegat Dayang
Kalangitan, the Mother Demigod of the Kingdom of
Ba-e. They wield the Violence of Remembrance,
condensed into a gold-tasseled parasol. Whoever wields
the Violence of Remembrance shall never become
ignorant.
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 Chakravartin 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 sage: 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 slave girl. Violence can arise
from anyone. And anyone with a Violence can become
harmonious and change the world.
 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.
14 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.
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.
GUBAT BANWA is a Tactical Martial Arts 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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
A NOTE ON COSMOS
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 15
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.
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 Iman 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.
THE SWORD ISLES
The Isles of Ritual and Violence
Thousand Thousand King Archipelago
The Region Impaled by God
The Heart of the Trichiliocosm
 IND
W IPHAG
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AGAT

DAGAT HABAGAT PASINA | W E

EASTWIND SEA TO
FOREIGNERS SW SE
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THE EIGHT
DIRECTION WINDS
 The Five Major
18 Mandalas
Out of the million polities of The Sword Isles, five are
known to be the most powerful, or greatest. 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.
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
MANDALAS
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.
THE RAJAHNATE OF
GATUSAN
The grand rajahnate, led by the great Hari 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 Hari, who controls the largest foreign
trading seaport, Kangdaya. Hari Batara Ambasi bears
the Violence of Change, condensed into his Dawneater
Kalis, passed down through generations starting from
his legendary forefather Hari 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. Hari 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.
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 19
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:
0 They 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:
0 Niyawa, the Principality of Priests, Bearer of Apu’s
Ritual Spear.
0 Samring, the Principality of Sages, Bearer of Apu’s
Ceremonial Robes.
0 Pagariwara, the Principality of Warriors, Bearer of
Apu’s Ritual Keris.
0 Diwangga, the Principality of Travelers, Bearer of Apu’s
Wooden Sandals.
0 Barahanda, the Principality of Traders, Bearer of Apu’s
Gold Balance.
0 Every 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.
0 They 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.
0 They perform ritual fights within Apu’s territory, but
they do not go out and raid other settlements outside
of Pumirang.
0 Warriors 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.
 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,
20 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.
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.
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 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.
 0 One of the richest nations in all of the Sword Isles,
THE KINGDOM OF BA-E having access to vast sources of gold and access to
constant trade with Baik Hu, which has recognized it
The oldest polity in the Sword Isles. They have been
galvanized due to trade with Baik Hu, and the strength of as a tributary state and named Kalangitan as Queen.
their tenacity. They have the greatest connections to the They have created various gold items and turned them
past—they are heirs to Kadanay lineages, the oldest people into weapons through peerless craftsmanship.
in the Sword Isles—as well as to the future: they have Kaiyumi, one of the Sangpamegat’s sons, was said to
have sorcerously created this Ba-enon Gold Alloy, 21
many Ashinin and Annuvaran missionaries in their shores,
and many Baikhan officials have begun to stay in their which makes gold as strong as steel. Kaiyumi Gold is
cities. highly sought after. They also have access to vast rice
fields, letting them perform wet rice cultivation and
Inspired by the Hindu-Buddhist Kingdoms of Southeast creating vast amounts of rice.
Asia or the ones with common Chinese connection: 0 Monastic schools are prevalent here, especially the
Butuan, Ma-I (as Precolonial Laguna), Champa, Funan, House of Wisdom, crafted by the Sangpamegat to
Majapahit, Ayutthaya, and Khmer forge Swordscholars that will exalt the violence of
Five constants about them are: remembrance. These Swordscholars travel the isles
etching down traditions, stories, and song upon
0 Ruled by the Sangpamegat Kalangitan, once simply a imperishable copperplate so that none of them may
dayang, who lives in mind and consciousness, a near- vanish in the Eighth Star Era.
Goddess. Wielding the Violence of Remembrance, she
seeks create the Eternal Kingdom of Ba-e, which will
never falter and never fail. To this end, she seeks
knowledge and power, and to bring Ba-e’s name
across all of Gubat Banwa’s eight corners. She wields
the Violence of Remembrance, condensed into a gold-
tasseled parasol of eight angles, a promise to fill the
eight directions with Ba-e’s grandeur.
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 Premier Teacher 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 Annuvara. It
is heavily rumored that the Sangpamegat is in her
current state because she was taught by Annuvaran
monks.
 How To
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.
24

THE BULAWAN 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 the
Umalagad to create rulings. Rulings over rules.

THE PILAK RULE

Pilak, Tagalog 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 TANSO RULE

Tanso, Tagalog for Copper.

The Tanso Rule is the rule of rounding. Whenever you must halve something, unless otherwise stated, round down.

THE PUTHAW RULE

Puthaw means iron in Bisaya.

The Puthaw Rule is this: follow your responsibilities. Both the Umalagad and the Kadungganan are both players with a different
set of Responsibilities.

0 Depict a War Torn World.

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 Depict a War Torn World
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.
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 25
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/
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.
 WHAT YOU’LL NEED
To play Gubat Banwa, you will need 3 to 6 players. 1 of the players will play as the Umalagad, the guardian ancestor spirit,
while the rest will play as Kadungganan.
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.
26
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 are 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, steeled by
Conviction and powered forth by the Flame of Want, sailing
the islands with the Burden of Rumination. 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.
Other cultures might look upon you as a necessary evil, a
purveyor and extender of the endless Cycles of Violence.
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. One of the players in
Gubat Banwa plays as the Umalagad. Very often known as
Umalagad across many cultures, known as Ferandal in
Apumbukid, Kiraman in Akai, Katutubo in Ba-e, and Anghel
in Virbanwa.
The Umalagad always manifests in physical form as an
animal, known as their Spirit Guide form. When you
become a Umalagad, choose an animal form for yourself.
Usually these are serpents, owls, eagles, civets, crocodiles,
or dogs.
As Umalagad, it is your role 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.
You play as these spirits, beings that can manifest
themselves to give topsy-turvy, hard to understand advice.
You revel in violence, excite yourself in uncertainty, and live
for larger than life moments. 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.
Part of their role is facilitating violence. They set those that
are destined to brutalize and ravage the Kadungganan. This
is the lay of the world, of course. There will always be
violence. The Umalagad has internalized this: let violence
be justice, then, retribution, the sword of eventual peace.
They lay down battlemaps, prepare enemies, and engage in
exciting, brutal tactical martial arts with the Kadungganan
to quench the Kadungganan’s thirst for blood, and turn
them into weapons that will change the world.
DICE AND CHARACTER SHEETS
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 4 d8s.
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).
27
THEN, CREATE THE 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.

TIME KEEPING
In general, we follow the usual time keeping as with other A Kandu is a series of Arcs that interconnect and build to a
Tabletop Role-Playing Games. However we have different grand final climax, whether it be confrontation or
names for it, to help hew close to the mood of the game: destruction. In pre-colonial Visayas, Kandu are ancient
heroic epics showcasing the greatest virtues of their
A Scene is just that, a dramatic scene. When it ends is up to culture and tradition. They are notable for their repetition
the players. A fight is almost always a scene. of important things, such as violence and drama. Kandu
A Fight is a moment of kinetic action. How long it takes is singers, Parakandu, perfect their craft by crafting more
variable. Each Fight has Flurries, bursts of violence and succinct yet beautiful metaphors for each repitition.
movement that showcase the back and forth of combat Other Role-Playing Games might call this “Campaigns”.
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, and
they end Arc 1 when it is narratively appropriate. The
number of Arcs in mind is how long an Kandu might go:
the usual length of an Kandu is 3 Arcs.
Particularly short games might only last a single Arc, made
up of a few Sessions.

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
28 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 Conviction, to see how to influence the world better,
and to strengthen your martiala rt techniques.
0 Casting the Crocodile’s Teeth explains when you roll
your character’s narrative skills, that are not
connected to Tactical Martial Arts.
0 Barter, explains how commerce works in the isles:
that is, each polity values items differently.
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 Drama is how you interact with your various
relationships and the world at large.
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.
CONVICTION
As the world changes, so do you, Kadungganan. Your
Conviction is what stands between you being destroyed
and you destroying the world.
During the start of an Kandu, you begin with 4 Conviction.
Conviction can never go above 8.
Every Downtime, heal 1 Conviction.
Whenever you suffer a consequence while in Drama mode,
Conviction is one of the resources that you can lose.
Think of Conviction as a broad “health” counter, except
that all kinds of damage can be inflicted upon it: having to
trek through mountain ranges can damage Conviction
because of exhaustion, violence can damage Conviction by
physical wounding, social situations can damage
Conviction by wounding honor and face.
If you ever lose all Conviction, your Kadungganan is
substantially weakened: if you lose any more Conviction
while you have 0 Conviction, you lose all firmity and
succumb to the cycle of violence: you become an Umalagad
Character that the Umalagad can play the role of, and you
no longer can play as them.
You can spend Conviction to do the following:
0 Spend any number of Conviction to reroll that many
dice when you Cast the Crocodile’s Teeth.
0 Spend Conviction to reroll any single die roll.
0 Use it to use powerful Enlightenments.
0 Use it to activate your Nature’s Skills.
CASTING THE CROCODILE’S TEETH
The Sword Isles is full of uncertainty. The Umalagad does its
best, but even the Umalagad bends in the face of nature and
its chaos. Thus, whenever a Kadungganan attempts to do
something with either an uncertain or dramatic outcome,
they must Cast The Crocodile’s Teeth.
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.”
To Cast The Crocodile’s Teeth...
1. The Umalagad ascertains the required Ability.
2. Then, roll 4d4: Shamans and Priests divine spiritual
fates with four crocodile teeth). Look for any dice that
come up as 3_ON_ D4. These are called Fates.
D4 4_ON_
READING THE TEETH
After Casting, you count the number of 3s and 4s, then
reroll any number of dice up to the required Ability’s Rating.
Add Bonus or Penalty afterwards.
The final number is called a number of fates. 29
Sam’baha’s player rolls her 4d4, her Crocodile’s Teeth, and
gains one 3, a single fate. Her Strength is at 2, which lets her
reroll up to 2 dice. She does, and gets another 3, putting her
up to 2 fates. Then she adds the Bonus she got from her
Wasay, getting to a final result of 3 fates.
If you rolled 0-1 fates, that is a Disastrous Hand.
Something terrible befalls you: the Umalagad gets to
perform a horrible Fierce Technique against you, forcing you
to face the consequences of your actions.
If you rolled 2-3 fates, that is a Complicated Hand. You
generally are capable of doing what you set out to do, but
you suffer some sort of hitch, some sort of twist of fate. The
Umalagad gets to perform a Gentle Technique against you,
shifting the rivers of fate.

3. After rolling, you can reroll a number of dice equal to
the required Ability’s Rating.
4. If you have anything situational that might benefit you
in your current situation, maybe because of some item
or some help you had in the past, you gain a Bonus. This
lets you add +1 Fate after all rolling and rerolling is
done.
5. Some situations might give you worse chances:
Penalty. An example might be something like running
across a fortress’ walls during a rainstorm. This forces
you to take away 1 Fate after all rolling and rerolling is
done.
If you rolled 4+ fates, that is a Fateful Hand. You perform
what you set out to do in a way that you envisioned it, the
way that you wanted fate to treat you. How hard will you
push your luck? The Umalagad shows you the next beat in
your song.
For reference, Gentle Techniques are ways for the Umalagad
to nudge the drama forward, which you must react against,
while Fierce Techniques are hardline and instant
consequences that you must live with.

6. Bonus and Penalty essentially cancel each other out,

and both can stack up to three times. If you have 2
Penalty and 3 Bonus from any source, you have a net 1
Bonus.

ITEMS WHEN CASTING

When you have an item that would fictionally help you in an
action or a roll, such as a rope to leap over a chasm, or
wearing clothes that would help an aristocrat look at you
more favorably, count it as a Bonus.

Sam’baha attempts to chop down some trees to make an

impromptu dam to stop an incoming flood. The Umalagad
of their game–an Owl with blueflame feathers–ascertains
from the spirits that this needs her Might. Her Might. This
means she rolls a 4d8 and gets to reroll twice. However, she
has a wasay, a chopping axe, which gives her +1 Fate to
cutting trees down. She is now considered as having 1 Fate.
 BAKUNAWA EATS THE MOON
Bakunawa is a creature--some say a diwata, others say a
yawa--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
30 mind. When trying to infiltrate a stone fortress, call it that:
“Infilitrate 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 segments. The Umalagad will tell you
how many. The most common is 4-segments. If a certain
activity is difficult or takes a long time, it might be 6-
segments. If it’s extremely hard and/or takes a really long
time, it might be 8-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 segment by 1. 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. When all segments are shaded, 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.
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.
BARTER
In the Archipelago of The Sword Isles, there is no proper
coinage. Trade is facilitated entirely through barter:
collections of valuable items and minerals in exchange
for items of equal value.
Barter is not a numerical value. Instead, items are their 31
own things, and it is up to the person you are selling the
thing to assign it a value, from below:
Treasure. Heirloom wealth. The most valuable item in
the islands. A show of wealth. Usually: Bronze gongs,
porcelain jars, imported silks, foreign weapons, silver
coins, captives, foreign captives, heirlooms.
Valuable. Rarer items, filled usually with prestige,
made from smiths, or owned by powerful
warriors. Usually: Kadanay pottery, prestigious
weapons owned by local heroes, blessed items
from a dead datu, holy weapons, bullets and
ammunition. Sometimes for blacksmiths,
slag iron is valuable.
Essential. Necessary items. Usually: Rice,
foreign coinage, iron pieces, golden nuggets,
weapons. Not always though. Sometimes
Apunon do not need rice, they have plenty.
Abundant. Items that help life, but are
abundant in the isles so they are not as
valuable. Usually: local textiles, clay pots,
water, root crops, wood, pearls. Not always, of
course: sometimes hinterland societies might
find pearls to be valuable.
It is important to note that this system is in place
because the one buying (or selling) the item will be
the one to give value to it, according to their context.
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.
This means that barter tiers are not fixed, and differ from
place to place, although there are commonalities across
all settlements, especially in the trading metropoles.
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.
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.
You can accrue (or owe) Debt not just from a person,
but also even from organizations, communities,
groups, or even ideals. Debt to an ideal means that the
Umalagad can manipulate you with that ideal.
HONOR
Debt is an important currency and ability. However,
you cannot have more Debt than you have Honor.
Think of Honor as social status: the higher Honor you
have, the more dependable people find you. As a
Kadungganan, you begin with Honor 3, and it can
never go below Honor 1.
To raise Honor, you must pay off your Debts. However,
you cannot have more than 8 Honor.
32
DEBT TECHNIQUES
The following Debt Techniques must follow the
fiction.
An important note on this is that both Umalagad
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 Token of the entity they
did a solid for. A character cannot have more Debt
Tokens to a single entity than their Honor. (Example: if
you have Honor 3, you can only have up to 3 Debt
Tokens from a single person).
USING DEBT
When you wish to pull on your Debts, spend 1 Debt
Token and choose 1 below:
0 You can ask them to do a single thing. If they
choose not to, you gain another Debt Token from
them. If they cannot gain anymore Debt Tokens,
you must do that thing.
0 If you’re dealing damage to the one that has Debt
to you, you can add +1 Might to the damage.
0 If you’re suffering damage from the one that has
Debt to you, you can add +1 Weakness to the
damage.
.
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
Tokens to them. If you remove all your Debt Tokens 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 Tokens
that the person owes to you to the other person. They owe
it now. You can use this to feasibly gain goodwill from
others, as Debt can also be used as a form of currency in the
Isles
33
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. You can
perform Downtime Actions. The number of
Downtime Actions that you can do depend
on the current Season of when you go into
Downtime. 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.

In Dry Season, you can do up to 3 Downtime

Actions.

In Monsoon Season, you can do up to 2

Downtime Actions.

When you enter into Downtime, you also

heal 1 Conviction.

34
35
 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.
1 – They are fiercely hostile to you.
2 – They are wary of you.
3-4 – They are neutral: they don’t know you yet.
5 – They are receptive to you.
36
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.
State your method and what information you’re looking
for and then cast the Crocodile’s Teeth.
On a Disastrous Hand: You get what you’re looking for,
but you get into trouble.
On a Complicated Hand: You get what you’re looking for
but choose 1:
0 You attract unwanted attention due to your
nosiness.
0 You must get someone else in trouble to get it.
On a Fated Hand: Get what you want without trouble.
IMPROVE ABILITY
You work on improving yourself. Raise one of your
Abilities by 1. Play this out. Bring any Debts into play, if
there are any. Learning a new Ability (that is, bringing an
Ability from 0 to 1) requires proper storytelling.
PREPARE
You can prepare yourself. You gain an Item Token. You
can spend the Item Token at any time to say that you have
a particular item prepared. This item cannot be larger
than a small buckler shield. If it is, you must give away 1
of your own items, as barter.
Then choose 1 from 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: they gain your Debt Token,
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 Token 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.
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.
ACHIEVE GOALS
If you realize that you have achieved your Want, speak
about it with your Umalagad. You must perform a ritual.
Once done, the Umalagad will tell you if it is enough. If it
is, gain 1 Conviction, and then change your Want.

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 Aspects. You keep
any Techniques that you already know. However, you
must already have a Teaching from that Discipline to
change into it.
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. Dance with Hearts
and Thoughts can and probably will trigger Drama
mechanics.
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.
37
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, or a new
conviction, 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 their Debt
Token, no matter how it goes down. According to the
fiction, this might create another Complication.
SEASONS
There are two primary seasons in the Sword Isles: dry
and monsoon.
It is important to note that the two modes of play:
War Drama and Tactical Martial Arts, can happen in
every Season. The two Seasons are simply ways to
frame your story and to help ground where the drama
and tactical martial arts takes place.
Each Season also essentially limits what you can do
during Downtime.
DRY SEASON
The Dry Season dominates most of the other half of
the year. While Dry doesn’t inherently mean hot—
the winds are still freshly chill, after all—it does
mean that rains are lighter or less likely during the
day, which allows for a wider range of activities.
Dry Season, of course, is a time of action, of fires and
flames. During the Dry Season, the war continues.
When you go into Downtime during Dry Season, you
only have access to 3 Downtime Events, as well as the
following Dry Events:
TRAVEL
Travel during the Monsoon Season is not as common
as in the Dry Season. You can visit another settlement
for the time being. See things you might have wanted
to see. You might attract unwanted attention, or get
news you didn’t want. Spend 1 Conviction to make
this a trouble-free vacation.
TOIL
You offer some help to the datu’s workers and
peasants, whether it be offering your expertise,
helping in the field, helping in the farms, plantations,
etc. Gain 1 Conviction or you gain the Debt Token of
the people you helped.
38
FEAST
After a harvest is the time for Feasting. This is a small
fraction of time where one gets to feast and enjoy the
food harvested, as they are blessings by the gods. This
is a time of celebration and rest for everyone, and
usually has one to two Feasts.
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 Token.
4. Someone helped you during the Feast. Give them
your Debt Token. 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: they gain your debt
token.
8. You did something you immediately regret to
someone in particular. What was it? Give them a
Debt Token.
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.
GO HUNTING GO TRADING
Whether with the datu or not, you can go hunting for They can travel to a distant land with barter items at
food and game. This is usually for ritual sacrifices and the ready, and trade with them. This doesn’t have to
items for a Feast. Make an appropriate Cast as to be used for trading reasons only: it can be used to
where you’re hunting (or fishing): this is usually travel to another land to solve some political spites on
Observation, Grace, or Sensitivity. With an behalf of a datu, fix things, provide aid for another, or
appropriate difficulty depending on what you’re even work for another datu for a time to gain that
trying to hunt. Each Kadungganan on the hunt makes Datu’s trust, and maybe debt.
a Cast.
This will be a common choice, as it is the
Complicated and Fateful Hands: Gain 2 pieces of “Adventure!” option. They will usually be provided
hunting spoils (defined as whatever you hunted with a barge by the datu, or maybe they can get their
down). You must give one to the spirits of the forest own.
or whatever place you hunted in.
Disastrous Hand: Gain 1 piece of hunting spoil
instead, which you must offer. If you do not, you incur
the wrath of the gods.
Doing this Event with a datu is a popular way of
bonding with a datu: 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.

39
 MONSOON SEASON
The rains come differently across the isles, and so it is
entirely possible for Kadungganan to leave an island
during the rainy season of that Isle but arrive on a
different Isle which is going through its own Rainy
Season. Rainy Season dictates whether people should
farm, prepare swiddens, or depend on stockpiled foods.
Monsoon Season is the time of rest, of endings.
Monsoon Season usually comes in after a harvest,
expertly predicted by timekeepers. Some rituals are
performed during Monsoon Season, such as ritual
killings, or feasts after rains.
40
When you go into Downtime during Monsoon Season,
you gain access to 2 Downtime Events, and the
following Monsoon Events:
UNDERGO CHANGE
You find a way to rest even more. The rains pour down
every day, offering cold winds and somber tunes. The
islands turn from vibrant orange to the rare gray-blue of
rains. Heal 1 Conviction, and then choose one: your
Principle, Want, or Rumination. Cast the Crocodile’s
Teeth and then gain an additional reroll per each thing
true below.
0 I think my Principle/Want/Rumination has been
answered, or inexplicably changed for me.
0 I think my Principle/Want/Rumination does not fit
my current situation anymore.
0 Something has happened to me that has made me
look differently at my Principle/Want/Rumination.
On a Fateful Hand, change your Principle, Want or
Rumination to something new, something that fits your
new mindset.
MEDITATE
Think back upon your travails and your ventures, and
how it has changed you. Speak with your Umalagad,
talk together about how you feel like you’ve changed, or
how something in a previous Season has made you
different. If both you and the Umalagad agree, gain the
following benefit:
Learn a new Skill from your Nature. You can only have
up to 4 Nature Skills at any time. If you learn a New Skill
and you already have 4 Nature Skills, you must choose
which Nature Skill to replace.
Your Refined and Perfected Skill does not need you to
replace any Skills. When you unlock and learn them,
you always have access to them.
RETRAIN
You can reevaluate one of your own teachings. If you do,
spend 1 Conviction, and change 1 of the Teachings you
know to another Teaching of your choice.
LEAVE
Your Warband can spend 1 Conviction to leave your
current datu and work for another datu or go
wandering for a while. You cannot do this if you have
Debt to the datu.
The datu will usually let you go with the equipment
they’ve given you. Any family you might have will go
with you, unless the datu buys them from you.
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.
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.
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 Bonuses 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.
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 41
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
42
Tactical Martial
Arts 43

“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 that: “The river of
life ever flows! Rejoice in the glory of combat!”
and they enter violence.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE
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. However, it is
meant to ground you into the ballistic martial arts fiction
of Gubat Banwa.
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.
One of the Umalagad’s supreme responsibilities is to
facilitate a fun combat that is grounded in the fiction of the
Kadungganan. As such, final rulings are up to the
Umalagad on all things. But with such power comes an
equal amount of responsibility: therefore, you must know
the fiction of your fight first and foremost before
making rash rulings.
THE SIX-ARMED
DEMON
When going into combat, all Kadungganan can equip up to
6 Teachings. They can equip any 6 Teachings before
combat begins.
BATTLEFIELD SETUP
The Battlefield is a grid map laid down upon a table or set
up on a virtual tabletop. Gubat Banwa uses square grids for
battlefields, although you can definitely do hexes without
much difficulty. Most Battlefields will have a slew of slopes
and Heights and other traits, established later.
Each square in Gubat Banwa is a 1 dupa high and wide,
which is equal to 1 fathom, which is 2 meters or 6 feet.
This is not a precise measurement of what a dupa is, of
course, but it is the closest one we can get. There is a lot of
variance for 1 dupa: some dupa can even be 8 feet long.
Gubat Banwa recommends the use of 12x12x12 to
32x32x32 map sizes. Anything larger than that very often
does not feel great in terms of gamefeel. The best size
hovers around 16x16x16.
POSTURE
All Kadungganan begin every combat with Full Posture, no
matter how much Posture they lost in other fights.
44
Objectives
After declaring battle, the Umalagad asks the
Kadungganan what their Main Objective in the fight is,
and the Umalagad sets the Main Objective of the fight
based on that. Accomplishing the Main Objective means
the Kadungganan side become victorious and they gain 1
Conviction.
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 Hold out until the end of the 5th flurry
0 Protect a particular important person or thing
0 Destroy a target's ship or armor
SUB-OBJECTIVE
After declaring the Main Objective, the Kadungganan can
declare from 1-3 Sub-Objectives, each one having to do
with performing a particular out of the way task in battle.
If these Sub-Objectives are accomplished, they gain a
reward: usually this is 1 Conviction, but it can also be
another kind of reward, such as an item, or sometimes
even an anting-anting.
0 Force units to surrender instead of defeating them all.
0 Activate some environmental effect (interact with a
boulder to send it rolling down, or with a rain god
statue to summon a storm)
0 Destroy some environmental object (destroy a bridge,
dry up a river, cut up the tall grass, destroy the pillars
of a town house)
0 Make sure a unit is never Battered at any point during
the fight
0 Keep an important structure alive (not destroyed)
0 Performed a particular combat move a number of
times (ie. Force a collide 3 times, Juggle a unit three
times, Stun someone, let another unit defeat a foe
when you give them extra damage)
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.
THE RHYTHM THE TURN
When a fight begins, fighters erupt into a chaotic lightning Every Turn has the following three parts: start of turn, the
flash of techniques and abilities, of martial arts maneuvers turn itself, and then the end of turn.
and desperate parries and dives.

When combat begins, the War Drums begin to resound.
This. This! Is the glory of combat! The Rhythm is the turn
order: it is the sequence in which fighters within the
Battlefield take their turns. The Rhythm has a number of
Beats that start from 0 and go up and up and up to the
stars.
In general, if two allies take their turn on the same Beat,
they take their Turn at the same time. This is called
Weaving, and they are explained further below.
START OF TURN
When your Turn begins, perform the following in order:
0 End all effects that end on Start of Turn.
0 Perform any abilities or effects that happen only on
Start of Turn, in any order.
Once done, you can now perform 3 Techniques on your
turn.

TEMPO
When the Fight starts: Every fighter in the Battlefield
rolls d6+Tempo. The result determines their first Turn
Beat.

Then, once every fighter has rolled their Tempo, the

Umalagad starts the Rhythm, like a war drum or gong.
They count from Beat 0, and then go to Beat 1, and then
Beat 2, and so on. When a Beat gets to a fighter’s Turn Beat,
that fighter gets to take their turn.

If a Kadungganan and an Umalagad Character has the

same Turn Beat, the Umalagad Characters always goes
first.

You can never lower your Tempo to 0. If an effect would

lower your next Turn Beat, it cannot lower it to the point
that your next Turn Beat is your current Turn Beat.

45
TECHNIQUES
As a Kadungganan, you can perform 3 Techniques on your
turn. Like lightning-fast martial arts you blitz through the
battlefield.
You have a number of Basic Techniques that you can do.
Each of these Basic Techniques takes 1 Technique on your
turn to pull off:
BASIC TECHNIQUES
0 Stride. You can move a number of dupa equal to your
Speed.
0 Step Evasively. Shift 1.
0 Shove. Push an adjacent fighter or object by 1.
0 Inflict Violence. Your Basic Attack, which is different
depending on your Discipline. Each Discipline makes
attacks differently.
0 Crack. Deal 1 damage to any fighter or object within 3.
0 Interact. Use an item on you, or interact with an
adjacent item or environmental object.
0 Second Wind. Once per combat, you can Second Wind
to heal Posture equal to your Critical value.
EXCLAIM Attacks (which most Inflict Violences are) get
weaker as you perform more of them on your Turn, as your
target raises their defenses. Your second attack’s damage
is halved. Your third attack’s damage is trisected (divide
by 3, round up). This is known as a Combo Breaker
Penalty.
EXCLAIM You can choose to end your turn (go to end of turn) at
any point. If you do, you have -X to your next Turn Beat, with
X being the number of Techniques you did not perform on
your Turn. (Example: if you Inflicted Violence and you
choose to end your turn, your next Turn Beat has -2 to it.)
Afterwards, move on to End of Turn.
END OF TURN
At the end of your turn, perform the following in order.
0 First, end any effects that end during the End of Turn.
0 Then, suffer Fraying, which is a d6.
0 Regain any spent Reactions that you have, this is usually
just 1, but other Disciplines might have access to 2
Reactions.
0 Then perform any number of abilities and effects that
you can do during the end of your turn.
0 Then, lower all current Status Durations and Mark
Durations on you by 1. If a Status Duration is brought
to 0 here, the Duration goes away.
0 Finally, add your Tempo to your current Turn Beat to
find out when your next Turn Beat is. Your Tempo and
Turn Beat can change and fluctuate.
46
REACTION
Outside of your turn, you have 1 Reaction. You refresh all
spent Reacts at the end of your turn.
Defend. When you suffer damage, gain Conditioning to all
of that attack’s damage, and then gain +3 on your next Turn
Beat.
RESIST
Resist is a fighter’s inherent chance of shrugging off ailments
and other such debilitations, as well as their capacity to
move forward. It is their innate constitution and stamina,
their ability to weather mental trauma, physical enervation,
illusions, spiritual trickery, and so on.
In general, when you must Resist, you roll a d10 and try to
roll equal to or lower than your current Resist Trait.
Example: if you’re resisting against an effect and your Resist
is 6, then you remove that effect on a 6 or lower.
WEAVING
When you and one or more other Kadungganan take their
turn on the same Beat, you begin Weaving. You and all other
Kadungganan take their Turn at the same time: you perform
start of turn at the same time, as well as end of turn at the
same time.
More importantly, you all can weave together your 3
Techniques.
Example: Sam’baha the Mangangayaw and Kasubha the
Violence Balyan both take their turn on Beat 15. They both
perform their Start of Turn effects at the same time, and then
weave their movements together: Sam’baha Strides to get in
position, then Kasubha Strides to flank an enemy. Then
Kasubha uses a Technique to give Sam’baha 1 Might on their
next attack, which Sam’baha immediately cashes in by
immediately using their IV. Since they’re flanking, they have
Precision to that attack. This leaves both of them with 2
Techniques left! Sam’baha uses their last one to make
another attack against the target, dealing less damage, but
Kasubha also uses their last Technique to Inflict Violence as
well.
PRECISION AND DAMAGE
When you deal damage, you roll the expressed die (which
IMPRECISION is usually a damage stat such as BRAVERY or FAITH), and
then deduct the result from the target’s Posture.
Precision is a special rule that applies to almost any roll.
When you roll with Precision, you roll twice and take the
better result. This can either mean you choose the higher DAMAGE ELEMENTS
result (for damage), or perhaps the lower result (as with There are eight damage elements, each one representing
percent chance rolls). Flat numbers are not affected by the Seven Loci of Nature.
Precision nor Imprecision.
0 Visceral is physical damage, from weapons and kicks
Imprecision is the opposite of this: when you roll with and blows, striking and chipping away at physical
Imprecision, you roll twice and take the worse result. flesh. They are gross and brutal, intertwined with the
Having Precision and Imprecision on the roll cancels each element of emptiness, caused by the tearing and
other out. You either have Precision or Imprecision, or you wounding of swords.
don’t. They don’t stack. 0 Fire is the scalding flames of blazes. These light
flammable terrain on fire. Intertwined with the
ATTACKS element of fire.
0 Water is intertwined with water, representing
There are three different types of attacks. Most techniques cutting jets of water, sundering poisons and acids,
say whether they make attacks. The most basic attack is and goopy marshes.
known as the Inflict Violence, which is different 0 Wind is the howling winds, the boom of thunder and
depending on your Discipline. war gongs, and the cackling fulmination of lightning,
intertwined with air.
Melee Attacks (BLADES) - Attacks made usually up close
with close range weapons. 0 Earth is the unmoving being of earth, piercing rocks,
scratching branches, debilitating sicknesses, the
0 Benefit from flanking. underworld.
Ranged Attacks (ARROW) - Attacks made from afar, with 0 Light is what that makes up the sun, moon, and the
sorcery or martial art. stars. Blinding lights, illusions, mirages, and
protection.
0 Do not benefit from flanking. 0 Dark is what makes up the void, the shadow, the
0 All ranged attacks vs fighters on night. Chilling gloom, sadness, blindness, and
lower elevation have Precision. confusion.
0 All ranged attacks against adjacent 0 Soul is mental trauma, spiritual virulence. It is
fighters have Imprecision. the unseen damage, the most horrible kind.
Area Attacks (COINS) - Attacks made
to strike huge swathes of the MIGHT AND
battlefield at a time.
WEAKNESS
0 Do not benefit from Damage can be
flanking. modified further
0 Ignore Evasion. with MIGHT and WEAKNESS.
Both are d4s, but they function
ATTACK differently.
PROPERTIES Might adds d4s to the damage
Some attacks have the roll. Example: d6+4 with 1 Might
following properties. becomes d6 + 4 + d4.
0 Skewering. Any damage from Weakness subtracts d4s to the
skewering attacks cannot be reduced. damage roll. Example: d6+4 with 1 Weakness
becomes (d6 + 4) - d4.
0 Steady. Steady attacks ignore
Reacts and Evasion. Both Might and Weakness can only go up to
0 Glancing. You deal half damage 3 respectively, and they cancel each other
with a glancing attack (halved out: if you have 1 Might and 2 Weakness,
always at the last stage, after the 1 Might and 1 Weakness cancel out,
all other bonuses and meaning you are left with just 1
modifications). Weakness on your damage roll.

47
MOVEMENT
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.
0 Moving into adjacent squares costs 1 Speed. Moving into
a diagonal square costs 2 Speed every other square. This
means that moving into a diagonal square costs 1 speed,
but then moving into another diagonal square after that
costs 2 Speed. Moving into another diagonal square after
that costs just 1 Speed again.
0 You can move through, but not end in, ally squares. You
cannot move through enemy squares.
0 Jump is a trait all fighters have that details their vertical
allowance. A fighter with Jump 2 can leap, climb, or
otherwise move up into a square that is 2 squares higher
or 2 squares lower than them without suffering anything
else.
0 If you move into a square that is lower than you and
beyond your Jump, then you suffer skewering damage
equal to the number of dupa you fell down.
FORCED MOVEMENT
Forced Movement does not use Speed for movement. As such,
diagonal forced movement does not cost 2 squares of
movement (although it is still affected by terrain). If two
fighters attack a single target but one of the fighter’s attacks
would forcibly move the target out of range of the other’s
attack, the fighters can choose which attack resolves first to
coordinate their effects.
When you are told to forcibly move a target, it will very
commonly say how many dupa. If it says something like “push
the target 3”, you must push the target 3 dupa, unless they are
moved in a way that makes them collide. However if it says
“push the target up to 3”, then you can move them 1-3 squares.
You can forcibly move a target up into a higher square, as long
as there is enough movement to: if you push a fighter 2 and you
still have 2 more Speed, you can still move them into a square
that is 1 or 2 squares higher than their own.
0 Push - Move the target forcibly away from you in a straight
line. You cannot push a target to the side, it must always be
away.
0 Pull - Move the target forcibly into a square closer to you.
This can be diagonally towards you, but not laterally just
to the side.
0 Shift - Move the target forcibly in any direction. Shifting
ignores reactions.
0 Collide - A unit collides with a fighter, object, or terrain
if they are forcibly moved into it. Whenever you collide,
suffer 1 visceral damage. If they collide into an immovable
obstacle or fighter, they simply end the movement. If they
collide into a movable object or fighter, they move into
that square and move the obstacle or unit 1 dupa away
from the direction of their forced movement. The collided
object or unit also suffers 1 visceral damage (though
terrain doesn’t suffer damage).
When you are forcibly moved, you are just forcibly moved once,
even if you are forcibly moved more than one square.
48
CHANCE DIE
If anything states that something “Has a X-in-10 chance of
failing, of happening, etc.”, that means you roll a d10, which is
called a Chance Die. If you roll equal to or lower than X, then
the effect happens. If it is higher, then the effect doesn’t
happen.
For example, if it says that you have a 2-in-10 chance of getting
struck by lightning, you roll the Chance Die. If you roll a 3,
lightning doesn’t strike you. If you roll a 1 or 2, you get struck by
lightning.
If you have chances from more than one source, you simply
take the highest chance (Example: something that lets you
Critically Hit 1-in-10, will not go up to 2-in-10 if you gain
another 1-in-10 Critical Hit chance from another source).
HOSTILE ACTIONS
Hostile Actions are all actions that would inflict detrimental
effects against the target, such as dealing damage, inflicting
debuffs, or forceful movement.
VALID TARGETS
You can only target other units/creatures and other squares 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 Targets.
WILLING TARGETS
Some targets might be willing. If this is the case, they can
choose to suffer the effect of the Technique or attack
immediately.
LINE OF SIGHT AND
EFFECT
You can only target those that you can see with your line of
sight, as well as those that you have a clear shot at: your line of
effect. Line of Sight is usually blocked by blocking terrain.
To find out whether you have Line of Sight or Effect, draw a
straight line from one of your corners to the center of the
target’s square. If the line touches blocking terrain, then there
is no line of sight or effect between you and the target.
Enemies of the same size as you, on the same Height as you or
higher can block Line of Sight, but allies don’t.
RANGE
Range will specify how far the target of this attack can be.
These will be expressed in dupa or squares. In general, count
ranges the same as movement: diagonals are 2 squares every
other square.
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.)

Close [area of effect] means the origin point of the
area of effect is any square adjacent to your square.
This means the larger the origin square or creator, the
larger the burst. Close is not counted as a ranged
attack.
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.
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.
Burst

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 dupa, you can do that. If you
shoot a fighter that is 3 dupa far and 2 squares high,
you can do that as well. Horizontal range is vertical
range.

ADJACENCY AND MELEE

Everywhere within 1 square of you (basically all 8
squares around yours) is considered adjacent to you.
Melee is different from adjacency. Melee range only
Blast
targets those 1 square from the front, back, left, and
right of your square. You cannot target diagonally.

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 Provoked.
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 dupa in
every direction from the origin, which can either
be an origin square or the user. Every square Line
includes height: going up and down. Close
Bursts have the origin point as the caster of the
burst.
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 Close Blast 3, which means
it affects a 3x3 square area, but one of the squares
must be adjacent to the fighter using the
technique. The Blast covers a cube area, so a
Blast 3 also 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
Path
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
corner, so you can angle the Line diagonally) but
you 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.

49
STATUSES
There are a number of statuses that a fighter can be subject to, changing their fighting state, either for good or for ill.

Durations of the Statuses are expressed as a number after the Status, ie. Eviscerated X. At the end of your turn, you count down
the Duration of all Statuses you currently have on you. Durations on Statuses can stack: if a fighter gains Eviscerated 2 from
one source, and then Eviscerated 3 from another, that adds up to Eviscerated 5.

If an effect lets you Cleanse Statuses, you remove the written status or choose a status to remove if no specific status is written.
You remove no matter what it’s duration is.

There are two kinds of Statuses: Boons give beneficial effects, while Banes give debilitating effects.

BOONS
Enlightened Gain +[duration] to your Faith.
Ferocious Gain +[duration] to your Bravery.
Floating Ignore all terrain.
Hastened You double your Speed and Jump.
Hidden No one has line of sight to you except for those adjacent to you.
Unyielding You cannot be forcibly moved unless you want to.
Regeneration You have a means of healing yourself as the fight drags on. At the start of your turn, heal half
your Critical value.
BANES
Bleeding Whenever you spend a Technique, you suffer 2 skewering damage.
Dazed You can only willingly target fighters adjacent to you, you lose all Stances, and you cannot take
any Stances. You cannot flank and you lose all Evasion.
Debilitated All your attacks are glancing.
Eviscerated Suffer an additional [duration] damage from all attacks.
Fraying Represents damage over time: burning, poison, bleeding, etc. Every end of your turn, suffer 1d6
skewering damage.
Juggled You lose all Reactions, all damage against you gains +1 Might, you lose all Stances and you
cannot take on any Stances, you cannot flank, and you lose all Evasion.
Provoked The fighter that Provoked you is the only valid target for your melee or ranged attacks. All area
attacks must include the Provoker as a target, or else you cannot perform the attack. When you
move while Provoked, you cannot end in a square farther from your Provoker.
Slowed Your Speed is halved, rounded up.
Stopped You cannot move voluntarily.
Sundered Lose all Conditioning and Soak, and you cannot gain any more.
Stunned You cannot Flank. You lose 1 Technique on your turn and cannot perform Reactions.
Unbalanced All attacks deal +1 damage, you cannot perform Reactions, you cannot take on any Stances, you
lose all Stances, you cannot flank, and you lose all Evasion.

50
POSTURE
“Remember the two most important factors to a fight,
greenhorn. One is to always keep your posture up. If your
posture breaks, you are done for. The second is to guard
your flesh. If your flesh is exposed, then you are dead.”
Kadungganan are skilled martial artists, and even in the
heat of combat they know to keep their posture up at all
times. When swords clash, spears impale, and sorceries
are slung, a martial artist keeps their composure and
maintains their posture, or else they die.
This is their Posture, their gauge for their ability to stay
on their toes, to keep their combat stance up. Not just
that, but it also represents sheer willpower, resolve,
determination, ability to keep one’s self in the focus of
combat.
Each Discipline has a different Posture rating, which
represents hardier Disciplines that focus on keeping their
stance more so than others. Some sorcerous martial
artists (frequently of the Flame and Thorn Styles) for
example focus completely on their offensive techniques,
and Posture is less useful for them as they very frequently
are away from the line of fire.
You always begin fights with full Posture.
When you fall to 0 Posture, you are Posture Broken. Your
stance has been blown wide open, your composure has
been shattered.
When you become Posture Broken...
0 Describe what susurration it leaves behind, what
trauma or wound it inflicts upon your Kadungganan.
0 Choose 1 from below:
0 Become Defeated: the attacker gets to deal a
Finishing Blow against you.
0 Spend 1 Conviction to stay in the fight. At the start
of your next turn, heal your Critical value.
When you’re healed while in Posture Broken, you are
immediately brought out of Posture Broken, and you still
heal your Critical value at the start of your turn (if you
haven’t yet).
51
DEFEATED
While Defeated, all foes you Provoked lose Provoked. All
effects on you end. While Defeated, you are removed from
play and cannot be targeted.
Deal in narrative and fiction to find out what happens
when you’re Defeated. In the Sword Isles, killing is not
actually very popular unless it is for Ritual Revenge.
Instead, Defeated units will be most likely turned into
servants for the winning side, working and fighting for
them, tilling their fields and such.
CONVICTION LOSS FROM COMBAT
Conviction is the primary thing tested during fights.
During Combat, if you are brought to 0 Posture while you
have 0 Conviction, you immediately die. The one that
brought you to this state gets to make a deathblow
against you.
SOAK
Soak is your ability to soak up damage against you
without suffering damage against your Posture. If you are
damaged by an attack, subtract the final damage of the
attack equal to your Soak.
Example: Hadiwa is struck by a Burning Lawu Shot, but
has 3 Soak. The Burning Lawu Shot deals 9 fire damage,
but Hadiwa brings that down to 6 fire damage.
You cannot have more than 5 Soak at any time.
BLOCK
Block is the ability of something else to keep damage
away from you. This can represent shields that might
break, ironclad armors, and magical barriers.
All damage reduces Block first before Posture. You lose all
Block and cannot gain Block while Sundered. Block does
not stack: if you gain another instance of Block, keep the
Block that is higher.

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
Whenever you suffer Falling Damage, you suffer 1
skewering damage per 5’ you fell. If you fell from 20’ to 0’
high, and your Jump is 10’, you suffer 4 skewering damage.
Falling damage cannot be reduced in any way.
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 dupa tall and wide. They only take up 1/4
of a square.
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.
FLANKING
If you and one other ally are standing on
both adjacent sides of a fighter, you
both gain Precision on all damage rolls
against the flanked unit.
52
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
collosuses, living bodhisattva statues, ancient ruinous giant
defense spirits, giant forest gods. They take up 4x4x4 on the
battle grid: their presence takes up at least 20’ of squares in
the battlefield and they are at lest 20’ tall.
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: their presence takes up at least 25’ squares wide, and
are at least 25’ tall. 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.
CONDITIONING
Conditioning is resistance to a particular damage type.
Whenever a fighter with X Conditioning is damaged by X
damage type, halve the damage dealt, rounded down.
VULNERABILITY
Vulnerability is a particular weakness against a particular
damage type. When a fighter that has X Vulnerability
suffers X damage, they suffer +1d6 damage.
EVASION
Your senses are pricked, you are ready to bound, your
instinct takes over you and you avoid attacks. Evasion is
rolled before the attack’s effects are enacted upon you.
Evasion is a stat that stacks. When you suffer an attack,
you roll a d10 and try to roll equal to or your total current
Evasion. If you do, you completely avoid the attack and its
effects against you. If the attack’s Effect do not affect you,
it still happens.
FLYING
While Flying, you are flying above the battlefield. While
you have Flying...
0 All melee attacks against you have Imprecision.
0 All your movement ignores Height, Terrain, and you
can move through Enemy squares.
0 If you are Unbalanced, Juggled, or Stunned, 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 reactions or other effects
that ask you to move. Teleportation ignores all terrain, all
diagonals, 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 skewering damage.
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SUMMONS
Some effects might bring Summons into the fold. If there
are no stats written for the Summon, they will have
Posture 20 but the rest of their traits are shared by their
Summoner.
However Summons will very commonly not have their
own place in the Rhythm Track and not have their own
turn. They use the summoner’s traits, except for Posture.
MARKS
Whenever a target is marked, it will be written as mark X,
with X being the duration. Mark effects are usually defined
by the ability that gives them. New Marks always
overwrite older marks.
When you are Defeated, all your marks on other fighters
are lost.
MOUNTS
Mounts are powerful creatures that can be ridden on by
fighters in a battlefield.
Mounting/Dismounting: To Mount a creature requires
one to move into the Mount’s square. To Dismount can be
done at any point during one’s turn. If one suffers
Unbalanced or Juggled, you must Resist or else be knocked
off your Mount, ending in a square to your Mount.
You can alternatively unmount a mount voluntarily as a
Technique.
While Mounted on your Mount, you are considered
adjacent to your Mount. While mounted on a Mount, you
are considered as 1 fighter.
Mount as a Fighter: When unmounted, the Mount
becomes a fighter that has 40 Posture, and then has the
rest of your Stats. However they cannot inflict violence.
Mounts do not have turns, but rather moves their Speed
when you Move on your turn.
When a Mount falls to 0 Posture, they are Defeated. They
return at the end of a scene.
Joy of Movement: Each Mount has a special movement
ability, known as their Joy of Movement. The Mount
description will detail what their Joy of Movement gives.
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 out of
bounds. If Walls, they work the same as Wall terrain,
although once the wall is broken it then becomes out of
bounds.

OBJECTS IN THE BATTLEFIELD If Out-of-Bounds, if a fighter is pushed into an out-of-

bounds square, they have a 7-in-10 chance of ending up
The battlefield will very often have objects (that are in an adjacent square instead. If they fail, they are
usually also terrain on their own right). These objects will removed from play until the start of their next turn.
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 (20 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 directly affects the squares of the battlefield. 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.
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 Speed if the
Height is higher.
SLOPE
Slope terrain is considered -1 square high for the purposes
of moving into it.
CHASMS
Chasms are terrain that are lower than -8 dupa in height,
so far deep that they are hard to recover from. You must
horizontally jump over a Chasm. If you move or are
forcibly moved into a Chasm, you have a 6-in-10 chance of
ending up in an adjacent square instead. Otherwise, you
fall into the Chasm and suffer 6 skewering visceral
damage, then you roll a d4+Tempo to find your new Turn
Beat. You return to a square to the Chasm at the start of
your turn.
HAZY TERRAIN
All fighters within Hazy Terrain are considered Hidden
and have Evasion 4. Hazy Terrain blocks line of sight, but
not line of effect.
DIFFICULT TERRAIN
Moving into a square of difficult terrain (rubble, swamps,
uneven ground, undergrowth, trees) costs double the
amount of movement (moving into an adjacent square
costs 2 squares instead of 1).
DANGEROUS TERRAIN
Moving into a dangerous terrain square deals 3 skewering
visceral damage to you.
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BURNING TERRAIN
Terrain on fire, inflicting more damage than just
dangerous terrain. Suffer 3 skewering fire damage
whenever you start your turn in or move into burning
terrain, or when the square you’re standing on becomes
burning terrain. Burning terrain is put out by water or rain
and then becomes Scorched Terrain. If Burning Terrain
becomes Water Terrain, it becomes Scorched instead. If a
fighter on Burning Terrain suffers wind or water damage,
the Burning Terrain becomes Scorched Terrain.
SCORCHED TERRAIN
Scorched terrain is terrain that is removed of its grass or
water. Scorched terrain is treated as normal terrain. Tall
grass, water, or haze terrain, when scorched, becomes
scorched terrain.
HINDERING TERRAIN
Prevents movement but not line of sight.
BLOCKING TERRAIN
Prevents line of sight, line of effect, and movement.
TALL GRASS TERRAIN
Tall Grass that impedes movement and vision. Moving
into tall grass terrain costs double the movement. While in
Tall Grass, you gain Evasion 3 vs all ranged attacks.
WATER TERRAIN
Water terrain such as rivers and sea and oceans. Water
terrain is difficult terrain. While on Water Terrain, you
have wind vulnerability and fire conditioning. If you suffer
any more water damage while on water terrain, the water
terrain has a 2-in-10 chance of becoming frozen terrain.
FROZEN TERRAIN
Frozen terrain is difficult terrain. If you are in a square that
becomes Frozen terrain, you become Stopped 2. If you
suffer fire damage while on Frozen terrain, you suffer +2
fire damage and then the frozen terrain becomes scorched
terrain, and you lose the Stopped caused by Frozen terrain.
FLAMMABLE TERRAIN
A square that is covered with easily flammable material. If
a fighter standing on flammable grass suffers fire damage,
the flammable grass becomes burning terrain.
ENVIRONMENT
Each Battlefield has an inherent Environment Type,
which defines how the environment works.
Environment Type gives a battlefield wide effect or
situation to all fighters in the field.
CLEAR ENVIRONMENT
It’s bright and clear. No modifications.
RAIN
It is raining.
0 All area attacks suffer -1 to their pattern, to a
minimum of 1.
0 All water and wind damage deals +1 Might, and
all fire damage suffers 1 Weakness.
THE LEAVES FALL
INDISCRIMINATELY
Crimson and viridian leaves are cascading down.
0 All fighters have Evasion 1.
0 When a fighter suffers fire damage, the square
they’re standing on loses the Evasion benefit for
the rest of the scene.
SUN SCORN
The Sun beats down relentlessly, scorching the lands.
0 All Resists have Imprecision.
0 Fraying deals 2 damage instead of just 1.
0 Whenever you end your Turn not under shade or
within water terrain, suffer 1 fire damage.
0 All fire damage deals +1 damage.
MOONGLEAM
The moon’s rictus grin shines down upon you all.
HUNTING MOON
The moon is gone, and darkness comes upon you all.
0 Moving into or ending one’s turn in hazy or
difficult terrain inflicts you with Dazed 2.
0 All Yawa gain +1 Might.
0 All dark damage gain +1 Might.
RAINSTORM
The winds pick up, and the rains have come.
0 All ranged attacks is reduced by 1 dupa, and all
ranged attacks suffer Imprecision.
0 All fighters’ Speeds are halved unless in covered
areas.
0 All water and wind damage deals +1 damage, and
all fire damage suffers -1.
GOD MONSOON
It is almost impossible to see through the pall of the
tempest.
0 All ranged attacks’ and non-close AoE’s range are
reduced by -2 squares, and all attacks suffer
Imprecision.
All fighters’ Speeds are halved unless in covered
0
areas.
0 All water and wind damage have +1 Might, and
all fire damage have +1 Weakness

0 All soul damage deals +1d6 damage.

0 All Resolves have Imprecision.

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56
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.
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 5 skewering wind damage to all
adjacent fighters and then turns all adjacent squares
into frozen terrain until the end of your next turn.

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 4
damage and then stops. If a fighter, it deals 4 visceral
damage to the fighter, shifts 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 wall 2 or 3 that is blocking a river’s flow. It has a
Durability 24, 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
Stopped until they spend a Technique to remove it.
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 deals
4+2d6 fire damage 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 is immediately Juggled and
suffers 1d8+3 skewering wind damage.
PILE OF LEAVES
Takes up a single square. Any fighter can interact with
it during the start of their turn or if they deal wind
damage to it. Once interacted with, the pile of leaves
flurries out, giving Evasion 5 to all fighters in close
burst 1 of it against the next attack against them.

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, making that target Dazed 3.
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 2d6 skewering fire damage to all
fighters in close burst 1 and then making all those
squares burning terrain.

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57
Kadungganan and
Warbands
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.
 THE
KADUNGGANAN
K
adungganan. Those that make war. Martial
Artists, Warrior Braves, Executioners,
Butchers, Warlords, Witches.

Those �irst 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.
Kadungganan (or Gallants) 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 shift 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.
 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)
62 0 Something interesting that happened to
you (Conjuncture)
0 What you chose to be (Nature)
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).
You can follow each step and roll randomly on
each step, or choose whichever best suits your
image of your Kadungganan.
EXCLAIM Steps 4 to 7 and Step 9 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.
D10 CHOOSE A FOLK
1_ON_
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.
D10 ASSIGN ABILITIES
2_ON_
Assign 6 points onto your Abilities. None of the Abilities can go above 2.
D10 CHOOSE OR ROLL CULTURE
3_ON_
0 Choose or roll for a Subculture and gain its starting item.
0 Choose a Lineage, and then add the extra Abilities.
0 Choose a Social Standing, and gain its item.
D8 DISCOVER CONJUNCTURES
4_ON_
Then, find out something strange that happened to you, your
Conjuncture.
D10 REVEAL NATURE
5_ON_
Choose a Nature, which you grew to become. Think of this as your “Social
Class”. It is how you interact with the world outside of Violence.
0 Gain 2 starting items from your Nature.
0 Choose 2 starting Nature Skills.
D10 UNEARTH DEBTS
6_ON_
Choose 1 person that you owe a Debt to.
D10 ENTANGLE COMPLICATIONS
7_ON_
Choose a Complication you share with one of your bandmates.
D10 TRAIN A DISCIPLINE
8_ON_
Choose a Discipline, find out what you chose to learn. Think of
this as your “Combat Class.” It is how you interact with
violence. You can change Disciplines later.
0 Gain the Discipline’s Traits and Enlightenment.
0 Gain the Teaching I of the Discipline, getting all
Abilities under the Teaching.
D10 FIND YOUR WARBAND
9_ON_
Create your Warband with the group.
0 Choose your Warband Nature from the list.
0 Define your Warband Want.
0 Talk about how the Kadungganan met.
D10 YOUR VIOLENCE BEGINS
10_ON_
Finally, choose a name, define your Principle, Want, and
Rumination. You begin at Prowess 1.
ABILITIES
Abilities in Gubat Banwa measures your Kadungganan’s approach and how they view the world, as well as how the world
views them. They are how they interact with the world. There are 16 Abilities, each one dealing with a particular aspect of the
world. A Kadungganan’s Abilities measure themselves at their core, as well.
Abilities begin at 0 and can go up to 3. During Character Creation, you must follow The Path to find out your Ability Ratings,
but none of them can go up higher than 2.
Beauty. Attractiveness, but not purely because of features.
Beauty is reprehensibly impossible to categorize, you
cannot boil it down to eye shape and nose line and
forehead broadness. No, beauty is what comes before
judgment, beauty is what comes before evaluation. A
flower is beautiful to us but not because their cheekbones
are perfectly aligned. High Beauty might mean that you
cannot help it: people find you attractive and appealing
and they don’t exactly know why. However, this might
lead you to unwanted attention. Low Beauty means you do
not attract as much attention, and people are not swayed
easily by you. People are swayed by beauty, you see, do not
deny it. Beauty standards in the Sword Isles are thus: broad
and sloped back foreheads (like the moon, for what else is
more beautiful than the shining lightning in eternal
darkness?) and broad noses. This ability ignores beauty
standards.
Control. Bottle it up. Or– no. That’s a bad way of putting it.
Sheathe it, there. Control handles your capacity to sheathe
your emotions, to put it away, as required. It is not the
quality of being dense, no, it is cool, composure. High
Control means you wield your emotions perfectly, by hilt
or by blade: high Control might also mean that you will
never let go of your control of your emotions, and you will
never connect with those around you. What is a
Kadungganan without the hands they hold? Low Control
means you are prone to bouts of intense emotion, possibly
with no regard to the consequences of your actions.
63
Grace. Your hands are dexterous, fingers quick, feet always
moving. You are the wind, just like the wind. And the wind
retreats, the wind is whisked away, or rather, chooses
never to stay simply just there. High Grace might mean you
can run across walls, scale towers, avoid boulders, but too
high and you might overshoot, you might bound, you
might travel to the ends of the world and find nothing but
hopelessness. Low Grace might mean you fumble, you fail.
Things fall from your hands, slip through your fingers. You
cannot grasp anything.
Imagery. To create, to craft, to sing a song others can see in
their minds requires a certain capacity to imagine. Imagery
is just that, imagination, creativity. High Imagery means
you can vividly imagine things easily and perhaps, maybe
even, put it down upon paper. But you are burdened with
image, burdened with the mind’s eye. Simply standing
there and thinking might overload you. Low Imagery
makes you as imaginative as a stone upon a lake: still, and
no ripples unless others move you.
Judgment. Observation and analysis are nothing without
good reasoning. In the Sword Isles, to be able to see the
value of the libra and the sword, with or without each
other, is just as important if not more to being able to
change the world. How can you change the world if you
cannot place it within your mind, intertwine its roots
within the caverns of the psyche? High Judgment means
your reasoning is slick and oiled, sharper than wit, than
darkness. However you might look upon yourself too
highly, and fall into the trap of not needing others’
opinions. Low Judgment means your reasoning is clunky, a
rusty blade. You cannot cut away the imperfections of the
world, you cannot remove the inconsistencies of thought.
Might. Gaze upon shattered ships upon shores. That is the
work of the mighty, gaze upon it and despair. What is
might in the Sword Isles? What is strength when the
darkness between the stars has swallowed the lights?
Wield blood and flame, is that might? High Might means
your grip upon the sword-handle can bisect trees, but too
much and your sword might shatter. Low Might perhaps
means that you can only raise your sword. But swing it?
You will break first.
 Observation. The Sword Isles demands you to look closely.
That leaf is not just a leaf! Turn it over and witness the
spirits that dance underneath it. There is more to
observation than just perception. It includes analysis,
rumination. Nay, it requires it. High Observation lets you
find the intricacies of everyday life, lets you appreciate the
small things, even lets you understand what they mean,
but you might be too wary of your surroundings, and you
might get overwhelmed with analysis. Decisions become
hard for you. Low Observation makes it so that you can
miss the easiest of things to spot, and even if you do, you
might not know just exactly why it's important.
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Occult. There are secrets so hidden in Gubat Banwa that
only those that are dead or cursed to eat livers can afford to
dig through soil and corpses to find it. And even then, the
secrets are not answers, but questions. Occult is your
knowledge of these secrets, of things that even the diwata
might forbid, that the sages caution against. Knowledge of
the interactions of sorceries with hiyang, of the strange
vagaries of the Four-Part Soul, of the underworld and the
dead. High Occult means you know what others might not
know: truths about monsters and demons and ghosts and
the vengeful, as well as the forbidden alchemies within the
world that let you perform magic: turning water into wine,
leaves into flame, herbs into life. However, the secrets…
change you. At High Occult, you hear the whispers, your
fingers are blackened, your eyes are different. Low Occult
might mean that you are completely blocked off from
knowing the secrets, the ancient and long buried
knowledge. Dense to it, you might not even know when
you are affected by it, just like how not being able to feel
pain is more a curse than blessing.
Poetry. Your ability to read and tap into the intricacies of
epic and song, of subtext and context. Of poetry and
metaphor, of secrets and lies. The Sword Isles is filled with
people that speak in riddles and twists. High Poetry means
you can interpret what people say and the subtext of their
actions, figure out lies, and even be good at lying yourself,
but you are prone to reading too much into things, and
sometimes even you can’t figure out if you’re telling the
truth or not. Low Poetry means metaphors and songs and
epics and stories (and everyone is a story) are
indecipherable to you.
Psalm. The Sword Isles collects and archives tradition,
culture, and knowledge in story and song. Thus, to know
the Sword Isles is to know its harmony, to be part of its
chorus, to know the intricacies of its paeans. High Psalm
might mean you know a great amount of Sword Isle
knowledge, but this might cause you to look down upon
those that don’t. Low Psalm means you don't know much
about your own culture. Why have you blocked out the
song of the ancients?

Piety. The Sword Isles are sometimes known as the

“Islands of Rituals”: every little thing is a rite to the
ancestors and to the spirits, to accrue better merit through
good deeds, so that their lives would become better.
Knowledge and the ability to stay pious and faithful is an
important characteristic for Kadungganan, no matter
what their faith. Pious Virbanwans might perform their
penitences properly, while Pious Akainon Lunar Faithfuls
might strive for better lives for all those around them, as
part of their Divine Striving. High Piety means you are
cognizant of the various rituals and religions across the
Isles. You might even know the rituals of religions that are
not yours! However it might also make you overzealous,
too obsessed with perfecting and maintaining order, and
you might be susceptible to heresy, or even to those that
have no respect for religions.
Low Piety might mean that you could care less for the
rituals of the various religions. You do them purely out of
your own benefit or as parts of your culture, but there is no
obsession, no passion, in your performance. Those with
High Piety drink deep of faith, like an obsessive and
overpassionate love between two young lovers. You do not
possess that enlightenment at Low Piety.
Sensitivity. The world is alive. “Sacred nature” is
redundant: nature is already inherently sacred. The
heartbeat of the world is the diwata, the spirits, the gods,
the demons, everything in between. Listen to its heartbeat:
to be in harmony and accordance with nature is “Hiyang”,
transcendental oneness. Sensitivity is your ability to tap
into the world’s heartbeat, to meet the manifestations of
nature itself. High Sensitivity lets you listen in to the truths
of the world as spoken by the spirits and the dead, and
interact with them, but it makes you paranoid. You hear
the voices everywhere. And once you can see them, they
can also see you. Low Sensitivity means you fall into that
horrible horrible trap of thinking that the world is inert
and dead, and the only thinking beings are Folk. You
cannot touch the unseen, which makes you useless.
Tenderness. Your ability to empathize and connect with
the feelings of those around you, to find the best way to
connect with others, and to speak softly. Gently. In the
Sword Isles, every word is a thorn, a prick, a kampilan’s
spike. Your words will not mend, but perhaps it need not
heal, simply soothe. High Tenderness means you will
always have the right words to say to quiet burning fires,
but your heart bleeds at every thought! At every word. You
bleed profusely for others, both a boon and a bane. Forgive
me, dear heart, there is no solace from love. Low
Tenderness means you are colder, your words strike and
bleed, like a sword, and you are dense to the plight of
others. A stone, dead, struck by lightning, not in wrath but
in ignorance.
Toughness. Perhaps the most important virtue in the
Sword Isles. Kadungganan are those assailed by fate and
blade at every turn. Wounds bleed and break you. This is
Gubat Banwa, after all. With High Toughness, you might
be stronger than a boulder, steel shatters upon your skin,
or you might grit through all things and always come out
on top. You might be knocked down but you always end up
standing up. Too much Toughness, however, and you
might end up dead. You can only get knocked down so
many times before your bones break and give out. Low
Toughness means you are like reeds upon the riverbanks,
easily swayed, easily broken, easily burnt.
Will. Attacks on the soul are common in the Sword Isles,
and Kadungganan must build up their resolve if they wish
to survive for long. Demons, spirits, undead, witches… they
all rend at the Kadungganan’s will. Resolve must be steel,
or else it will be the last thing they want. High Will might
mean you burn through all those that wish to break you, or
stand firm against the assaults of witches and demons…
but you might end up too stubborn, too uncompromising 65
on your beliefs, that you fail to see the holes in your own
self. Low Will means you are easily swayed, easily
charmed, easily fall into witcheries. May the spirits bless
your soul.
Wrath. Your capacity to express ultraviolent rage, your
ability to connect with the rage that broils with those
around you. Your ability to ignore everything else and give
in to your primal fury. In the Sword Isles, a powerful wrath
is often rare: it is too common for Folk to bend over to those
that possess more power, to protect their own hide. High
Wrath means you will be able to act upon your emotions,
you are emboldened and bolstered and brought to flame by
the fires of your heart, but you are prone to becoming just
like fire: too bright, too hot, burning those you care about
with the rashness of your blaze. Low Wrath means you are
languid, you drag your feet. Lighting a fire under you
means nothing because you are numb to it. Your fire is low,
you cannot bring others to blaze if you cannot be aflame
yourself.
 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.

66

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.
 67

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.

68

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.
 69

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.
70

PILANDOKAN
he 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.
 71

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.
 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
A small company of sea raiders sang their shanties and
echoed their songs of wars to the setting sun. They sailed
72 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.
You were born into a poet and warrior society. At a young
age, you have been taught the ways of word and war. You
were a social outcast if you could not keep up with the
evolving wit and word. As a young child you carried with
you a dagger at all times, especially if you were socially
male. You were taught the ways of war too early. You got
your first tattoo while you were of a small age as well: either
by conquest of violence or love.
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 Hari 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.

NOTEWORTHY PERSONS
Rajah Batara Ambasi is the current Rajah, who heads a
Rajahnate that has at least twenty Datu under them. Rajah
Batara Ambasi sitsv 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 three
fingers pointing up, and another hand resting upon his feet.
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 73
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 you can always...
0 Spout poetry and song.
0 Fuck with others.
0 Show off your prowess.
 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.
74
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 rajahnate of their own, they have since fallen in glory.
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 Rajah 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 sword with a bakunawa 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.
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. 75
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.
 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, who treat the
1 new Hari as a close family friend and have pledged blood compacts with. Your tattoos sing of
your courage and prowess. Gain +1 to your Wrath.
Merchant Nobility. You come from a family of rich merchant princes who have traveled as far
2 as the distant lands of Baik Hu, and perhaps have enterprises in Jamiyun Kulisa’s Arrows.
Gain +1 to your Judgment.
76
Tattoo Artists. You come from a long line of tattoo artist professionals, or mamamatuk. You
inscribe stories and traditions upon skin. Outsiders of the Sword Isles see that they didn’t
3 practice painting on paper, but that is because the islanders paint upon living canvas. Gain +1
to your Psalm.
Singers. You come from a family of professional singers, who sing both epics and traditions,
4 both glories and dirges. Gain +1 to your Psalm.
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, but they are more than
5 happy to offer their barges to those that need it and can offer to pay. Gain +1 to your
Observation.
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 pulse. Your parents might have been balyan, or
6 shaman-healers, that channeled and performed concordance with the greater beings of
nature. Gain +1 to your Sensitivity.
Adopted. You were adopted into a family of courtesans and singers instead of warriors.
7 You’ve never known your real family. Gain +1 to your Poetry.
Royalty. You are a scion of the legendary tiger blood of Hari Batara Ambasi, and you might be
8 eligible to take the Dawn Eater Crown. You are born deep into the courtly intrigues and
intersettlement politics of Gatusan. Gain +1 to your Control.
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. 77

Bihag or slave. You were the victim of the Eighth Star Era’s burgeoning violence,
1 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 warriors,
4 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.
 APUMBUKID
Apunon is the term for those that belong to the five holy
principalities of the Confederation of Apumbukid.
78 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.
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.
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 a true
Makinaadmanon, a saint, bodhisattva, buddha,
enlightened one, who fuses into the land and becomes one
with nature, constantly in a state of Hiyang, embodying
all its forces, its death and its life, its fires and waters and
airs and earths.
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.
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 79
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.

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.

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
80 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.
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 you can always...
0 Preserve harmony by rituals and corrective action.
0 Scrutinize disharmony.
0 Reprimand those that defile nature.
 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. 81

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.
 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. Gain
+1 to your Might.

2 Makinaadmanon Heritage. Your parents were Makinaadmanon, the Peerless Sages who chose to teach the ways of Achieving
Conjunction. They are gone now, but they have left some invaluable insights to you about Diwa, the truth of the world. Gain
+1 to your Psalm.

3 Feast Patrons. Your parents are wealthy patrons of feasts, most likely aristocrats. You’ve enjoyed traveling to a great number of
82 settlements to set up feasts, and you’ve met a large number of peolpe due to it. You have been taught to be kind, always. Gain
+1 to your Tenderness.

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. Gain +1 to
your Piety.

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. Gain +1 to your Sensitivity.

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. Gain +1 to your Grace.

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,a nd so you have been taught this same very thing. Your
family was well respected in your settlement. Gain +1 to your Wrath.
 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:
83
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 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.
 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
84 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.”
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, Iman, 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 Iman. 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.
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.
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
Iman 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 85
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 Iman: 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 Iman.
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
Iman, 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.
86
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
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.
86
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 Iman, 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.
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, you can always...
0 Point out the beauty of a situation.
0 Look down on others for being weaker.
0 Revel in striving.
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 composede of regal and royal 87
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.
87
 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. Gain +1 to your Might.
2 Warrior Heroes. You come from a long line of warrior heroes, famous across the Footsteps of the
88 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? Gain +1 to your Toughness.
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. Gain +1 to your Occult.
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. Gain +1 to your
Piety.
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: gain +1 to your Beauty.
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, paradocxically, to knowing what is truly an illusion and what
is truly real: gain +1 to your Resolve.
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. Gain +1 to your Sensitivity.
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. Gain +1 to your Might.
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: 89
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. 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 Iman. 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.
 VIRBANWA
vA priest, a sonat, 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.
90 The robes of a sonat. He wraps his pudong-pudog 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
moriones helmet. “Can I be like you, some day?”
“You want to be a bayani like us? Then youhave to believe
in Makakagahum and thepower that he can grant us all.”
The bayani 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 darkundyed gray robe pulls the young
girl back to her. “O, most gracious and valiant bayani,
thank you.”
“There is no need. In fact, you must flee right now.
Evacuate into the hills, where the shelters are.”
“Why, o great bayani?”
As he speaks, the other bayani 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 bayani. “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
bayani, just as he wheels around and brings out his
bangkaw.
There is a shout, a war cry.
The bayani of the Lakanate charge, to protect the Lakan
in the name of their God.
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.

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.
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
separatists takes Virbanwa’s progress and use it against
them and to uplift those marginalized and oppressed.
Most tawo of the Lakanate follow the rule of the Batara
Lakan, currently Huwan Rekno. They pay fealty to him, and
the Lakanate functions very closely to a classic monarchy.
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.
Lakanate Tawo are born with immediate knowledge of
their faith, the Sampalataya. Also known as the faith in the
Ashen Star, they follow the belief that Makagagahum, the
Almighty, created the earth from nothingness, and in the
far future They will return as the Maitresiya, the Final
Prophet, and bring about the Milennium Kingdom in the
Land Above the Sky.
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 91
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.
Slaves 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.
 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.
92
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.
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.
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.
SUBCULTURE
There are 3 Major Subcultures in Virbanwa. Roll a d3 or choose:
1 Provincial. You live in the provinces, 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
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.
2 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 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 Honorifics: Ginoo [gee-nu-O] (Masculine),
Binibini [bee-nee-bee-nee] (Feminine), Poon [Po-ON]
(Lord, general)
Virbanwan Naming Conventions: Virbanwans have
surnames, mandated by the Lakanate. Their names are
tainted by Pale King nomenclature.
93
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, you can always...
0 Impose your worldview on others.
0 Say something rash.
0 Find others to work with.
3 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).
 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. Gain +1 to your Might.
2 Saint of Beggars Offering. You were an offering to the Saint of Beggars. You’ve never known
94 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 slaves. 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: gain +1 to your Grace.
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. Gain +1 to your Poetry.
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 deeviation from religious norm from
Sampalataya. Gain +1 to your Observation.
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.
Gain +1 to your Toughness, but you’re fucking 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. Gain +1 to your Wrath.
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! Gain +1 to your Resolve.
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. Gain +1 to your Control.
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. 95
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.
 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
96 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...
“Danum,” said Kinaiya, as they floated about near the
waterfall. The bronze statue of the Hibiscus Goddess
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 united merchant
nation.”
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 steel and sorcery of the
Lakanate.
Their extensive trade with Baik Hu has led them to become
self-sustaining and wealthy. Their settlements are
thousand households on both sides of a river bank. Their
trading places are cordoned off sections of the city,
wherein white parasols and other exotic trading goods
must be paid as docking fee for trading vessels to begin
trade.
The grasslands, wetlands, and forests of Ba-e are pocked
with mysterious statues of the Tranquil Sage, cast in stone,
bronze, and gold. When you ask someone where they come
from, they will answer that they do not know. The sages
will speak of brahmin.
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 The Tranquil Sage pock the forests and
grasslands, whereupon roots and branches swarm to
retake it. Smaller statues hang from necklaces and
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
knights who fight with forward curving blades known as
ginunting.
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 Tranquil Sage 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.
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. The Sangpamegat, the Dayang, is a God-
Queen. One of the Five of the Sword Isles.
Wealthy, majestic, and ancient. 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 97
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
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 Other Culture Impressions
down by the Kadanay.
To Virbanwa: Wayward stars streak across the sky.
The most important technology among the Ba-e tawo are Thrones shall fall before we do.
two things: the sky-sampans and the artifact slates. Sky-
sampans, which are circular boats that ride upon the wind, To Akai: Warrior Braves and courtly regals. They are
worked upon by diwata that are contractually bound by royalty, grandeur, and raiders all. They deserve respect, but
ancient Kadanay oath to carry the sampan, have become a we have stood far longer than they have existed.
major source for personal travel. Sages and nobility would
ride upon these if they could commission them. To Gatusan: They shall raid the world, and if we play our
cards right, they will be shackled by gold and heirloom to
NOTEWORTHY PERSONS us. They shall be the swordfish to our barge.
98 Sangpamegat Dayang Kalangitan, the Eternal Monarch. To Apumbukid: Our goals do not conflict, but their
Once just a Dayang, she took over after her husband, isolation will be their downfall. The roots speak, the earth
Pamegat Diwajaya, was killed in battle against a breathes. To Achieve Concordance, one must be willing to
Virbanwan Warlord. Using her Kadanay blood, she break it. To become God one must be willing to kill Him.
perfected the sorceries of Stonewaking, instilling stone
and clay sculptures made by local potters and smiths with Ba-e Honorifics: Gat for Males, Binibini for females.
additional utility, the ability to float, and to keep food
frozen. This technological marvels gave her the title of Ba-e Naming Conventions: Similar to Rajahnate
Hexer-Queen. conventions. They do not have surnames, and usually use
one or two words.
She has frozen herself into a diwa-silk cocoon, letting her
soul wander freely and roam, unshackled by physicality, Ba-enon Names: Pangil, Lontok, Dula, Angkatan,
but her body itself is entombed upon her throne, Namwaran, Tagkan, Palaba, Kalamayin, Panginoan,
whereupon a giant gold statue of her has been built: a Bagtas, Sasaban, Salalila, Avijirkaya, Maitan, Salihan,
goddess with eight hands, each wielding a weapon, and a Talim, Lumban, Pila, Gatid, Dewata.
crown that is like a balete tree.
As a Ba-enon, you can always...
She rules Ba-e directly, and eternally. She will eventually
rule Gubat Banwa, and her consciousness will be one with 0 Scoff at someone.
the all. This is both her goal and her ambition: to become
as the Annuvaran conception of God. That is to say, 0 Try to sell something.
everything.
0 Express and showcase generosity.
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.

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.
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 99
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.
 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. You begin with
+1 in Control.
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
100 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. You begin with +1 in Judgment.
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. You begin with +1 in Imagery.
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. Gain +1 to
your Might.
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.
You begin with +1 in Sensitivity.
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. Begin with a worthless Kadanay relic.
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. You begin with +1
to Observation.
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. Gain +1 to your Resolve.
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: 101
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.
 NATURES
Natures are dramatic archetypes that color how your Kadungganan interact with the world. These provide a scaffolding for
your drama play, as well as helps you find a solid foundation for your Kadungganan before fleshing them out through play.
Choose one that makes the most sense. As much as possible, do not choose the same Nature.

You can use your Nature Skills in fights, as long as it makes sense in the fiction. However if the Skill does not say it gives you
an express mechanical effect (such as August’s Majesty calling attention to you but not letting you inflict Provoked), then they
do not give that mechanical effect.

The ten Natures are: August, Consular, Creative, Fierce, Poetic, Gentle, Sage, Sly, Stalwart, Vagrant
102
103

AUGUST
Self starter, Commander, Leader
You are a leader, perhaps. Maybe you are an autocrat, a ruler.
A despot? What do you call those that follow you? Followers?
Friends? Allies? The difference in that tells us who you are.
You are charismatic, or maybe intimidating, or maybe just
really clever. You have the inexplicable ability to rally folk to
your cause. No matter what you do, you like seeing it all, you
are meticulous: either you are on top to see everything, or
behind everyone to catch any mistake. Perhaps you were a
104 noble, or some kind of enterprising maverick among legions
of servants.
Do you understand your leadership? Do you abuse it? What
is leadership to you, and do you understand that a better
world is out there where you don’t exist?
You begin with (choose 2): 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
You can always...
0 Order someone around, without knowing whether this
is all right to them.
0 Scoff at someone telling you what to do.
0 Ask: “What can I do to get this going?”
Conviction Triggers: Gain Conviction when…
0 You enforce your way even if those you care about reject
it.
0 You give a command that you know will cause harm.
0 You do something confidently to your detriment.
0 You refuse to listen to someone you perceive to be lower
than you, to your detriment.
Berate someone for not doing something in a way you
0
want to.
AUGUST SKILLS
PATERNAL
Spend 1 Conviction to immediately learn the best course of
action for something. If you tell it to someone, they gain +2
rerolls to all Casts to performing specifically that course of
action.
ORDER
Give someone 1 Conviction to grant them knowledge of craft
or an ability that you are intimately familiar with (like
cooking or smithing). They only know this temporarily,
unless they spend that Conviction to dedicate themselves to
it. If they do, give them a Debt Token.
MAJESTY
At any point during a session, you can make yourself the
center of attention for a scene for any reason. If you want to
use this more than once during a Session, you must spend 1
Conviction afterwards.
EFFECTIVITY
You always have Bonus when you Cast to give orders and
commands to others and those are inclined to listen to you.
This bonus does not apply if you are simply trying to brute
force yourself upon others.
RALLY
Spend 1 Conviction to easily gather a small crowd that will
follow one, non life- threatening thing you tell them to do.
MANDATE
Once per session, you can give an order to anyone, even if
they are not inclined to listen to you. If they do not follow
your command, you gain 1 Conviction.
VERSATILITY
Choose this to gain a Skill from another Nature.
REFINED SKILL
After you gain all possible August Skills, you can now
purchase the Refined Skill:
Descended From Rajaraya. Spend 1 Conviction to force
someone to do something for you, whatever it may be.
Depending on what you make them do, their disposition
toward you might change.
PERFECTED SKILL
Once you have the Refined Skill, you can now purchase the
Perfected Skill:
Decree of Malaun. Spend 2 Conviction to give all your allies
+2 to all non-combat Casts until the end of the scene.
105

CONSULAR
Eloquent, Piercing, Diplomatic
You have a way with words. Or perhaps you’re just
naturally charming. Your skill in speaking pierces through
a person’s flesh. Your tongue can sway even gods, if you
wanted to. Not just that, but you’re good in all manner of
ministries that deal in folk: in ruling them, in manipulating
them, and in finessing them. What you do with your gift of
gab is up to you.
106 What do you do with your quicksilver tongue? You grin,
but for what purpose?
You begin with (choose 2): 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
You can always...
0 With your words, maneuver yourself into a position
you want, but risk danger.
0 Find the place with the most people.
0 Ask: “Who’s hiding something here?”
Conviction Triggers: Gain Conviction when…
0 You aggravate others with your talk.
0 You say something you shouldn’t have.
0 You get someone else into trouble to escape
consequences.
0 You convince someone into believing something that
might harm them in the end.
0 You spread info about someone or something that you
know to be false.
CONSULAR SKILLS
FEAST OF HEARTS
Whenever someone gives you their Debt Token, you can
choose to immediately give them your own Debt Token as
well. If you do, you gain 2 more Debt Tokens from them.
REVEAL
Spend 1 Conviction and choose two questions below to ask
the Umalagad, which they must answer truthfully:
0 Is this person hiding something from me?
0 Is this person afraid of the current situation?
0 Is there something this person wants?
GAMBIT
Spend 1 Conviction when you try to convince someone into
a belief that you do not personally believe yourself. They
are immediately convinced of that belief, but the
Umalagad chooses a single caveat:
0 They will lose that belief soon unless continuously
convinced.
0 The belief brings unwarranted attention to you.
0 They become so fervently convinced of the belief that
something arises from it.
OATH
Spend 1 Conviction when you wish to make two people see
eye to eye. They will immediately see eye to eye and you
seal it with an oath. If either of them breaks the agreement,
you will know immediately somehow, within the fiction.
SPREAD CONVICTION
You have Bonus to all attempts to convince another to do
something.
BEFRIEND
Spend 1 Conviction to immediately be friendly with
someone before meeting them, and to give the best
possible first impression.
VERSATILITY
Choose this to gain a Skill from another Nature.
REFINED SKILL
After you gain all possible Consular Skills, you can now
purchase the Refined Skill:
Sweet Tongue of Munsad Tilingban. Spend 1 Conviction.
For the rest of the scene, everyone you talk to will begin
with a friendly disposition toward you.
PERFECTED SKILL
Once you have the Refined Skill, you can now purchase the
Perfected Skill:
Connect The Weave of Souls. Spend 2 Conviction to create
a diplomatic situation that will benefit everyone involved
in that current context, or those that you choose that will
benefit from them. You can only use this once per Kandu.
107
 CREATIVE
Helpful, Stable, Ingenious
You are a creator in your community, whether that be
smithing, goldcraft, boatcrafting, weaving, or some other
creative endeavor. You are ingenious, little sparks of
innovation breakthrough in every new creation you put
forth. Sometimes, your creative ability gets the best of you,
and it eats away at your life, at the expense of your bonds.
What do you make? How does it help you or your
108 community?
You begin with (choose 2): 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
You can always...
0 Invent something new, which brings unwanted
attention to you.
0 Make something for a community that needs it.
0 Ask: “Is there anything here that I can use?”
Conviction Triggers: Gain Conviction when…
0 You forget others in pursuit of creation.
0 You let one of your creations harm someone you care
about.
0 You forgo other’s opinion and guidance in pursuit of
your own.
0 You choose the more complicated route than the
simpler route.
0 You choose to destroy something you loved.
CREATIVE SKILLS
CRAFTER
Spend 1 Conviction when you have the time to create
something, anything, from your surroundings, as long as it
follows the fiction. This becomes an item that you carry,
which can be used as barter, or turn out useful in the
future. When you use it, it gives you a Bonus when you Cast
the Crocodile’s Teeth, but when you first use it, roll a d4
after using it:
1. It breaks down and shatters.
2. It destroys something near you, or it inflicts harm
upon you or someone close to you, taking 1 Conviction
from them.
3. It attracts unwanted attention somehow (like perhaps
a loud noise, or a strange spiritual resonance).
4. It now requires a particular material whenever used.
At the end of the session, the item breaks.
PATCH UP
Spend 1 Conviction token when you want to fix something
broken, such as an object or a relationship, etc. If you do,
describe how you do it, and the Umalagad chooses one
from the following that you need: bring ingredients into a
particular place, gather particular materials, learn
something important about it, be comfortable with not
fully fixing it.
INGENUITY
Gain Bonus to all Casts when trying to make something
better than before.
SAIVA
Spend 1 Conviction to instantly pull at a fraying thread at
anything made by mortal hands, to immediately destroy it,
as long as it makes sense. You cannot do this to destroy a
stone fort’s walls, for example, but you can use it for a
bamboo watchtower. This of course will very usually lead
into trouble.
MAYKAPAL
You can create a Moon to craft anything not larger than a
suit of armor (so it can be weapons, shields, armors,
clothes, etc.). The Maykapal Moon takes 4-segments and
can only be worked on during downtime.
INSTANT CREATION
Whenever you craft something not larger than a suit of
armor and it takes time (and is not part of a Moon), you can
spend 1 Conviction to create it immediately, as long as you
have the tools and environment for it.
VERSATILITY
Choose this to gain a Skill from another Nature.
REFINED SKILL
After you gain all possible Creative Skills, you can now
purchase the Refined Skill:
Hammer of Diwata Bagid-an. You can, with superior skill,
find a weakspot in a large structure, perhaps the size of a
stone wall or even larger, that has been made by mortal
hands. Spend 2 Conviction to immediately destroy it.
PERFECTED SKILL
Once you have the Refined Skill, you can now purchase the
Perfected Skill:
Forge of Malaun. You can now begin crafting something
immense and large: perhaps a God-Body, or a stone
fortress, or a royal palace. Commit 2 Conviction to the
creation. As long as that Conviction is committed, you have
a 6-Part Moon that you can work on once every Downtime
to creating something large, as follows the fiction. When
you finish the creation, you release the Conviction
commitment and regain the Conviction.
109
 FIERCE
Forceful, Unstoppable, Determined
You are indomitable. You are the fury. By your hands you
will seize heaven’s thunderclaps and send it barreling into
the sea. You are the storm. Your strength is uncanny,
undeniable. With yourself as the weapon, you will get what
you want, what you need. Everything else must move out of
the way. You are an act of God; woe be to those that stand in
your way.
110 What are you seeking? Why do you rush through, like a
storm, searching for it?
You begin with (choose 2): a ceremonial kampilan, a
crimson headdress, a golden diadem, a colorful sarong, a broken
shield, garuda ear ornaments, a Kilin vessel, a kinnari lamp
You can always...
0 Challenge someone to a duel.
0 Defeat someone below you in a one-on- one fight.
0 Ask: “How can I use my skill to strongarm myself
through this?”
Conviction Trigger: Gain Conviction when…
0 You let your skill and passion attract unwanted
attention.
0 You are defeated.
0 Your skill puts you into a worse position.
0 You ignore any advice from anyone and do what you
want to do.
0 You harm those important to you without care.
FIERCE SKILLS
OVERTHROW
Spend 1 Conviction to immediately defeat someone less-
skilled than you in a duel. If you do, you attract unwanted
attention immediately.
BULLDOZE
Gain Bonus to all Casts that deal in trying to destroy
something in your way.
LINK THE FLAME
Spend 1 Conviction to impress someone with your physical
skill. If you do, they give you their Debt Token. Spend 2
Conviction to make this a group of people, though when
they give you their Debt Token you gain it from them as a
group.
110
BUTCHER
Sunder 1 Conviction to kill someone helpless before you.
You must change your Principle afterwards, or else lose all
Conviction immediately, as you have lost all prestige, and
have become the same as the despots you so hate.
GRASP FURY
Spend 1 Conviction to sink into a deep rage, whether it be a
screaming anger or a quiet wrath. While in this rage, you
can never fail any rolls that deal in destruction: whether it
be social or physical. However, you will be unable to control
yourself: you cannot roll Control, and the Umalagad can
step in when dramatically appropriate to say that you are
going to hurt someone near and dear to you.
GIVE ME WHAT I WANT
Spend 1 Conviction when you’re trying to gain secrets or
knowledge from someone else, whether it be cosmic esotery
or an answer from a small child, to immediately gain the
answer. The answer will always be interesting, but it will be
short and rough.
VERSATILITY
Choose this to gain a Skill from another Nature.
REFINED SKILL
After you gain all possible Fierce Skills, you can now
purchase the Refined Skill:
Strength of Idda Mangubat. Spend 1 Conviction to destroy
one thing from the victim of your ire:
- A Debt Token that they gained from someone else.
- A Belief they used to hold.
- A Want that they still have.
PERFECTED SKILL
Once you have the Refined Skill, you can now purchase the
Perfected Skill:
Break The Sky. Spend 2 Conviction at any point in a scene
to get what you want, damn the consequences. You must
outline clearly what it is you want, but once you do you will
get it, as much as possible.
111

GENTLE
Wide-Eyed, Hopeful, Empathetic
You are the heart. You are the softness needed for violence
to be more than violence. For violence to become justice,
retribution, peace. Someone must pay attention to the
little things, after all. Your care is silent, soft, inviting, and
always truthful. You are the hand that reaches out when
swords are drawn.
Why do you choose such gentleness? Your blade still
112 flashes fast as lightning. Oh sweet heart, hold fast and true.
Even as your hand bleeds, you are the flower that offers its
beauty.
You begin with (choose 2): glass beads, a Baikhan sage
statue, 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
You can always...
0 Speak softly and see the best in people.
0 Offer another way (there has to be one, right?).
0 Ask: “Why must you do this?”
Conviction Triggers: Gain Conviction when…
0 You let yourself be swayed.
0 You forgive someone that does not deserve it.
0 You hesitate.
0 Your softness causes pain for more people.
0 You lose something important because you tried to do
good.
GENTLE SKILLS
SWEEP UP
Spend 1 Conviction to make a relatively safe place a place
comfortable enough for genuine rest, as long as you have
time for it, and the place is comfortable enough. This can
become a place fit for Downtime.
HUSH
Gain +Bonus to all Casts where you try to quell inflamed
passions and emotions with soft words and empathy.
WORD
Spend 1 Conviction to convince an enemy to your side for a
short period of time. This does not mean they will
immediately fight for you, but perhaps they will consider.
Those with strong Convictions can and will ignore this, so
make them doubt first.
LOVE
Spend 1 Conviction to grant someone a brief reprieve,
genuine care, one that they will remember. Is that not
what we all crave from this world? There is so much
turmoil, especially in a world barreling into oblivion. We
were born to love, from bamboo and stone. If the person
accepts the care, you gain their Debt Token.
REFUGE
Willingly offer 1 Conviction to a Kadungganan you deeply
care for after speaking to their heart. It is up to them if they
choose to keep it. They can spend it to gain +2 rerolls to all
Casts attempting to help you, but when they do,
immediately establish a relationship or they must give you
their Debt Token.
OBLITERATION
Whenever you talk with someone in a soft and tender way,
you can spend 1 Conviction to immediately succeed on that
roll. However, that person gains your Debt Token.
VERSATILITY
Choose this to gain a Skill from another Nature.
REFINED SKILL
After you gain all possible Gentle Skills, you can now
purchase the Refined Skill:
Succor. During Downtime, 1/Kandu, you can heal 1
Conviction from a loved one.
PERFECTED SKILL
Once you have the Refined Skill, you can now purchase the
Perfected Skill:
Beneficence. Spend 2 Conviction during Downtime give
each ally in the Warband, excluding yourself, a Beneficence
token. While they have a Beneficence Token, whenever
they would spend Conviction, they can choose to consume
the Beneficence Token instead.
113
 POETIC
Firebrand, Trailblazer, Bleeding Heart
You are a lover, a burning soul. You sing, you write, you
dance, you utter condemnations and benevolences. You are
an idealist, a firebrand, whose truths and principles will set
the Sword Isles ablaze, whether for good or ill. You might be
poet, a singer, a dancer, or musician. Whatever it is, you
light a fire in those around you... and the fire starts from you.
What do you wax poetically about in the nights when the
114 moon does not show?
You begin with (choose 2): a boat lute (kudyapi), a bamboo
flute, a jaw harp, palm leaf scrolls, writing implements, a
ceremonial staff, tinder, a piece of the sky
You can always...
0 Wax poetically.
0 Say something profound.
0 Ask: “For a better world, right?”
Conviction Trigger: Gain Conviction when…
0 You let your idealism and performance burn you.
0 You fall helplessly in love.
0 Your feelings are stoked, leading you to lash out.
0 Your burning determination makes things worse for
everyone around you.
0 Your heart is broken.
POETIC SKILLS
IGNITE
Spend 1 Conviction when creating something to instill
within it a belief. Giving it to anyone with an intent of
convincing them into that belief will give them that belief
for a short time. It’s up to them whether they’ll keep it.
INSTILL DETERMINATION
Spend 1 Conviction to give someone a reason to keep going:
they ignore all Conviction loss from consequences until
next Downtime.
ABLAZE
Spend 1 Conviction to perform something beautiful, almost
inhumanely so.
THREAD
Spend 1 Conviction to start a new song, dance, or story.
Establish a Moon. When you have time, you may cast an
appropriate Ability to see if it rises or not, with contextual
difficulty. This creation will never fail, the Moon is there
simply to gauge how long it takes to create.
BRIGHT
Offer 1 Conviction to the Kadungganan you love. They can
choose to use it, or give it back to you eventually. If they use
it, tears stream from your eyes, a part of you is gone, and
only they remember it.
FIREBRAND
Once per Session, when you put yourself in a dangerous
position to protect your beliefs and principles or strengthen it
for whatever reason, gain a single Firebrand Token, which
goes away at the end of a session. At any point, you can spend
a Firebrand Token to use it in place of Conviction, or you can
use it to heal 1 Conviction immediately.
VERSATILITY
Choose this to gain a Skill from another Nature.
REFINED SKILL
After you gain all possible Poetic Skills, you can now
purchase the Refined Skill:
Drums of Liberation. Give someone that believes in the
same things that you do 1 Conviction. As long as they have
that Conviction, other people will be drawn to them, and
your beliefs and principles will spread. It is up to them to
give it back, or you can forcibly take it back, though this
pacifies any building fire.
PERFECTED SKILL
Once you have the Refined Skill, you can now purchase the
Perfected Skill:
Gongs of Violence. Spend 1 Conviction to immediately
instill violence in any scene, no matter how it may happen.
You will always be ready: if combat erupts from this Skill,
you and your bandmates all take your Turns first before
combat officially starts and the Rhythm is established.
115
 SAGE
Mindful, Sensitive, Erudite
You are the soul, the wit, the wisdom. Your sage advice and
intuition of natural philosophies help you forge a verdant
path through the islands of bloodshed. You may be a
natural empath, or a trained shaman-healer, or a wise old
soul in a young body. You have a natural understanding of
the world about you.
Do you think your understanding will be enough,
116 however? Keep your wits about you, and speak your
sermons. The gods do not listen to prattle.
You begin with (choose 2): 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
You can always...
0 Understand what’s going on around you.
0 Perform a short ritual to the spirits.
0 Ask: “What do I know about this?”
Conviction Trigger: Gain Conviction when…
0 You find that you do not have any knowledge of
something.
0 The advice you give leads to worse complications.
0 You say you know something when in fact you don’t.
0 You place yourself in a worse position in search for
knowledge or wisdom.
0 You choose to learn about something you shouldn’t
know.
SAGE SKILLS
ADVICE
Spend 1 Conviction to let two different Kadungganan in the
table trade up to 2 Conviction each.
SIN
You bite the apple of knowledge. Spend 1 Conviction to say
lore and history about anything. This can be anything, and
it is true. However, the Umalagad chooses one:
0 There’s something missing with the information.
0 One part of the knowledge is misunderstood.
0 The information is true but has since changed.
IMPART
Give one of the Kadungganan that you want to teach
something 1 Conviction. During next Downtime, they can
spend that Conviction to immediately learn a new Ability
(one that they don’t have points in yet).
PRODIGY
Gain Bonus to all Casts when learning something new or
when doing something with an Ability that you have 0
points in.
HARMONY
You gain a companion spirit, who shares knowledge with
you. They have a name, perhaps given by you, or given by
them. Choose a single Mind Ability: you are treated as
having +2 on all rolls using that Ability. However, when
you lose all Conviction, the spirit takes over your body.
SORCERY
You can spend 1 Conviction during Downtime to start a
sorcerous working: this is a 4-moon segment that requires
the following things: time, proper knowledge, proper
items, proper tools, a proper workplace, spiritual backing,
and societal backing. However the working can be
anything within reason: such as changing the weather,
providing good harvests, or poisoning an important figure.
VERSATILITY
Choose this to gain a Skill from another Nature
REFINED SKILL
After you gain all possible Sage Skills, you can now
purchase the Refined Skill:
Perfect Budhi Mind. Spend 1 Conviction. For the rest of
the scene, you know the exact mental state of everyone you
talk to directly. If you act on knowledge gleaned from this,
gain a Bonus to all rolls.
PERFECTED SKILL
Once you have the Refined Skill, you can now purchase the
Perfected Skill:
Transcendent Enlightenment. Spend 3 Conviction when
recalling an even to immediately reshape how that event
happened, though no drastic changes can be made, it has
to fit the fiction. Saying that in a memory a datu died while
the datu is standing in front of you is not allowed, however
saying that the datu drank a cup with poison can be
possible. One can only use this once per Kandu.
117
 SLY
Tricky, Deceiving, Stealthy
You are the shadow. The cheat, the dirk, the whisper in the
dark. You slink into the places others would find impossible.
Your skill with your wit and your tongue can get you out of
many situations. That’s what you’re good at, slipping out of
situations. Nothing can pin you down, sometimes it feels
like you’ve got a body double in some distant island.
What are you running away from?
118
You begin with (choose 2): a key, a push dagger (balaraw), a
jarlet of snake venom, a textile cowl, stolen crafting equipment, a
pouch of rice, a pouch of chalk powder, a palm leaf torch
You can always...
0 Hide something from someone you know.
0 Move quietly.
0 Ask: “How can I fuck with someone here?”
Conviction Triggers: Gain Conviction when…
0 You get caught.
0 Someone sees through your lies.
0 You drop something that’s not supposed to be yours.
0 You give up something you’ve stolen for something
else.
0 You take something that you really shouldn’t have.
SLY SKILLS
SHADOW
When you move quickly, spend 1 Conviction to make it do it
with absolutely no one noticing, however you must choose
one below:
0 You attract the attention of the spirits instead.
0 You leave something else behind, whether it be wealth
or your heart.
0 You must end up somewhere farther than where you
started.
ROGUE
When you lie, spend 1 Conviction to make it so that the one
you’re talking to (and it must be a single person) believes
that lie, no matter what. If, however, that person finds out
about the truth of the lie, they give back that spent
Conviction and you attract their ire.
ECLIPSE
Gain a Bonus to all Casts when you’re trying to hide
something from someone.
STEAL
Steal 1 Conviction from a Kadungganan, but they gain your
Debt Token until you return the Conviction at a later time.
You can return any Conviction even if it isn’t the one you
stole.
BLINK
Spend 1 Conviction to instantly appear somewhere you’ve
been before, 2 if its somewhere you haven’t been before to.
SNATCH
When you try to steal something without anyone looking,
either spend 1 Conviction or choose 1 from below.
0 Someone notices your theft.
0 You steal something else instead.
VERSATILITY
Choose this to gain a Skill from another Nature.
REFINED SKILL
After you gain all possible Sly Skills, you can now purchase
the Refined Skill:
Shadows Flit Over Meylupa. When you do something
illegal or usually looked down upon in your current place,
spend 1 Conviction to make it so that you are not doing that
or have never done that, even if you have and or are
currently doing it. For example, if moving a particular jar is
something you must do, but the culture you’re in says that
you cannot move that particular jar, you can use this to
make it so that either it looks like it was an accident, or
something fatefully happens to distract any onlookers (like
a brawl).
PERFECTED SKILL
Once you have the Refined Skill, you can now purchase the
Perfected Skill:
Immaculate. Spend 2 Conviction to steal something that
might not be something you can conventionally steal
(something like, a name, a face, an identity or a god).
119
 STALWART
Hurting, Unyielding, Martyr
You are the wall. You are the fortress where the waves crash
against it. You would rather that you suffer diseases and
scars than those that you care about. You care for others
directly, protect them, keep them safe from harm.
Someday the world will hurt the one you love, but that day
is not today.
What have you lost?
120
You begin with (choose 2): 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
You can always…
0 Put yourself in between someone you care and
another person.
0 Dive into something without care for your safety.
0 Ask: “How can I keep you safe?”
Conviction Triggers: Gain Conviction when…
0 Someone you care about is hurt, when you know you
could’ve protected them.
0 Despite hurting, you act like you’re okay.
0 Your protection actually causes more harm.
0 You let yourself be hurt more just so that others would
not be bothered or harmed.
0 You let someone you care about hurt you just so that
they themselves would not be hurt.
STALWART SKILLS
RESCUE
Once per Session, when someone would suffer some sort of
consequence, you can use this to take that consequence for
them instead. You can spend 1 Conviction to “bank” that
consequence and suffer it only later, when you choose to or
when dramatically appropriate.
INDOMITABLE
Gain a Bonus to all Casts when trying to power through
something or enduring something.
WARD
Give 1 Conviction to one Kadungganan and make them
your Ward. They can spend that Conviction outside of
combat only to call you to their side when they are in
danger.
SHIELD
Spend 1 Conviction when you devote yourself to someone
to give them a better disposition: they gain Bonus on all
Casts outside of combat until the next Downtime.
UNBREAKABLE
Spend 1 Conviction to become physically and socially
immovable for for the rest of the scene, no matter what
might move you. If something would move you after using
this Skill in the scene, gain 1 Conviction.
DON’T FUCK WITH ME
Spend 1 Conviction at the start of the session. For the rest
of the session, you cannot fail any Strength related Cast,
however you can still suffer consequences.
VERSATILITY
Choose this to gain a Skill from another Nature.
Refined Skill
After you gain all possible Stalwart Skills, you can now
purchase the Refined Skill:
Gods Stem The Tide. You can now gain up to 9 Conviction
instead of just 8.
Perfected Skill
Once you have the Refined Skill, you can now purchase the
Perfected Skill:
Great Makura Gatara Shields The World From The
Fragments of the Firmament. Spend 2 Conviction at the
start of the session. At any point during the Session, if any
kind of harm or consequence would befall any of your
allies, you can choose to take it instead. However, you
cannot die or become an Umalagad character during the
Session. At the end of the session, you suffer all the
consequences that you took upon yourself.
121
 VAGRANT
Traveler, Vagabond, Tricksters
You are the wanderer, the wind, the flowing river. The
petals of the salinggogon carried by the breeze. Like the
cycles of the seasons, the blossoming of flowers, you are
always changing, moving from one place to another, never
locked down. You thrive from new experiences, always
reinventing yourself.
Will you ever find who you really are?
122
You begin with (choose 2): 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
You can always...
0 Leave looking for something new.
0 Question a tradition or accepted belief.
0 Ask: “Where do we go now?”
Conviction Trigger: Gain Conviction when…
0 You get lost.
0 Something from your past catches up to you.
0 You cannot answer a question about yourself.
0 You suffer terrible luck.
0 You choose to do something you haven’t done before,
despite the consequences.
VAGRANT SKILLS
WAYFINDING
Spend 1 Conviction to find your way out of or through
forests, mountains, seas, labyrinths, anywhere where you
might get lost in.
ASSURED
Spend 1 Conviction to convince everyone you’re not lying,
even yourself. Deal with the consequences of this.
MERCURIAL
Spend 1 Conviction to reject a label you have: move 1 Ability
point to any Ability (though this cannot bring them above
your maximum). You can only do this once per Downtime.
TRAVELER
Spend 1 Conviction to say that you’ve been somewhere
before, giving you the chance to say something about the
place.
WANDERER
Spend 1 Conviction when you get lost to find something
interesting, but you stay lost.
THE WIND
When you are being bound down for any reason,
physically or socially or mentally, you gain Bonus to any
roll to remove yourself from your bindings.
VERSATILITY
Choose this to gain a Skill from another Nature.
REFINED SKILL
After you gain all possible Vagrant Skills, you can now
purchase the Refined Skill:
Fool Begins The Journey. Spend 1 Conviction during
Downtime to let something happen to you that sets you off
in a grand journey or adventure, no matter the
consequences. It is up to you to accept it (though it is most
commonly very hard to resist) and you can work with your
Umalagad to find out what the journey will be. You cannot
use this Skill again until after you finish or fail the current
one.
PERFECTED SKILL
Once you have the Refined Skill, you can now purchase the
Perfected Skill:
The Journey Ends With Judgment. Spend 3 Conviction at
any point that feels like the end of something: the
destruction of a settlement, the loss of a loved one, the
failure of a relationship. When you do, you gain a
particular piece of knowledge from it: you gain a Judgment
Token that stays with you until you choose to spend it. You
can spend it at any roll, even in combat, to immediately roll
the best possible result. You can only have 1 Judgment
Token at a time.
123

CONJUNCTURE
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
124 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.
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
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 before, and then
took pity from you 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. 125
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.
 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.
126 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.
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.

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 ___.
127
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.
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 49 - ________ needs to kill me to fulfill an obligation they
forgotten me for some reason. were forced into with _______.

42 - ______ taught me how to fight, but ______ taught me how
to hate.
43 - I have fought _________ to a standstill, who ________ has
struggled to defeat.
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.

44 – I need _______ to give me something I need, but ________

keeps them away from me.

45 – I used to be friends with _________ but _______ revealed

128 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.
129

PRINCIPLE, WANT, AND
RUMINATION
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
130 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 Slave, 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, you have three major character
defining traits. Principle, Want, and Rumination.
PRINCIPLE
Principle is your reason for doing anything, the reason why
you fight. Duty, Love, Family.
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.
WANT
The very thing you want to achieve. It may not be the
reason for your fighting, but it is something you fight for
nonetheless.
Wants are short-term goals that can be seen in the horizon.
Things like: find a great artifact, duel a spirit, craft a great
hammer
RUMINATION
A question at the core of your soul, a doubt. This has to be
written in the form of a question, and it must deal with the
inherent troubles of the world, and of rumination about
how your Kadungganan perpetuates the Cycles of
Violence. A good starting point for this is to look at the
questions at the end of the Discipline descriptions. “Why
do I use my sword to kill?” “Do all settlements become
empires?” “Why must datu be datu, and commoners be
commoners?” “Why must sorcery be so secret?”
Ruminations are long term goals: think of it as an
ambition, and don’t be afraid to think big: eradicate
slavery, establish a new empire, create a merchant empire.
Small Wants are also valid: create a community, have a
family. Ruminations are inherently things that can change
the world. They are in the form of a question so that the
interpretation can be unique to you.
The important aspect of this all is that all three defining
traits change over the course of an Kandu.

WARBANDS
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.
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.
131
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

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
132 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?
Choose from below which religious sect or god you follow.
Each are coded with the five major polities:
4. Bearer of Jamiyun Kulisa’s Thunderbolt. You are
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 (1 use): When casting to sway
others with Wrath or Poetry, use this to add a Bonus to
the cast.
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 (3 Uses): 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

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 (1
use, Interact): Your next attack deals +1d6 damage
against a Scourged enemy.

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 (1 Use, Interact): Deal 6
skewering damage to all Scourged enemies in close
burst 15’.

3. Wardens of Hiyang. You are warriors that follow the

holy teaching 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 (1 use): Use when casting
Sensitivity to add Bonus to the cast.

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 Iman,
the Lunar Faith, and is attached to the Sultana.
Gain the following item: Balaraw (1 use): When you are
surprised, you can spend this to say that you aren’t.
[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.
Gain the following item: Lightning Lentil (1 Use, Interact):
Gain Hastened 2.
[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.
Gain the following item: Udto Venom (1 use, Interact): Bless
your weapon with Udto Venom. When you next deal
visceral damage, apply the Udto Venom, losing it on your
weapon. The target damaged immediately gains Fraying 4.
[7-8] Gavri of the East, Warrior Princess of North
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
133
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.
All Kadungganan gain 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 3 commodities.
[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.
All Kadungganan gain the following item: Bullet. 1 Use. If
you kill someone with a bullet, that person will become
undead.
Warband Names: Faithful of Takdul, Bringer of Night,
Gun-Princes, Make one up

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
134 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] Hari 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 Kadungganan gain 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 Kadungganan gain 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.
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. Scourge 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. 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

VARIANT CREATION:
PROWESS 0
If you wish for an even simpler character creation
process, you can start your Kadungganan at Prowess 0 .
Kadungganan at Prowess 1 have already proven
something, have shown why they are worthy of
becoming Kadungganan. If you choose to play a Prowess
0 Kadungganan, then you are not a Knight or Honored
One or a Gallant yet. Instead, you are nothing better than
some warrior, or farming peasant, or weaver, or
apprentice balyan, or lower aristocrat. Who are you?
Because we know who you will become.
RUNNING PROWESS 0
For Umalagad, if you’re planning on running a Prowess 0
game, keep in mind that these peasants will eventually
become Kadungganan as soon as they level up to Prowess
1. Therefore, the sessions should build to a point wherein
they accomplish something brave, something that
cements their ability to become Kadungganan. This must
be something appropriately great and awe-inspiring.
Perhaps nothing too grandiose, such as “killing a
thousand enemies”, but perhaps something that
crystallizes their Convictions: perhaps something like
“they put themselves in between an enemy and those
that they love.”
Very often, Prowess 0 games will last for a session before
they Prowess Up. However, you can go through an entire
Arc in Prowess 0 to help players get used to the various
mechanics of the game, as well as find out their
Complications, Conjunctures, Debts, and Warband.
CREATING PROWESS 0
Creating Prowess 0 warriors are a lot simpler. Follow the
following steps. In general, they do not have
Complications, Conjunctures, Debts, and a Warband.
Those are things you can find out during the Prowess 0
Arc,
ONE - CHOOSE A CULTURE
Choose a single Culture, Subculture, Lineage, and Social
Standing as with a Kadungganan.
TWO - CHOOSE A NATURE
Choose a single Nature and gain 2 items but do not
choose any Nature Skills. Use these to help set your
character’s demeanor, personality, and approach to the
world.
THREE - CHOOSE A VIOLENT CALLING
Prowess 0 Characters do not have Disciplines yet. They
have not reached the heights that martial arts requires for
them to perform their most powerful techniques.
Instead, they have a Calling, which is a combination of
their violent fate, their prior combat knowledge, and
natural aptitudes.
135
RAIDER
Posture 40. Resist 5. Resolve 5. Speed 4. Jump 2.
Bravery 3. Faith 3. Tempo 4.
Inflict Violence: Blitz. 1 Technique. Target: 1 fighter in
melee. Melee Attack: Flurry your strikes. Damage:
d12+Bravery or Faith visceral.
Passive: Deal +1 Might to all Staggered Enemies.
BLASTER
Posture 36. Resist 4. Resolve 6. Speed 3. Jump 2.
Bravery 3. Faith 3. Tempo 5.
Inflict Violence: Volley. 1 Technique. Ranged Attack:
Let go a volley of arrows or bullets or stones. Target: 1
fighter in range 5. Damage: D10+Bravery or Faith
visceral.
Passive: All ranged attacks against enemies that are at 3
squares away have Precision.
SENTINEL
Posture 48. Resist 7. Resolve 6. Speed 3. Jump 1. Bravery
3. Faith 2. Tempo 5.
Inflict Violence: Batter Down. Melee Attack:
Overwhelm with a single powerful strike. Target: Up to 2
fighters in close path 2. Damage: D8+Bravery visceral.
Effect: The targets become Provoked 1.
Passive: You have 3 Soak.
CONTROL
Posture 32. Resist 6. Resolve 6. Speed 3. Jump 2.
Bravery 2. Faith 3. Tempo 4.
Inflict Violence: Skewer. 1 Technique. Area Attack:
Throw a ball of flame, or an exploding ball, or send out a
rain of arrows or strikes. Target: All fighters in a close
burst 3. Damage: D6+Faith skewering soul. Effect: Inflict
Eviscerated 2.
Passive: When you deal damage, the damaged targets
must Resist or suffer Fraying 2.
SUPPORT
Posture 44. Resist 6. Resolve 7. Speed 4. Jump 2.
Bravery 2. Faith 3. Tempo 5.
Inflict Violence: Flow. 1 Technique. Target: 1 fighter in
ranged 2. Ranged Attack: Strike, and then let diwa flow
to an ally. Damage: D6+Faith soul. Effect: 1 ally in burst 2
gains +1 Might on their next attack.
Passive: Twice per Combat, as a Technique, you can let 1
ally within 3 dupa Second Wind, healing an extra Faith
Posture.
FOUR - FIRST STEPS INTO VIOLENCE
Give your character a name. Find out why they’re fighting
through play.
FIVE - ADVANCEMENT
When you advance to Prowess 1, choose a Discipline that
makes sense in the fiction. This replaces all your other
stats from your other violent callings, including Passive
and Inflict Violence.
 KADUNGGANAN ADVANCEMENT: PROWESS
Prowess represents a Kadungganan’s combat prowess and
ability, strength, skill, and their combat experience. As they
rise in their Levels of Violence, they find more and more
things about themselves, as well as the various Martial Arts
of Gubat Banwa. Prowess start at 1 and end at 10.
Raising Prowess requires the following:
0 You must be in Downtime, and you can only rise in
Prowess once per Downtime.
136 0 You must have learned something new about yourself
or your martial art recently.
0 You must have enough time and the means to be able to
learn more about yourself (a master might teach you, or
you might get guidance from the ancestors, or you must
perform a pilgrimage up a holy mountain).
0 A Conviction cost depending on what Arc you are.
1 Arc 1: Spend 1 Conviction.
1 Arc 2: Spend 2 Conviction.
1 Arc 3: Spend 3 Conviction.
Rising in Prowess gives the Kadungganan the following
benefits:
0 Learn a new Teaching from any Discipline.
0 At Prowess 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, gain an Anting-Anting and
an Anting-Anting Slot. You can equip any Anting-
Anting into any of your Anting-Anting Slots, as there’s a
reasonable chance that you get new Anting-Anting
through play.
PROWESS ARCS
Similar to most games, shows, and novels, Gubat Banwa has
a number of built in Arcs to symbolize the progression of
warriors.
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
Prowess 1-3. 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 Prowess 4-7, as it
is the bulk of their venturing days. 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. 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 Prowess 8-10,
and showcases them not at the end of their venturing days
but rather, at their peak. Their inherent Gahom bolsters
forth through them, manifesting in visages of God-Kings
and Eagle Devils. 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.
 ADVANCEMENT TABLE
Prowess Benefit
1 Character Creation. First Teaching
2 New Teaching, First Anting-Anting
137
3 New Teaching
4 Arc 2: New Teaching, Second Anting-Anting
5 New Teaching
Base Form 6 New Teaching, Third Anting-Anting
7 New Teaching
8 Arc 3: New Teaching, Fourth Anting-Anting
9 New Teaching
10 Last Teaching, Final Anting-Anting

Perfected Form

Refined Form
138
Disciplines and Anting-
Anting
139
 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.
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.

DISCIPLINE TRAITS SPECIAL TECHNIQUES

Each Discipline has the following Traits:
Posture (PST) governs your ability to keep your combat stance and
protect yourself from mortal wounds. All damage goes to your
Posture first before you lose Flesh. Posture has two more modes:
Staggered and Critical. Staggered is ½ of your Posture, rounded up,
and Critical is ¼ of your Posture, rounded up.
Bravery (BRV) governs your physical attack damage.
Faith (FTH) governs your spiritual attack damage.
Speed (SPD) governs how many squares you can traverse when
you move.
Jump (JMP) dictates how many squares you can jump vertically.
Resist (RST) is the Discipline’s inherent fortitude against physical
effects, whether they be physical lacerations, enervations,
exhaustion.
Discipline Teachings come with a large slew of Special
Techniques, ancient battle arts passed down from the
ancestors, perpetuators of the Cycles of Violence. To
read a Technique, they will usually be written as such:
Title
X Techniques/Passive
Target/Attack/Effect
Lore
In general, the order it is written should also be the
order you enact the effects of each written Technique.
0 X TECHNIQUES. The number of Techniques that
the particular Special Technique takes up.
0 PASSIVE. The effects of the Technique are always
active, without needing to be used to take effect.

Resolve (RSV) is the Discipline’s inherent willpower against

mental and spiritual effects: charms, enchantments, and glamours.

Tempo (TMP) is the rating you roll whenever you make a Tempo
Roll that tells you what Beat you make your next Turn.

Inflict Violence (IV) is the attack that your Discipline performs

when you use the Inflict Violence. This is different for each
Discipline.

Enlightenments (ENL) are core abilities, features that you have

access to while you’re that Discipline. These are known as
enlightenments as they are special knowledges a Kadungganan can
only use when they’re a professed disciple of a particular martial
art.

140
TEACHINGS
Each Discipline has 3 Teachings. Each Teaching
follows after the last. This means that to get
Teaching 2 of a Discipline, you must first have
Teaching 1.
Each of the teachings are written down
consecutively, with which teaching they are
notified by an Enlightenment Flower:
I II III
Each Teaching has a number of things that it
gives you whenever you have it Equipped. In
Gubat Banwa, there is such a thing known as
The Six-Armed Demon God, which is a
metaphysical representation for the muscle
memory one has when going into combat. In the
mechanics, the Six-Armed Demon God is
represented as Six Teaching Slots that you can
equip.
I I
You can only
equip up to 6
Teachings at
any given time,
though one of I I
them must be
from your
current
Discipline.
I I
This means that you can equip up to Five
Teachings that you have learned at any given
time, and you can change what Teachings you
have slotted either during Downtime or before
Combat.
The Teachings you can slot in don’t have to be
successive as long as you have them unlocked.
For example, you can equip Baril Witch 1-3, and
have two more slots. Let’s say you have Death
Dancer 1 and 2 unlocked, as well as Elementalist
1-3. You can choose to equip Death Dancer 2 and
Elementalist 2 for your two remaining slots,
since you already have them unlocked. You don’t
need to have Death Dancer 1 equipped to equip
Death Dancer 2, for example.
You can only learn new Teachings when you
have time and the means, which means you
must have some way of learning new teachings,
within the fiction. This might mean cosmic
enlightenment, but more commonly this will
mean that you need a proper teacher, usually a
Guro, or teacher, or maybe even some scrolls
that your dead master has left behind.
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 Blasters.
Blaster 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. Blasters laugh
in the face of Controls.
Control 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. Controls laugh at Sentinels.
Support 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
Might and Soak, 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.
141

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 Polities in the following pages.
DISCIPLINE TAGS
Disciplines are intensely diverse bundles of martial arts.
Each one is more or less unique from each other. In the
following section is a set of Tags that helps one
understand each Discipline’s mechanical playstyle from
a bird’s eye point of view.
Tags are simply descriptors, they don’t have any
mechanical effects, they exist to help one understand a
Discipline and that Discipline’s Teaching’s design and
expertise.
Generally, a Discipline will have a Style Tag, 2 Expertise
Tags, and 1 Deficiency Tag.
STYLE TAGS
Style Tags define their general playstyle. Styles have
already been defined above.
EXPERTISE TAGS
The following Tags define the combat aspects that that
Discipline specializes in. Each Expertise Tag is written
below the the usual Style that they are found in.
BLASTER
0 Constant. The Discipline deals damage constantly
throughout the fight instead of small windows of
burst damage. This is usually against a single
fighter.
0 Thunderer. The Discipline has tools to deal good
damage against a large amount of enemies in one
attack.
142
CONTROL
0 Crowd Control. Or CC, the Discipline has tools that
let them cull and control large amounts of enemies,
either by forced movement or statuses.
0 Field Manipulation. Or FM, the Discipline has
tools that let them lay down fields, or manipulate
the Battlefield itself by laying down terrain effects,
manipulating height, and such.
RAIDER
0 Swift. The Discipline has a lot of tools to be able to
move across the battlefield, or they might have a
high Speed stat.
0 Burst. The Discipline deals a lot of damage in a
small amount of time against a single fighter. These
Disciplines usually have a “burst window” wherein
their Traits and Techniques all line up in a way to
grant them the highest damage potential.
SENTINEL
0 Guardian. The Discipline has tools to draw attacks
away from allies.
0 Juggernaut. The Discipline has tools to stay in the
thick of a fight, dealing damage against those
around them.
SUPPORT
0 Utility. The Discipline has tools to grant beneficial
effects to allies.
0 Heal. The Discipline is adept at giving out healing to
allies’ Posture.
DEFICIENCY TAGS
Each Discipline has its downsides: these Tags define the
weaknesses of a particular Discipline.
0 Squishy. The Discipline has lower Posture and can
fold easily.
Sluggish. The Discipline is slow and cannot move
0
across the battlefield as easily.
0 Blunt. The Discipline deals low amounts of
damage.
Slippery. The Discipline cannot keep targets in
0
place or cannot inflict much Statuses.
0 Loner. The Discipline does not have a lot of tools
that could directly benefit allies.
0 Furious. The Discipline has tools that put them at a
better position but these directly give them
penalties or makes them suffer.
GATUSAN: THE PAINTED
WARRIORS 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. [Sentinel, Swift, Juggernaut, Loner].
Raiders 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. [Sentinel. Guardian, Utility, Slippery]. 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. [Raider, Swift, Burst, Furious].
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.
Sword-Poet. [Sentinel, Juggernaut, Heal, Blunt]. 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.
Violence Balyan. [Support, Crowd Control, Utility,
Sluggish]. A spirit medium that provides healing and
buffing with Idols and the power of the gods. Trained to
fight in spiritual violence for this neverending war. They
specialize in offering healing and strengthening
incantations and spirits.
143
APUMBUKID: THE STEWARDS OF
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. [Raider, Burst, Constant, Loner].
Hypocritical Raider-Dervishes that have eschewed
weapons to become hypocrisy incarnate: one who uses
the strength gleaned from Hiyang to kill. They have
mastered themselves avnd 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.
Enchanter. [Control, Field Manipulation, Crowd
Control, Squishy]. Powerful Blaster sorcerers that apply
curses, heal allies, and destroys warbands with the
Kinaadman: the enlightened wisdom that lets one
manipulate the world through the use of proper
incantations and godly mudras.
Headtaker. [Raider, Burst, Swift, Squishy]. 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.
Tigpana. [Blaster, Constant, Crowd Control, Loner].
Blaster 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. [Control, Guardian, Crowd Control,
Blunt]. Masters of the Cutting Speech, Warspeakers are
warriors that participate in battle through the use of
cutting rhetoric and ironclad logic.
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. [Control, Constant, Crowd Control,
Blunt]. 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. [Raider, Burst, Juggernaut, Furious]. 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. [Sentinel, Swift, Juggernaut,
Loner]. 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. [Support, Utility, Field Manipulation,
Slippery]. Sonorous Support warrior-singers that sing
and use myriad instruments to bolster their allies and
grant respite in a war-torn land.
Swordfish Cavalier. [Blaster, Swift, Constant, Blunt].
A Blaster coral knight upon a balu, a flying swordfish, that
specializes in summoning water, firing from afar, and
cutting through enemy ranks with shearing blades of
water and wind.
144
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. [Blaster, Constant, Thunderer, Sluggish].
A Blaster 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. [Support, Burst, Utility, Furious]. An
ironwood and silk clad Raider-sorcerer 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. [Sentinel, Burst, Juggernaut, Sluggish].
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. [Support, Utility, Burst, Slippery]. A melee
warlord 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. [Blaster, Thunderer, Burst, Squishy]. A
Blaster 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.
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. [Control, Crowd Control, Constant, Squishy]. A flower-witch Control 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. [Raider, Swift, Burst, Loner]. 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. [Support, Utility, Heal, Squishy]. A combat Support 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. [Blaster, Swift, Constant, Furious]. Blaster 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. [Control, Field Manipulation, Thunderer, Sluggish]. A warrior-blacksmith Control 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.

145
GATUSAN
DISCIPLINES

146
147
�≠≠�t � ���
BUWAYA LANCER
Lords of the Seas, Friends of the Revered,
Unstoppable Juggernauts of Rivers

148
 INFLICT VIOLENCE
LORE TRAITS SPEARTAIL
Buwaya Lancers are often considered a threat upon the Style: Sentinel
entirety of The Sword Isles. Borne from the need to travel 3 Techniques, Melee Attack
quickly across both water and land, an ancient warrior Martial Art Brutal Maw
Melee Attack: You and your
tamed one of the first buwaya, which is the native term for Posture: 44 Bravery: 4 crocodile strike in concert, weapon
crocodile. It has since become the name for buwaya that Resist: 7 Faith: 1 and tail slamming down on the
are bred to become mounts: tall, long-legged crocodiles Resolve: 6 Speed: 4 victim of your scorn.
that are fast and have a huge amount of stamina. Tempo: 4 Jump: 1 Target: 1 fighter in melee.
Buwaya Lancers arose during the end of the Seventh Moon Damage: 1d8+Bravery visceral.
Era. To escape capture from powerful Put’wan cataphracts, Effect: The target must Resist or
which rode upon great six-legged steeds, the great become UNBALANCED 2.
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
ENLIGHTENMENTS
boarded their biray to escape to the distant land of Sonyoh. DRAGON THRASHES ABOUT
There they honed their ability in buwaya taming, creating While you and your crocodile are unmounted, you can Inflict
saddles and tasselled bardings, made of gold and mother- Violence and perform other attacks from the mount’s square.
of-pearl and bamboo and more. Rajahnate Buwaya are
painted in a same manner the warriors were, although not UPON RUSHING RIVERS
tattooed. In this way their bond becomes tighter, stronger. If a fighter moves into a square to you, you can choose to Inflict
The buwaya lancers have since become one of the most Violence to them, 1/turn.
well-known Disciplines across The Sword Isles. It has
become a stable cavalry, one used extensively by Rajahnate ANCESTRAL TAIL AND HIDE
polities that could afford it, and the Akai Sultanate to You begin your combat upon a Crocodile Mount. While on your
combat the cavalry of the other polities. Mount...
Buwaya lancers were called thus because they were made
to break the enemy’s frontline. In The Sword Isles 0 You cannot be Slowed or Stopped.
archipelago warfare, this would not be the end of an 0 As a Technique, you can order your crocodile to bite an
enemy’s formation, as war was waged not through adjacent fighter, forcing them to Resist or become Stopped
formations but through force of will. However, the ability 2.
to break the ranks through Buwaya Lancers is a very
effective tactic that has huge effects upon the moralization 0 You have Soak 2. Water Conditioning as long as you’re not
of warfare. Buwaya Lancers are usually trained to use Unbalanced.
spears (bangkaw) or tridents (salapang), but other kinds of Joy of Movement: Whenever you end voluntary movement, deal
weapons are just as viable. Therefore, Buwaya lancers are 2 skewering water damage to all adjacent enemies.
much wanted in Kadungganan parties, as they are made to
crush the frontline and stay there, using crocodile and SWALLOW THE WORLD
military armament to crush the opposition.
2 Techniques, Once Per Combat, 1 Conviction
Even in land, the crocodile beast can gallop, quick and
unstoppable. The Crocodile is one of the most well- Target: All enemies in close burst 3
respected beasts: they are very often considered to be
avatars of the ancestors themselves, and are treated like Damage: 3d6+Bravery visceral
Grandfathers—that is, with utmost care and respect. They
are the great masters of both sea and land, protectors of the Effect: Your crocodile eats all targets. For each enemy that is
places where water and earth meet. Defeated by this attack, heal 4 Posture. For each enemy that lives,
If you become a Buwaya Lancer, ask yourself why you ride suffer 2 skewering damage.
upon the greatest of spirits only to bring violence. You are
one with a beast known both for death and for the Makara are the gods of the crocodiles of the Isles, the
ancestors. You say you protect, so why do you let your great vessels of ancient heroes and demigods who
buwaya rip that man’s head off? Why do you stab while waged war to seize wealth. Makara are said to be the
atop your enslaved holy power? Why do you think you are first of the crocodiles, and are the original dragons:
as great as the gods themselves? 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.

149
 BUWAYA LANCER TEACHINGS
I God II
Ancestral
Hunter Fury
Trident Psychopomp
1 Technique, Ranged Attack
You throw your weapon with burning strength, making
sure it impales an enemy.
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 3.
Damage: d8+Bravery water.
Effect: The target must Resist or else become
Harpooned until they spend a Technique to remove it.
Harpooned: Whenever the target moves a square, you
also move 1 square in the direction they moved,
mirroring their movements. The Harpooned target
suffers 2d6 skewering visceral damage when they
remove the Harpoon.
Upon your crocodile you send your weapon
down, a god sending lightning from his steed,
readying them for their inevitable death.
Death Grip
2 Techniques, Melee Attack
You leap forward with reckless abandon and grasp the
target, either with your weapons, your arms, or your
mount.
Target: 1 fighter in melee.
Damage: d12+Bravery visceral. None if ally.
Effect: The target becomes Bitten.
Bitten: While Bitten, they are Stopped, and you Bitten
fighter is moved alongside with you, and you can
choose where they end up, as long as they are adjacent
to you.
For 1 Technique, you can end the Bite voluntarily or
you may perform a Death Roll on a Bitten fighter.
Death Roll: Immediately deal 3d8 skewering visceral
damage.
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.
Crocodile Tail
Passive. After you make an attack, you may signal your
crocodile thrash about wildly, immediately dealing 2
water damage to all enemies adjacent to you.
150
2 Techniques
Target: 1 fighter adjacent to you.
Effect: Bite the target, grab them, or otherwise let them
hitch a ride on you: shift 4 squares, bringing the target with
you. This is counted as forced movement, but the target
ignores any terrain that would impede it from ending up
adjacent to you.
Like Bataradanum, the God of the Seas, Consort of
Mawayen the Goddess of the Deep, you surge
forward and bring others to their doom with your
crocodile’s unflinching jaws.
Stealing Kinnari Wings
1 Reaction
Target: 1 fighter within no less than 2 squares to no more
than 3 squares from you.
Trigger: When the target moves into the target area.
Effect: Wrap around them a tether, maybe from a fishing
rod, maybe from pure kinaadman, and force them to Resist.
Fail: The target is shifted to a square to you.
Pass: Shift them 1 square.
You bring out a fishing rod—a fucking fishing
rod!—of bamboo and swing it around, like a chain,
or a god’s lash, and send it across the battlefield.
You’ve found your prey.
On The Prowl
1 Technique
Target: 1 adjacent enemy
Effect: You and your crocodile choose a prey: mark the
target. While you have them Marked, whenever they move,
you also move with them, mirroring their movements. You
can only have 1 Mark at a time, and you lose this mark when
you deal damage to them.
If the Marked fighter makes an attack while you’re adjacent
to them, you may immediately inflict violence.
 Panlinugon’s Quaking
III
Fulminating Abyss
Dragon 2 Techniques
Effect: Leap up, shifting 10’, ignoring height and
Whorl terrain, and then crash down, destroying all
squares in close burst 1: they fall down 1 square
2 Techniques (Example: A 0 high square falls and becomes -1
square high). You cannot bring a square to below
Target: All fighters in a close burst 2. -2 squares.
Effect: Spin around and summon a ravaging whirlpool that Effect: All enemies caught in the burst become
slams into all targets. SLOWED 2.
Damage: 2d8+Bravery water.
1. The Buwaya brings with it hell.
Effect: Shift each targeted fighter 1 square clockwise of you.
2. And with a bellow, it brings others with
1. Woe, woe be to those that would dare defy the it.
Buwaya! - Makara Exalt Sutla 128
2.That ancient god of the rivers, that dragon of the
lake.
3. Woe, and calamity.
- Daknunuk Sutla 98

Create Rivers
2 Techniques
Target: All squares in a close path 6.
Effect: Turn the target squares into a river field for the rest
of the scene.
River Field: The targeted path is counted as water terrain
but is only detrimental for enemies. If the river reaches the
edge of the map, it starts flowing: any fighter that is in the
water terrain made by this ability is shifted 1 square at the
end of their turn towards the direction of the edge of the
battlefield that the river has reached. If more than one part
of the river has reached the edge, you can choose which one
they are moved towards.
Effect: Any fighter caught in the initial wall suffers
d8+Bravery skewering water damage.
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.

151
 ��l
KAWAL
Masters of the Eight Direction Guardian, Disciplines of
the Lakapati, Protectors of the World, not Kings

152
 INFLICT VIOLENCE
LORE TRAITS GUARDIAN SLEDGE
Kawal are faithful shields and defenders of their Style: Sentinel
communities. They are the greatest paragons among the 1 Technique
Kadungganan: they exemplify all the virtues of a Martial Art 8 Direction Melee Attack: You burst forward
Kadungganan and then more, protecting their fellow Guardian and slam into an enemy.
Kadungganan by attracting the attention of the enemy and Posture: 48 Bravery: 3 Target: 1 adjacent fighter
stopping them in their tracks. Resist: 7 Faith: 2 Damage: d8+Bravery visceral
Resolve: 6 Speed: 3 Effect: The target is pushed up to 2
Clad in a mix of metal chainmail and kalabaw hide armor, Tempo: 5 Jump: 2 squares.
kalabaw horn breastplate, and hardwood shields, the Effect: You may shift into any
Kawal is an indomitable force in the battlefield, controlling square the target vacated.
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
ENLIGHTENMENTS
UNBROKEN SHIELD
well as learned arts from Madaki and Naksuwarga, the
Kawal excels in keeping their allies safe while staying alive. You have 3 Soak. When an adjacent ally is attacked, you can
Rajahnate Datu employ techniques of the Kawal, and more spend a Reaction to make yourself the target.
often than not they do it so that they can keep their people WATER BUFFALO STRENGTH
safe.
You are considered blocking terrain for allies.
Akai have deployed their own contingent of Satariya,
which use giant ceremonial blades instead of spears to WITCH DOG MEDITATION
guard their allies. Apumbukid is known to train entire
settlements in this art as well, the most well known one You have 2 Reactions outside of your turn instead of just 1.
being Saginda in Pumirang, where they’re trained by Additionally, while you’re not Unbalanced, you cannot be
ancient guardian spirits in deep underground coral river Slowed.
caves.
GUARDIAN
In the ancient of days, the Guardians of the Eight
Directions (Ang Diwatasin Walong Tudlo) came together Whenever an adjacent ally moves, you may also move alongside
and taught their Art to mortals, because they had foreseen them for free, mirroring their movements, staying adjacent to
that they would need their help to defend the world. Thus them as much as possible.
was the Eight Direction Guardian Art born, which practices
and perfects the manifestation of the Lakapati, the LAKAPATI
combined form of the Eight Guardian Gods. Imawasurathe 1 Technique, 1 Conviction
Guardian Lord of the Southeast, of Pagodas and Fortunes
and Jades, wields a spear is as long as ten thousand palms Effect: Gain 1 Lakapati Token. When you or an adjacent ally is the
of Rayasaiwa (whose palm measures fifteen universes), target of an attack, you can spend the Lakapati Token to
and is named Tudlo, and this spear has become the symbol immediately become immune to that attack, cancelling it against
for all Kawal. It is said that Imawasura was the one that you.
affixed the eight directions.
If you choose to take up the mantle of the Kawal, say who You bring all to bear, turning yourself absolutely
you pledge your allegiance to and why, and why your faith impervious to all attacks, to bring all hurt away from
in them has led you to making sure that they will never be your allies. For that is what the Kawal must do. For
harmed. those that we have lost, and for those that we can yet
save. You become, for a moment, a Lakapati, which is
The Shield is a symbol of strength. In the Sword Isles, it is the Eight Guardian Lords of the Eight Directions
not common to stay and fight for your settlement when combined into a single being, otherwise known as the
being raided. However, in the event of a revenge raid, God of Fences, Fields, and Fertility, and their name is
where the warriors will try to slay your datu as a ritual the one most sacrificed to when starting the farming
offering to their own ancestors, only the shield can stay the season. Your skin becomes golden brass, you grow
tide. Either they die, or the raiders fail. eight arms of goldflame, each one wielding a different
weapon, and you become immovable.
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?

153
 KAWAL TEACHINGS
Determination
I II
Krishawisu’s Hammer
2 Techniques
Melee Attack: You leap through the battlefield and
strike.
Target: 1 fighter in close line 3.
Effect: Before dealing damage, leap to closest square in
the line that is adjacent to the target.
Damage: d8+Bravery visceral.
Effect: If the target is Provoked, consume the Provoked
to deal an additional 1d4 damage.
A technique made famous by the Kawal of
Apumbukid. A giant swing of both weapon and
shield, flowing about so that it strikes all in
your path, imitating the lotus of the great god
Krishawisu. Lord Fahandu of the River Polity
Vahansima used this to cut swathes through
undead warriors to save his settlement.
Krishawisu is the Guardian Lord of the North,
who guides every direction. He is asleep, it is
said, within a frozen lotus, and will only awake
if chaos has subsumed Gubat Banwa. Others
say that Krishawisu came down to the world
and 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.”
Kedatupatya’s Imposition
Passive. When you deal damage against a single
fighter, you may raise your arm and provoke their ire:
inflict Provoked 2.
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.
Rayasaiwa’s Perfect Vigil
Reaction
Trigger: A fighter leaves a square to you.
Effect: Immediately Inflict Violence against the
triggering fighter before they leave the square.
Effect: The fighter must Resist or become Stopped 1,
stopping their movement. If the target passes the Resist
this Technique doesn’t spend a Reaction.
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.
154
Perfect
Padaluman
Yaraishvara’s Reversal
1 Technique
Effect: You step forth, and push all chosen adjacent fighters
by 1 square.
Effect: Take on the Reversal Stance.
Reversal Stance: While in this Stance, whenever you suffer
a melee attack, you may Inflict Violence back against the
attacker after they have made their attack. You lose this
stance if you are moved in anyway, unless that movement
forces you to collide, in which case you keep the stance.
Raya Ishvara is the Guardian Lord of the East,
which is the realm of Flames and Empires. He
presents as a Head crowned in the Sun, for it is
where the sun rises. It is said that he wrestled Indira
Suga when her wrath threatened to split Gubat
Banwa in twain.
Imawasura’s Lance
2 Techniques
Melee Attack: You raise your spear, and then bring it down
through a fighter, pinning them to the ground.
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 3.
Damage: d8+Bravery visceral.
Effect: The target must Resist. On a pass they become
Slowed 2. On a fail, they become Impaled.
Impaled: They cannot move or be moved, and they can only
remove Impaled with a Technique.
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.
Kitasamba’s Hibiscus Shield
Passive. Whenever you suffer damage, you can gain a
Hibiscus Die, which is a d4. Once on your turn, you can
spend any number of Hibiscus Dice to roll it and give 1 ally
within close burst 2, Block equal to the result (all added
together).
"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.
 World Guardian
III Guardian of the Meditation
Eight Points Passive. At the start of your turn, you may
immediately cleanse 1 Bane of your choice.
Rudrakasha’s Bulu Kawal, will you break? Against the
multiple violences of this world, will
3 Techniques you find a way to shatter? You are a
guardian—there are many of you in the
Effect: Declare a bulu with 1 fighter within close burst 3. For the isles. What makes you different? Pave
rest of the fight, until one of you is Posture-Broken, Defeated, or the way, and create a better world, but
you call it off on your turn, both of you become Provoked to each remember that your shield cannot
other. However, when attacking each other, you both have protect you against everything.
Precision and +2 Might.
Effect: After declaring the bulu you can, for 1 Technique and 1
Conviction: remove yourself and the target from the battlefield.
You both still take your turn as normal, but you can only affect
each other. There is no range where you go, meaning anything
either of you do can affect both of you. You only return to the
battlefield if either of you is Defeated.
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.

Gajasangkra’s Pestle
3 Techniques
Effect: Swing a Pestle about, cladding you with fateful
protection. Gain Block (3x Bravery).
Effect: When a fighter moves into adjacency of you, you may
spend all Block to launch them: push X, with X being the
number of Block spent.
"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. 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.

155
 ����w
MANGANGAYAW
Demon Sword Raiders of the Endless Seas, Bane of
Empires, Seizer of Heaven’s Thunderclaps, Peerless
Blademasters of Sea and Sky

156

LORE
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 stopped, 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?
157
INFLICT VIOLENCE
TRAITS OVERWHELMING STRIKES
Style: Raider
1 Technique
Martial Art Seize Heaven Melee Attack: You get in close and
Posture: 40 Bravery: 5 break the enemy’s defenses.
Resist: 5 Faith: 1 Target: 1 fighter in melee
Resolve: 5 Speed: 4 Damage: d12+Bravery visceral
Tempo: 4 Jump: 3 Effect: This attack ignores the
Combo Breaker Penalty.
ENLIGHTENMENTS
WAVE DANCER
Moving diagonally for you always costs 1 square. You ignore the
slowing effects of Water Terrain.
SEA DEMON
Whenever you critically hit with a melee attack, shift yourself up
to 3 squares and then inflict violence immediately against a
different fighter.
BURNING USURY
When you make a melee attack against a fighter that is not
adjacent to any other fighter other than you, gain +1 Might on the
attack.
RIP LIGHTNINGS
Whenever you make a melee attack, you have a 1-in-10 chance of
making the attack a Critical Hit. This chance stacks with other
Critical Hit chances. Roll before making the attack.
Critical Hit: Deal maximum damage instead of rolling damage.
SEIZE HEAVEN’S THUNDERCLAPS
1 Technique, 1 Conviction
Whenever you deal damage with a melee attack, inflict a stack of
Raid Price on the target: you mark them as a target of your scorn,
and the heady heat of battle gets in your head. When you deal
damage with a melee attack against a target with 3 Raid Price,
deal +1d6 bonus damage and then you heal 2 Posture. The target
then loses all Raid Price.
When you make a melee attack against a fighter with 3 Raid Price,
you can spend 1 Conviction to immediately make that attack a
critical hit instead of dealing +1d6 bonus damage. Lose the Raid
Price afterwards.
You bring all to bear, turning yourself absolutely
impervious to all attacks, to bring all hurt away from
your allies. For that is what the Kawal must do. For
those that we have lost, and for those that we can yet
save. You become, for a moment, a Lakapati, which is
the Eight Guardian Lords of the Eight Directions
combined into a single being, otherwise known as the
God of Fences, Fields, and Fertility, and their name is
the one most sacrificed to when starting the farming
season. Your skin becomes golden brass, you grow
eight arms of goldflame, each one wielding a different
weapon, and you become immovable.
 MANGANGAYAW TEACHINGS
I
Sea Demon
Enkindling
Typhoon Anyo
Passive. 1/Turn, after inflicting violence, you gain a d12
parry die, which does not stack. Whenever you suffer
damage, you can consume the parry die to immediately
roll it against the damage. If you roll equal to or higher
than the damage, you cancel the damage against you
immediately and then you can shift 2 squares. The
Parry Die can critically hit, and can be considered an
attack for the purposes of adding Might and other
damage to it.
Strike twice and then immediately sink into a
parrying position. Never let them catch you
offguard, let your movements be more fluid
than the waves you dance upon.
Dragon Striking Sword
1 Technique
Effect: Flurry forward, striking all about you, sending
the sword’s edge deep into their hearts. Shift your
Speed, no more no less, even through enemy squares.
Deal 3 skewering visceral damage to every fighter
that you move through, but deal this damage only once
per enemy.
"Learn this bastard art, and soon we will be
able to raid heaven, and seize its
thunderclaps."
Sinawali Anyo
1 Technique
Melee Attack: You move forward in a weaving motion,
striking deliberately, caressing your blade and guiding
it in a fluid lacing motion, until you find a perfect
moment to strike.
Target: 1 adjacent fighter
Damage: d10+Bravery visceral. If you performed this
technique while Weaving with another Kadungganan,
this deals 2d6+Bravery visceral instead.
Effect: This attack has a 1-in-10 chance of critically
hitting. If you use this Technique after you inflict
violence, this becomes 2-in-10.
Critical Hit: Do not roll any damage, simply deal
maximum damage.
Crafted by the grand Mahapanglima Jalido,
incorporated due to his ingenuity and his skill
in teaching the arts, Mahapanglima
notoriously used this to defeat Puddang
Panghu that encroached upon his settlement
right before he broke his oath with the Sultana
and defected to the Rajahnate.
158
II Raid The
Seas
Giants Impale The Earth
Passive. Whenever you inflict violence against a fighter that
is Staggered, gain +1 Might.
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.
Live Hand
Reaction
Trigger: When you or an adjacent ally is the target of a
melee attack.
Effect: Cancel the attack agains the target and choose an
enemy in melee range of you to become the new target of
that attack.
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.
Strikes The Foxtail Orchid
2 Techniques
Effect: You leap across the air, slashing a whirlwind as you
do, sundering all those you fly over. Leap exactly 3 squares
, moving over enemies, ignoring height and terrain, ending
in an unoccupied square. Make the following melee attack
against all fighters you leap over:
Target: The fighters you leap over.
Damage: 2d6+Bravery visceral.
“The beautiful, beautiful foxtail orchid, which
hangs from the sky and blossoms in lilac petals.
Rain down your poisons from above!”
 Inflict Challenge
III
Raid Heaven 1 Techniques

and Earth Effect: With a burning, mocking shout, you let

Whorl of Steel
2 Techniques
Area Attack: You strike in every direction, moving so quick
that you leave behind slashes and strikes in mid-air.
Target: All enemies in close burst 2
Damage: d12+Bravery visceral. 2d12 if you inflicted violence
before making this attack.
Effect: Every square in the burst becomes a field filled with
cutting blades until the end of your start turn. The field is
difficult terrain for all enemies. When the field disappears,
deal 1d6 skewering visceral damage to all enemies in the
field.
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.
your raiding fervor reach a burning peak, and it
explodes into words that slice into your
opponents.
Target: 1 fighter in a close burst 3.
Effect: The target must resolve or they become
Challenged. They lose Challenged once the
Challenged fighter deals damage to you. You can
only have 1 fighter Challenged at a time
Challenged: All of the attacks of the one that
Challenged the fighter against the Challenged
fighter deals +1d6 extra damage.
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.

Steel Devil Stance

1 Technique
Effect: Shift 15, and then slide into the Steel Devil Stance.
Steel Devil Stance: When you inflict violence and then deal
the maximum amount of damage possible on the roll (not
counting extra damage and Might), you may consume this
stance to inflict violence again immediately, ignoring your
Combo Breaker Penalty.
You rush in with such speed that you are like a blur,
like the rushing winds of a typhoon. You move
through and pierce their defenses.

159
�n�� ��k�n
SWORD POET
Master of Song and Sword, Protector of the Living
World, Preserver Through Epic and Poetry, Bearers of the
Holy Word of Rhythm

160
 INFLICT VIOLENCE
LORE TRAITS HARMONIOUS BEAT
Commonly known as the Sundang Balaknon. It has Style: Sentinel
been long said that the only time the people of the 1 Technique
Rajahnate are not singing are when they are sick, Martial Art Swordsong Melee Attack: You perform a quick
asleep, or dead. This is doubly true for the Sword-Poet, Posture: 48 Bravery: 2 jive, striking along with the beat.
Poetic Sword, an elite Discipline of Kadungganan that Resist: 7 Faith: 2 Target: 1 adjacent fighter
focuses on fighting while singing. Even in battle, even Resolve: 7 Speed: 4 Damage: d8+Faith visceral
without the accompaniment of agung, they sing a Tempo: 4 Jump: 3 Effect: Shift 1 square, and then shift
song of beauty and sorrow, one that wrenches the the target into the square you
hearts of enemies, forces them to rethink, or performs vacated.
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
ENLIGHTENMENTS
BASTARD SONG
stock of the Rajahnate or Confederation, for in the
Polity a rite of passage into adulthood is the ability to All enemies that are Provoked by you have 1 Weakness.
perform combative poetry (and all poetry was sung)
against another of the same age. They sing in either SALINGGOGON PETAL POEM
glorious boasting tones or in low rapid-syllable When an enemy ends their turn within close burst 3 of you, you
drawls. may pull them 1 square.
These warrior-poets, through their battles and shared
techniques, use their words and songs to defend their RHYTHM OF RUMAKA
fellow men, letting their violence-charged verses and You have 3 Soak. When you are Sundered, immediately deal 2
words strike the hearts of enemies that attack their skewering soul damage to all enemies in the field.
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 THE SWORD SONG
words, strengthening allies and crippling enemies. For 1 Technique, spend 1 Conviction to begin singing the Sword
This philosophy has created a subset of Hiyang faith Song until you are Posture Broken. As long as you are singing the
called Hiyang Awitan, which focuses on the Sword Song, you are Slowed, Unyielding, and all enemies in 2
philosophy that song is the source of all life, and that squares of you are considered Provoked by you.
Diwa is a harmony constantly played across all time,
and is what connects all things together.
This is the Flower Swordsong: striking and slashing WAKASANG SIDAY
attacks performed in conjunction with melody and 2 Techniques, 2 Conviction
metaphor. The witik are snares, the fan strikes are
drum beats, the combinations are marching drum Sing a tearful song of regret and hope, one that can rend even the
cacophonies. The Sword is in itself a metaphor, a Festival of the Longest Night. Your words manifest as verdant
calcification of the core tenet of Hiyang, the dichotomy and azure winds that wrap around your opponents: all enemies
of Cause-Effect, Love-Evisceration, the condensation in the battlefield cannot perform Hostile Actions until the end of
of idiom into a weapon used to cut, as that is the only their next turn.
permitted course of action. An attack is a beat, a beat is When you leap into violence, you begin singing a song of
part of a rhythm, an entire attack is a song, a poem. war. A song of your warband overcoming overwhelming
With biting remarks comes specifically crafted verbal odds. A song of you and your friends fighting for a better
attacks that flay a warrior’s defenses, and makes you world. A song of you and your family, your closest loved
insufferable, and brings all the attention to the Sword ones, proving their conviction in a world of death and
Poet. war.

Not just that, whenever Sword Poets sing, they echo

similes and metaphors and personifications in a
different language. One more flowery and filled with
impossible metaphors and idioms that only they can
truly understand. This language is known as Flower
Tongue, and it is said to be the most beautiful
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?

161
 SWORD POET TEACHINGS
I Blade Beat
Verse of Dragons
1 Technique
Target: 1 ally in 2 squares
Effect: You carve out a song about the target, marking
them. As long as the ally is marked by you, whenever
they suffer damage, all other allies (including yourself)
heals 2 Posture. You can only mark 1 target with this
technique: if you mark another target with this
technique, you move the mark to them instead.
“Listen and hear thy people! They criest 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.
Verse of Cunning
1 Reaction
Trigger: When 1 ally within close burst 3 is the target of
an attack.
Effect: You utter a quick jive that brings life to an ally as
an enemy lunges at them, letting them shift Faith
squares before the attack.
“To all those that live freely,
Never find violence used.”
Sword Ambahan
2 Technique
Area Attack: You sing your sword’s steel in a graceful
flurry about you.
Damage: 2d6 + Faith soul
Effect: Inflict UNBALANCED 2
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.
162
II Razor
Rhetoric
Rhetoric of Retort
2 Techniques
Target: Self or 1 adjacent ally.
Effect: You shout at your foe: "You don't have what it
takes!" And it's true, it's oh so true. Your words bite,
sharper than daggers. Give the target a Mock token.
When a fighter with the Mock token is attacked, they
may spend the Mock token to mock the attacker,
causing that attack to become glancing. If this causes
their attack to deal 3- damage, the attacker becomes
UNBALANCED 2.
Mock them as you find your strength once
again. They cannot bring you down before,
what makes them think they can stop you now?
Rhetoric of Chaos
1 Technique
Target: 1 fighter in 2 squares.
Effect: Sing an ululating poem of confusion and
mockery. Give the target a Chaos Token. When the
target makes an attack, you may consume the Token to
inflict a 5-in-10 chance of them failing the attack
outright. Roll this first before anything else. You can
only inflict 1 Chaos Token at a time.
A confusing song that befuddles minds and
hearts, favored by Sword-Poet that prefer a
certain degree of pacifism. This song was
created by Datu Belaskes, who was born in
Virbanwa but became a Rajahnate Datu and
swore alliance with Ambasi. This song is as
chaotic as Datu Belaskes’ life.
Rhetoric of Hope
1 Technique
Effect: You utter a stanza that coincides with the
clanging beats of swords and spears. The words bring
life to your allies: heal all adjacent allies by [2 x Faith]
Posture, and then take on the Hopesong Stance.
Hopesong Stance: At the end of your next turn,
consume this stance to heal all allies adjacent to you
equal to [Faith x 3]. If you heal at least 3 allies with this,
keep the stance.
Hope is all we have, in this violent age. As the
jaws of violence close in and threaten to
destroy all we know, we only have each other to
hold on to. Even as the great governments
oppress and destroy for want of power and
wealth, in the end, all we will have is ourselves.
 To Seize Heaven’s
III
Thunderclaps
Epic of Shields
2 Techniques
Target: All adjacent allies
Effect: 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. Give all your Soak to
all adjacent allies, and then lose all Soak. If you don’t
have Soak, give your allies Block equal to your Critical
instead, and then lose Critical Posture.
Effect: Teleport adjacent to any fighter that you have
Provoked.
Effect: Until the end of your next turn, all allies that you
gave Soak or Block to with this technique have +(Your
Faith) to their attacks.
Cut yourself off with that sorrowful song.
Maybe then, maybe then, there will be peace.
But not yet, not yet. A technique 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.
Epic of Ceaseless Pain
2 Techniques
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 3
Effect: Utter a song, innocent at first, but then
something that the victim of your scorn realizes is about
them, painfully about them. They are tormented by your
truths: deal 2d6+Faith soul damage to the target, and
then inflict Song of Ceaseless Pain 3.
Song of Ceaseless Pain: Whenever the target under the
effect of the Song makes an attack against the fighter
that inflicted the song upon them, the inflicter gains
Evasion 8 against all attacks from the target.
A song that echoes truths about the world. Sing
a song of broken lineages, of war unending, one
that asks: why must you fight like this? And do
you accept that when the pain does cease, that
you will cease with it?
163
Epic of Joy
2 Techniques
Target: 1 enemy in 2 squares.
Effect: You sing a jovial tune, and then let your weapon
fly upon the wings of your harmonies, letting it strike
and defend and harry.
Damage: Faith skewering soul.
Effect: The target gains Bleeding, Eviscerated 3,
Unbalanced, Debilitated, and Provoked. They keep all
these Banes until they successfully deal damage to you.
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,
become hiyang.
“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.
 ��i�

бn�s
VIOLENCE�l�n
BALYAN
Exorcists, Healers, and Channelers of the Myriad Gods of Violence, which fills our world
and then overflows, Master of the Circle, Philosophers of Salvation

164
 INFLICT VIOLENCE
LORE TRAITS RITUAL SPEAR
Violence Balyan are those balyan, or spirit mediums/shaman- Style: Support
healers, that wade into the frontlines of violence to mend 1 Technique
hurting souls and channel violence. They come with their Martial Art: Violence Ranged Attack: You strike forward
superior knowledge of tambal (medicinal herbs) and their Channeling with a blessed weapon.
affinity and rapport with the anitu, the unseen powers of the Posture: 44 Bravery: 2 Target: 1 fighter within close burst
cosmos to help alleviate their allies in a war without end. Resist: 5 Faith: 4 3
Resolve: 7 Speed: 3 Damage: d6+Faith earth or light
Balyan are the spiritual leaders of the faith that encompasses Tempo: 5 Jump: 2 Effect: 1 ally in 2 squares gains your
almost all of the Sword Isles, which is known to outside people Blessing
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
ENLIGHTENMENTS
SPIRIT FAMILIAR
alongside the other common religions in the isles, such as the
Ashinin Faith of the Myriad Gods, and the Annuvaran Faith of You have a spirit familiar that manifests physically as a small
Tranquilities, it also takes inspiration from them and takes animal or anthropomorphic creature. At the beginning of
their own gods. Balahala Saiwa, for example, one of the combat, place them in a square to you.
Triumphant Gods of Ashinin Faith, has since become Your Spirit Familiar has the following benefits:
subsumed as a sort of Supreme God in modern anitu thought 0 You can use the spirit as the origin point for your techniques,
among the harbor kingdoms. This is less true among the and anything adjacent to the spirit is adjacent to you for
hinterland principalities and settlements, who worship a less purposes of effects (attacking the spirit doesn’t attack you).
god-focused anitu and a more ancestor focused one.
0 With your spirit, you can take on two stances at once (one for
As the spiritual leaders, they must know the principles of your spirit, one for you). Your spirit can also lose stances.
nature and the world, including the imperative to live 0 If the Spirit is defeated, it will discorporate, and you must
harmoniously with nature, where all spirits live, as well as to spend 1 Technique to summon it again to an adjacent square.
do what the ancestor spirits find good and right, so as to not
incur their wrath and accrue grave misfortune. 0 As a Technique, you may shift your spirit familiar 3 squares.
They are the masters of ritual, performing all rituals such as
the ritual before travel, ritual for war, ritual for the death of a SHAMAN HEALER MANTLE
Datu, burial rites, and more. They know rites for casting off Any ally that has your Blessing can consume the Blessing at any
diseases, healing wounds, as well as inflicting wounds and point to let you heal them 2d6 Posture.
diseases. They speak and ask guidance from the ancestor
spirits, known as umalagad, to give them power or answers, or GUARDIAN SPIRIT
to defend them in forthcoming tribulations as guardian spirits.
They divine by the use of specific rituals to see what the anitu You have a Guardian Spirit that orbits you. You have Evasion 2.
might tell them. Very commonly, the ancestor spirits are the All allies with your Blessing are guarded by your Guardian Spirit:
ones truly worshipped, while the Diwata are simply revered. they have Evasion 2 as well.
However the most powerful of the anitu, the gods, are
worshipped in temples, altars, pagodas, and churches. WAR WORSHIP DANCE
As Balyan, they know the truth of the world: that nature is alive Whenever you heal an ally, you also heal that same amount.
and all things have souls, nature spirits. Nature gods are When you give Might or a Boon, you can gain it as well, 1/turn.
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, BECOME HIYANG
they lose their own essence, similar to how a tawo without a 2 Techniques, 2 Conviction, 1/Combat
soul becomes a bumbling animal fool. A sword without its
diwa becomes a sword that cannot cut, which is what makes a Become Hiyang until the end of the scene. You achieve
sword a sword. When a balyan is possessed by a spirit, Concordance. You become immune against all damage, but you
whether apo or diwata, they go into a fevered trance-dance, can no longer deal damage: whenever you deal damage, you
wherein the spirit speaks through them, overwhelming their instead heal that amount.
body. This is your final testament, and your own minor
Balyan are all at once sage-philosopher-scientist. They learn transcendence, your own inkling of enlightenment. A
about the natural world and its secrets and teach it to their little taste of what Hiyang truly means. You become a
little Makinaadmanon, a bodhisattva. How do you feel?
settlement. These inscriptions stand the test of time. Violence Take that next step.
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’?

165
 VIOLENCE BALYAN TEACHINGS
I Exorcism
The 87 Divine Swords of Channel The Spear Spirit
Violence 2 Techniques
Effect: Choose 1 ally within close burst 4. Give them
1 Technique
Effect: Summon a myriad of burning ephemeral blades,
each one held by a little god. Give 1 ally in 2 squares of
you +1 Might on their next melee or ranged attack.
The first violence was the Makinaadmanon of
Violence, who glimpsed Hiyang when she
realized the truth of the world: that it was built
on cycles of violence. From the ancient war of
the Southwest Monsoon and the Northeast
Storm, to the slaying of the Ancient Dragon at
the hands of Sumongsuklay, to the violence of
the Giants Upon The Oldest of the Creators. All
of these were cycles of 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.
Purification
1 Technique
Target: All fighters in close burst 4
Effect: You may choose to remove any number of
Statuses from any allies in range. For any enemy, you
can instead deal 2 skewering light damage per Bane
instance cleansed. If the enemy is Scourge, make that 4
skewering light damage.
The Violence Balyan’s primary goal is to heal
the sutures of the world, and to become the
channel for which the spirits can grant
blessings and merit upon the world. To this
end, their weapons and abilities are always
blessed. They are walking beacons of
spirituality.
II Benediction
Enlightened 1+Faith, Skewering on their next attack, and
then deal 2 visceral damage against all enemies adjacent to
the ally.
The spiritual personification of spears heeds your
call and you channel them. Your entire being
becomes a skewering blade for a single rending
moment, and you become a perpetually
penetrating motion.
Channel Venom Goddess
1 Technique
Effect: Using rituals and incantations, you summon the
spirit of Lawana Sinigida and allow a small portion of it to
bolster you and your allies' attacks. A part of them grows
crimson-pink hues, as the war god’s being possesses them.
Deal d6+Faith earth damage to all enemies adjacent to
you, and then take on the Venom Lady Stance until you are
moved forcibly.
Venom Lady Stance: While in this stance, you and all allies
adjacent to you have the following benefits:
0 Inflict Violences can deal earth damage and can force a
target to resist or suffer Fraying 1.
0 Become immune to Fraying, Eviscerated, and
Sundered. Remove those Statuses if they have them.
Lawana Sinigida is known as the Langitnon or Sky
God of Wars and Venoms. Her most common form
in the Isles is as Nagini or Nagined, the Serpent
Mother and Queen of Toxins.

Blasphemy
1 Technique
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 3.
Effect: The target becomes inflicted with Scourged.
Scourged: The target is considered Scourge. If an ally
makes an attack against a fighter you Scourged, the ally
can consume the Scourged to gain +1 Might on that
attack.
The Violence Balyan has the ability through
their divinity to cast blasphemy upon any
warrior through one of the harder Dance of
Divine Violence forms. When they Impose
Darkness, they impose a curse. This is not
surprising, of course: Balyan are shaman,
priest, and sorcerer all in one.

166
Subang
2 or 3 Techniques
Effect: You may summon a blinding sunflame to
mend your allies: all allies within close burst 3 heals
2d8+Faith Posture and cleanse 1 Bane of their choice.
If 3 Techniques, increase the range to close burst 5
and heal 3d8+Faith Posture instead.
Effect: If there are any enemies within the burst, they
must Resolve or become Dazed 2. If 3 Techniques: the
enemies immediately become Stunned 2 instead.
Indira Suga is the mother of the Sun, but she
is no mother of the Gods. She has lived for
long, far longer than Jamiyun Kulisa, but has
reincarnated multiple times in multiple
different forms. She lives in the sun, is the
first of her name, and is the goddess as well of
war, conquest, and rulers. She is known as
Indra in Auraska, Dyaus Pater in the Far
Southeast, Kabugwason in Virbanwan tales
of luciferian fallen angels, and Ohirume-no-
Mochi in the far south, although Indira Suga
is both that and not them, for multiplicity is
the truth, and they are multiple facets of a
singular thing, and are thus that thing, but
not the same thing.
A well recounted story of Indira Suga is how
she introduced the first mortals upon Gubat
Banwa. It is said she brought them in to the
coconut-shaped world from the Endless Seas
past the World Jaws upon a bamboo barge
powered by sun-fire. She brought with her
180,575 children, who eventually scattered
upon the world of Gubat Banwa as she placed
them atop the highest peak of the world, the
Central Pillar of the Universe, Mount Apu.
She watched as civilizations rose.
However, her heat is particularly hot against
the Sword Isles. This is apparently because
when she arrived upon the Sword Isles, she
saw that there were already mortals working
and having peace among each other,
seemingly after having gone through a
horrible dark age themselves, as ruins of
great civilizations sank beneath mangrove
forests and succumbed and became the great
mountains that people see today.
Thus, she conquered the sun and made it her
palace, and then shone the light directly
down upon the Crescent Archipelago Region
so that she would observe their lives, which
inadvertently makes their region hot and
humid.
In essence, however, she is motherly, in the
way some mothers can be hot headed. It is a
sign, however, that while she considers those
in the Sword Isles as her "children", she
harbors a strange curiosity for them, that
sometimes borders on spite.
167
III Harmony
Channel Lightning God
3 Techniques
Effect: You may change the Environment to Rainstorm. If
it’s already Rainstorm, change it to God Monsoon. All
fighters in the field gain Wind Vulnerability and Fire
Conditioning.
Effect: Whenever a fighter starts their turn while in the
Rainstorm, they have a 1-in-10 (5-in-10 if a God Monsoon)
chance of being struck by lightning, dealing 3d8 wind
damage to them.
If the one struck is an ally, they can Resist to catch the
lightning, granting them +2 Might and +15ft Speed until
their the end of their next turn, but they still suffer 1d8 wind
damage.
Pray upon the thunderbolt and make offerings to
the lightning flash. Jamiyun Kulisa is the burning
Brother Thunderbolt, son of the Sky Father Si
Gurang Tungko, He Who Holds The Sky Aloft,
known sometimes as the Batala or Batara, said to
have wrought the creation of Folk. The lightning
does not take advice from any one, just as the
flame never seeks the comfort of water. Jamiyun
Kulisa arises and truly is always there, counterpart
to the great Sunmother Indira Suga, who is not his
Mother but rather his partner. Together they create
the Great Dichotomy within the Sword Isles, the
two overpowering Seasons of the Center of the
World: the Dry Season of Indira Suga and the
Monsoon Season of Jamiyun Kulisa.
As Jamiyun Kulisa is the bringer of Monsoon
Season, he is also connected to the things that
Monsoon Season brings about: rumination,
calmness, peace, the soft patter of raindrops, the
chill of strong storm winds. He strikes at the heart
and cares not: us Mortal Folk have to bend to him
when he brings with him his seasons. Upon the Sky
he is well acquainted with the Wind Gods: Amihan,
the Cold Wind. Habagat the Hot Tempest. Salatan
the Cavern Winds. Kanaway the Death Squall.
Balahalabagyu, known also as Vayu or Batara
Vayu, the God of Storms, who brings destructive
hurricanes. Galura, the Great Dragon-Eagle at the
End of the World, who is said to be an aspect of
Jamiyun Kulisa.
It is said that in the Eighth Star Era, he shall
descend upon the world and enact the Perfect
Storm so that he can defeat his love-evisceration
once and for all. Storms block out the sun, after all.
Bituon
2 Techniques
Area Attack: Summon a great star upon the
battlefield.
Target: Al enemies in close burst 2
Damage: 2d6+Faith skewering light
damage.
Effect: Each enemy in the burst must
Resolve or become Stunned 2.
Effect: After using this attack, the next time
you use this attack, you use the
Fulminating Darkstar instead, performing
the following Area Attack: summoning a
cold star of void into the battlefield:
Target: All enemies in close burst 2
Damage: 3d6+Faith+Bravery
skewering dark damage
Effect: Each target gains +1 to their
current Turn Beat.
168
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, as the givers of sorcery are
hidden away in the darkest voids of night.
Mahadiwa Tala Kinabanaagan is also said to
grant Hiyang to those that spend their lives trying
to achieve it. Those she grants Hiyang to are given
corporeal forms as stars upon the sky. Her being
can be seen in the dawn, the dusk, the lightning
bolts, the shooting stars, the comets, and the
asteroids. She has lived her entire life in
enlightenment. It is said that when she died, she
was on the cusp of Hiyang, and when she was
killed by a Ten-Fathoms Long Lance, she became
a star that exploded upon the field, burning all in
smokeless flame, and then shot up into the sky as
the Evening Star.
She is said to have a mirror image: Mahadiwa
Kalakatri Duumanun, her darker side, the shadow
that wraps around each star at night. They are
both all at once the same and also different. The
Makinaadmanon say: she is like this because she
dared venture into the deepest 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 Makinaadmanon say: what she found,
apparently, was not God, nor the Throne, nor
Enlightenment--for how could she? She is already
nature itself--but instead she found that she was
swimming up, up, up, and up into the ocean.
Her enlightenment is thus: the depths of the
ocean and the farthest reaches of the void are one
and the same. And when she understood the
cyclical nature of reality and metareality, she
realized that she lived in a world of unconstrained
principles, she realized then that she lived in a
world fabricated by dancers and singers and
artists singing songs and laughing about a
bonfire, and that split her into two, and her
enlightenment-beyond-enlightenment was lost.
But she still remembers. She knows the kinds of
god-beings--many just as powerful as her--living
in the Depths|Void.
The Evening Star burns continuously. She is an
evershining flame. Aba, aba, glory to the Evening
Star. In the Eighth Star Era, only she has the
sidereal violence to shine into the new world.
Channel Dragon Lord
1 Technique
Effect: Deal d6+Bravery water damage to all enemies
adjacent to you, and then you can take on the Dragon
Lord Stance until you suffer damage from an attack.
Dragon Lord Stance: While in the Dragon Lord Stance,
you are considered Hastened. All allies that end their
turn while adjacent to you have -1 to their Tempo.
"Are you happy with what you've done?" asked
Makangayaw, grinning, with burning flame
shooting out of his nostrils.
The Second Man nodded. "I have lain retribution
upon what my sister has cursed upon me."
"And what have they cursed upon you?"
"Jealousy."
With another mighty laugh, Apung
Makangayaw answered: "And so the cycle
begins."
Apung Makangayaw is offered to whenever a
ceremonial raid is enacted, whether it be a raid
to gain resources or a revenge raid. In this way,
the raid itself becomes more than just war, but
ritual. If the omens were bad during the offering,
however, it will be a sign that Makangayaw does
not approve of the raid, and the raid will be
called off. This usually happens when an omen
bird flies across their path, or when the sky is
red, or when in the distance they hear laughter
during their offerings, or when they perform
their boat divinations the boat shudders wildly.
Offerings to Apung Makangayaw are frequent,
for the main mode of war in the islands is
raiding.
Apung Makangayaw usually takes upon the
form of a slave raider: wearing a short bahag
with nothing else, and with tattoos that cover
their entire body, the completion of the canvas.
Their true form, whenever they should want to
show it, is in the form of a naga-headed god, who
sits upon a throne of seaspray.
Apung Makangayaw is one of the principal
members of the Anito faith. Anito, meaning act
of worship, is the most widespread faith in the
islands, so prominent that they do consider it
more as tradition and way of life, and not just
performative religion.
Apung Makangayaw's spirit house is often
situated by the shore, always by the shore. The
usual spirit idol carved out for him is made
usually with wood from sunken boats, and
showcases a naga-headed man sitting cross-
legged, with both hands upon his waist. Apung
Makangayaw idols are frequently carried unto
boats that would embark on raids.

169
APUMBUKID
DISCIPLINES

170
171
���w�n
DEATH DANCER
Dancers along the lines of Cyclical Death, spirit
mediums of the God of Death and Violence

172

LORE
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, teaching
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 teaching, 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?”
INFLICT VIOLENCE
TRAITS BLITZ DANCE
Style: Raider
1 Technique, Melee Attack
Martial Art: Dance of Death Melee Attack: You lunge forward
and multistrike, a flowing river of
Posture: 40 Bravery: 4 death.
Resist: 5 Faith: 2 Target: 1 fighter in melee.
Resolve: 6 Speed: 4 Damage: 3d4 visceral.
Tempo: 5 Jump: 3 Effect: Deal Bravery visceral damage
to all enemies adjacent to the target.
ENLIGHTENMENTS
VIOLENT AVATAR
You can have more than 1 Stance at a time. When you start your
turn while you’re in at least 1 stance, you may shift 1 square.
NEVER CAUGHT LACKING
If there are 2 or more enemies adjacent to you, all your melee
attacks have +1 Might . If you Stride while Flanked, you may push
two fighters flanking you before moving by 1 square.
FOUR-ARMED DERVISH
For 1 Technique, you can sink into the Dervish Stance until you
are Posture Broken. While in this stance, your attacks cannot
become Glancing and you cannot suffer Imprecision.
THE BLISSFUL DANCE
While you have Conviction and have at least 2 Stances equipped,
you are considered within the Blissful Dance: gain +1 Might on all
melee attacks.
KICKING GOD IN THE FACE TO ENACT CYCLICAL
DEATH
2 Techniques, 2 Conviction, 1/Combat
Effect: You raise your fist and consume the Sayawraja, the Blissful
Dance, alchemizing their substance into a singular burning beam
of fulminating harmonious death. For a brief moment, Yamadiraja
burns through you, and he summons the awesome fires of Cyclical
Death, which burns golden and scarlet and dark dark indigo: the
battlefield is ripped away by an overwhelming ray hotter than the
sun.
Target: All enemies in 100’ close blast.
Effect: Deal 10d6 skewering soul damage to the target. Any terrain
caught in the blast is removed from the battlefield. Afterwards,
you lose all Stances and you become Posture Broken.
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.”
173
 DEATH DANCER TEACHINGS
I First Step II Violent Beat
Mortal Grasp
2 Techniques
Target: 1 fighter in melee
Damage: 2d8+Bravery visceral
Effect: Grapple the target. A grappled fighter is
Stopped, and you are Slowed while grappling, but
when you move, you move the fighter to a square to
you. They break free from your grapple if they are
moved forcibly out of adjacency of you. If you make an
attack that has the Grappled fighter as a target, gain +1
Might to the attack and then end the Grapple.
Yamadiraja, as Sri Dapa, steps forward and is
said to measure 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.”
Forceful Wave Stance
1 Technique
Effect: Shift 5’ before making the attack.
Target: 1 adjacent fighter
Damage: 1d12+Bravery water.
Effect: Take on the Forceful Wave Stance.
Forceful Wave Stance: While in this stance, whenever
you deal damage with a melee attack, you can consume
the Forceful Wave Stance to push the target up to 3. If
the target collides with terrain, keep this stance.
"Teaching 22: delicate style. This is a gentle
fist, be not afraid to use it. With it, you shall
toss boulders. Death crumbles all things, even
mountains."
Razing Storm Stance
1 Technique
Target: 1 adjacent fighter
Effect: Shift 5’ before the attack.
Damage: d12+Bravery wind
Effect: Sink into the Razing Storm Stance.
Razing Storm Stance: While in this stance, when you
Stride, you may consume the stance at any point in the
Stride to deal Faith+1 skewering wind damage to all
enemies adjacent to you. If you damage at least 4
enemies, keep this stance.
"Teaching 23: jagged style. This is a broken fist,
be not afraid to use it. With it, you shall gash
your fists upon their bones. Sometimes death is
violent, but not all violence is death."
174
Bagyo Kalis
Passive. When you deal damage, after rolling damage, you
can choose to “hold” the damage. At the beginning of any
Beat, before any Turns take place, you can choose to release
the damage, dealing the damage to the target. Deal an extra
amount of damage equal to the amount of Beats that passed
after you held the damage, to a maximum of 5. You cannot
hold more than 1 instance of damage at a time.
You unleash a rapid flurry of blows, so quick that
your foe does not feel it until it is done.
Kilat Balaraw
1 or 2 Techniques
Melee Attack: You strike multiple times, a veritable
whirlwind of violence, against all those about you. Elbows,
knife-fists, swords, and pewter staffs.
Target: 1d6 adjacent enemies. If 2 Techniques, 2d6 adjacent
enemies.
Damage: Faith skewering wind damage. You must
damage each enemy first before applying damage again on
an enemy you’ve already damaged.
You take the opportunity: you zigzag across the
battlefield, sending kicks and punches at the
target, going higher with every hit. Then, at the
apex of your movement, you strike straight down,
bringing your target with you.
Foe Stepping Stance
Passive. When you Stride at least 4 squares in a straight
line, you can sink into the Foe Stepping Stance.
Foe Stepping Stance: When you next stride or shift, you
can consume the stance to shift an additional 3 squares. If
you end your shift on an enemy’s square or on a wall, you
may shift 2 squares more in any direction. You can only
bounce from each enemy once. If you bounce off at least 3
enemies, keep this stance.
Deal Faith visceral damage to any enemy you bounce
off of.
Teaching 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.
 Tear The Earth Asunder
III
The Blissful 1 Technique

Dance of Death Effect: Summon a thousand death-hands to

strike all about you: deal Bravery visceral
damage to all adjacent enemies.
Bulalakaw Effect: Sink into the Sundering Stance.
Sundering Stance: When you deal damage, you
1 Technique may consume the Sundering Stance to
Effect: Fire a ball of pure destructive spiritual power to a immediately deal +1d6 earth damage and then
single point within close burst 3. Push yourself 3 squares shift 2 squares. If the attack with the Sundering
away from the point. If there are any fighters in the chosen Stance bonus brings a target to Staggered or
square, make the following melee attack: Critical, you keep this Stance.
Target: The fighter on the chosen square. “Death Dancers practice the art of
Damage: d6 soul damage. Holistic Violence, one of the main
Effect: Push 1 the target. teachings of Yamadiraja. This means that
they are not simply inflicting violence,
Effect: Suffer Bravery soul damage. but they are violence. Death Dancers that
You summon a black-and-scarlet ball of death, practice this teaching understand and
burning with the energies of Yamadiraja. Through apply it to their martial art: they are
meditation in the scriptures that would break the capable of taking on multiple stances at a
gods and topple the thrones of the devil kings time, as if they are all violence at once.
below, you become the weapon of the world: you Quoth Death: “The Dance of Death is not
summon the energies of hiyang and turn it into a just a physical dance, but rather, a way of
ball of pure fraying energy. life. Death, remember, is not the end, but
rather, the next step to the next life.
Hornbill Breaker Therefore embrace death, and you shall
be mercurial.”
2 Techniques
Melee Attack: Charge up, and then bring down your heavy
fist, embedding the fighter into the battlefield.
Target: 1 fighter in melee
Damage: 2d8+Bravery+Faith visceral damage.
Effect: The target is pushed up Bravery+1 Squares. If they
collide with terrain, they become embedded into the
terrain: they cannot move voluntarily or involuntarily, and
must spend a Technique to remove themselves from the
terrain.
Teaching 2: Choose to do what must be done.
Rushing: 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 Breaker you must be close
enough to Yamadiraja that you can manifest his
leg, which is a burning monitor lizard claw.

175
 ���an
ENCHANTER
Wielders of Kinaadman: Enlightened Will,
Practitioners of War Enchantments, Greater Than
Cannons

176

LORE
There has ever been magick in Gubat Banwa, and it
is ever more concentrated here, in the Sword Isles,
the Center of the Trichiliocosm. Magick 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.
There are many terms for magick in the Sword Isles:
busali is commonly used in Pannai, alamdag in
Gatusan, salamangka in Virbanwa, hiwaga in Ba-e,
and hikmat in Akai. Magick, in this sense, is
something that invokes wonder, something that
bewitches and enchants.
Those that use magick are very often told to have
had a particular Kinaadman. Kinaadman means
wisdom or knowledge of something that others
usually don’t have. It is a sort of spiritual
knowledge. Every magick-user’s Kinaadman is
different, but it is the Kinaadman that grants them
the ability to glean secrets. To cultivate Kinaadman,
one must dive deep into the occult.
Gatusan sages have organized various magickal
traditions into two: Puti Nga Alamdag (White
Science) and Itom Nga Alamdag (Black Alamdag).
Puti Nga Alamdag magicks are those considered to
have come from nature and the spirits, and is
usually the type of magick that balyan, healers, and
other sages perform, that is very often used for
mending and healing. Meanwhile, Itom Nga
Alamdag magicks are those that come from secret
traditions, bloodlines, techniques, and rituals
learned and mastered, and is very often used for
degrading, wounding, and fraying.
Enchanters are those that master mudras (mystic
hand gestures), mentalas (esoteric words inscribed
upon palm leaf), and yamyam (mantras whispered,
uttered, then shouted). 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 Enchanter or a balyan
or healer to be able to dispel.
Enchanters 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 War
Enchantment, once simply Enchantment. A mix of
healing and cursing tradition turned into a violent
focus. Enchanters have become indispensable
artillery in Warbands and armies henceforth in the
Sword Isles, becoming natural counterparts to
lantaka. Gatusan and Apumbukid, for example, use
Enchanters and Witches (Mambabarang) liberally
to supplement their artillery.
The ability to mix mudra, yamyam, and the usage of
mentala into a single seamless martial art has
proven to be exceedingly effective, however:
Enchanters fight with a mix of kinetic movement
that interweave mudra gesturing with intricate kick
katas, yamyam 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, Enchanter.
INFLICT VIOLENCE
TRAITS HOKOT
Style: Control
1 Technique
Martial Art: War Ranged Attack: Summon spite into a
Enchantments burning lance that shreds through
Posture: 32 Bravery: 2 armor.
Resist: 4 Faith: 3 Target: 1 fighter within close burst 4.
Resolve: 6 Speed: 4 Damage: 1d4+Faith skewering visceral
Tempo: 4 Jump: 3 Effect: The target becomes Sundered 2.
ENLIGHTENMENTS
MENTALA STRIP BRANDING
Whenever you deal damage to a fighter, you can mark them indefinitely.
As a Technique, perform a ballistic mudra kata to consume all marks on
a single fighter within close burst 5, dealing 2 skewering soul damage
per mark.
PERFORM MUDRAS
When you inflict a Bane, immediately shift the target 1 square, and then
you can shift into a square to them.
UTTER YAMYAM
You can stack marks. Any ally that attacks a fighter marked by you has
Precision.
ATTUNEMENT
While you have Conviction, at the start of combat or as a Technique, you
can attune to an Element.
0 Fire. When you attune to this element, all your marks inflict 1d4
skewering fire damage upon the marked. Your attacks can deal fire
damage.
0 Water. When you attune to this element, all your allies heal Faith
Posture. Your attacks can deal water damage.
0 Earth. When you attune to this element, shift up to 4 fighters
within close burst 3 by 2 squares. Your attacks can deal earth
damage.
0 Wind. When you attune to this element, shift yourself up to 3
squares, ignoring height and terrain. Your attacks can deal wind
damage.
ULTIMATE CALAMITY: SAKUNA
2 Techniques
Area Attack: You must have attuned to each element at least once in the
combat to use this. Immediately deal 3d6 skewering soul damage to
every fighter in the field. Deal +(5xFa) damage to every one of your
marks.
“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 utterances 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 of nature.

177
 ENCHANTER TEACHINGS
I
Cleansing
Brand
Inscribe
1 Technique
Target: 1 fighter in 2 squares.
Effect: You bring out a mentala-inscribed bamboo
strip, clasp it in your hands, and then slap it against a
target, imbuing them with the magick of that mentala
strip.
Effect: You mark the target indefinitely.
Effect: Push the target 3 squares.
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.
Utter Evasion
CRONE - Self
Reaction
Trigger: You suffer an attack.
Effect: You utter the yamyam for nothingness: HI-
NUNG-DAN-ON, and you become like the wind: you
gain Evasion 6 against the triggering attack. If you
avoid the attack, teleport the attacker 1d4 squares.
This spell was perfected by Enchanter warriors
that needed to sneak through ancient temples
guarded by Akai invaders.
Siga Mudra
2 Techniques
Ranged Attack: Summon a bead of pure fulminating
flame at the target, which explodes into a miniature
sunburst.
Target: 1 fighter in close burst 5
Damage: d8+Faith skewering fire
Effect: Deal d6 skewering fire damage to every enemy
and terrain of your choice within close burst 3.
“Heaven crumbles and the seas boil! With
nothing but my name writ across the stars...
Siga!” A popular mudra amongst Enchanters
that truly encapsulates their position as
magickal artillery.
178
II
Perfection of
Mudra
Rip Inscriptions
2 Techniques
Effect: All enemies in close burst 6 lose all your marks. For
every mark lost, they suffer 2 skewering soul damage and
then they suffer Weakness X, with X being the number of
marks consumed.
With a clasp of your hands in a silent prayer, you
trigger the little god of cutting that lives within the
magickal formulations of your mentala, and rip
every mentala strip apart.
Kilat Yamyam
1 Technique
Ranged Attack: Summon a burning lightning bolt with an
incantation.
Target: 1 fighter in close burst 5.
Damage: 2x Faith skewering wind damage.
Effect: There is a 5-in-10 chance of the lightning bolt
summoned from this technique of bouncing to another
enemy within close burst 3 of it. If it does, perform this
attack again against that enemy. Keep going until you fail
the Chance Die or there are no more enemies to hit. You can
only hit each enemy once.
“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.
Channel Gahom
Passive. You get into position and start performing a vast
number of interconnected mudras. Lightning and radiance
blurs your hand movements. If you don’t move on your
turn, gain a Channel Die, a d8 that starts at 1.
Channel Die: Every end of Beat until it is your own Turn
Beat, set it 1 higher. When you next make a ranged or area
attack, you can consume the Channel Die, dealing extra
damage equal to the number currently on the Die. You can
prematurely lose your Channel Die if you move or are
moved out of the square you gained the Channel Die in.
Many Enchanters channel this technique once
they have acquired a good vantage point, to be able
to inflict as much damage as possible.
 Baha Mudra
III
Pull Heaven To 2 Techniques

Earth Area Attack: Summon a deluge to destroy all

Batubalani Mentala
2 Techniques
Area Attack: You throw a mentala strip with the
formulation for magnetism within onto a strip of land, and
it explodes into a black hole.
Target: All chosen fighters in ranged 4 burst 3.
Damage: d8+Faith earth damage.
Effect: Pull all fighters in range by 1.
Effect: All floating or flying fighters lose floating or flying
until they spend a Technique to regain it.
Effect: If any pulled fighters collide, they suffer Knockdown
2.
Knockdown: All attacks against you gain Precision.
You cannot Flank, you cannot move voluntarily, you cannot
make Attacks. You can spend a Technique to stand up and
remove this.
"Whisper, bleed and burst forth! The overwhelming
oppressive force of the gods of the soil herald thee!
Batubalani!" 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.
about you.
Target: All fighters in close burst 2.
Damage: d6+Faith skewering water damage.
Effect: Any ally in the field heals 2 Posture
instead.
Effect: Push any chosen fighters in the field up to
3 squares, and then you can choose to give them
Drift 2.
Drift 2: When the Drift Status expires, you are
pulled 3 squares toward the one that gave you the
Drift Status.
“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.

Linog Yamyam
1 Technique
Target: 1 square within close burst 3.
Effect: A Size 1 blocking terrain erupts from the chosen
square. If a fighter is on the square, you can choose to let
them rise with the block or deal Faith skewering earth
damage to them and then shift them 1 square. You can stack
these Size 1 blocking terrain to terraform the battlefield.
Effect: Once during your turn you may shatter one of these
blocking terrain, dealing Faith skewering earth damage to
all enemies adjacent to it.
“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.

179
 ��t
HEADTAKER
Spiritual warriors who perfect the ritual of killing and
decapitation, the law of equivalent exchange, Masters of
Reaping Fates

180
 INFLICT VIOLENCE
LORE TRAITS DECAPITATE
In the Sword Isles, despite what others might have Style: Raider
you believe, killing is a ritual undertaking. Among 1 Technique
the shoreline settlements and metropoles, killing a Martial Art: Decapitation Melee Attack: Simple. Strike to
man is a coming of age ritual. One that begins your Rite behead.
journey in these islands as an individual. Posture: 36 Bravery: 5 Target: 1 fighter in melee.
Resist: 4 Faith: 1 Damage: 2d6+Bravery visceral. If the
Deep into the mountains of Rusunuga, in the One Resolve: 5 Speed: 4 target is Staggered, deal 3d6+Bravery
Thousand Plutocracies that live upon its Tempo: 4 Jump: 4 visceral instead.
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
ENLIGHTENMENTS
RITUAL KILL
enemies to use as decoration for their kalasag
shields. When you deal damage to any fighter, you can mark them as your Ritual
Kill. You can only have 1 Ritual Kill at a time. If you mark another as your
They do this because everybody holds a certain Ritual Kill, your last Ritual Kill disappears.
amount of Gahum, pure untapped spiritual power. Ritual Kill: All your attacks against your ritual kill are skewering and
By accruing this Gahum, they themselves get steady. Whenever your Ritual Kill moves, you can move as well in their
stronger, gaining more favor in the eyes of the direction, mirroring their movements.
ancestors. When a person dies, their Gahum is
transferred to whoever takes it, either through their TREE SHADOW STYLE
head or through the sweat or liquids from their
body after a mummifying process. This is why the You ignore blocking terrain and enemies when moving.
burial rituals in The Sword Isles are varied, long,
and revered. UNENDING SHADOWS
The Headtaker is someone who specializes in When you end your turn adjacent to blocking terrain, you hide
collecting heads. They have turned this immaculate immediately. Gain Hidden until you deal or suffer damage.
and sacred ritual act into a business, a job. This is
what the islands have fallen to. What was once a DEMON OF SHADOW
ritual tradition, that sacred act of killing, has been When you make an attack that breaks Hidden, gain +1 Might.
blasphemed.
The warriors of Apumbukid have learned this
tradition from the headhunting folk of Vuyu and the EXECUTE
mountains of Rusunuga. Many Headtakers travel to 3 Techniques, 3 Conviction
Apumbukid to cease their ritual headhunting with
their fellow man, and instead hunt down those that Your Ritual Kill suffers 50 skewering visceral damage. If this brings the
are disrupting Hiyang, as a form of ritual sacrifice target to Defeated, heal your full Posture.
and ritual killing. You can choose to die by decapitating yourself. If you do, this deal 9999
skewering damage instead.
Headtakers usually trawl the lands and accept jobs Decapitation Rite is an endlessly difficult martial art to
from Datu to perform headhunting ritual killings master, and it is not taught to just anyone. Everyone that
for any reason, whether it be for revenge, for becomes a Headtaker understands combat-as-ritual, and does
murder, or for mourning. In return, Headtakers are not and will never take it lightly. They will only take heads if
given lodging and acceptance into society. A sort of they must, if they need to, if the ancestors command it. The
necessary evil. In this way, they are no different Decapitation Rite is a martial art that uses venoms, shadows,
from any other Kadungganan, but Kadungganan bamboos, combined with large strides and a low stance to
have the gall to think they are different. That their defeat opponents.
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
killing art, 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 killing arts 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.

181
 HEADTAKER TEACHINGS
I
Rend The
World
Axe Throw
1 Technique
Ranged Attack: Throw your axe in a
carving arc.
Target: 1 fighter in 2 squares.
Damage: 1d6+Bravery visceral damage.
Effect: The target must Resist or else they
become Punctured by your weapon. You
cannot use this Technique again until after
you retake your weapon by moving into a
square to the target, removing Punctured
from the target.
Punctured: Whenever you start your turn,
they suffer 2 skewering damage.
Thread 1: Your axe will always find
its
mark.
Owl Flits Silently
1 Technique
Effect: You unravel into shadow, and then
step away. Gain 1 Owl Token. At any point,
you can consume the Owl Token to teleport
2 squares.
Thread 2: Blood need not be so
noisy, however.
Rend
Passive. When you deal 8+ damage with a
melee attack, the target suffers Eviscerated
2.
“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.
II Lop Heads
Rip and Tear
Passive. You can now move through enemies. If you move through
enemies that have 4 or less Posture, immediately bring them to 0
Posture.
You can deal 2 skewering damage to all enemies you move through if
you are Hidden. This does not break Hidden.
“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
Vanishing Smoke and Bamboo
Reaction
Trigger: When you are the target of an attack.
Effect: You let yourself be struck, and your form vanishes into
shadowy smoke. You shift, faster than your enemies. Teleport 3
squares and then leave a Smokeself (a shadow smoke clone) of
yourself in the initial square you left.
Smokeself: The Smokeself is a 30 Durability object. As a Technique
on your turn, you can switch places with the Smokeself instead. You
can only have 1 Smokeself at a time: if you put down a new Smokeself,
the old Smokeself vanishes.
Verse 22: “When BA~LA~HA~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
2 Techniques
Melee Attack: You leap down, cleaving like the night slicing dusk.
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 2 on a lower height.
Effect: Before dealing damage, leap to adjacent to the target within
the burst.
Damage: 2d12 skewering visceral damage.
Thread 3: When blood is drawn, maybe then we shall revel in
ultraviolence.
182
 Yamakala’s Sacred Sunder
III
Deliver Fated 3 Techniques

Deaths Melee Attack: You utter your sacred ritual killing

Shadow God Arms
Passive. Whenever you teleport, deal 1d4 skewering dark
damage to all enemies adjacent to you after the teleport.
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 Lakibayibalahala
(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.
oath, and then bring all down to bear. Your ancestors
bless your killing blade.
Target: 1 fighter in melee range
Damage: 3d6+Bravery light damage.
Effect: The target gains +2 to their Turn Beat.
“Thus must all things be: to weaken the soul
of a warrior, destroy their weapon. It is akin
to breaking an arm, or slicing off their head.”
- Sri Yamakala.

Relentless Shadowblade
2 Techniques
Melee Attack: You burst forward and into shadow, like a
shade across the battlefield, striking and killing with the
intent of Yamakala.
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 2.
Effect: Teleport to a square in melee range of the target
but within close burst 2.
Damage: 2d8+Bravery dark damage.
Effect: 3-in-10 chance of repeating the Melee Attack. Keep
repeating until you fail the 3-in-10 chance.
Verse 42: Here now. Our very own Hiyang, oneness
with the supreme soul that is also nature itself.
Step out from the light, move into the shadow. In
that sacred darkness, bleed the victims of your
scorn. - THE SONG OF IDDA MANGUBAT.

183
 тg��
TIGPANA
Embodiments of Minor Enlightenment,
Manifestations of the Wind, Arrows of Harmony,
Born from the Watchtowers

184
 INFLICT VIOLENCE
LORE TRAITS SIKAROM SHOT
Tigpana [tig-pa-NA’] translates directly to archer. This Style: Blaster
is the discipline of long distance combat atop bamboo 1 Technique
watchtowers, treehouses and rocky outcroppings Martial Art: Petal Piercing Ranged Attack: Shoot with a
peppered across The Sword Isles. This discipline Arrows longbow or some other ranged
actually originated in Ibalnong, but was applied to the Posture: 36 Bravery: 4 implement.
rest of the archipelago by Apumbukid as violence Resist: 4 Faith: 2 Target: 1 fighter in ranged 5.
intensified. Resolve: 6 Speed: 3 Damage: 1d8+Bravery
Tempo: 5 Jump: 3 visceral.
They measure the lay of the wind, the rustle of leaves, Effect: This attack ignores
the whisper of the land. What heat might do to the Blocking Terrain.
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
ENLIGHTENMENTS
bamboo longbow, which is so long that it had to be held HARMONIOUS BOW
under the foot to be strung. They fire the initial strike When you make a ranged attack and you have to
when needing to protect a settlement, or if on a raid, roll, you can choose to deal the average damage
they will seek the highest vantage point to dictate the (rounded up) instead of rolling the dice. If the
momentum of the battle. attack has Precision, add +1. It can gain Might,
Bravery, and Faith as normal.
Tigpana are made to watch with eyes sharper than Dice Averages: d2=1, d3=2, d4=3, d6=4, d8=5,
eagles. With escalating tensions between polities, d10=6, d12=7.
these elite sharpshooters have descended down from
upon their lofty bamboo watchtowers to fight
alongside their fellow Kadungganan. This has done PATIENCE
nothing to impede their skill, of course. In fact, all it has When you end your turn with at least 1
done is to show how much more formidable a Tigpana Technique unspent, gain +1 Might and Precision
is up close, with perfectly lined shots that can sever the on your next ranged attack.
head from the neck.
While Apumbukid trains them in large numbers due to ONE WITH UNIVERSAL FLOW
their proactive stance on their stewardship, the art of After making ranged attack against a fighter that
long ranged archery came from Ibalnong, in the is at least 4 squares away from you, you become
northwestern tip of Rusunuga, bordered by the volcano Hidden 3.
Magayon, the most beautiful volcano in all of The
Sword Isles, known for its perfect cone shape. EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
The Ibalnongnon are closer to the Gatusanon than the When you deal damage against a fighter that is at
Virbanwans in culture, and also tattooed themselves least 5 squares away from you, the attack gains +1
and raided the coasts of foreign lands. When invaders Might and becomes Skewering.
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 PANGANORON PANA
and wide the discipline of longbow archery, and have
thus bred a new breed of Tigpana across the isles. 1 Technique, 1 Conviction
An arrow you have fired before the fight began
The Art of the Tigpana was once preserved only for strikes 1 fighter in the battlefield, dealing X
hunting large game in the forest. It has now been skewering visceral damage, with X being half of
turned into a hateful art that skewers their fellow men. the current Beat (rounded down).
But even then, before going out of a hunt--whether it The Art of Piercing Petals with your
be for an animal or for a human--Tigpana make their Arrows was famously created by an
offerings to their gods. In supplication, in sorrow, in an ancient longbow master in the peninsula
act of asking forgiveness. of Ibalnong, SRI DIWA SAMAYAW, God of
Hunting and said to be an aspect of
The Art of Petal Piercing combines Harmony Through Rajaraya Pintas, who elevated the simple
Breathing with Arcery techniques. To never miss art of bow fighting to a god-beast hunting
attacks, Tigpana become one with the battlefield, martial art with the help of the dark-
gaining for a moment a violent Hiyang, which they use skinned Mayaran folk in the hinterlands
to be able to be the most accurate martial artists across of Rusunuga, who have perfected the bow
the Sword Isles. and arrow art. This art requires the
practitioner to be at least not Dihiyang,
If you choose to become a Tigpana ask yourself why you and at best, completely Nahiyang, or
have chosen the path of more violence, if you could’ve Concordant With the Universe’s Flow, to
stayed protecting what is yours instead. Who do you become the most accurate martial
fight for? Why? Blood stains your bowstrings, how long artists.
until it flows from your heart?

185
 TIGPANA TEACHINGS
I
Breath of the II
Achieve Small
Winds Immortalities
Wind Tunneling Arrow Vigil
2 Techniques Reaction
Ranged Attack: You can whisper a tiny prayer, and let Trigger: When a fighter within close burst 5 leaves their
loose an arrow that curves, and the winds ripple square.
around it. Effect: Deal d6+Bravery visceral damage to that fighter.
Target: All fighters in close path 5. This Discipline were sharpened by the Sikarom
Damage: d8+Bravery wind damage. (bamboo longbows) wielders of Ibalnong. They
Effect: Every fighter damaged suffers Wind stood upon bamboo watchtoweres known as
Vulnerability 2 as mystical winds cut at them. bantara to be able to protect their settlements
from every raid.
Mentala, magical formulations, and yamyam,
magical incantations, are uttered and inscribed
upon arrow shafts. Nothing can stop a trained Bounding Musang Shot
Tigpana’s expert arrow.
2 Technique
Bamboo Rain Effect: Shift 3 squares, ignoring terrain. At any point during
the shift, you may inflict violence.
2 Techniques Effect: Gain Hastened 2.
Area Attack: Fire a thousand javelins to the sky in a few You leap in a particular direction, avoiding attacks,
seconds, scourging the sky. as corkscrewing acrobatically as you fire a shot.

Flow State
Target: All fighters in a ranged 4 burst 2
Effect: At the beginning of any Beat before your next
Turn, you can deal the damage to the target.
Passive. Whenever you end your turn and there are no
Damage: 2d6+Bravery visceral. fighters adjacent to you, the next ranged attack you do
“Hide earth with the shadows of your arrows, against any fighter that is at least 3 squares away from you
archer!” – A popular war cry for those that becomes Steady.
keep their lives in their bow.
You get into a flow state, moving alongside the flow
Zephyr Poultice of diwa, achieving that state of bliss and
enlightenment. The arrow flies through your
Passive. Whenever you gain Hidden, you can shift 2 nonaction.
squares.
Additionally when you make an attack from Hidden,
you can choose to deal Wind damage.
You bring the leaves and the insects to you, and
feel the rejuvenation of nature. Crafted by
personal baylan of tigpana, this has now
become a common concoction taught to all
beginner Tigpana.

186
 III
The Astra of
Concordance
Bamboo Reroutes The River
Passive. When you are the target of a ranged attack, you
have a 4-in-10 chance of catching that attack and then
redirecting it back against a different fighter, using that
attack’s range and damage.
The Tigpana’s Response 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. Si 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.

Lightning State
Passive. When you start your turn and there are at least 2+
enemies adjacent to you, you can immediately shift 2
squares, and you can move through enemies.
You breathe out, and your breathe sparks with the
rising drums of thunder. None can keep you down.
Your aim is steady. The first teaching of the
Tigpana: be patient. In the gentleness arises the
greatest of violences.

Rusakpana
2 Techniques
Ranged Attack: You pull back the bowstrings of your bow
without an arrow nocked. A trick of the light catches a
stargleam, which turns into a shining javelin upon your
bow.
Target: All fighters in close line 6.
Damage: 2d6+Bravery skewering soul.
Effect: Any fighter Defeated by this attack is instantly
annihilated.
This is the Rusakpana: the Bow of Annihiliation.
Rusak weapons are weapons made of pure
annihiliating starlight, the weapons of the gods and
those that invoke them.

187
 �n�� ����
WARSPEAKER
Combat Diplomats and Mediators of the World, Practitioners of Vocal
Enlightenment, Masters of the Cutting Speech, slashing through confusions and
opaque ideals with the razor blade of rhetoric.

188
 INFLICT VIOLENCE
LORE
The art of Speaking has not been lost upon the
TRAITS
Style: Control
AXE CONVERSATION
1 Technique
warriors of old. Of course not. Speech developed Martial Art: Melee Attack: Inflict mental
alongside violence. In many ways they are one and Swordspeech trauma with biting
the same, the two sides of a single sword. Posture: 36 Bravery: 4 conversation.
A few eras ago the counselors of an ancient God- Resist: 4 Faith: 2 Target: 1 fighter in 2 squares.
King came together to create a martial art that Resolve: 6 Speed: 3 Damage: d6+Bravery soul.
would bind the two sides of the sword into one. To Tempo: 5 Jump: 3 Effect: Inflict Eviscerated 2.
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.
Of course, as with all things that are not completely
ENLIGHTENMENTS
RAPID LOGIC
Hiyang, they were not able to achieve this. Nay,
perhaps that is too harsh. They were able to create When you deal damage to a fighter, you can also inflict
the art of Cutting Speech, nowadays known to Unbalanced 2 on them.
Apumbukid and Gatusan Parawali as Kalis Pulong. When you suffer damage from a fighter, you can force them
“Sword Word”. to Resolve or they suffer Dazed 2.
The art of Cutting Speech is the perfect fusion of
counsel and combat, using sharply worded rhetoric INTIMIDATE
as attacks and steel barricade logic for defense. They When an enemy starts their turn while within close burst 2
found a way with words that would both confuse a of you, you may force them to Resolve or suffer 1 Weakness
warrior in the battlefield, but also make them on their next attack.
extremely clarified about certain issues.
The practice of the Cutting Speech is still perfected PENETRATING ELOQUENCE
by many parawali today, thus why the Apumbukid When you deal soul damage, that damage is skewering.
term for the Bladetalker is Sundang Parawali, Sword
Counselor. However, the term Warspeaker is strictly PAINFUL IDIOM
reserved for those that practice and perfect the
convoluted art of Cutting Speech. It is one part rote When you inflict a Bane on an enemy, you are considered as
(“you must learn these particular rhetoric for they always adjacent to them as long as they have that Bane.
counter all swords”), other parts theory (“this
particular word sequence requires proper
application and proper context”) and even other PANGANORON PANA
parts psychology (“know your enemy before 2 Technique, 2 Conviction
employing this ironshield logic gate”). However, Give +4 to the Turn Beat of 1 enemy within close burst 3 of
once perfected, Bladetalkers are known for traveling you.
throughout the battlefield without wielding
weapon nor armor, and being able to turn enemies “You have seen this world. Must the cycle be
traitor. unbroken?”

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, and yet you choose to cut
people instead of cutting ignorance. Your words
might be sharp, but who is the real fool? You are
nothing but a sword.

189
 WARSPEAKER TEACHINGS
I
Scabbard
Rhetoric
Insult
1 Technique
Ranged Attack: Say a word that infuriates with foul
invective.
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 4
Damage: d6+Bravery soul damage.
Effect: Inflict Berserk 2.
Berserk 2: The target must Inflict Violence on their
turn, and they can only target the closest fighter to
them, allies first before enemies.
This is the most basic technique taught to all
that would master the Cutting Speech. It is the
sword of their ways. It was used to usher in the
end of the Fifth Sun Era.
Confusing Talk
1 Technique
Ranged Attack: You jabber in a way that forces the
target to consider considering your words.
Target: 1 fighter in 2 squares.
Damage: d6+Bravery soul damage.
Effect: Inflict Puzzled 2.
Puzzled: You cannot Flank, you cannot voluntarily
move diagonally, and you cannot target non-adjacent
fighters.
Most often the hardest technique to perfect in
the Cutting Speech: just the slightest mishap
would cause this technique to fail. However,
once pulled off, it can break a warrior.
Sri Pulong-Pulong Meditation
Passive. Whenever you inflict a Status Effect upon a
target, you may also shift them 1 square.
As you rise in the words of Cutting Speech, you
are taught to meditate on the being and
teachings of Sri Pulong-Pulong, a grand
ancestor of the first Warspeakers.
190
II Blade Logic
Biting Condemnation
Reaction
Trigger: When a fighter in 2 squares takes a Technique.
Effect: You condemn a person’s actions, and force them
to consider the consequences of their actions: they
must Resolve or they must cancel whatever they were
doing, wasting that Technique. If the technique they
use uses up 2 or more Techniques, they waste that
many Techniques.
A powerful ability, one that most Warspeaker
masters wish to teach immediately, as it is the
first Cutting Speech technique crafted.
Spite-filled Mockery
1 Technique
Effect: Hit them where it hurts. You may deal Bravery
soul damage to 1 fighter within close burst 3. The target
gains Debilitated 2.
A Warspeaker must learn to exploit the
weakest part of a foe: their heart.
Bewildering Magniloquence
Passive. Your words bring about a certain confusion
upon others. A confusion that they cannot find too
confusing, but is confusing nonetheless. When you deal
damage to an adjacent fighter, they also become Dazed
1.
Among Warspeakers, this is a common ability
that is mastered later on, due to many
underestimating its absolute utility.
Warspeaker Lakan Karaton has used this
technique to great effect when he used to
protect his city from a joint Virbanwa-Akai
attack upon a Gatusan city, which eventually
ended with the Virbanwans and Akai trying to
kill each other.
 III
God-Insulting
Diwa
Turn Traitor
2 Techniques
Effect: Choose 1 non-Brave, non-Chief fighter within close
burst 4. They become Traitorous 3.
Traitorous: All enemies are allies and all allies are enemies,
and they are considered ally Kadungganan. If the fight ends
and they’re still Traitorous, they become friendly to your
side if it makes sense in the fiction.
Special: If you have the target’s Debt Token, you can spend
it to make this Traitorous 6.
You entice the enemy, turn them to your side. At
this level of mastery, your words are this: a sword
smeared with honey.
This world is a bloody one. The one thing Sri Latong
Kisil realized is that protection and security is
something everyone wants. It is very easy to
promise that.

Praise
Passive. When a fighter in close burst 3 gains Enlightened
or Ferocious, you gain 1 Duration of that Boon, and then
they gain +1 Duration to that Boon.
All enemies within close burst 3 of you cannot gain
Enlightened or Ferocious.
As a Warspeaker, you are only as good as your
allies. Therefore, you must always be there, to
praise them, to keep them on their toes.

Wrack
2 Techniques
Ranged Attack: At your wit’s end, reveal your final attack. A
single burning question. A question that opens the
floodgates of other questions.
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 3
Damage: d4 + Bravery soul
Effect: Inflict Wracked 2
Wracked: They cannot deal more than 1 damage for any
reason. They lose Wracked when they suffer any sort of
damage.
This is the word used to bring Lords to their knees.
Yet this is a word people are too stubborn to
ruminate upon.

191
 AKAI
DISCIPLINES

192
193
 �g��бl
MARTYR
Warriors of the Most High, Sacrifical Berserkers,
Those Who Will Die For The Moon Goddess, They
Who Triumph In Adversity

194
 INFLICT VIOLENCE
LORE
Martyrs triumph in adversity.
TRAITS
Style: Raider
BULAN TAGAK
1 Technique
Martial Art: Holy Moon Melee Attack: Strike down
They kill and die in the name of their conviction. While Faith Blade
in the Moon Goddess isn’t a prerequisite to mag-sabil, with lunar-blessed thews.
conviction is. A conviction to die in the face of imminent, and Posture: 44 Bravery: 3 Target: 1 fighter in melee
sometimes quite certain, death. Resist: 5 Faith: 3 Damage: d8+Bravery+Faith
Resolve: 6 Speed: 4 light.
All warriors can perform the sabil, that sacrosanct war-ritual. Tempo: 5 Jump: 2
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
ENLIGHTENMENTS
HOLY BLADE OF THE MOON
die, bringing as many as they can with them, so that they can Whenever you deal damage, gain 1 Fury. Whenever you deal
arrive in heaven and stand alongside Baginda Sumongsuklay. or suffer damage, you can spend any number of Fury Tokens
The first Martyr was said to be Baginda Sumongsuklay to add or subtract that much damage. You cannot have more
herself. She arrived upon the islands in times now long gone, than 5 Fury at any given time.
and traveled into the sky palace of Indira Suga and Jamiyun
Kulisa, and immediately went into a frenzy. She succeeded in MOONBLADE TENACITY
breaking the sky gates, and in her total lack of self- When you first become Staggered in the fight, gain
preservation, leapt onto the Thunderbolt and wounded him. Regeneration for the rest of the scene, and +1 Might on all
Brother Lightning and Mother Sun have since left that sky melee attacks.
palace, and now Baginda Sumongsuklay commands the faith
and trust of the warriors of Akai.
LUNAR FURY
Those that become Martyrs dedicate their entire lives to the You cannot gain Evasion. However, your Combo Breaker
emulation of that art, with the knowledge that they shall Penalty is as follows: you second attack suffers -2, while
ascend to the bladed moon heaven of Baginda Sumongsuklay your third attack is halved.
should they die in the act of pag-sabil.
The death violent art of mag-sabil has been known since the CLEAVE THE EARTH
dawn of time, once practiced in supreme deference and Once per Combat when you Second Wind while Critical,
respect for the datu, they will dress themselves in the vestures your next attack does not need to be rolled: you instead deal
and raiment of death and go on berserk fury, or as it is known maximum damage: simply deal the highest possible
in the Archipelago: pag-sabil. You sharpen this glorious fury amount of damage with the dice.
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.
LUNAR OFFERING
During the end of the Seventh Moon Era, pag-sabil has been 2 Technique, 2 Conviction, 1/Combat
easier to initiate and invoke with the help of sugapa and other
drugs to elevate the fury to one transcendental, communing Immediately consume all Fury Tokens (min. 5), and deal
with the spirits of war. 8d8 light damage to the a single fighter in the battlefield.
This damage cannot be reduced.
The most well known mag-sabil do give themselves to the If you’re ready to die, deal 4d8 to the rest of the enemies in
mad fury of the moon, of the Moon Goddess Baginda the battlefield, and then ascend to Lunar Paradise. You
Sumongsuklay, to whom adoration and respect is required, cannot gain any more Fury Tokens for the rest of the scene.
and dying in their name is the ultimate way to reach her You clad yourself in the raiments of death, white to
Palace in the Sky. reach the Moon Goddess’ eternal blissful palace.
Breathe now, breathe. If it be your time, then it is
Martyrs can also be found all across the archipelago, your time. Be not afraid. Be not afraid. Who are
especially those that have the same amount of zeal and they to say that your faith-rage is unjustified? This
loyalty to their leaders and the spirits of their settlements. world is sundered and torn: break it even further,
They are, however, few and far in between in number, a small and in so doing bring light to bear. This is the
number of warrior braves who are always ready to die for Principle of Fury: kill all things indiscriminately to
their leader and faith. attain true Harmony. Remember, loved one. Your
rage is not simply anger, wrath. It is justice, God’s
Before going out on a venture, you dress yourself in the Vengeance, Holy Moon Striving. You fulfill the
raiment of death and then anoint yourself with oils, as if you purpose of your life in this, submit wholly to the
were being carried off to be buried, and then dress yourself in Moongleam.
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?

195
 MARTYR TEACHINGS
I
Strength of
1,000
Juru Pakal
1 Technique
Target: Self
Effect: Strengthen your weapon with a prayer, imbuing
it with light. Gain +1 Might on your next melee attack,
and it can deal light damage if you wish.
Juru Pakal is an ancient, holy blade, used by
Rajah 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.
Moonserpent Jaws
2 Techniques
Target: 1 adjacent fighter.
Effect: The target is pushed 5 squares.
Effect: The target must Resist or become Dazed 2.
Effect: If the target collides, you deal d12+Bravery
visceral damage to them.
Martyrs are known to go all out, sometimes to
their detriment, as their zeal fills them with
such strength. They get better at controlling
this, of course, the more they grow in the Moon.
You beat up the target with your bare hands.
Mooncleave
2 Techniques
Target: 1 fighter in 15’
Damage: 2d6+Bravery+Faith light.
Effect: The target is then pushed 1 square, and then
your weapon lands on an adjacent square to the target.
The weapon is Size 1 Blocking Terrain.
Hurled Weapon: All your melee attacks suffer 1
Weakness while the weapon is Hurled. You can move
through the weapon’s square or pick it up at the end of
your turn to gain it back.
Summon Weapon: You may spend 1 Technique to
make your weapon fly back toward you as long as
you’re within 4 squares of the weapon. Draw a close
path 4 with the weapon as an origin point, and the final
square should be adjacent to you. You deal Bravery
skewering visceral damage to all the fighters that the
weapon moves through in the path, and then the
weapon returns to you.
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.
196
II
Moongleam
Zeal
Mountaincleaving Crescent
2 Techniques
Melee Attack: You utter a prayer, and then lift your
weapon. It becomes the Most High’s executionary
crescent, send it striking down.
Target: All fighters in a close line 3.
Damage: d6+Bravery light. The fighter in the middle
square suffers 3d6+Bravery+Faith skewering light
damage.
“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.
Indomitable Focus
1 Technique
Effect: Breathe, and you are infused with the spirit of
lunar focus. Gain Precision on your next melee or
ranged attack. Go into the Indomitable Focus Stance.
Indomitable Focus Stance: While in this stance, you
have Unyielding. When you are the target of an attack,
you may consume the stance before the attack to leap
up to 4 squares. If you end up adjacent to the target, you
may immediately Inflict Violence against them. If you
leap 4 squares, keep this stance.
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.
Moon Palace Knight
2 Techniques
Target: 1 fighter in a close burst 3.
Effect: You leap across the battlefield, upon garuda
wings of moonlight, like a vengeful biraddali, to a
square adjacent to the target, but within the burst.
Then Inflict Violence.
Effect: If you move through ally squares during the
leap, give them Light Conditioning 2.
Effect: If you move through enemy squares during the
leap, give them Light Vulnerability 2.
“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.
 III
Bulan Holy
Enlightenment
Kurita Pierces Heaven
Passive. When you deal damage with a melee attack, you
may force the target to Resist or become Juggled 1. If they
do, all fighters adjacent to the target must also Resist or
become Juggled 1 as well.
You gain +1 Might against all Unbalanced or Juggled
enemies.
You swing and flourish up, bringing the victim of
your scorn to the heavens. “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.” - Teachings of Pandita
Ashakarwa.

Self Apocalypse
Passive. Whenever you become Posture-Broken, all your
attacks until the end of the scene gain +1 Might. This bonus
is cumulative. However, you cannot gain any Soak nor
Conditioning.
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!

Eternity Prayer Raid

2 Techniques
Melee Attack: You crouch low, utter a prayer, and then
bounce, like a lunar tiger. You slam full-self into your target.
Target: 1 adjacent fighter.
Damage: 2d12+Bravery+Faith visceral.
Effect: The target must Resist or they become Stunned 3.
You can choose to suffer Stunned 1 to make the target
automatically fail the Resist.
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.

197
Ba� ��д�
SWORDFISH CAVALIER
Spirit Knights of the Seas and Rivers, of the Swordfish,
Warriors that Support the Tides of the Sea

198

LORE
Swordfish Cavaliers are spirit mediums of the Swordfish, the
supreme predator of the sea and chosen 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 Iman.
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?
199
INFLICT VIOLENCE
TRAITS
Style: Blaster
STORM JAVELIN
1 Technique
Martial Art: Coral Ranged Attack: You fire your
Knight Art weapon, and storm waters
Posture: 36 Bravery: 3 explodes from it.
Resist: 5 Faith: 3 Target: All enemies in 20’
Resolve: 5 Speed: 4 close line.
Tempo: 4 Jump: 2 Damage: 2d4 water.
ENLIGHTENMENTS
JOUSTING SUSURRUS
When you Stride, you can move through enemies, but not
end in their squares. Deal Faith water damage to each
enemy you move through.
SEAWIND KNIGHT
You move normally through Water Terrain and have Water
Conditioning. While on Water Terrain, you have Evasion 3,
and whenever you deal damage, you can choose to deal
water damage.
SURF THE TIDES
When you or an ally within close burst 2 makes an attack,
you may shift 1 square before the attack launches.
ROYAL SWORDFISH
You have a Balu Mount. While upon the mount...
0 You gain -1 Tempo when you add your Tempo and you
have moved at least 4 squares during that turn.
0 While on your Mount, once at the end of your turn,
choose 1 square within close burst 3. That square
becomes Water Terrain which only slows down
enemies. Any fighter that makes an attack while
standing in that Terrain can choose to deal water
damage.
Joy of Movement: After you move on your turn, you can
shift 1 square, ignoring height and terrain.
CORAL LORD DECREE
2 Techniques, 2 Conviction, 1/Combat
You swordfish is exalted into a Coral Lord until the end of
the scene. While you are upon the Coral Lord...
0 You may shift 3 squares after every attack.
0 Your ranged attacks are steady and skewering.
0 Whenever you deal damage, your attacks splash: deal
2+Bravery water damage to every enemy adjacent to
the target.
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.
bolt to the earth, embodying all of nature.
 SWORDFISH CAVALIER TEACHINGS
I Sea Warrior
Seaspears
1 Technique
Effect: Gain a Seaspear, a floating spear of coral water
summoned by your kinaadman, your magick will.
Seaspear: At the end of your turn, you can consume any
number of Seaspears to deal 2 skewering water damage to
a fighter within close burst 3 per Seaspear, or heal them for
2 Posture per Seaspear.
As the fight begins, burning javelins of seawater
erupt from you Kinaadman, becoming weapons at
your beck and call, ready to destroy and break.
Monsoon Arrow
2 Techniques
Ranged Attack: You fire, from a weapon or from your
hands, jets of pressurized water that cuts like blades.
Target: 1 fighter in ranged 6.
Damage: d10+Bravery water
Effect: The target must resist or suffer Eviscerated 2.
Taught by Hiling Makar as he was well versed in the
arts of the bow before becoming the first Swordfish
Cavalier.
Cascading Edge
Passive. The waterfall cascades and flows. You rush up it,
and send the haze of the falls about you like a veil. When you
Stride at least 4 squares, gain Evasion 2 against the next
attack.
Perfected by a later student of the Coral Knight Art,
Abuy, who kept trying to climb up a waterfall.
200
II Sea Knight
Deepsea Cannon
X Techniques
Ranged Attack: You bring out a giant cannon from the
waters that surround you, and fire it.
Target: All fighters in a close line X+4.
Damage: Xd8+Bravery skewering water damage,
with X being the number of Techniques used for this
Technique. This attack destroys any Walls it goes
through.
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.
Coral Winds
2 Techniques
Ranged Attack: You summon the divine winds that
herald the coming of Margosatubig.
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 8
Damage: 3+Bravery+Faith wind
Effect: You can then shift yourself and the target by 3
squares.
The sounds of bodyong resound, kettlebells
against sharp coral weapons. Exalt your allies.
Tidal Momentum
Passive. Whenever you end your turn without any
fighters adjacent to you or whenever you are damaged,
gain 1 Seawind, manifested as flowing storm waters
about you. You have +1 square Speed per Seawind stack.
Once you gain 5 Seawinds, you can immediately shift 4
squares and then IV.
The first Swordfish Cavalier found that the
God of the Sea, Hakasalug, known as
Harisatubig (King of Waters), amongs tthe
Anitu 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.
 III Ocean Brave
Summon Moontides
2 Techniques
Target: All squares in a close burst 3.
Effect: Put down a tide field in the target square.
Tide Field: The Tide Field is considered water terrain. As 1
Technique or whenever you shift, you can teleport to any
unoccupied square in the Tide Field.
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 Ayakasa 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 teaching.

Deluge
3 Techniques
Area Attack: Summon overwhelming waters from your
swordfish or from a talisman.
Target: All fighters in close blast 4.
Damage: 1d6+Bravery water
Effect: All fighters in the field can be pulled or pushed by 3
squares.
Effect: Become a Mist 1.
Mist: You are Immune against all attacks against you,
unless it deals fire damage.
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 the Langitnon,
the Gods that live in Heaven, for all the violence.
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.

Tempest
Passive. When you first become Staggered in a fight, you
and all allies within close burst 3 of you gain a -1 bonus on
their Tempo until the end of their next turn.
“Strike as much as you can, before the water that
nourishes you becomes your blood,” – Agi
Sindarak, a Swordfish Cavalier warlord from the
polity of Ikadan in Kalanawan.

201
VIRBANWA
DISCIPLINES

202
203
 BARIL WITCH
Ma��ad��� �t��n
Devil Witches of the Battlefield, Masters of
Witchpowder, The Bullet Through God’s Skull

204

LORE
“The First Teaching 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?
205
INFLICT VIOLENCE
TR AITS
Style: Blaster
WITCH GUN
1 Technique
Martial Art: Bullet Witch Ranged Attack: You spin your
gun and then shoot. It can never
Posture: 36 Bravery: 1 miss.
Resist: 4 Faith: 4
Target: 1 fighter within close
Resolve: 6 Speed: 4 burst 4.
Tempo: 5 Jump: 2 Damage: 3+Faith fire.
ENLIGHTENMENTS
LOCKED AND LOADED
At the start of every Beat, gain 1 Bulletcharge. When you reach
a number of Bulletcharges, you can trigger a particular effect,
which happens immediately.
0 When you reach 1+ Bulletcharges, you can immediately
consume all Bulletcharges to choose 1 adjacent square and
then push yourself 2 squares from it. If there is a fighter in
that square, deal Faith skewering fire damage to them.
0 When you reach 3+ Bulletcharges, you can consume it
immediately to fire a gun: deal Faith skewering damage
against a fighter within close burst 3 of you.
0 When you reach 5+ Bulletcharges, you can consume it all
to gain a Rev Token. When you make a ranged or area
attack, you can consume any number of Rev Tokens to raise
that attack’s minimum damage by 2. (So spending 2 Rev
Tokens brings the minimum damage of an attack to 4.)
0 When you reach 8+ Bulletcharges, your gun explodes: you
and all fighters in a close burst 3 suffer 2d12 fire damage
and then you lose all Bulletcharges. You cannot avoid
this.
VALLEY OF TEARS
1/turn, if you are the target of a melee attack, you may force the
target to Resolve or become Decelerate 1. Decelarated foes have
a Speed of 1 square.
SERAPHIM KILLER GUN
When you make a ranged or area attack against a target that is
at least 3 squares away, the damage becomes skewering.
SHOOT A GUN GOD
3 Techniques, 2 Conviction, 1/Combat
Bring out the diwata of your gun. Shoot it, let its blood splatter
onto divine ground. The spirit infuses the battlefield, and in its
rage, explodes into a firework of bullet patterns, resembling
polities, lotuses, and flowers. A veritable bullet hell. Anytime a
fighter in the battlefield moves 1 square, you may immediately
deal 2 skewering fire or visceral damage to them.
“Anything it takes,” the ancestors tell you. Anything it
takes to win? You’ve forged such an intimate
connection with your GUN. “The gun is but a tool,”
BALAHARI GILUSOT tells you. “Do not get attached to
beings that have never been human. Fool, kill it! Kill it
now! Before it realizes your soul and shoots itself
through you! A 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!”
 BARIL WITCH TEACHINGS
I
Devil
Witchery
Steelwitch Hurricane
2 Techniques
Ranged Attack: You spin your gun, rev it, lock it, and
then fire. A crackling firework erupts before you.
Target: All fighters in close blast 3
Damage: 1d8+Faith fire
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.
Bewitched Reload
1 Technique
Effect: Kiss your bullet. A surat burns brightly: this
bullet will always find its mark. Your next attack
becomes Bewitched. Bewitched attacks are Steady and
Skewering. If you Bewitch your next attack twice, then
that attack inflicts Sundered 2.
Sun and Moon Dichotomy
1 Technique
Effect: Put down a bullet (an object) in an unoccupied
square in 2 squares. Any fighter that collides with the
bullet suffers 4 skewering visceral damage.
As a Technique, you may choose to launch any number
of bullets in the battlefield: choose 1 fighter within close
burst 2 of each bullet. Each bullet collides with the
target.
You spin, unleashing bullets, and then utter the
yamyam for the passing of days. Contort it
with your spirituality. Time stops for the
bullets, and at the end of it all, reckoning.
206
II
Bullet
Exorcism
Serpent Piercing Bullet
2 Techniques
Effect: You bless your weapon with a Piercing Diwata.
Your next ranged attack can deal earth damage and
becomes skewering. Gain -1 Tempo this turn.
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?
Mangkukulam Gun
2 Techniques
Area Attack: Throw your gun, letting it orbit you, firing
sorcerously, surrounding yourself with burning
fireflower bullets.
Target: All fighters in a close burst 4.
Damage: 1d8+Faith fire
Effect: Gain Fire Aura 1.
Fire Aura: Your attacks can deal fire damage. Any fighter
that enters or starts their turn in the aura suffers 3
skewering fire damage immediately.
Quoth Mangkukulam: “My Gun shall go against
the Almighty. With this bullet, I shall spit in the
face of God. Let Him face the force of the
shooting star. I am Mangkukulam, and my
flame shall never die. Not even God can
extinguish my fire with His drool.”
Water Lily Gun
2 Techniques
Area Attack: Inscribe mentala upon your gun, and then
incant the holy name of the currents and nagas. Then,
fire a beam of water, which shears and cuts.
Target: All fighters in close path 5 close path.
Damage: 1d8+Faith water
Effect: The target must Resist or become Slippery 2.
Slippery: Whenever a Slippery fighter moves or is
moved, they must move 1 square more in a direction
that you choose.
You inhale the sea brine and manifest it into
your puhon. With another breath, you grant it
as a gift to the diwata of your gun. They accept
it wholeheartedly. Maybe too wholeheartedly.
Why...?
 Bala Desecration
III
Shoot God In 3 Techniques

The Head Effect: Immediately deal 2xFaith fire damage to any

fighter in the battlefield. If you choose to target
yourself, you suffer the damage first, and then deal
Firebird Lantaka 2d12 fire damage to all enemies in close burst 2 of you.
2 Techniques Send a barrage across the entire battlefield, as
if you summon bullets and arrows from the
Effect: Summon a Firebird Lantaka onto an adjacent gods. You impart the divine grace of your
unoccupied square. It is a Durability 20 object and is diwata upon the battlefield. 777 arms carry
hindering terrain. 777 guns about you.
Firebird Lantaka: You or any ally adjacent to it can
spend a Technique to fire the Firebird Lantaka, making
the following area attack:
Target: All fighters within close line 4.
Damage: 1d8+Faith fire
Effect: The target must Resist or become Stunned 1.
Among the Sinukuan, The Elder God of Fire and
Lightning Suku takes upon the form of a
firebird, ravaging entire plains with a single
swing of their wing. You take this meditation
and drink deep, and so does the diwata of your
gun.

Bullet Dance
Passive
Effect: You are constantly firing your gun, reloading and
shooting, a constant dance of bullets. Enemies can move
through your square. Any enemy that enters into a
square adjacent to you or moves through your square
immediately suffers Faith fire damage.
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.

207
 BLADEWEAVER
�n�� ��l
Holy Masters of the Sword Kinaadman, Disciplines of
the Art of Cutting, Knights of Diwa

208
LORE
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.
209
TR AITS INFLICT VIOLENCE
Style: Support
KINAADMAN BLADE
1 Technique
Martial Art: Melee Attack: Weave forward
Swordweaving and then back, moving your
Posture: 44 Bravery: 3 sword like a whip.
Resist: 6 Faith: 3 Target: 1 fighter in 2 squares.
Resolve: 7 Speed: 3 Damage: 1d4+Bravery+Faith
Tempo: 4 Jump: 2 fire/water/wind/eart (choose 1).
ENLIGHTENMENTS
HALAYO STYLE
Whenever you make a melee attack, you can shift 1 square to
a farther from the target after the attack.
SWORD KINAADMAN
When an ally within close burst 2 of you makes a melee
attack, you can confer your Kinaadman to them: they may
reroll their damage roll and take the better result.
BLADEWEAVING
Whenever you start your turn, gain 1 Bladeweaving, which
you can spend on the following.
0 Sword Meditation. 1 Technique and 1 Bladeweaving: 1
ally within close burst 2 of you gains +(Your Bravery)
bonus damage on their next melee or ranged attack.
0 Makinaadmanon Meditation. When you make an
attack, spend 1 Bladeweaving to immediately shift 1 ally
within close burst 3 of you by 2 squares.
0 Witch Meditation. Reaction: When an ally within close
burst 2 of you is attacked, use this to reduce the damage
they suffer by your Bravery.
SWORDWITCH MEDITATION
3 Techniques, 1 Conviction, 1/Scene
You find a fake Concordance, crafting it between your
Kinaadman and the Diwa about you. You suffuse yourself
upon the flow of the Trichiliocosm, a meditation not all
Bladeweavers can achieve until the end of the scene. While
suffused, whenever you move or are moved, you can choose
to Teleport instead, and if you do, you always choose your
destination. During your turn, when you Stride, you can
choose an ally that you can see to to teleport equal to their
Speed instead.
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.
 BLADEWEAVER TEACHINGS
I
Winds Heed
Your Call
Sakmit Sigil
1 Technique
Ranged Attack: Perform a mudra, then carve out a
mentala upon the air, burning it upon your enemy.
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 3.
Damage: Faith fire.
Effect: Inscribe a Sakmit Sigil upon the target.
Sakmit Sigil: You or 1 ally within close burst 3 of the
target can consume the Sakmit Sigil as a Technique to
immediately teleport to a square adjacent to the target,
and then their next melee or ranged attack against the
target gains +(Your Faith) damage.
“I-It was like she was disappearing and then
reappearing! She was a shadow, no. Something
quicker than the shadow. Lightning? Diri, the
lightning is too loud, too bright. No, she was the
wind. She was the wind!”
Confer Musang Talons
2 Techniques
Target: All allies in a close burst 5
Effect: You perform a sword anyo that sharpens the
swords of allies, giving all the targets in range +1 Might
on their next attack.
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.
Weave Healing
Reaction
Trigger: An ally within close burst 3 is the target of an
attack.
Effect: You raise your hand in a healing mudra and it is
enveloped in flame. With an incantation you throw the
mudra, weaving magicks into the blade of a foe: making
the attack glancing.
A technique perfected by Datu Kasurak-surak
of Gatusan, who tore out his own heart to heal
his Swordmaiden wife.
210
II
Lightning
Answers To You
Confer Protection
2 Techniques
Target: 1 ally within close burst 3.
Effect: You perform a quick succession of mudra and
chant the yamyam of protection, summoning a burning
bubble of protection. Grant the target Protect 3.
Protect: All damage against you is reduced equal to the
Faith of the one that gave you the Protect. Protect can
only bring damage back down to 1.
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.
Weave Elements
1 Technique
Target: Self or 1 ally within close burst 3.
Effect: With your hand in a mudra you perform a quick
sword anyo, and infuse you or an ally’s blade with
burning elements. The target must choose a single
damage type (except Soul). Until the end of the scene,
they can choose to deal that damage when they Inflict
Violence.
Effect: The element bursts forth from the target: all
enemies within close burst 2 of the target suffer 3
skewering (chosen damage type) damage.
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.
Rending Mentala
1 Technique
Target: 1 ally in 2 squares.
Effect: With a quick utterance of yamyam and a mudra
slid across the length of a weapon, their weapon becomes
Enlightened, and it passes all defenses. The target’s next
atack becomes Skewering and can deal Soul damage.
The sacred ability of the Bladeweaver. Heaven
will be cut, and hell shall be rent.
 Rend Space
III
Sword Cuts 2 Techniques

Heaven Target: 2 different squares within close burst 5.

Unsheathe Mentala
3 Techniques
Target: 1 ally in 2 squares.
Effect: Speak the mudras. The formulations for
Unsheathing shine bright upon you, wherever you
inscribed it. The target gains Alacrity 2.
Alacrity: The target’s Tempo becomes 2.
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.
Effect: You summon lightning from your blade to rend
square itself, creating two Rips within range on the
chosen squares.
Rip: Rips are terrain. When moved into, the target is
teleported to a square adjacent to the other Rip.
Developed by elite Bladeweavers who went to
fight in the Thundering Elephant War in the
Southeastern Continent, who incorporated
Continental Sorcery and Spirituality.

Weave Swords
1 Technique
Target: 1 adjacent square.
Effect: With a silent breath, let go of your blade, and it
dances in the field. It flies, turning the battlefield into
its play square. Place a Flying Sword in the target area.
Flying Sword: Any ally can target the Flying Sword
with a ranged attack to increase their maximum range
by +3 squares. The sword is consumed afterwards.
When a Burst, Blast, Line, or Path includes the sword,
increase the size of that AoE by 1 and the sword is
consumed.
When a melee attack is performed while adjacent to the
Flying Sword, they may consume the melee attack for
free to gain +1 Might.
To Guro Sajawadu, this is the ultimate learning
of this style. The battlefield becomes one
square.

211
��i�

MURDERGLAVE
Es��� �m��y
Monstrances of Passion, Channelers of Mahadiwa-
KALAKATRI, Murder Goddess, Fulfillers of the
Promise of Blood

212

LORE
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 Murderglave, 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
Support, 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?
213
INFLICT VIOLENCE
TRAITS
Style: Sentinel
PENITENT GLAVE
1 Technique
Martial Art: Bloody Melee Attack: Strike in a wide
Hand of Redemption arc with your great weapon.
Posture: 48 Bravery: 2 Target: Up to 2 adjacent
Resist: 7 Faith: 4 fighters.
Resolve: 6 Speed: 3 Damage: d8+Faith visceral or
Tempo: 5 Jump: 1 dark damage.
ENLIGHTENMENTS
DEAD BODY
You have 3 Soak. Whenever you suffer damage, you may
mark the attacker indefinitely. All your attacks against your
mark deals +1d6 damage.
FAKE LOVE
As long as you’re not Unbalanced, all squares adjacent to
you are Dangerous Terrain for all enemies.
REGRETFUL RECKONING
At the start of your turn, you can pull one of your marks 2
squares toward you. If they are already adjacent to you and
you pull them anyway, they collide with you, and they
become Stunned 1, while you suffer 1d4 skewering
damage.
SPITEFUL SAINT SWORD
Whenever you pull a fighter, deal 1d4 dark damage.
BOON OF MURDEROUS INTENT
Reaction, 2 Conviction, 1/Combat
When you suffer damage, you can spend the required
Conviction to shatter your armor and let Murder shine
through: lose all Soak and Conditioning and you cannot
gain any more Soak nor Conditioning.
You gain the following benefits until the end of the scene:
0 All your attacks deal +1d6 damage.
0 Your Speed becomes 6.
0 All squares adjacent to you become hindering terrain.
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.
 MURDERGLAVE TEACHINGS
I
Violent
Penitence
Murder Prayer
Passive. When an enemy within close burst 3 of you
makes an attack that doesn’t include you, you can deal
1d6 dark damage to them immediately after the attack
resolves.
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.
Sinful Blade
2 Techniques
Ranged Attack: You swing your sword, and then
shadows burst out from them and grasp at your target.
Target: 1 fighter in a close burst 2
Damage: d10+Faith dark
Effect: The target must Resist or they become Bound 2
to you.
Bound: Bound fighters cannot leave your adjacency. If
they are not adjacent to you when they have this
Status, immediately pull them to adjacency of you.
"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 Shield of Makayao
Reaction
Trigger: When an adjacent ally is the target of an
attack
Effect: You leap forward, scarlet shadows erupting
from your heart and then solidifying into a shield.
Switch with the triggering ally and then you become
the target of the attack. After the attack, gain Block 8.
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
square for Want?
214
II
Bloody
Atonement
Solemnidad
1 Technique
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 3.
Effect: Your hand is enveloped in darkness and penitence,
and then it reaches out to pull the victim of your scorn.
Choose one:
Well: Pull all fighters within close burst 3 of the target by 2
squares.
Grasp: Pull the target to a adjacency of you.
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.
Perfect Body of Night
Passive. When you suffer any damage that is not Light,
suffer -1 damage and then deal Faith skewering dark
damage back at the attacker.
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
the encroaching invasion of Issohappa. She
became beatified for dying for her queen to
appease the warriors of her kingdom, and due to
her bloodthirst against the Pale Kings, became the
Patron Saint of Murderers and Penitents. When the
Pale Kings went through the northern central
region of Rusunuga 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.
Sibat Caligo
2 Techniques
Melee Attack: Strike forward, and an azure black lance
impales your enemy, and then knocks them back.
Target: 1 fighter in close line 5
Damage: d10+Faith+Bravery dark
Effect: Push the target to the last square of the line.
Effect: For each fighter the target collides with, it gains
a Slowed 1 stack. If they collide with 3 fighters, they
become Stopped 3 instead.
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.
III
Scarlet
Salvation
Dalagang Bakal
2 Techniques
Area Attack: Summon a suit of armor around you,
which explodes into black spikes before clamping
down to you.
Target: All enemies in 2 squares.
Damage: Faith skewering dark
Effect: Suffer Faith skewering dark damage as well, and
then take on the Dalagang Bakal Stance.
Dalagang Bakal Stance: You have a -2 to your Tempo,
but all damage against you deals +2d4 damage, and
you gain Light Vulnerability while in the stance.
Consume this stance when you make a melee attack to
gain +3 Might for that attack.
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.
215
Spill The Blood
Passive. You have a shadow twin that swirls about
you, blocking attacks and obfuscating enemy vision. A
manifestation of your penitence and atonement. It is
like an open wound, bleeding.
All enemies are considered Dazed while adjacent to
you, and they only have you as a valid target, as your
Shadow keeps them in check. When you are forcibly
moved, you can choose to let your Shadow be moved
instead, but you lose the previous effect. The new
square it ends up in becomes a field: all enemies within
close burst 2 of the field are Dazed.
As a Technique you can choose to switch places with
your Shadow: dealing Faith+1 dark damage to all
enemies adjacent to both you and the shadow. You
then lose all benefits of this technique until the end of
the scene.
Bloody Handed Redemption sings of horrible,
horrible love. A love that forces you to give too
much of yourself. A love that eviscerates.
Many sing a gospel, however: is that not what
love is? Evisceration? This is not the love of
gods, that is beneath us. 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.
This is because death is inherently alluring,
and death is something that all Murderglave
flirt with constantly. They must.
Using this technique, they summon a shadow
that is the worst part of themselves, the part
that they must learn to love to become better.
Midnight Raiments
Passive. Gain +1 Soak.
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.
 ��i�

SENAPATI
���т
Disciples of the Conquering King, Peerless Tacticians,
Practitioner of the Martial Art of Commandment and
Strategy, Ministers of the Battlefield

216
LORE
Be who you must be, Warlord. Senapati are born from blood
TRAITS INFLICT VIOLENCE
Style: Support
LET THE PRINCESS
MURDER THE HERO
spilled and shed on the battlefield, that wretched hive of
violence. With formidable tactics and peerless knowledge of Martial Art: 180 Strikes 1 Technique
the field, they guide their allies to victory. of the Conqeuring King Melee Attack: Shout loud as
Posture: 44 Bravery: 4 you holler commands.
Senapati is the common term for commander-at-arms of a
Datu, someone who is the Datu’s right hand man, who Resist: 6 Faith: 1 Target: All adjacent enemies
handles the statistics of armies and war bands and makes Resolve: 7 Speed: 4 Damage: 2 skewering soul
sure morale is high. They know the skills of their allies, and Tempo: 4 Jump: 2 Effect: 1 ally in 2 squares may
they make sure that their warband is optimized, ensuring Inflict violence.
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. ENLIGHTENMENTS
CONQUERING KING PRESENCE
The first Senapati is said to be the great first Conquering
King, Rajaraya Pintas, who blew open the sky-gates and All adjacent allies to you gain +1 Might to all attacks.
spoke with the Sky God Si Gurang Tungko, the elder Sky God,
son of the Ancient Formless Sky (who is crowned in majesty SUPERIOR TACTICS
but is overwhelmingly humbled as he seeks his wife who has
left him). Rajaraya Pintas was an ancient demigiant who You and every ally in the battlefield gains -1 on the Tempo
accomplished the feat of Heaven-Conquest due to his Roll at the start of combat.
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 INSPIRE TO GREATNESS
only able to conquer the sky with the strength of his allies.
For 1 Technique, you may heal 1 adjacent ally by
To become a Senapati, one does not exactly need to be the d6+Bravery Posture.
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 ROUSE TO VICTORY
strengths and weaknesses of their comrades are viable to
become Senapati. Of course, there are various masters of the When you add your Tempo to their Turn Beat, all
180 Strikes of the Conquering King can and will help: entire adjacent allies can shift 2 squares.
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. CONQUERING KING TACTICS
Senapati are common across the isles now, even though they 1 Technique, 1 Conviction
as a formal tradition arose during the Lakan Conspiracy, You can summon your presence upon the battlefield and
when they needed to rally warriors and to marshal tactics lay bare tactics and strategy. Choose 1 below when you
required to bring down the Pale King Hegemony. Senapati spend the Conviction:
have always existed even before then: the title is an ancient 0 Bravura Firebrand: All allies within close burst 3
one, belonging to the oldest of oldest of kingdoms, written
and passed down in unweatherable copperplate. can inflict violence.
0 Fearless General: All allies within close burst 3 gain
Senapati are warlords of warbands, but Panglima are
commanders of warrior armies. Laksamana, a name shared Evasion 8.
by an ancient monkey god-king that killed Maharajah 0 Charging Lancer: All allies within close burst 3 can
Lawana in Banjarmasir, is the term for admiral of a sea shift their Speed.
warband. With the rise of sky barges, the term Galura, a term
for the spawn of the great Eagle God Garuda, has become 0 Maverick Regnant: All allies within close burst 3
used as a term for sky admirals. gain Soak 3 until the end of their next turn.
However, with the arrival of the Issohappans, the many
Senapati stole a great number of techniques from the The 180 Strikes of the Conquering King was
Issohappans and incorporated them into the 180 Strikes. said to have been codified by Rajaraya
From the Issohappans they took the idea of military Pintas, the First Lord, after he returned to
academies, creating burgeoning warriors and warlords that the earth and traveled it even as the Cycles
can change the world.
of Violence flowed. He gave it to those that
If you become a Senapati, ask yourself why you lead your would have the Bloody Want strong enough
allies into inevitable violence. Your skills are fine tuned for to conquer heaven once again, and find a
the bloodshed caused in combat. Do you revel in the melee? means to end the Cycle of Violence. Each
Do you see yourself as a god of the battlefield? Why? Why Strike is at the same time a proclamation, a
have you chosen to be a creature of battle, a master of war yet teaching, and a commandment. Yet
beholden by it?
Rajaraya Pintas learned one thing as he
conquered heaven: that he could not do it
alone.

217
 SENAPATI TEACHINGS
I
Strikes 80-100
of Violence
Rouse
1 Technique
Target: 1 ally in 2 squares.
Effect: Embolden the target with words of encouragement,
or with harsh and rigid commands, grant them Ferocious
d4+1.
The First Strikes of the Conquering King focus on
the initial teachings of the art: that your allies are
your weapons, so treat them like you would your
spear.
Inspiring Presence
Passive. Whenever you give out...
0 ...a Boon, give it with +1 Duration.
0 ...Block, give it +4 Block.
0 ...Shift an ally, move them an additional 1 square.
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.
Panglima March
1 Technique
Target: Self
Effect: Get into position, and chant out orders and
mandates as you walk through the battlefield. Shift
yourself 2 squares and up to two allies in 2 squares of you
can shift 2 squares, and then gain the Panglima Stance.
Panglima Stance: While in Panglima Stance, all allies
within close burst 2 of you have Precision on all Resists and
Attacks. You lose Panglima Stance if you are unable to Stride
at least 2 squares on your turn.
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 diwa.
218
II
Strikes 1-50
of Protection
Shield Command
1 Technique
Target: 1 ally in 2 squares
Effect: Call out to the target, giving them Block equal
to (Their Critical + Your Bravery). They are part of
you, and you of them. A warlord is nothing without
his warriors.
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.”
Bulwark Presence
Passive. All adjacent allies have Evasion 2 and gain
immunity against Skewering (they can still be
damaged by skewering attacks but they ignore
Skewering’s effects, meaning they can apply Soak and
Conditioning.)
Carry banners, the plumage of our kind! Like
the hornbill brandishes feathers, and the bird
of paradise brandishes tail plumes! Let them
remember who we are, they will never forget
our names!
Laksaman Gambit
Reaction
Trigger: 1 ally within close burst 3 is attacked
Effect: Yell a single word, and their team bursts into
action, victory assured. 1 other ally within close burst
3 of you can shift their Speed, and then they can
inflict violence on the fighter attacking the
triggering ally, if they can.
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.
 Strikes 101-180 of God-King Sword
2 Techniques
II Enlightenment Target: 1 fighter in ranged 6
Effect: You charge forward and reach heaven through
violence, beckoning others to follow your example or
die trying: shift 5 squares until you’re adjacent to the
target, letting you move through every enemy.
5 Rajah Palms Effect: Every enemy that you move through may inflict
violence against you.
3 Techniques Effect: If you end up adjacent to the target, perform
Target: 1 fighter in melee the following melee attack against the target:
Damage: 2d6+Bravery visceral Damage: [Bravery x (Number of enemies you
Effect: All allies within close burst 3 of you may inflict moved through)] visceral
violence. Effect: Each ally within close burst 3 gains
Strike fast and strike through. Only if you can +1 Might. If this attack brings the target to Staggered,
break your foes can your allies see victory. they gain +3 Might instead.
This is the Conquering King’s primary attack: 5 “For many datu in the isles, some sort of
Rajah Palms that create a burning sigil upon divinity is a useful claim to royalty. This is
the enemy forces, crafted and passed down by because a ruler’s powerbase, a king’s
others that would learn his ancient art. powerbase, in the isles depend on how much

Kumandante Presence
virtue or merit the commonfolk see that you
have. If they realize that another, different
warrior-brave or king has a more powerful
Passive. Your adjacency is increased to 2 squares, claim to royalty, whether it be divine heritage,
instead of just everything within 1 square of you. bloodline, or superior ultraviolence, then they
will switch allegiance on a dime, following the
“The cosmos, the sky, the heavens and the more powerful one. Why would you follow a
earths and the hells: they will pass, fade away, non-virtuous person? If you followed a
like sand washed away by the waves of time. virtuous leader, then you will cultivate virtue
And our kind, all we do is fight. We engage in yourself.” - Sermons on Virtue and Rulership
such violence that the gods look away, and the by Sri Kadasiga Mahawagas
devils bow down in the grandeur of our
bloodshed. Like a river, it flows. It ever cycles:
our violence flows to the sea of time, and then
simply returns to the peak of the mountain
through the rain. Will there ever be a time that
our warring nations will achieve peace? Or is
peace simply not a portion of our nature? Who
is to dictate our nature?
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

219
 SWORD SAINT
�n� es��
Artists whose souls have been cut in twain.
Swordsmen that will complete the cutting motion of
existence.

220

LORE
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 an act 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?
INFLICT VIOLENCE
TRAITS
Style: Blaster
UNSHEATHE
1 Technique
Martial Art: Blade Melee Attack: You unsheathe your blade in
Gospel starspeed, sending a slash out.
Posture: 32 Bravery: 2 Target: 1 fighter in a close path 5
Resist: 5 Faith: 3 Damage: d6+Faith visceral
Resolve: 6 Speed: 3 Effect: Deal Bravery light damage to the rest
Tempo: 5 Jump: 2 of the enemies in the path.
ENLIGHTENMENTS
SWORD|SOUL
Your area attacks cannot become Glancing. If you damage 3+ fighters
with one attack, add your Bravery to the damage dealt.
ALL SPACES BECOME SWORD
If you are included in your own AoE (being the origin point does not
count) or an ally’s, increase the AoE’s size by 1 square.
REND HEAVEN AND HELL
Whenever a fighter suffers visceral damage within close burst 3, deal
Bravery skewering damage to them immediately as well.
SWORD NIRVANA
As long as you have Conviction, deal Bravery skewering visceral damage
to all adjacent enemies at the end of a Stride or when you Second Wind.
PERPETUAL CUTTING MOTION
1 Technique, 1 Conviction
Switch to a Sword Form. You do not begin in any of the Sword Form.
0 Gospel Swordstance of Amaley/Bladesong Form of Apolaki:
While in the Gospel of Amaley, all your area of effects gain +2
squares to their size and you have +1 square Speed.
0 Gospel of Amacor/Bladevesper of Mayari: While in the Gospel of
Amacor, all your attacks become Skewering.
0 Gospel of Azaragoe/Bladehymn of Tala: While in the Gospel of
Azaragoe, add +Bravery damage to all your area attacks.
“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
Cut.
“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 teaching is this: who are we but all in that
eternal process of the cut? The cut ends when we die, this
is the final teaching 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?”
221
 SWORD SAINT TEACHINGS
I
Unceasing
Sword
Swallow Gospel Stance | Mayamaya
Lightning Stance
1 Technique
Effect: Deal Faith visceral damage to up to 3 adjacent
enemies, slashing faster than sound. Then, take on the
Swallow Gospel Stance.
Swallow Gospel Stance: When you deal 8+ damage on
any attack, you can immediately make the following
area attack:
Target: All enemies in close blast 4
Damage: 2d6+Faith light
Effect: Each target suffers Bleeding 3.
Effect: If you damage 4+ enemies, keep the stance.
Your sword has become as sharp as a sword,
unusable for cutting. Only for killing. You can
slice with just a glance. One day, before a
bamboo grove, above a stone in the middle of a
river, Sanghati—now Masuna’s Guro (Teacher,
but more than that. Master? Perhaps, but
masters have authority.)—asked him to
contemplate on the strength of the bamboo,
while at the same time balancing a precarious
position: one foot up to his knee, a hand above
his head, and then another hand low and down
below his waist. “This is the Swallow Gospel
Stance,” said Guro Sanghati. “With it, may you
know peace and skill and enlightenment.”
Ubos Blades | Lawana Shrikes
Passive. Whenever you end your turn with Techniques
left, gain X Blades, with X being the number of
Techniques unspent. At the beginning of any Beat, you
can unleash any number of Blades you have against any
fighter within close burst 3, dealing 3 light damage per
Blade.
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 | Self-Acceptance
Reaction
Trigger: You are the target of a melee or ranged attack.
Effect: You deflect the attack with a flash of your blade.
Change the target to a different fighter within 4
squares, which can even be the attacker.
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.
222
II
Sacrosanct
Blade
Sidereal Rosary | Star of Batala
1 Technique
Target: 1 unoccupied square within close burst 2.
Effect: You summon a star-shaped Size 1 blocking
terrain edifice in the square chosen, called an Asterfix.
This is where the great Makayao, the Son of God, was
bled and dried until his corpse became desiccated and
mummified. You can only have 1 Asterfix on the
battlefield at a time.
All your area and ranged attacks can draw from the
Asterfix as the origin point.
Effect: 1 fighter adjacent to the Asterfix when it is
summoned is chained to it. That fighter is Slowed, and
if they end their turn while not adjacent to the Asterfix,
they are pulled back to adjacency to the Asterfix. This
can only be removed by destroying the Asterfix, which
is a 20 Durability object.
"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!"
Chrysanthemum Dance |
Diwahati’s Spider Lily
Reaction
Trigger: When a fighter moves or is moved out of
adjacency of you.
Effect: You may immediately inflict violence against
them before they move.
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
techniques created by a master from Ba-e,
whose name was Passiflora in Virbanwa. He
was executed for heresy, but his legacy lives on.
St. Katarata’s Void Wind | Gat
Ambon Slices The Void
2 Techniques
Effect: You summon the Cutting Winds of the Saints and
Ancestors: the winds carry the slashes of your sword into
every vector. Create a cross by drawing a four close line 5
patterns from each side of your square. Deal d6+Faith
skewering light damage against each target, and then
inflict Eviscerated 2.
Your sword has become as sharp as a sword,
unusable for cutting. Only for killing. You slice
with nothing but a glance. And so you unsheathe
your blade, and it cuts through. Perform a prayer
or sing a song, and your weapon dances from your
hand, moving on its own.
III
Sunder The
Blade
Sundering Meditation |
Harisabukid’s Sharpness
Passive. When you suffer damage while Staggered, you can
teleport 3 squares after suffering the damage. The one that
dealt damage to you suffers Provoked 2.
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.
223
Thunderhead Keens | Diwahati
Eviscerates Makaubos
1 Technique
Effect: You hide your blade, and wait for the perfect
time to strike. You can sheathe your blade, or
unsheathe it if it’s sheathed.
Sheathed: While sheathed, you cannot make any
attacks. However, you can teleport 3 squares
whenever you Stride. When you are attacked while
your sword is sheathed, you may immediately end
the sheathed state to teleport adjacent to the
attacker and inflict violence before the attack
resolves.
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.
Gleaming Sidereal Sword |
Gattalim’s Flickering Sword
2 Techniques
Area Attack: Slice faster than thunder, slashing the
battlefield with fulminating light.
Target: All enemies in close path 7
Damage: 2d6+Faith light
Effect: The target must resist or be marked 3.
Special: Whenever you teleport, all targets marked
by this technique suffer 3 skewering light damage.
The Bladesong cares for beginnings, for
origins. The Blade Gospel is the eschatology,
the perfection of circles: the pure end.
Therefore: the Blade Gospel sings of the end
times, when Makaubos the Great Devourer
will descend upon the world with his
Gleaming Sidereal Sword and all things will
become cut. The Blade Gospel meditates on
that eschatology, and the higher echelons of
Blade Gospel training includes movements
that emulate this story.
 BA-E
DISCIPLINES

224
225
 ��k �l�n
FLOWER BALYAN
Channelers and Priests of the Sampaguita: the Jasmine of
Death and the Ancestors, Speakers of the Departed,
Ministers of Blessed Flower Corpses

226
LORE
Flower Balyan channel the little and large gods
TRAITS INFLICT VIOLENCE
Style: Control
BLOOD PETALS
1 Techniques
of death. Martial Art: Flower Ranged Attack: You let blood petals fly
Neecromancy and then lacerate your enemy.
Flower Balyan are a specialized martial clan of
balyan that have focused on speaking with the Posture: 32 Bravery: 2 Target: 1 fighter within close burst 3
recently killed. More and more necromancers Resist: 4 Faith: 3 Damage: d4+Faith+Bravery skewering
have been born during the beginning of the Resolve: 7 Speed: 3 earth
Seventh Star Era due to the rapid rise in Tempo: 5 Jump: 2 Effect: The target suffers Sundered 2 .
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
ENLIGHTENMENTS
SOW SAMPAGUITA
alabay when they were younger, or shaman When you deal damage to a fighter, you may mark them
apprentices. Through this they learn the indefinitely. Whenever you deal earth damage, all fighters
foremost important necromancy ritual: the marked by you suffer 1 skewering damage.
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 DEATHLY BLOSSOMS
rituals to send off the kalag to their final resting Whenever a fighter suffers Fraying in the battlefield, you
place. Flower Balyan are a step forward. They may either: deal 2 skewering damage to that fighter or
took this advantage during the rise of killing heal yourself 2 Posture.
through violence, which has caused many kalag
to not be sent properly to the afterlife.
WATER THE GRAVE
Flower Balyan use the iconic sampaguita As a Technique, you can place a flower in any unoccupied
flower--the flower one would smell if a beloved adjacent square. The Flower is difficult terrain for all
one’s ghost who has passed away is near you-- enemies. The flower lasts until it is adjacent to fire damage
to promise a better end: they will grant them or you pick it up with a Technique, healing you 2 Posture.
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 TILL THE GARDEN
has been used, the sampaguita must be planted As the last Technique on your turn, you may consume any
to the ground, wherein it withers and then dies, number of your marks on the battlefield. If you do, it
finishing the elaborate pag-uli ritual. blossoms into a death sampaguita: the fighter that has
your mark suffers d6 skewering earth damage per your
Flower Balyan use the kalag bound to their mark on them that you consume.
sampaguita to perform things usually thought
of as blasphemous: they animate bones and
flesh (not of tawo, however), they grant life to SORROW OF THE GRAVEBLOSSOMS
their allies, and they sap away at enemies’ 2 Techniques, 1 Conviction
vitality. You become a flower: unable to move either voluntarily or
Balyan see them in a negative light. Thus, forcibly, and sampaguita sprout from your body. Choose a
Flower Balyan are much rarer than the usual single square within close burst 3 that you can see. Burst 2
balyan. In a very real sense, Flower Balyan are Vengeant Fields erupt from the squares you have chosen
simply warrior-priestesses who have absorbed until the end of the scene.
the teachings of death and used it to gain an Whenever an enemy enters, exits, or starts their turn
edge. This kind of thinking is something Ba-e within the Vengeant Field, they suffer 2 skewering soul
obviously loves, and they patronized and hired damage. All attacks made by enemies within the field
Flower Balyan alongside balyan in their polities. become glancing.
Only the most traditionalist of balyan sneer at Flower Balyan very often cultivate gardens
them. Unfortuantely, that is still the majority. of their own, either in their own houses or
Dealing in matters of death is anathema to perhaps in their own settlements. These
them, is too close to the sorceries of the aswang. gardens are pieces of wonder, though their
Despite this, Flower Balyan follow the tenets of most striking part will always be a corpse
Dalankalag to the bitter end, the spiritual Path flower in the middle of it all. Flower Balyan
of the Soul. are fond of sampaguita, or jasmines, as they
are the flowers of the dead. They cultivate
If you become a sampaguita necromancer, you the gardens because it is very often taught
bring with you at all times your cord of that to take a life, you must bring something
sampaguita. Why do you carry it? Is it else to life.
atonement? You lay to rest those that are dead,
but can you ever give your own soul respite?

227
 FLOWER BALYAN TEACHINGS
Lacewings and
I Corpse Flowers
Kinahalas-un’s Thorn
1 Technique
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 3
Effect: You flick out a thorn that embeds itself into the
target, giving them Fraying 2.
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
Balyan, who practice it and then learn to apply
it as covetously and as hidden as possible,
woven between sung incantations and empty
hand forms.
Bramble Summoning
Deadly
II
Corpseflowers
Gumamela
Passive. When you Inflict Violence, the target must
Resolve or suffer Shirked 2.
Shirked: While Shirked, they cannot target you. If the
target makes an attack, you can immediately cleanse
the Shirked from the target to change the target to
another fighter in range.
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.

Technique
1 Technique or 2 Techniques Mandurugo
Area Attack: You touch the soil, utter a prayer, and 2 Techniques
brambles burst forth. Ranged Attack: You summon a vine filled with
Target: All fighters in a close burst 3. If 2 Techniques: vampire orchids and wrap it around your enemy.
increase range to close burst 5. Target: 1 fighter in 5.
Damage: d6+Faith earth Damage: 3d4 skewering earth
Effect: Inflict Slowed 2 on all targets. Effect: Inflict Debilitated 2.
Effect: When the Slowed ends, the square the target is
currently standing on becomes Difficult Terrain for The Mandurugo is the vampire orchid, which
the rest of the scene. drains blood from one’s veins and applies it as
spiritual healing upon others. It is exceedingly
Flower Necromancers very often cultivate rare, and is popular for healing datu by
gardens of their own, either in their own sacrificing slaves.
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
Necromancers 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.

Vine Lash
1 Technique
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 3
Effect: A vine erupts from your fingers, and you whip it
around your victim, moving them about the field. Shift
the target 3 squares. If the target is an enemy and they
collide with a fighter, the target becomes Dazed 2,
stopping the movement.
A technique developed by Panglima
Winangkai, a priestess-warrior who gave up
her life for her Queen to prove her love to them.

228
Bulak Curse
Passive. Any fighter marked by you suffers +1 to
their Tempo.
Corpse flower necromancy is an art
crafted by the first shaman that dared
tamper with the cycle of life, who realized
the significance of Flowers (particularly
the Sampaguita) being the symbol for
death in the cultures across the Sword
Isles. They were awarded by it, in the long
run, but the gods did not look kindly at
their choosing. The ancient Kadanay
shaman Ya-o performed the first
necromancy ritual and created the first
walking corpse. That Kadanay shaman
was a Kadungganan, whose Want for their
loved one to return to life forced them to
go into extremes. In the end, they could
not revive them completely. For this
transgression, Sumpoy, Grandchief of the
Underworld, cursed Ya-o to become an
eternal corpse, never to die, but never to
live. Sumpoy forced him to fuse with his
loved one, the first walking corpse, and
thus Ya-o became the First Necromancer
To Have Never Died.
III
Ambrosial
Jasmines
Mantiw Ghost Flower
1 Technique
Effect: Choose an unoccupied square within close burst 3. A
ghost flower blossoms from it, and is Size 1 Blocking Terrain.
All enemies adjacent to it gain Imprecision on all attacks and
cannot gain Might.
Effect: As another technique, you can choose to consume the
ghost flower, whereupon it disappears and a phantasm
pushes all adjacent enemies by 3 squares.
A mantiw is a phantasm in Sword Isle folklore,
apparitions of once living folk. In a sense, they are
the ghosts of the Sword Isles, strange and warped
creatures held back from going into the afterlife they
deserve due to their death being atrocities. They are
infested with Dihiyang. The most belligerent of
mantiaw are the mangubat mantiw, the warrior
ghosts, who die in a particularly Di-Hiyang combat
such as a massacre or unjust genocide.
Burning Santan Sorcery
2 Techniques
Effect: Choose 1 square within close burst 3. A close burst 2
field of fireflowers erupts from the chosen square, which is
burning terrain for enemies. All enemies in the burst suffer
Bravery+Faith skewering fire damage.
Fireflower Field: All allies in the field can choose to deal fire
damage when they attack. All fighters within the field gain
water vulnerability. If they suffer water damage while within
the field, the square they’re on loses fire, losing the effects of
the field.
Gather motes of crimson santan, crush them, and
pray to let the vengeful dead burn the thickets. A
mentala that summons a burning foliage. It is
wrapped in phantom flame.
Raise Malanhig
2 Techniques
Effect: Raise 1 Defeated Fighter in the battlefield as a
Malanhig, dealing Faith skewering soul damage to all
enemies adjacent to them. They are counted as back in play,
but are counted as allies now to you.
Malanhig: They do not have their own turns and cannot be
Defeated. Once on your turn, you can shift them 3 squares.
You can choose to make the origin point of any technique one
of your malanhig. Additionally, any time there is a malanhig
in the target area of any of your area of effects or fields, add +1
square to the AoE or Field’s size.
Cast bones and jasmines upon the ground and utter
coaxing whispers to the dead. Malanhig are undead
that cling to this world of man due to grudges and
unfinished business. Why do you do this? Why do
you command them, depriving them of rest?
229
 ��n ���w
HEAVENSPEAR
Renders of Heaven, Denouncers of Kings, Cloud Surfers,
Ever Alight Javelins, Attainment of Minor Enlightenment

230
LORE
No gods, no rulers. This is the first teaching of the
Piercers of Heaven. Their teachings then go on to
teach of the great unbreaking, that unlashing
from the earth, that great wind-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.
The first Heavenspear was Sarripada Pak-an. To
fend off an incoming Akai raid, they rode upon
catapults, and when the war barges sounded, they
launched themselves into the air, sailing across
the sky, and rending sails from masts and
inflicting chaos upon the raiders.
The Sarripada would continue to do this until one
day, he launched himself so high that he spoke
with Lawu, the great eagle that will eat the sun.
The eagle took him into his clutches and showed
him the seven heavens, at the top of which there
was no throne but simply infinite bliss. When
asked why there was no great god that ruled over
them all, the Eagle responded: “Rulership is a
mistake and a lie built by your ancestors and
descendants. Rejoice in the glory of combat.”
Sarripada Pak-an descended back into the earth
upon a silken kite that he had fashioned himself
with the help of biraddali--rainbow-winged
angels--from one of the seven heavens. With this,
he fought like a hawk, swooping and killing and
destroying boats.
After fending off that particular raid, he 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 tyrant-gods of the earth, who
lash you down to the ground.
“No thrones, rend heaven and hell.” As a
Heavenspear, you are taught the Heaven-Rending
Arts. These are a set of techniques that let you
reflexively move about the air as if there were
innumerable platforms about you, using your
spirit to bounce off of thin air. This, 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.
TRAITS INFLICT VIOLENCE
Style: Raiding
THUNDERSPEAR
1 Technique
Martial Art: Heaven Melee Attack: You pierce forward
Rending with your weapon, impaling foes.
Posture: 36 Bravery: 4 Target: All fighters in close line 2
Resist: 5 Faith: 2 Damage: d12+Bravery wind
Resolve: 6 Speed: 4
Tempo: 4 Jump: 6
ENLIGHTENMENTS
ADVICE-SCORNING LIGHTNING
When you make a melee attack, you can shift 3 squares
before making the attack. If you do, you are considered on
a higher height than your target.
Additionally, you ignore fall damage and move over
chasms as if normal terrain.
SKYDANCER
When a fighter within close burst 2 moves or is moved, you
may shift 1 square, 1/turn. During combat, whenever you
move on your turn, gain 1 stack of Transcendence.
CELESTIALITY
All your attacks against fighters that are on a lower height
have Precision. If you already have Precision, gain +1
Might to the attack.
LANCE MASTER
After you make a melee attack, shift 1 target of the attack
up to 2 squares.
UNBINDING
2 Techniques, 2 Conviction, 8 Transcendence
Perform Greater Ascension. Choose any 1 fighter in the
battlefield and then leap into the sky. At the start of your
next turn, plummet down to the target’s square, dealing
3d10+2xBr+2xFa skewering wind damage. The height
they’re standing on becomes a Chasm and you gain Flying
for the rest of the scene. Then, push the target 3 squares.
Heavenspears are taught, in one way or
another, to ignore gravity. This is the final lie.
However, to achieve that, they must learn
the truth of the Waling-Waling Surat: that
they themselves are not real. That they
travel and can perform feats of grand God-
killing because reality as they know it is a
structure of their own souls crafting reality
around them. Only then can they truly
unchain themselves from the shackles of the
earth.
231
 HEAVENSPEAR TEACHINGS
I
1,000
Lightnings
Pinamaskan
1 Technique
Ranged Attack: You pierce down, enveloping your
weapon with repelling voidwinds, and then throw your
weapon at an enemy.
Target: 1 fighter within close burst 3
Damage: d12+Bravery wind
Effect: The target must Resist or be pushed 2 squares
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.
Thunderbolt
Passive. Once per turn, after dealing wind damage, you
can immediately teleport to any adjacent square to the
fighter you damaged. The target must Resist or become
Marked 2 by you. You can consume the Mark at the start
of your turn to teleport adjacent to them.
Leap into the clouds and then plummet down.
The Heavenspear is not impeded by the
battlefield. All obstacles are simply things that
must be vaulted over. Heavenspear Hinalus sped
through an entire forest to strike at a warrior
resting within the mouth of a river.
Vault
1 Technique
Effect: You use your weapon to vault over your enemy,
confusing them, befuddling them, overwhelming them
with your superior movement. Shift to any other
adjacent square to the target. Your next melee attack
against the target gains Precision.
A technique mastered by winged eaglefolk
Nawilani, who perfected it when they resolved to
ignore their weakness as someone that cannot
fly.
232
II
Thunderous
Attainment
Detach
Reaction
Trigger: You are the target of an attack
Effect: You leap into the air and are blasted in multiple
different directions by an invisible crimson force: shift 3
squares ignoring terrain and height, before the attack
resolves.
You can alternatively choose to leap up, automatically
avoiding melee attacks. If you do, you become Flying 1.
Special: You can only use this twice per scene.
Like an ancient Epic hero, you whistle and call
upon a red light beam. This red light beam,
called by others as the Ray of Lawu, or the Eyes
of Sumongsuklay, is said to be judgment from
the missing over-god. But what is judgment
without a judge?
Pierce Through
Passive. After shifting, gain 1 Might on your next melee
attack, 1/turn.
As you move, lightning and thunder crackles
about you. A technique taught to early
Heavenspears. In this godless world, one must
learn to use their weapon effectively. With their
soul like a spear, they must skewer those that
are the victim of their scorn.
Ride The Storm
1 Technique
Effect: Ready yourself, and then, turn into lightning.
Become Riding The Storm until the start of your next
turn.
Riding The Storm: At the beginning of any Beat, before
any Turns are taken, you may consume Riding The Storm
to shift 2 squares immediately.
The Heavenspear Namwara used this to kill a
giant sea serpent which had breached into the
air. He sped through the length of the serpent
and came out from its tail, flickering through
the body.
 III
Fulminating
Nirvana
Plummeting Thunder
2 Techniques
Melee Attack: You twist in the air, and then a sudden
beat, before you crash instantly into your target.
Target: 1 fighter in a close line 6
Effect: Shift into any square in the line that is adjacent to
the target.
Damage: d12+Bravery wind
Effect: Inflict Knockdown 2.
Knockdown: All attacks against you gain Precision. You
cannot Flank, you cannot move voluntarily, you cannot
make Attacks. You can spend a Technique to stand up
and remove this.
Thundering will overcome you: you will never be
overhwelmed. 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
1 Technique
Melee Attack: You crouch down low, and then like
lightning wishing to return to the heavens, then thunder
releases, and you burst up in a burning arc, like lightning
rising up to the sky.
Effect: Before the attack, shift 1 square.
Target: 1 adjacent fighter.
Damage: 2d6+Bravery wind damage
Effect: Push the target 2 squares back, and then they
must Resist or suffer Juggled 1.
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.

Cascading Storm
1 Technique
Melee Attack: You rush forward, becoming like a smear
of thundering fulmination, skewering through foes.
Effect: Move 6 squares in a straight line, dealing the
damage to every fighter you move through.
Damage: Bravery + Faith wind
That ultimate teaching 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.

233
 �m��n
MENDER
Healers of Sword, the Traveling Doctors, Masters of the
Convalescent Art

234
LORE
Known as Tambalan [tam-BA-lan] in the isles, Menders are balyan
who focus on their studies of Dalankalag, the path of the soul,
TRAITS INFLICT VIOLENCE
Style: Support
RAVELING PALM
Dalanlikas, the path of nature, and Dalandiwa, the path of essence. 1 Technique
They pay less heed to Dalananito, the path of worship, and truly Martial Art: Palm of Area Attack: You thrust your
this has led them to come at heads with other balyan. Menders Rumsua palm forward, striking at their
travel the isles as healers and doctors, and in recent times they have Posture: 44 Bravery: 2 soul.
become even more in demand due to the rising tensions of war and Resist: 6 Faith: 3 Target: All fighters in a close
violence. Resolve: 7 Speed: 3 line 3
They specialize in healing physical and spiritual harm. Spiritual Tempo: 4 Jump: 2 Damage: d4+Faith skewering
including any intellectual and emotional damage. Most balyan soul
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.
ENLIGHTENMENTS
MENDING CONCOCTIONS
Menders in particular are trained to be desensitized to the atrocities
of war and are meant to fight in the frontlines. There they are At the beginning of the scene, you have 5 Concoctions.
trained to bring herbal remedies and other such potions to quickly As a Technique you can give 1 ally within close burst 2 a
heal warriors and to bring them to top fighting form before concoction from below. They can consume the concoction
anything else can happen. with an Interact.
0 Eagle Eye Elixir. Eagle Feathers, Crocodile Eyes,
Not just that, but their knowledge of nature has them memorizing Crimson Carnelians. The consumer of this concoction
names of flora and fauna and their functions when mixed with each gains +1 Might on their next attack.
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 0 Tortoise Shell Patch. Turtle Shell, Kalabaw Horn, Iron
to avoid eating poisonous herbs or omen flowers, as well as finding Shavings, Blue Pea Tea. The consumer of this
a way to purify water and make it potable. They do this with their concoction gains Soak +2 until the end of their next
clay pots and through burning of various herbs. They learn various turn.
drugs to enhance the capabilities of their allies. 0 Deer Hoof Poultice. Deer nails, Antler Shavings,
Deerskin Hide, Crimson Flower Petals. The consumer of
The first Mender was said to be none other than the panganitohan this concoction gains +2 squares to their Speed until
Sri Dewa Sarripada Agas. The Mender, embodying the best of both the end of their next turn.
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 HEALING OIL
that used or worked with tambal. They have knowledge of When you an ally is caught within your area attacks, you
advanced healing techniques as well, although not as broad in their can choose to heal them equal to the damage instead of
expertise as balyan. They know the basics of hilot, and usually dealing damage to them.
know the correct oils to apply to the proper muscles.
Sri Dewa Sarripada Agas, known to many Menders as The Blue ULTRASOUL PERFECTION
Man, as they manifested before them when a Mender would first
begin their journey. Each Mender is given a snake-twin--something At the end of your turn, 1 adjacent ally can cleanse 1 Bane.
usually only given as a guardian spirit to specific chosen children--
crafted by Sri Dewa Sarripada Agas themself. Then they will explain SICKNESS MERIDIAN FUMIGATION
that all tawo came from snake within bamboo, and that the snake’s Whenever you heal an ally, heal them an additional +d6
ability to shed is indicative of inherent regenerative abilities within Posture.
man. Thus, man was taught healing through natural means,
instead of forced regeneration.
TAMBAL
Sri Dewa Sarripada Agas also taught the truth of the soul to the 3 Techniques, 2 Conviction
Mender: there are four souls: The Vigor, The Power, The Thought, Heal all allies in the battlefield to full Posture.
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 0 - Discord is an excuse for harmony. In the
soul that activates whenever sorcery is used. Without The Power, beginning all things were harmonious.
we are like husks. Then there is the The Thought, which can leave us Assemble souls that have become sundered
if we do not cultivate proper spiritual and mental life. Staying alone from each other. Rejoin with that supreme
for long periods of time can cause this. Finally, The Immortal is the soul, that supernal consciousness, and find
soul that collects all of our thoughts and actions and personality. enlightenment. Only then shall you become
When we die, The Immortal travels to our chosen afterlife, and can Harmonious.
be called upon as ancestors. Pagtambal is the act of healing. Its
philosopher’s stone is Lunas. Lunas is the
Finally, Sri Dewa Sarripada Agas teaches that most ailments panacea of the gods, made up of 20 different
happen due to destruction and imbalances within the soul caused herb leaves, 15 animal blood parts, 13 moth,
by an element. Most ailments begin spiritual, and only those butterfly, and dragonfly wings, and 8
powerful boil over into the physical, affecting us physically. The different healing waters from 8 different
most grievous of ailments, such as cutting and slashes and crushing springs, placed within a clay jarlet engraved
blows, for example, is a perfect example of the element of Space with the name of the healing diwata that
separating or pushing together the Vigor. Thus, Menders are taught helped the Mender that brewed this lunas.
to heal the soul first, so that the physical may heal properly
afterwards.

235
 MENDER TEACHINGS
I
Kararua
Expertise
Ultrasoul Palm
2 Techniques
Melee Attack: You burst forward suddenly, your hand in a
four-finger mudra, and force the target’s soul from their
body.
Target: 1 adjacent fighter in close line 3.
Damage: d6+Faith soul
Effect: The target must Resist or Resolve (whichever is
lower). On a pass: their soul is exploded into the last square
of the line and it returns at the end of their next turn. On a
fail, it lasts for 3 turns.
Exploded Soul: Targeting the soul is considered as
targeting the fighter that owns the soul. Any damage dealt
to the fighter through targeting the soul gain 1 Might.
With your other hand, you open your palm, and the
Rumsua, an eye in the middle of your palm, a
symbol for health and soul strength, bursts
through. You slam it into your enemy, and you
blast their soul from them.
Bottled Lightning
Passive. You start the scene with 1 Bottled Lightning. You
can spend 1 Technique to create 1 more. You cannot have
more than 2 Bottled Lightnings at a time.
As a Technique: you can either Interact with the Bottled
Lightning or give 1 Bottled Lightning to an ally within close
burst 2.
Bottled Lightning: When interacted with, the interacter
immediately explodes into lightning: they shift 5 squares,
through enemy squares and ignoring all terrain and height.
At the end of their movement, every enemy they move
through suffers d6 wind damage and the interacter gains
Fulminating 2.
Fulminating: You have +1 square to your Speed, all your
attacks become Steady, and you can choose to deal wind
damage.
A glass vial that contains a fulminating
thundercloud within, kept anchored by a burning
mutya plucked from a tree struck by lightning.
Salve
Passive. You have 1 Salve at the start of a scene. You can
spend 1 Technique to make 1 Salve.
1 Technique: Either interact with the Salve or give it to 1 ally
within close burst 3.
Salve: When interacted with, you heal 2d6 Posture and
then they can cleanse 1d4 Banes. They then get
Regeneration 2.
Proper salves heal The Vigor first and foremost,
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.
236
II
Soul
Mastery
Blasting Unguent
Passive. You start a scene with 1 Blasting Unguent. You
can spend a Technique to make more.
1 Technique: Interact or give the Blasting Unguent to 1
ally in 2 squares.
Blasting Unguent: When interacted with, deal 3d6
skewering fire damage to all enemies adjacent to you.
You then gain Blazing 2.
Blazing: You can choose to deal fire damage on all
attacks. You ignore burning and dangerous terrain. All
your attacks deal +1d6 fire damage.
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.
Protective Oil
Passive. You begin a scene with 1 Protective Oil. You
can spend 1 Technique to make 1 more.
1 Technique: Interact with or give 1 ally in 2 squares
the Protective Oil.
Protective Oil: When interacted with, push all
enemies 3 squares and then gain 3 Soak for 3 turns.
A Mender clasps their hands together and
produces a healing oil made of crushed
flowers, cinnamon bark, and deepsea coral
snake blood. The oil protects allies from the
effects of violence.
Herb Mastery
Passive. At the end of your turn, you leave behind a
single Healing Herb in an adjacent square.
Healing Herb: Any ally that moves into the Healing
Herb’s square can immediately heal 4 Posture.
You almost always know which herbs, foliage,
and ingredients to use to make sure that your
items are always topped up.
 III
Four-Soul
Perfection
Flowersmoke Bombs
Passive. You have 2 Flowersmoke Bombs at the
start of a scene. You can spend 2 Techniques to
make 1.
1 Technique: Throw a Flowersmoke Bomb in a
square within close burst 3. The bomb explodes
into a burst 2 area of flowersmoke.
Flowersmoke Field: All allies within the
flowersmoke gain Evasion 7 against all attacks
made from outside of the flowersmoke.
If the Field is Scorched or if fire-based attacks are
used against a target within the flowersmoke, it
ignites and explodes, dealing 3d6 + 3 fire damage
to all fighters within the flowersmoke. The
flowersmoke dissipates afterwards.
You carry rattan balls filled with
smokeflower seeds, which when exposed to
flame explodes into pink, obfuscating
smoke, filling the battlefield with the smell
of hibiscuses.

Numbing Puso
Passive. You have 2 Numbing Puso at the start of a
scene. You can make 1 Numbing Puso with 2
Techniques.
1 Technique: You or 1 ally within close burst 3
gains Block d8+Faith
Lukay is palm leaf art, not dissimilar from
origami from the far southern archipelago.
Flower seeds, petals, herbs, cinnamon, and
lemongrass have been cooked into a hot
rice ball encapsulated into this heart-
shaped lukay. This, when applied forcibly,
envelops The Immortal with a moment of
Hiyang, making them one with all things
for one moment.

Magick Concoction
3 Techniques
Target: 1 adjacent ally
Effect: The target gains the benefits of a any single
Anting-Anting that you or any of your allies own
until the end of the scene. This can give them the
benefits of an Item Set. However, they still have a
limit of 5 Anting-Anting. If they already have 5, you
must choose 1 to replace for the scene.
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.

237
 Anting-Anting
The most important protective measures in the islands of
The Sword Isles are Anting- Anting, which translates to
Magical Amulets and Trinkets.
Items filled with occult-spiritual power that can grant
extraordinary skills and feats. Anting-Anting can be
attached onto weapons or used as weapons.
Mechanically speaking, these are minor passive bonuses
that work similarly to Feats or Talents in other systems.
You gain your first Anting-Anting at Prowess 2, 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.
HEALER’S DIADEM
A holy diadem made of palm leaf and gold.
Effect: When you heal an ally, heal them an additional
1d6 Posture.
Healer’s Set (1/3): Healing a fighter also gives them +1
Soak for the rest of the scene. This effect triggers once per
fighter per scene.
HEALER’S CLOAK
A cloak woven with holy patterns of the sacred spirits.
Effect: Heal Faith Posture to all allies adjacent to you
when you start your turn.
Healer’s Set (1/3): Healing a fighter also gives them +1
Soak for the rest of the scene. This effect triggers once per
fighter per scene.
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 shift 1 square.
Healer’s Set (1/3): Healing a fighter also gives them +1
Soak for the rest of the scene. This effect triggers once per
fighter per scene.
CORAL BLADES
Weapons made up of pink-red coral harvested from pristine
seas.
Effect: Your melee and ranged attacks ignore 1 point of
Soak.
Coral Knight Set (1/5): You gain the following benefits:
You are Unyielding, Floating, Hastened, and you have
Evasion 3. These Boons and Evasion don’t have a
duration.
238
Each Anting-Anting is unique: you cannot have more
than one of the same Anting- Anting.
While a Kadungganan gains an automatic Anting-Anting
at certain Prowesses, they can still gain Anting-Anting
from other sources. However, they can only equip a
number of Anting-Anting equal to the Anting-Anting
they should have gotten at that level. (Example: a Level 7
Kadungganan can only equip up to 3 Anting-Anting since
they get their Third Anting-Anting then.)
All Anting-Anting are rarities.
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: You gain water conditioning. When you forcibly
moved, you can shift 1 square after the forced movement.
Coral Knight Set (1/5): You gain the following benefits:
You are Unyielding, Floating, Hastened, and you have
Evasion 3. These Boons and Evasion don’t have a
duration.
CORAL PLATE
A breastplate of large coral plates stitched together with sea
serpent tendons.
Effect: When you first become Staggered, your Tempo
becomes 3 until the end of your next turn.
Coral Knight Set (1/5): You gain the following benefits:
You are Unyielding, Floating, Hastened, and you have
Evasion 3. These Boons and Evasion don’t have a
duration.
CORAL KUPYA
A helmet of coral, letting you protect yourself against dazing
effects.
Effect: Gain +1 to your Resist.
Coral Knight Set (1/5): You gain the following benefits:
You are Unyielding, Floating, Hastened, and you have
Evasion 3. These Boons and Evasion don’t have a
duration.
CORAL PARUKA NAGA JAVELIN
Sandals made up of coral. Ragged and rough, bristling, to keep A javelin made of a deep sea dragon tooth, or perhaps the bone
you awake. is mined from those caves that have titanic skeletons?
Effect: Whenever you leave a square, you suffer 1 Effect: Your ranged attacks have -1 square to their
skewering damage. maximum range, but they deal +1 damage.
Effect: Gain +1 Reaction and you are immune to Slowed,
Dazed or Stunned.
Coral Knight Set (1/5): You gain the following benefits: NAGA GAUNTLETS
You are Unyielding, Floating, Hastened, and you have Gauntlets made up of a giant naga’s tooth. It is abrasive to
Evasion 3. These Boons and Evasion don’t have a touch, and can be used to cut.
duration. Effect: Reaction. When you suffer a melee attack, deal d6
visceral damage at the attacker after their attack resolves.
Naga Set (1/4): For 1 Technique: At Beat 20 or more, you
FLOWER CAPE can become a Naga Kawal until the end of the scene.
A cape made of beautiful flowers. The flowers are kept in a While you are a Naga Kawal you have the visage of a
perpetual state of blossoming. humanoid draconic being. All your melee attacks have +1
Effect: All enemies within close burst 2 of you suffer a -1 range and you are considered Flying. You gain fire
penalty to their Resist and Resolve. conditioning and you cannot be forcibly moved.
Flower Set (1/2): If at the end of your turn you dealt no
damage, heal 8 Posture.
NAGA COAT
A long, short-sleeved coat made up of interlinked naga teeth.
FLOWER BRACERS Effect: Gain +1 square to your Jump.
Bracers twined together with flower petals. The flowers do not Naga Set (1/4): For 1 Technique: At Beat 20 or more, you
die. can become a Naga Kawal until the end of the scene.
Effect: When you deal damage, you can choose to deal While you are a Naga Kawal you have the visage of a
earth damage. If you do, deal 1 skewering earth damage humanoid draconic being. All your melee attacks have +1
to all adjacent enemies. range and you are considered Flying. You gain fire
Flower Set (1/2): If at the end of your turn you dealt no conditioning and you cannot be forcibly moved.
damage, heal 8 Posture.
NAGA HELM
DEVIL IDOL A helmet made of bone and gold in the shape of a naga’s head.
An Idol upon a gold necklace. Represents a malevolent deity. Effect: You deal +1 damage against all fighters that are
Effect: Gain +1 to your Faith. Marked, even if it’s not by you.
Naga Set (1/4): For 1 Technique: At Beat 20 or more, you
can become a Naga Kawal until the end of the scene.
CRIMSON PUDONG While you are a Naga Kawal you have the visage of a
A large headwrap bathed in deep crimson blood. Represents humanoid draconic being. All your melee attacks have +1
burning courage and bravery. range and you are considered Flying. You gain fire
Effect: Gain +1 to your Bravery. conditioning and you cannot be forcibly moved.

IRON SKIN MUTYA

You have ingested a mutya that turned your skin to iron.
Effect: Gain +1 to your Soak.

WICKED SHARP MUTYA

You have ingested a mutya that has sharpened your violent
intent into a killing spirit.
Effect: All your visceral damage deals +1 damage.

GOLD EYE NECKLACE

A necklace that depicts the gold sun eye, a burning surya.
Effect: When you inflict a Bane, you can give it +1
Duration.

239
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. You still push
them aside.
Garoda Set (1/3): You are considered a Garoda Satariya.
You have 1 Charge of Garoda Wings, which you can use at
the start of your turn. If you do, you become Flying 6.
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 Melee Attacks cannot suffer from
Imprecision.
Garoda Set (1/3): You are considered a Garoda Satariya.
You have 1 Charge of Garoda Wings, which you can use at
the start of your turn. If you do, you become Flying 6.
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
shift 1 square after the attack.
Garoda Set (1/3): You are considered a Garoda Satariya.
You have 1 Charge of Garoda Wings, which you can use at
the start of your turn. If you do, you become Flying 6.
GODTREE KALASAGDAKO
Kalasagdako is “Large Shield”. This is a giant kalasag made of
holy strangler fig fibers and wood, strengthened by shaman
ritual.
Effect: At the start of combat, gain Block equal to your
Turn Beat.
Effect: As 1 Technique, gain Block d6+Bravery.
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: All your melee attacks have a 1-in-10 chance of
critically hitting. Roll before making your melee attack.
Critical Hit: You no longer roll damage, simply deal
maximum damage.
240
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 turn with unspent
Techniques, your next ranged attack gains +1 Might.
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 1d6 fire damage to all
enemies adjacent to you, then lose all Explosion Charges.
HATRED AGIMAT
A talisman with the face of a grinning demon. Feared and
hated by all.
Effect: All adjacent fighters have Imprecision when
attacking you. However, you suffer +1d6 damage from all
damage outside of your adjacency.
HARDWOOD BREASTPLATE
A breastplate made of exceptionally hard wood, most probably
painted.
Effect: Gain +4 Posture.
SORCERER’S AGIMAT
A talisman with a magical beast’s tooth, nail, eye, or hair lock
tied to it.
Effect: When you use a Technique that requires 3
Techniques, gain Unyielding and Soak 3 until the end of
your next turn.
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 walls that you put
down as an Effect have +1 square to their size.
WATER BUFFALO SHIELD
A kalasag made of wood and water buffalo hide. Absorbs large
amounts of force.
Effect: When you are pushed, you can resist to ignore the
push.
RAZOR BRACERS
You wield bracers that are fitted with razor sharp obsidian
blades.
Effect: Whenever you push a target, deal skewering
damage per 1 square that you push 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: When suffering a melee attack, you have a 1-in-10
chance of blocking the attack outright. You lose this
benefit when you are Unbalanced or when attacked by
fighters that flank you.
COPPER CLAWS
Fingernail ornaments that create the visage of musang claws.
Can rend entire ships.
Effect: Whenever you deal damage with a melee attack,
the target has a 2-in-10 chance of becoming Sundered 3.
Copper Cat Demon Set (1/3): You ignore Height when
you move on your turn, and you do not suffer fall damage.
COPPER DEMON MASK
A mask depicting a tusked bearcat, grinning indefinitely, in
defiance of the sun.
Effect: Interact. The demon mask burns bright with a
sickly copper hue. Whenever you end your turn for the
rest of combat, you may push all chosen fighters within
close burst 2 of you by 2 squares.
Copper Cat Demon Set (1/3): You ignore Height when
you move on your turn, 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 Hastened 1.
Copper Cat Demon Set (1/3): You ignore Height when
you move on your turn, and you do not suffer fall damage.
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 can now gain up to 5 Might.
Effect: Your Tempo can never be lower than 4, and
neither can your next Turn Beat be quicker than 4 Beats.
241
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: Interact. 1 adjacent ally can Second Wind for free.
Path of Concordance Set (1/3): The first attack against
you in combat deals 0 damage.
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 adjacent to you are considered
Difficult Terrain for all enemies.
Path of Concordance Set (1/3): The first attack against
you in combat deals 0 damage.
PARUKADUKHA
“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 difficult terrain.
Path of Concordance Set (1/3): The first attack against
you in combat deals 0 damage.
THIRD EYE GEM
You have a precious stone embedded upon your brow, and it
gleams with a burning fire.
Effect: You have 2 Reactions in combat instead of just 1.
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 have 2 squares added to
their ranges. (This does not include area sizes).
INTERLINKED GOLD CHAIN
A kamagi, interlinked twelve necklaces braided together into
a long chain that winds about the entire body. Strengthens
your will.
Effect: Gain +1 Resolve.
RAIDING ROPE
A rope made of abaca, with a hook at the end. Used for boats,
but equally useful against warriors.
Effect: For 1 Technique, choose 1 square in burst 2. Shift
yourself to a space adjacent to the square. If there is a
fighter on the square, you can shift them 1 square.
242
Songs of the
Umalagad
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).

243

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 (NPCs).
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.
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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.
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.
Relationships are the only thing worth fighting for. 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
turn 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.
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, slave-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.
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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.
UMALAGAD CONVICTIONS
As a Umalagad, you have three main Convictions that you
want to fulfill while running a game of Gubat Banwa.
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.
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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.
UMALAGAD TECHNIQUES FIERCE TECHNIQUES
As an Umalagad, define your Gentle and Fierce Aspects, …if nothing is done about a sword swung, it lacerates,
what it looks like. Gentle Aspects are beneficent and becoming a fierce tool for violence.
helpful, while Fierce Aspects are forceful and harsh. These
are mostly for narrative strength. As an Umalagad, you Fierce Techniques are immediate consequences of
have two types of Moves: Gentle Techniques and Fierce actions, and Fierce Techniques snowball from Soft Moves,
Techniques. or the actions of the Kadungganan.
USING TECHNIQUES Fierce Techniques should be used when…
Techniques are how you keep the fiction moving forward. 0 The Kadungganan gets dealt a Disastrous Hand.
Always keep it moving, that is the key to a dynamic story. 0 The Kadungganan do something that invites
If you cannot think of the next step, ask the consequence.
Kadungganan, they might have something in mind!
0 The Kadungganan do nothing against a
After every Technique, you must ask the Kadungganan foreshadowed threat.
that burning question: the sword is swung, what must YOUR FIERCE TECHNIQUES:
you do? They must answer this question, always, with
their own abilities, with their own techniques, with their 0 Wound. Take away something important from the
own convictions. You have your own. Kadungganan as a consequence, whether it be
Conviction, an Anting-Anting, maybe even a
GENTLE TECHNIQUES Teaching.
A sword swung is gentle… 0 Complicate. A Complication or Debt arrives to shake
the scene.
Gentle Techniques move the story forward: it lets you say
that something without immediate or irrevocable 0 Accusation. Accuse the target of an honor-
consequences happens in the narrative. Gentle shattering deed, earning the ire of others.
Techniques should be used when either… 0 Reveal. Force one of the Kadungganan or one of the
NPCs to reveal something they don’t want to.
0 You get to complicate things
0 Shift. Change the environment, whether it be
0 The Kadungganan look to you to find out what climate or mood.
happens next
0 Heaven Moves Without You. Showcase something
0 You find a golden opportunity. that happens away from the Kadungganan, which
YOUR GENTLE TECHNIQUES ARE: they usually canot do anything about.
0 Threaten the Kadungganan with either violence or
drama.
0 Show something awe inspiring.
0 Let the spirits play and dance.
0 Place the Kadungganan into a high stakes situation.
0 Separate the Kadungganan.
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.

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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.
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.
248
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.
WHEN PREPARING, MAKE SURE NPCs they would care about: young idealistic boys and
TO... girls who want to change the world, beaten old men that
have a soft spot for flowers, strong women that rule their
...keep track of the world. Know what’s going on, and use own settlements. Make the world receptive to them, let
that to your advantage. Have the world constantly be them talk about the world.
moving, use things that might happen whenever your
players don’t expect it: prep for random events such as Now this advice won’t work for everybody, I’m sure, and
landslides or demon gorilla attacks, not necessarily I don’t even think a lot of people that will be getting this
combat encounters. game will be even reading this section (since the main
draw of this game is probably either the setting and/or
...make NPCs, not just Foes. Make them interesting, give the tactical Fantasy combat), but I’ll be laying down the
them a single personality trait and a single quirk if you things that I’ve been doing that I hope will be able to
expect them to last longer than usual. Give them a steer people that want to run War Drama in Fantasy
unique thing that lets them stand out from the rest: this Precolonial Philippines in the right direction.
can be a physical tell such as weird hair, or even an
important relationship, such as them being the brother IMPROVISING
of the Datu the Kadungganan serve. Perhaps one of the most difficult skills to accomplish.
How do you improvise successfully? Essentially, what I
...listen to your players, and form your prep around do is I lean into my prep or what I already know. If you
them. If your players aren’t planning on going into a have things prepped up and you’re stuck in a strange
deep dark cave next session, don’t prepare a cave spot in the game where the players have reacted and you
exploration map! Instead, if they want to go to the don’t know what to do next, drive them forward. Speed
wedding feast, prepare NPCs for that wedding feast, them on in the world. Let the world move on without
strange encounters that might happen, and maybe even them. Introduce danger. Lean on what you know about
a twist! Get the players jogging, get them reacting: that’s the world: you’ve established that a rogue Kadungganan
your job. is hunting after them. When there’s a lull in the game
...take a break. Sometimes, you don’t even have to prep! and you’re not sure what to do next, let the
The players will ride out the game with you, and you can Kadungganan appear.
hand them some of the responsibility of creating Some good improvisational tools are:
interesting NPCs! Ask them sometimes what weird
interesting thing an NPC has, or a secret that they 0 A list of character names.
harbor. You are a player too, so remember to have fun. 0 A list of what the most relevant NPCs are doing at
the moment.
THE GAME 0 A list of what kind of Foes can be encountered in the
Due to the general prevailing culture right now, there is immediate vicinity.
an expectation that you, the one playing as the NPCs and
adjucating the rules of the game, are supposed to know 0 A list of all the ongoing threats in the campaign.
the game inside and out, and also know how to entice 0 A list of quick combat encounters!
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

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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.
250
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.
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.

251
252

GENERATORS
ADVENTURE 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.
253
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.
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 37. Sea ghosts lure boats out to sea and they are
arrived, and the Kadungganan are sucked into them. consumed by the giant sea spider god that lives
They must find a way back, lest the dakbalay sa underneath a giant stone, flat and smooth. Upon it
liguan disappear on the next new moon into the are spider folk that worship the mountain
depths of Sulad. underneath the stone. Seek them out and find out
why they lure poor unsuspecting travelers out to
27. There is an outbreak of yawa somewhere near a holy sea.
site. Diwata war with the yawa there. Neither of
them are at fault, rumors say. 38. There is an island of ill omen, Mantiwan, the Island
of Apparitions and Specters. White shades walk
28. A Lakanate contingent of blasphemous upon its shores, upon its accursed mountain, but
Kadungganan have appeared in the Confederation whenever someone gets too close, their boats are
settlement known as Latika, which is known for its destroyed, or they begin to see hordes and hordes of
great resources in manpower and being stationed pale specters watching them from afar, with eyes of
upon the mountain of Namigawal, a holy mountain. the gods. There is a settlement here, they say, that
They have arrived to stew political unrest and to belongs to the Kadanay. All datu avoid it, for it is
force a war with a Lakanate settlement for means indeed an island of ill luck.
currently unknown.
39. Eight shrines to eight powerful balete trees, each
29. 12 Bishops from the Lakanate Clergy have begun to one filled with resonance to the spirit word, have
move their personal Kadungganan ranks, with one begun to call upon for the Shrine Ritual, seeking
of them coming directly for your own personal Kadungganan and balyan far and wide to perform
settlement. Rumors and whispers of “The 12 Riders the rites and tasks. A new god arises from the depths
of the Stars” abound. or screeches from the skies, ascending to seize and
30. War broils, it has ever been. A young and peaceful devour the sun and moon.
settlement, who have done nothing but enjoy their 40. A small settlement in a quaint river valley needs you
life beside hot springs and follow the Mouse Deer to help collecting coconuts in a far off plantation, or
God Pilandok deep into the island of Baliga, is under to kill a raging monster.
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.

254
TAWO ACROSS THE ISLES
1. Here is a short list of potential characters and
personalities that the Kadungganan might meet
during their travels. Choose one. After choosing, go
ahead and roll on the Convictions Table in the
Character Creation section to make them more
believable, synthesize their motives and convictions
with their origins.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Kubera sa Bulalakaw. The eternal 12 year 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.
6. 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.
7. 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 with the spirits
and has made a penchant for solving problems with
ghosts and diwata alike.
8. 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.
255
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. Simamari. A pandita who always carries around
palm leaf manuscripts and bamboo scrolls. These he
writes upon, taking stock of all the new things that
he sees. He chronicles them back home, writing
them upon imperishable copperplate inscriptions.
He does this to expand the knowledge of the
Sultanate. He loves writing and songs, but hates
sweet food.
16. Datu Ragyan Amamira. A fun-loving and
courageous Datu, who has a penchant for being
deceitful to accomplish his goals, but only his goals.
He stays true with everything else. This does not
help him, however. He fights with a bladed yo-yo,
 and he strikes with a quick blade. Many call him the
Monkey Lord, for his fighting style and trickery. His
settlement still loves him of course, and the Datu is
committed to making sure his settlement is rich and
well protected, against even the Batara Lakan and
the Mahapari himself. He loves spicy food and
women, but hates men also.
17. Parawali Kusa Paladha. A no nonsense parawali who
fights with a hardwood staff. He always wears a
shawl and long-sleeved baro, keeping almost his
entire body save for his head unexposed. His face is
almost always in a constant frown, but he cares for
his settlement and is willing to consort with Yawa to
do this. Kusa is devoted to his settlement to a fault.
He loves warrior epics and learning new things, and
he hates having to sing and perform poetry in front
of an audience.
18. Dimatablang Dayang Kalis. A powerful noble lady
that has now escaped and is traveling the isles in
search for adventure and violence. She is well
adjusted to war, and chooses not to kill if she can
help it. Her chosen weapon is a giant kris the length
of her body, which she has called Kilat, the lightning
bolt. She loves eating but hates seafood.
256
SETTLEMENTS
Follow the steps bellow to create a Settlement. Simply
determine its Size and Location. Each settlement is
expected to have the balay of the Datu and a place of
ritual importance, whether that be a temple, a spirit
house, or a tree.
SIZE
1. Haop - The village of a single Datu, and the
households (usually around thirty to a hundred)
that follow the Datu. Has 1-2 Points of Interest.
2. Bongto - A village that is the collection of a few
haop, of two or more Datu working together. This
can grow up to 300 or more families for a single
village, the size of a town. 3 Points of Interest.
3. Banwa - A collection of villages, the size of a small
city, with five to ten Datu living together and
working together. Usually found by river mouths
and shores, where trade can sustain the population.
Has 4-5 Points of Interest.
4. Dakbanwa - A collection of two to three Banwa.
Dakbanwa means “large banwa”. Not many banwa
can reach this level, due to lack of population
density in The Sword Isles, but it still exists, usually
cultivated by foreign trade. Usually has 7 to 8 Points
of Interest.
LOCATION
1. Mountain
2. River Valley
3. River Banks
4. Shore
257
 Umalagad Characters
When you create Umalagad Characters, keep in mind
that they are people all on their own. At most, when
creating an Umalagad Character, follow the following
steps:
1. Firstly, Give them a Name. This is important, as
names are how we humanize and understand things.
2. Secondly, give them a Face. Describe how they look
like in 1-3 adjectives, something that the Kadungganan
can latch on to: small, angular features, long hair,
flowery tattoos, crimson nails, one-eyed, missing an
appendage, lanky, stout, barrel-like, etc.
3. Then, give them a Persona. This is how they might
present themselves at first. You can even use the
Kadungganan Natures to create a persona for
themselves, but you can very easily make this more
complex for more important Umalagad characters,
especially those that are meant to last longer than
others. As much as possible, keep it to a short phrase, or
just a word. Example personas are: Proud, Haughty,
Boisterous, Jovial, Quick-Tempered, Sly, Stoic, Hateful
4. Finally, make them relatable to Kadungganan by
giving them their own Principle, Want, and Sentinel.
This is usually reserved for more important Umalagad
Characters that last longer than a short encounter or
scene, but can help Kadungganan understand that
Umalagad Character better.
Once done, you do not have to do much more. See what
kind of person they will become through play! Accept
any “headcanons” your Kadungganan players will
impose upon the characters, or twist it into more
dramatic or effective versions.
258
ENEMIES
When you create an Umalagad character that is fated, by
song and blood, to face off with the Kadungganan, they
can be considered an Enemy. Since combat is so
prevalent in The Sword Isles, these Enemies most likely
must be statted out to be able to stand toe-to-toe with
the prestige-braves known as the Kadungganan.
DESIGN BASICS
Enemies perform the same Turns as Kadungganan, with
the difference that they cannot burn Conviction (save for
Braves and Chiefs) nor can they Second Wind.
BUILDING BATTLES
Building Battles is as follows: put the Kadungganan into
an 10x10x10 to 20x20x20 map, and place a number of
enemies equal to the Kadungganan.
To create harder battles, prepare two times the amount
of enemies than the Kadungganan, but do not put them
all at the same time. There must never be more enemies
in the map than there are Kadungganan + 1.
These enemies are put in in waves. When the current
number of enemies are brought down to half, introduce
the next wave, bringing in a number of enemies that
bring the total back up to equal the Kadungganan.
As much as possible, do not have more than three waves
of enemies. A common tactic to make climactic battles
just that, climactic, is to place a final “boss” or powerful
enemy at the last wave. If they are a Chief, that means
they can only come in after all the enemies have been
defeated.
Warriors also generally have Expert, and Master
versions. These are more powerful versions of them,
more skilled martial artists that can stand toe to toe with
stronger Kadungganan. Expert and Master versions
don’t have higher numbers, but rather, more devastating
and impactful innates and techniques. Throw Expert
Warriors at the Kadungganan if standard warriors get
too easy: this usually happens around the time they have
accrued 5-7 Techniques. Use Master Warriors (together
with standard warriors to showcase weaker Warriors)
when the Kadungganan know at least around 10-14
Techniques.
MAPS RULES FOR ENEMIES
Maps are an important aspect of fights in Gubat Banwa. Enemies have a number of rules that are unique to them.
To get it right, answer the following checklist. If you have
at least 3 checked, then you have a map that is aligned RECHARGE X
with the design expected of Gubat Banwa. Of course, as When you use a technique with recharge, you cannot use
the Umalagad gets a better grasp of how their it again until you recharge it. Whenever a fighter ends
Kadungganan work (as an Epic progressess) they can their turn and they have used Techniques that have
become a lot more flexible with Map Creation to really recharge, roll a d6 and then check the result. If the result
tailor fit it to their characters. The list below is simply to is equal or higher than any X in a Recharge X technique,
create a foundation and shared expectation when it that enemy can use that technique again.
comes to fights, and also to take a bit of mental load off of
Umalagad. X USES
0 The map is no less than 12x12x12 and no more than As with Kadungganan techniques, some enemy
32x32x32. A good midground is 16x16x16. A fun fact techniques have X Uses. X being a number, and
is that all Final Fantasy Tactics fights take place on represents the number of times they can use that
a 16x16 map! technique for the battle.
0 There are at least 3 different Field Traits.
0 Height differences range from 1 to 5.
0 There are at least 3 different Terrain types (Difficult,
Hindering, Blocking, Water, Burning, etc.).
0 The Environment is not Clear.
0 There is something that changes an important part
of the map (ie. a river or something that removes
Height.)

259
ENEMIES
There are five Enemy Classes, which correspond to the
five Styles: Sentinel, Raider, Blaster, Control and
Support.
Each Class has two Passives that all Specializations
underneath them have. Then each Specialization has
up to three Traits and Techniques that they can have.
Traits are generally passive abilities. Techniques are
active things that the warrior can use in the battlefield.
In the following pages is a list of Specializations: 5 for
each Class.
RANK PASSIVES
Assign Ranks upon enemies as needed. There are two
main Ranks: Fodder and Brave.
Fodder. Fodder Enemies are easy to dispatch enemies
that can be used to fill up a map or use them for
summons. Fodders have 1 Posture. Fodders are worth
1/5 of a standard Enemy, and all Fodders of the same
Class share a Turn Beat.
Brave. Brave Enemies are powerful Enemies that can
handle their own, and wield more powerful techniques.
Braves have x2 Posture, -1 Tempo, and have access to
Passives and Techniques from the next Arc (Arc 1 Braves
can use Arc 2 Passives and Techs). Braves are worth 2
Standard Enemies.
ENEMY BUILDING
In general, you can simply use the Specialization as it is
written. It is balanced to work with its own traits. However, if
you eventually want to mix and match Enemies and make
your own Builds, do the following:
1. Choose a Class. This will determine their statistics.
2. Set Arc. Choose what Arc the enemy is. This will determine
how many Passives and Techniques they can equip. Origin
Templates don’t add to the Passive/Technique limit. Origin
Classes can also ignore this limit.
1. Arc 1: 2 Passives and 2 Techniques.
2. Arc 2: 3 Passives and 3 Techniques.
3. Arc 3: 4 Passives and 4 Techniques.
3. Choose Passives. These Passives can be from any
Specialization within the Class.
4. Choose Techniques. These Techniques can be from any
Specialization within the Class.
5. If you want to take Passives and Techniques from
outside the Class, they must do so at Arc 2 and above.

HIGHER ARCS
At Arc 2 or above, to keep the fighters equally powerful
as the kadungganan, you can choose to do the
following:
Arc 2: Give an enemy 1 Passive and 1 Technique from
another Specialization in their Class.
Arc 3: Give an enemy 2 Passives and 2 Techniques from
another Specialization in their Class.

260
 RAIDER CLASSES
Raider classes deal damage and move quickly, and very commonly play with
the Rhythm of the fight, as well as the conventions of movement across the
Map. They all have the following statistics:
CLASS TRAITS
Unbound Lightning. Raiders do
not spend 2 Speed to move
diagonally.
Killing Move. Raiders have +1
Might when making a melee
attack against a Staggered
Enemy.
RAIDER SPECIALIZATIONS
Assassin
Extremely close quarters warriors that are super fast and
have phases where they cannot be hit at all. Used to get
through enemy lines.
Inflict Violence: Assassinate. 1 fighter in melee. Deal
2d6 visceral damage. 3d6 if they’re staggered.
PASSIVES
Unbound Lightning, Killing Move
Shade. During the Assassin’s turn, if they are not
adjacent to any fighter, they gain Hidden until they make
an attack. All Assassin attacks from Hidden have +1
Might.
Deep Shadow. If the Assassin gains Hidden twice, they
become a Shadow until their next turn’s Sentinel or until
they deal damage or suffer damage. While a Shadow,
they cannot be valid targets for any melee or ranged
attacks.
TECHNIQUES
Shadowblade. 1 Technique. Target 1 fighter within close
burst 3. The target gains a Shadowblade. At the
beginning of any Beat in the Rhythm, the Assassin may
consume the Shadowblade to immediately teleport to a
square adjacent to the target and Inflict Violence.
Double Attack. Passive. When the Assassin Inflicts
Violence, they may immediately Inflict Violence again
afterward against the same target.
261
RAIDER STATISTICS
Posture 40 Tempo 4
Bravery 4 Faith 3
Resist 5 Resolve 5
Speed 5 Jump 4
Fist
Powerful front line pugilists who can slow down
enemies and launch a flurry of attacks that burn the
world.
Inflict Violence: Galura Fists. Melee attack. 1 fighter in
melee. D12+Bravery fire damage. Deal 3 fire damage to
all fighters adjacent to the target.
PASSIVES
Unbound Lightning, Killing Move
Galura Fists. The Fist’s Inflict Violence now has a range
of close burst 2.
Kurita Bends Swords. 1/Turn, when the Fist is the
target of a melee attack, they may roll their BRAVERY. If
their result is higher than the target’s damage roll, they
cancel the attack against them.
TECHNIQUES
Grapple. Passive. When the Fist makes a melee attack,
their target must Resist or else they become Grappled.
While Grappled, the target is Stopped and the Fist is
Slowed. At the end of the Fist’s Turn, they may perform
a powerful grapple attack to immediately deal
d12+Bravery+Faith visceral damage. This ends the
Grapple. A Grappled fighter must always be adjacent to
the one grappling them. The Grapple can be ended if
the grappled fighter is forcibly moved away from
adjacency of the Grappler.
Kilin Dashes Through Heavens. 2 Technique. Effect:
The Fist may shift 3, ignoring Reactions, and then
immediately Inflict Violence. The target must Resist or
suffer Unbalanced 2. [Recharge 5+]
Lancer
A lance-wielding warrior that make up the bulk of warriors
in the Sword Isles. Their reach and their ability to travel
through dense jungle makes them formidable foes.
Inflict Violence: Lance. 1 Technique. Melee Attack. All
fighters in close line 2. D12+Bravery wind damage.
PASSIVES
Unbound Lightning, Killing Move
Lancet. Whenever the Lancer deals damage to 2+ enemies,
deal +Faith damage.
Vaulting Movements. After the Lancer makes a melee
attack, they may shift 3 squares.
TECHNIQUES
Charge. 1 Technique. Shift 1 square and then gain +1 Might
on their next attack.
Javelin. 2 Techniques, Ranged Attack. Target 1 fighter in
ranged 4. Damage: d12+Bravery wind damage. Effect: Shift
3 squares. If adjacent by the end of the shift, inflict
Unbalanced 2.
Pinakakusgan Sibat. 2 Techniques, Melee Attack. Mark out
four close line 5 AoEs in every side of your square, creating a
cross. Target: All fighters in the line. Damage:
d12+Bravery+Faith wind damage.
Rager
Powerful warriors that throw caution to the wind and dive
deep into violence, immersed into an endless well of fury.
PASSIVES
Unbound Lightning, Killing Move
Tenacity. When the Rager falls to Staggered, they gain
Regeneration and Soak 1 until the end of the scene.
Additionally, the Rager has Bravery 4 and Faith 2.
Building Fury. As long as the Rager has Regeneration, all
their melee attacks have +1 Might.
TECHNIQUES
Agitating Strike. 1 Technique, Melee Attack. Target 1
adjacent fighter. Damage d12+Bravery visceral damage.
Effect The target becomes Provoked 1. If it already had
Provoked, deal 2d12+Bravery damage instead, and then
consume Provoked.
Wade In. 1 Technique. Effect: Shift 5 squares, moving
through enemies. If ending in a square that is adjacent to at
least 2+ enemies, gain +3 Might on next attack. [Recharge
5+]

Blade Maiden
Sword wielding warriors that carry with them the prestige
of the blade. They can set up attacks for allies as they batter
down their foes.

Inflict Violence: Double Dragonsword. 1 Technique.

Melee Attack. Target 1 fighter in melee. Damage 2d12 +
Bravery visceral damage.

PASSIVES
Unbound Lightning, Killing Move
Swordsoul. The Blade Maiden has Evasion 3 against all
ranged attacks. All allies adjacent to them have this benefit
as well.
Sword Nirvana. The Blade Maiden can mark all opponents
in close burst 2 at the end of their turn. Any time the Blade
Maiden starts their turn, deal 2 visceral damage to all
marks.

TECHNIQUES
Swordpath. 1 Technique, Melee Attack. Target 1 adjacent
fighter. Damage d12+Bravery visceral damage. Effect: One
adjacent ally may shift 2.
Swordsdance. 2 Techniques. Effect: The Blade Maiden
throws a weapon to an unoccupied square in close burst 2,
where it stays twisting and dancing. Any ally can target it
with a ranged attack to increase the ranged attack’s range
by +3 and they deal +1 Might. The Blade Maiden or any ally
adjacent to it can consume it when they make a melee
attack to make an attack with +2 Might. [Recharge 5+]

262
Dervish
Skilled ritualist-warriors that dance in the battlefield
and strike at every fighter that dares face them.
Inflict Violence: Slashing Dance. Melee Attack.
Target: all enemies in close burst 1. Damage:
d12+Bravery visceral.
PASSIVES
Unbound Lightning, Killing Move
Battle Dance. As 1 Technique, they may begin a Battle
Dance. While Battle Dancing, whenever an enemy in
close burst 2 suffers damage, they may immediately
inflict Faith damage. Additionally, Dervishes have Faith
4 and Bravery 2.
Jovial Aspect of Saiwa. If the Dervish doesn’t Stride on
their turn, they immediately deal Faith damage to all
fighters in close burst 2.
TECHNIQUES
Cleansing Dance. 1 Technique. Effect: The Dervish
dances in a straight line equal to their Speed + 1, moving
through enemies. They then end their turn. At the end
of 3 Beats, a white line cuts through the danced square:
deal 2d12+Faith skewering light damage to all fighters
in the square that the Dervish moved through.
[Recharge 6]
Dancing Crazy Murder. 1 Technique. Effect: Go into a
dancing stance for the rest of the scene. While in this
stance, whenever a fighter is damaged in the battlefield,
the Dervish may shift 2 squares. If they end their square
adjacent to a fighter, they may deal Faith light damage.
263
Reaper
A scythe and shovel wielding warrior-gardener that
chucks soil, uproots trees, and beckons all to the burial
jar.
Inflict Violence: Reap! Melee Attack. Target: all
fighters in close wall 3. Damage: d12+Bravery dark
damage.
PASSIVES
Unbound Lightning, Killing Move
Dig. When the Reaper starts their turn, they may
mark an adjacent square. At any point, the Reaper
may consume the mark to turn it into a Chasm. This can
destroy terrain. The Reaper is immune to all chasms.
When the Reaper turns a square into a Chasm, an
adjacent square becomes Size 1 Blocking Terrain.
Arise. When the Reaper Strides, they can choose
instead to teleport adjacent to any of the Chasms they
have built.
TECHNIQUES
Deep Cut. 2 Techniques. Target: All fighters in close
line 3. Effect: d12+Bravery earth damage. Effect: All
squares become Chasms. [1 Use].
To Hell. 2 Techniques. Target: All fighters in close burst
2. Effect: d12+Bravery fire damage. Effect: All squares in
the target area become Chasms. [1 Use].
 BLASTER CLASSES
Blaster Classes deal damage reliably from afar, can attack large
swathes of the battlefield at once, and are very commonly slow as
they align their shot. However their range advantage makes them
endlessly useful for all kinds of combats, for they never miss.
CLASS TRAITS
Critical Distance. All ranged and area attacks by Blaster Classes
against targets that are at least 3 or more squares away from them
gain Precision.
Aim. For 1 Technique, the Blaster may choose to Aim at a single
fighter in range 3~5. When attacking a fighter with Aim, the Blaster
may consume the Aim to make their attack Steady.

BLASTER STATISTICS
Posture 36 Tempo 5
Bravery 3 Faith 3
Resist 4 Resolve 6
Speed 3 Jump 2

BLASTER SPECIALIZATIONS

Archer
Snipers that can bring single targets down from almost
across the battlefield, unparalleled in their capability to
shoot down single targets.
Inflict Violence: Shoot. Ranged Attack. Target: 1
fighter in range 5. Damage: 2d6 visceral. Effect: This
attack ignores blocking terrain.
Juggler
Acrobatic warriors that can juggle rope darts, daggers,
swords, spears, and even hearts.
Inflict Violence: Flying Blades. Ranged Attack. Target:
1 fighter in range 4. Damage: 3d4 visceral. Effect: This
attack has Steady. If it already has Steady, this attack
gains +1 Might.

PASSIVES
Critical Distance, Aim
Vantage. All Archer attacks against targets on a height
lower than them gain Precision. If they already have
Precision, it gives +1 Might instead.
Unseen Arrow. After an archer deals damage with a
ranged attack, they may immediately become Hidden.
TECHNIQUES
Knockback Shot. 1 Technique, Ranged Attack. Target 1
adjacent fighter. Damage: d8+Bravery visceral damage.
Effect: Inflict push 2d4 on the target. [Recharge 5+]
Shooting Star Arrow. 2 Techniques, Ranged Attack.
Target all fighters in close wall 10. Damage: d8+Bravery
visceral damage, gain +1 Might against the first target
in the line.
PASSIVES
Critical Distance, Aim
Bouncing Blades. When the Juggler Inflicts Violence,
their attack has a 5-in-10 chance of bouncing, dealing
half the damage dealt to all enemies in close burst 2 of
the target. The Juggler may inflict dark damage on their
inflict violence.
Kasing. When the Juggler is damaged, as a React, they
may roll a d6, and they shift that many squares,
without provoking reactions.
TECHNIQUES
Daggerdance. 1 Technique, Ranged Attack. Target 1
fighter in range 4. Damage: 5+Bravery dark damage.
Effect: Target must Resolve or become Slowed 3.
Death Blossom. 2 Techniques, Area Attack. Target: all
fighters in close burst 2. Damage: 6+Bravery visceral
damage then gain Evasion 5 until the end of their next
turn. [Recharge 5+]

264
Barileer
Gunners trained in the arts of explosion and
penetration.
Inflict Violence: Fire! Ranged Attack. Target 1 fighter
in range 3. Damage 2d4+Bravery fire damage. Effect:
Deal 2d4 fire damage to all enemies adjacent to the
target.
PASSIVES
Critical Distance, Aim
Gun Load. For 1 Technique, the Barileer loads their gun
with an elemental bullet: the Barileer’s next inflict
violence has any damage type of their choice, except for
soul.
Quick Reload. After a ranged attack, the Barileer has a
3-in-10 chance of immediately inflicting violence.
TECHNIQUES
Twisting Fire Dragon. 2 Technique. Target: 1 square
in close burst 3. Effect: Push the Barileer 3 squares away
from the target, and then gain Reload. If there is a target
in that square, deal d8+Bravery fire damage. Reload:
The Barileer’s next inflict violence has +1 Might.
Barilrusakan. 2 Techniques. Target: Self. Effect: The
Barileer utters yamyam that summons a supernatural
weapon that invokes divine power in the form of a gun,
a Barilrusakan. As long as they’re not Unbalanced, all
their attacks have skewering and they cannot deal less
than 10 damage. If they are Unbalanced, the Rusakan
falls to an adjacent square. Any fighter can pick up the
Barilrusakan for free during their turn as long as they’re
adjacent to it, gaining the Barilrusakan’s benefits.
265
Sorcerer
Powerful magick-users and spellcasters that have the
strength and power of a lantaka.
Inflict Violence: Annihilating Star. Area Attack.
Target: All fighters in range 3, burst 3. Damage:
2d6+Faith soul damage.
PASSIVES
Critical Distance, Aim
Power Overwhelming. Sorcerers begin the fight with a
d4 die, set to 1. Every end of their turn, they raise it by 1.
Once it reaches 4, they unleash cascading Gahom
across the battlefield, dealing d12+Bravery+Faith soul
damage to all enemies. Then they are Empowered for
the rest of the fight: while Empowered, they have the
following benefits: all attacks have Precision, +2d6
damage, and Skewering.
Pierce the Trichiliocosm. For 1 Technique, they
become Empowered until the end of their next turn.
This Empowered stacks.
TECHNIQUES
Annihilation Beam. 2 Techniques, Area Attack. Target:
All fighters in close line 8 or close blast 4. Damage:
2d6+Faith soul damage.
Nagakalaglagan, Dragon of Annihilation. 3
Techniques, Area Attack. Target: All fighters in close
wall 12. Damage: 2d6+Faith skewering soul damage.
Blowgunner
Treetop assassins that inflict poisons and other lethal
effects from afar with imbued darts.
Inflict Violence: Envenom. Ranged Attack. Target: 1
fighter in range 1~4. Damage: d6+Bravery earth
damage. Effect: Inflict Fraying 3.
PASSIVES
Critical Distance, Aim
Height Advantage. The Blowgunner cannot be a valid
target against fighters that are on a height lower than
them.
Jagged Darts. Any fighter that moves into range 2 of
the Blowgunner suffers 2 skewering earth damage.
TECHNIQUES
Leap. 1 Technique. If the Blowgunner is adjacent to an
unoccupied square on a higher height, they may
immediately shift into the square.
Guerrilla Mastery. 1 Technique. The blowgunner can
teleport into any square on the same height as them
within close burst 3.
266
Hunter
Quick moving rangers and striders that can take down
their prey after wearing them out with superior
movement.
Inflict Violence: Barbed Arrow. Ranged Attack.
Target: 1 fighter in range 5. Damage: 2d4+Bravery
visceral. Effect: Inflict Bleeding 2.
PASSIVES
Critical Distance, Aim
Tailwind. When the Hunter shifts, they can get a
Tailwind Token. When they add their Tempo, they can
consume the Tailwind Token to gain -1 to their Tempo.
Eagle Eye. All of the Hunter’s ranged attacks have a 1-
in-10 chance of Critically Hitting: They no longer roll
damage, they simply deal the maximum amount
possible.
TECHNIQUES
Quick Shot. 1 Technique, Ranged Attack. Target: 1
fighter in range 3. Damage: d8+Bravery visceral
damage. Effect: If the target is at least 3 squares away,
the Hunter may shift 3.
Vigil. Reaction. When a fighter in close burst 3 leaves or
enters a square within the burst, the Hunter may
immediately perform a Quick Shot against them.
Dancer
A jovial and mad dervish that performs war dances in
the battlefield to summon and invoke the very gods and
spirits, and to inspire their allies.
Inflict Violence: Sayaw Kalayu (Fire Dance). Ranged
Attack. Target: All fighters in close burst 3. Damage:
d6+Bravery soul damage. Effect: All allies in the burst
instead gain Ferocious 2.

PASSIVES
Critical Distance, Aim
Partner. At the start of a Dancer’s turn they may choose
1 Dance Partner. While they’re within close burst 2 of
the partner, both of them have Precision and Skewering
on all attacks, and they have Evasion 2. The Dancer can
only have 1 Dance Partner at a time.
Galura War Dance. At the end of their turn the Dancer
can consume all their Dance Partners to deal 10
skewering soul damage to all fighter adjacent to
themselves and each of their Dance Partners.

TECHNIQUES
Sayaw Sundang (Sword Dance). Perform a dance that
invokes the God of Swords, and summons lightblades
upon the battlefield. 2 Techniques, Area Attack. Target:
All fighters in burst 3. Damage: d8+Bravery soul
damage. Effect: All allies in the burst gain Precision.
Sayaw Padayon (Continuing Dance). Perform a dance
that invokes the God of Motion and Overcoming. 2
Techniques, Area Attack. Target: All fighters in close
burst 3. Damage: d8+Bravery soul damage. Effect: All
allies in the burst can instead shift 3.

267
 SENTINEL CLASSES
Sentinel Classes act as walls between their allies and their enemies. They can
soak up large amounts of damage and can sustain injury, and they can
provoke attacks against themselves, which usually forces decision points
upon the attacker. They clog up the battlefield and create zones of control.
CLASS TRAITS
Mountain. The Sentinel
Classes always have 3
Soak.
Vigil. Once per Turn,
whenever an adjacent
fighter leaves a square adjacent to
them or makes an attack that does
not include them, the Sentinel Class
may immediately Inflict Violence
against the triggering fighter.
SENTINEL SPECIALIZATIONS
Guardian
Guardians get in between their allies and enemies and
become an indestructible wall, a lightning rod against
all attacks.
Inflict Violence: Lightning Rod. Melee attack. Target
1 fighter in melee. Damage d8+Bravery visceral. Effect:
The target is Provoked 2.
PASSIVES
Mountain, Vigil
Immovable. As long as the Guardian is not Staggered
nor Critical, they have Unyielding.
Shieldbearer. As long as the Guardian is not Critical,
whenever any fighter moves while adjacent to them,
they may move 1 square in the direction they move,
mirroring them. The Guardian can only mirror 1
fighter per turn.
TECHNIQUES
Shield Meteor. 2 Techniques. Effect: Leap into an
unoccupied square within range 2~3, ignoring terrain.
Then make the following Area Attack: Target all
enemies in close burst 2. Damage: d8+Bravery visceral
damage. Effect: Push each damaged fighter 2 squares
away. [Recharge 5+]
Ballista Stance. 1 Technique. The Guardian may take
on the Ballista Stance until they are forcibly moved.
Ballista Stance: Anytime a fighter moves into a square
adjacent to the Guardian, the Guardian can push them
up to 5 squares immediately. When the Guardian
suffers a melee or ranged attack, they may consume
the Ballista Stance to immediately deflect the attack
against another fighter in close burst 3.
268
SENTINEL STATISTICS
Posture 48 Tempo 5
Bravery 3 Faith 2
Resist 7 Resolve 6
Speed 3 Jump 1
Juggernaut
Momentous mountains that can barrel through foes
and stay in the thick of it, keeping heat off allies.
Inflict Violence: Swing The Trunk. 1 Technique,
Melee Attack. Target 1 adjacent fighter in close line 5.
Damage: Deal d8+Bravery earth damage. Effect: Push
the target to the last square of the line. [Recharge 5+]
PASSIVES
Mountain, Vigil
Iron Skin. This fighter has conditioning to all visceral
and earth damage.
Unstoppable. When the Juggernaut moves
voluntarily, it ignores all terrain and they are now
immune to Slowed and Stopped. If it moves all its
Speed, it gains +1 Might on its next attack.
TECHNIQUES
Fling. 1 Technique, Melee Attack. Target 1 adjacent
fighter. Damage: d12+Bravery earth damage. Effect:
Push the target 3 squares. If they collide, they suffer
1d6 skewering damage and become Embedded into
the terrain, wherein they must spend a Technique on
their turn to remove. While Embedded they cannot
move or be forcibly moved. [Recharge 6]
Thunderclap. 2 Techniques, Area Attack. Target all
fighters in close blast 4. Damage: d12+Bravery wind
damage. Effect: Shift all targets 3. If any target is
shifted into your adjacency, they suffer Stopped 2.
[Recharge 6.]
Destroyer
Powerful warriors that wield the burning Flame of
Want to turn all before them into scourge, and to
attract the ire of their victims.
Inflict Violence: Flaming Sword. Area Attack.
Target all enemies in close blast 3. Damage
d8+Bravery fire. Effect: All targets must Resist or gain
Fraying 2.
PASSIVES
Mountain, Vigil
Blazing Hatred. The Destroyer can deal fire damage
with their Inflict Violence. All fighters with Fraying are
also considered Provoked by the Destroyer.
Narka Aura. All opponents that move into or start
their turn adjacent to the Destroyer must Resist or
suffer Fraying 1.
TECHNIQUES
Burning Wall. 2 Techniques, Effect: Put down a wall
of flame in close wall 5. The wall of flame is an
unclimbable height 2 blocking terrain. Any opponent
that collides with the wall immediately gain Fraying
1. [Recharge 6]
Fire God Explosion. 2 Techniques, Area Attack.
Target all enemies in close burst 2. Damage:
d8+Bravery fire. Effect: All fighters must Resolve or
suffer Fraying 2 and Fire Vulnerability 2.
269
Warden
Indomitable guardian-priests that channel the power
of the spirits and the primordial to protect their allies.
Inflict Violence: Luntian Hammer. The Warden
raises its weapon and then brings it down with
coruscating force, sending a pillar of stone up into the
air. 1 Technique, Melee Attack. Target: 1 adjacent
fighter. Damage: d8+Faith earth damage. Effect: Push
the target 1 square, and then a Size 1 Blocking Terrain
erupts from the square they are pushed from.
PASSIVES
Mountain, Vigil
Spirit Warrior. The Warden is considered blocking
terrain against enemies. When they fall to Staggered,
they gain Unyielding for the rest of the scene.
Additionally, the Warden has Bravery 1 and Faith 4.
Stone Armor. Whenever the Warden puts down
blocking terrain, they may also gain 1 Soak. They lose
this Soak when the blocking terrain they put down is
destroyed.
TECHNIQUES
Pulse of the Earth. Reaction. Effect: When the
warden suffers damage, they may immediately use
this effect to release a pulse of pure diwa, pushing the
attacker and all enemies adjacent to them by 1 square.
If this brings the Warden out of the range of the
attacker, they avoid the attack completely. [Recharge
6]
Rooting Vines. 1 Technique. Effect: 1 fighter adjacent
fighter must Resist or become Rooted 1. While
Rooted, they cannot move nor be moved. When they
lose Rooted, the square they were on becomes Difficult
Terrain for all enemies.
Champion
An unconquerable warrior that brings inspiration and
strength to their allies, which in turn bolsters
themselves.
Inflict Violence: Collective Charge. The Champion
rushes forward, and they beckon their allies to charge
with them. Melee Attack. Target 1 fighter in close line
3. Effect: Before dealing damage, move to the closest
square adjacent to the target in the line. Damage:
d8+Bravery light. Effect: The Champion pulls 1 ally in
close burst 3 into adjacency of them.
PASSIVES
Mountain, Vigil
Heraldry. All allies adjacent to the Champion gain a
+2 Bonus to their Bravery, Faith, Resist, and Resolve.
Martyr. When an ally in close burst 2 fails to Resist or
Resolve, the Champion may choose to suffer the effect
instead.
TECHNIQUES
Kalasagdako. 1 Technique. Effect: The Champion
gains 2d4 Block. All adjacent allies gain the same
amount of Block.
Mikhail Pierces The Serpent. 1 Technique. Melee
Attack. Target 1 fighter in melee. Damage: d8+Faithx2
light. Effect: The target must Resist or become
Stopped 3.
270
Hound
A swift moving knight that moves with blinding speed
across the battlefield to protect allies.
Inflict Violence: Go Wild. Melee Attack. Effect: Shift
1. Target 1 fighter in melee. Damage: 2d6+Bravery
visceral.
PASSIVES
Mountain, Vigil
Ward. At the start of combat, choose 1 ally as a Ward.
Whenever the Ward is the target of an attack, the
Breaker may shift 3 squares toward their Ward for free
before the attack resolves. If they end up adjacent to
their Ward, they become the target of the attack.
When the Ward is defeated, the Hound chooses
another Ward.
Iro Enmity. Every fighter Provoked by the Hound that
doesn’t attack the Hound by the end of their turn
suffers 2xBr soul damage.
TECHNIQUES
The Hand Bites Back. Passive. Whenever the Hound
is attacked, they may inflict violence at the attacker
before they perform the attack. If the target is out of
range, they simply throw a dozen rocks in the span of
a second, dealing 2d4 earth damage.
Provocation. 1 Technique. Effect: The Hound pulls 1
enemy in close burst 2 to an adjacent square. Then the
enemy must inflict violence against the Hound or the
Hound gets to deal 5 skewering dark damage against
them.
Ironclad
A slow moving inevitably clad in the fullest of armors
in the Isles. The purest form of the Sentinel.

Inflict Violence: Destructive Thew. Melee Attack.

Target 1 adjacent fighter. Damage: d8+Bravery
visceral damage. Effect: Push the target 1 square, and
then move into the square the target vacated.

PASSIVES
Mountain, Vigil

Full Armor. The Ironclad has 5 Soak instead of just 3.

They also have Bravery 4 and Faith 1. But they have 6
Tempo.
Reinforced Magnetism. All fighters adjacent to the
Ironclad are Slowed.

TECHNIQUES
Forceful Beckon. 1 Technique. Effect: All enemies in
close burst 3 are pulled 2 squares toward the Ironclad.
Be Knelt. 1 Technique, Melee Attack. Target 1 adjacent
fighter. Damage: d12+Bravery visceral damage. Effect:
The target must resist or suffer Knockdown 2.
Knockdown: All attacks against you gain
Precision. You cannot Flank, you cannot move
voluntarily, you cannot make Attacks. You can spend a
Technique to stand up and remove this.

271
 CONTROL CLASSES
Control classes specialize in controlling the battlefield and the warriors
within it. This can mean area denial by removing access to certain
squares, shutdown by debilitating targets and weakening their abilities,
tenderization by weakening their defenses, and domination by
manipulating others’ Beat position, slowing them down, and hindering
them with ailments. Due to their potency, however, they are slower than
others and are vulnerable to direct attacks.

CLASS TRAITS CONTROL STATISTICS

Hex. All fighters that Resist or Posture 32 Tempo 4
Resolve while within close burst 2 of Bravery 2 Faith 3
the Control suffer Imprecision. Resist 6 Resolve 6
Curse. When the Control deals Speed 3 Jump 2
damage, they may force the target to
Resolve or become Sundered 2 or
Slowed 2 (choose 1).

CONTROL SPECIALIZATIONS

Witch
Witches are masters of bombarding foes with
ailments to slow them down and bring them into a
slow, aching death.
Inflict Violence: Witchwork. Area Attack. Target
all enemies in range 3 burst 1. Damage d4+Faith
skewering soul. Effect: Fraying 3.
PASSIVES
Hex, Curse
Decay. When the Witch inflicts Fraying, they also
inflict Eviscerated as long as the Fraying stays, and
the target cannot benefit from any healing.
Wicked Debilitation. At the end of the Witch’s
turn, inflict +1 Weakness on 1 fighter in range 4.
TECHNIQUES
Putrefy. 2 Technique, Ranged Attack. Target 1
fighter in range 3. Damage: d8+Faith earth
damage. Effect: The target must Resolve or suffer
Slowed 2, Debilitated 2, Dazed 2, and Stunned 2.
[Recharge 6]
Unholy Feast. 1 Technique, Ranged Attack. Target
1 fighter suffering Statuses in range 1~10. Damage:
d6 skewering damage per Status. Effect: Remove
all statuses from the target.
Ritualist
Ritualists mark enemies as well as summon little gods
that lock down the battlefield.
Inflict Violence: Incantation. Area Attack. Target all
enemies in close burst 2. Damage d4+Faith dark.
Effect: All fighters suffer Sundered 2. If they don’t have
Soak, they sufer Eviscerated 2 instead.
PASSIVES
Hex, Curse
Ritual. When the Ritualist deals damage to a single
target, they may also inflict Marked 2 Any fighter with
the Ritualist’s Mark halves their Resist and Resolves,
rounded up, and they lose all Evasion and cannot gain
more. All of the Ritualist’s Spirits disappear when they
are Defeated.
Ritual Transference. Whenever the Ritualist deals
damage to an enemy, they may heal 3 Posture. At the
start of their turn, the Ritualist may shift all their Spirits
by 1.
TECHNIQUES
Slaughter Spirit. 2 Technique. Effect: Summon a
slaughter spirit in an unoccupied square in close burst
2.
Slaughter Spirit: All allies adjacent to the
slaughter spirit has All Vulnerability.
Boundary Spirit. 2 Techniques. Effect: Summon a
Boundary Spirit in an unoccupied square in close line 5.
Boundary Spirit: All squares adjacent to the
Boundary Spirit is hindering terrain for enemies.

272
Barricade
A skilled warrior that uses peerless craftsmanship to
Swiftcraft items onto the battlefield.
Inflict Violence: Spiritslaying Hammer. Melee Attack.
Target 1 adjacent fighter. Damage d6+Bravery
skewering visceral. Effect Inflict Eviscerated 2.
PASSIVES
Hex, Curse
Glancing Creation. When the Barricade ends their turn
adjacent to an ally, they may give that ally Deflect.
When the ally is the target of a melee or ranged attack,
they may consume the Deflect to force the attacker to
change the target.
Forceful Weapons. When the Barricade deals damage
with a melee or ranged attack, they can also shift the
target 3 squares. The Barricade has Bravery 4, Faith 1.
TECHNIQUES
Build. 1 Technique. Effect: The Barricade creates a Size 1
Blocking Terrain in a square in close burst 3.
Shatter: Effect: As a Technique, the Barricade
can destroy an adjacent square or any terrain on an
adjacent square.
Craft Shield. 2 Techniques. Effect: The Barricade
creates a Size 1 Shield in an adjacent square, which is
blocking terrain. Any ally can pick the shield up as a
Technique and are considered behind Blocking
Terrain. However remember that Size 1 objects only
have 20 Durability. [2 Uses]
273
Atrocity
A Dihiyang infested warrior, who uses the perversion of
harmony to their advantage.
Inflict Violence: Inflict Perversion. Melee Attack.
Target All enemies in close blast 3. Damage d6+Faith
dark damage. Effect The target becomes Scourged 3.
While they’re Scourged, all light or soul damage against
them deals 2 extra damage, and they cannot benefit
from any healing or boons.
PASSIVES
Hex, Curse
Rip Joy. When the Atrocity deals damage to a fighter,
they may also rip 1 Boon and give it to themselves. In
place of Boon, this can be Might, Block, or Soak.
Puncturing The Harmony of Nature. When an enemy
in close burst 2 of the Atrocity suffers a Bane, the
Atrocity deals an additional 3 skewering damage to
them.
TECHNIQUES
Shadow Skin. React. Effect: When the Atrocity suffers
damage, they may choose to suffer 4 skewering damage
and then they shift 2 squares before the attack resolves.
All enemies adjacent to them after the move suffers
Dazed 2.
Spread Disharmony. 2 Techniques. Target All fighters
in close burst 3. Damage d8+Faith dark. Effect: Every
target suffers Fraying 3 and Eviscerated 3. [Recharge
5+]
Trapper
Skilled hunter-warriors that lay down intricate traps
upon the battlefield to lock it down.
Inflict Violence: Scatter Shot. Ranged Attack. Target 1
fighter in range 4. Damage 2d6+Bravery damage.
Effect: The target suffers Fraying 2. Effect: Deal
Bravery skewering damage to all enemies adjacent to
the target.
PASSIVES
Hex, Curse
Spiked Traps. All fighters that move or are moved into
an adjacent square of a Trapper’s trap suffers 2
skewering visceral damage.
III - Prepared Traps. When the fight starts and there is
a Trapper, they can choose to lay down all their traps in
any square in the battlefield as a secret.
TECHNIQUES
Hobbling Trap. 2 Techniques. Effect: Lay down a trap
in any square in close burst 3. [2 Uses]
Hobbling Trap: If a fighter moves over the
Trapper’s Needle Trap, they can immediately trigger the
trap, the target immediately stops their movement and
becomes Stopped 2.
Slowing Trap. 3 Techniques. Effect: Lay down a trap in
any square in close burst 3. [2 Uses]
Slowing Trap: If a fighter moves over the Trapper’s
Slowing Trap, they can immediately trigger the trap,
making the target reroll their Tempo at the end of their
next turn.
274
Debater
A speaker-warrior that uses the strength of rhetoric and
word to confound enemies.
Inflict Violence: Breaking Mockery. Ranged Attack.
Target: 1 enemy in range 5. Damage: Faith skewering
soul. Effect: The target becomes Debilitated 2 and
Dazed 2.
PASSIVES
Hex, Curse
Rouse. When the Debater inflicts a Bane on an enemy,
all allies adjacent to the enemy gain Ferocious 2.
Spread The Word. When the Debater inflicts a bane on
a target, they may also spread it to all enemies adjacent
to them.
TECHNIQUES
Stunning Logic. 2 Techniques, Area Attack. Target: All
enemies in close burst 2. Effect: All targets become
Stunned 1.
Divert The Flood. 1 Technique. Target: 1 enemy in close
burst 3. Effect: Force the target to inflict violence
against a fighter of choice.
Conjurer
A devastating master of manipulative elemental
magicks, using mudra and mentala to bring enemies to
their knees.
Inflict Violence: Elemental Cleave. Ranged Attack.
Target: 1 enemy in range 4. Damage: d8+Faith [choose
1 damage type] damage. Effect: The target gets X
Vulnerability 2, with X being the chosen damage type.

PASSIVES
Hex, Curse
Unchained. The Conjurer is considered Floating.
Weaponized Harmony. Gain a bonus effect depending
on the damage you deal.
Whenever the Conjurer deals fire damage, make
all squares adjacent to the target burning terrain.
If water damage, make it water terrain.
If wind damage, the Conjurer can shift the target 2
squares.
If earth, the target becomes Stopped 2.
If visceral, the target gains Sundered 2.

TECHNIQUES
Burning Bead. 1 Technique. Effect: Place a burning
bead in an unoccupied square in close burst 3. At any
point, the Conjurer can cause the burning bead to
explode, letting them perform the following area
attack: Target: all enemies in close burst 2. Damage:
2d6+Faith skewering [choose 1 damage type]. Effect:
the burst 2 becomes burning terrain for the rest of the
turn.
Dragon Rajah. 1 Technique. Area Attack. Target: All
fighters in close wall 10. Damage: d10+Faith soul.
Effect: All unoccupied squares in the field becomes a
Chasm. [Recharge 6]

275
 SUPPORT CLASSES
Support Classes have trained to be able to withstand indirect punishment from
ailments, due to the perfection of their bodies and of body-perfecting
techniques. This makes their resists particularly potent. Many of their
techniques focus on supporting, strengthening, and keeping alive their allies,
channeling Pagkahiyang. However they very often can also strengthen
themselves, and do so to perform the job their comrades cannot.YSICAL RESIST
75

CLASS TRAITS SUPPORT STATISTICS

Presence. As long as a Support is on Posture 44 Tempo 5
the field, each fighter gains +4 Bravery 2 Faith 3
Posture, which they immediately Resist 6 Resolve 7
subtract from their current Posture
when all Channels are defeated. Speed 4 Jump 1

Sanctuary. All allies adjacent to the

Support has Soak 1.

SUPPORT SPECIALIZATIONS

Healer Warlord
A field medic who uses herbs and incantations to mend A frontline warrior that leads their allies to supreme
wounds and make others stronger. victory.
Inflict Violence: Unmend. Ranged Attack. Target 1 Inflict Violence: Charging Strike. Melee Attack.
fighter in ranged 3. Damage d6+Faith light. Effect: Shift 1 before attacking. Target 1 fighter in
melee. Damage d6+Bravery+Faith visceral. Effect: 1
PASSIVES adjacent ally may shift 2.
Presence, Sanctuary PASSIVES
Autoraise. 1/combat, when an ally is Defeated, the Presence, Sanctuary
Healer may immediately heal them 2d4 Posture,
bringing them out of Defeated. Inflame. All allies adjacent to the Warlord gain
Refuge and Sanctuary. The Healer can halve their own Precision on all attacks.
current Posture and give the amount halved to all allies Rouse. When the Warlord is Defeated, all allies in the
in close burst 3 as a Technique. field gain Ferocious 5.

TECHNIQUES
Cleansing Word. 1 Technique. The Healer may cleanse 1
Status from 1 ally in range 1~3.
Balaan. 2 Techniques, Area Attack. Target all fighters in
close burst 3. Damage: d8+Faith soul damage. Effect:
Heal all allies in the burst by 4 Posture. Effect: Each
enemy damaged must resist or else they suffer Stunned
1.
TECHNIQUES
Stormblood. 2 Techniques. Effect: The Warlord can
cause 1 ally in close burst 3 to inflict violence, if they
can.
Mandate Lightning. 3 Techniques. Effect: 1 ally in
close burst 3 gains +1 Technique on their next turn.
[Recharge 6]

276
Sage
Wisefolk that grants teachings and guidance to their
allies.
Inflict Violence: Burning Palm. Area Attack. Target
all fighters in close blast 3. Damage: d8+Faith soul.
Effect: All allies gain Hastened 2 instead.
PASSIVES
Presence, Sanctuary
Guidance. All allies in close burst 2 of the Sage have
Steady on all attacks.
Piercing Wisdom. All allies in close burst 2 of the
sage have Skewering on all attacks.
TECHNIQUES
Battle Meditation. 2 Techniques. Effect: All allies in
close burst 2 gain Enlightened 3, while all enemies
gain 1 Weakness on their next attack.
Violent Perfection. 1 Technique. Effect: 1 ally in
close burst 3 gains 1 Might.
Singer
A sonorous warrior that uses instruments and song
to uplift and inspire their allies.
Inflict Violence: Resound. Area Attack. Target All
fighters in close blast 3. Damage: d6+Faith soul to all
enemies. Effect: All allies can shift 2 squares and gain
+1 Might on their next attack. Effect: Any notes in the
field are shifted 1.
PASSIVES
Presence, Sanctuary
Echoing Notes. At the end of the Singer’s turn, they
can lay down a Song Note in any adjacent
unoccupied square. Any ally that collides with the
square heals 2 Posture. Any enemy that collides with
that square suffers 2 skewering soul damage.
Great Kulintang. All allies in close burst 2 of the
singer are considered singing the great Kulintang: as
long as they’re singing the great kulintang, all attacks
against them have Imprecision.

Balyan
A healer-priest that channels the ancestors and the
spirits to change the flow of battle.
Inflict Violence: War Ritual. Melee Attack. Target 1
adjacent fighter. Damage d12+Bravery+Faith
visceral. Effect: The Balyan gains Soak 3 until the
end of their next turn.
PASSIVES
Presence, Sanctuary
TECHNIQUES
Cacophony Strum. 2 Techniques, Area Attack.
Target all fighters in close burst 3. Damage d6+Faith
skewering soul. Effect: All allies in the field heal Faith
Posture.
Whirlwind of Sound. 3 Techniques, Area Attack.
Play a cacophony and then send it twirling around
you like a whirlwind of sound. Target: All enemies in
close burst 3. Damage: d6+Faith skewering wind.
Effect: All allies in the burst gain Unyielding 3,
Hastened 3, 3 Might, Ferocious 3, Enlightened 3,
Block 10. [1 Use].

Worship. At the start of a Balyan’s turn, they can

choose all allies in close burst 2 and let them deal any
1 damage type on their next attack.
Shared Ocean of Existence. All allies in the
battlefield have Visceral and Soul Conditioning.

TECHNIQUES
Elemental Spirit. 2 Techniques. Effect: Choose 1
unoccupied square in close burst 3. The Balyan
summons an elemental spirit summon in the square:
they must specify a damage type. All enemies in close
burst 2 of the spirit are vulnerable to the spirit’s
damage type, while all allies in the field that deal the
spirit’s damage type deals +3 damage.
Star Spirit. 2 Techniques. Effect: Summon a dancing
star spirit summon in an unoccupied square in close
burst 3. All allies adjacent to the Star Spirit has
Evasion 5.

277
Infuser
A warrior that uses incantations and mudras to
infuse allies with the strength to break ranks.
Inflict Violence: Sky’s Lance Breaker. Melee
Attack. Target 1 fighter in close burst 2. Damage
d8+Faith wind damage. Effect Inflict 1 Weakness on
the target.
PASSIVES
Presence, Sanctuary
Tiger-Breaking Strength. When the infuser gives
Might, they deal 2 skewering damage to all enemies
in close burst 2.
God Breaking Aura. The Infuser ignores all area
attack damage and effects.
TECHNIQUES
Mighty Infusion. 1 Technique. Effect: Push 1
adjacent ally exactly 3 squares. If they are adjacent to
at least 1 or more enemies, they gain Might equal to
the number of enemies.
Immaculation. 2 Techniques. Effect: 1 ally in close
burst 3 becomes an invalid target for all attacks and
effects from enemies until the end of their next turn.
[Recharge 6].
278
Steward
A peasant-warrior who upholds the harmony of
nature above all else, in accordance with the wishes
of the Sky and Sea.
Inflict Violence: Skysea Twine. Melee Attack.
Target 2 adjacent fighters. Damage Faith+Bravery
water. Effect May swap the two fighters’ places.
PASSIVES
Presence, Sanctuary
Steward’s Arm. All allies adjacent to Steward when
they inflict violence heals Bravery Posture.
Cleansing Heart. All allies adjacent to the Steward at
the start of their turn cleanses 1 Bane.
TECHNIQUES
Steward Intervention. Reaction. Effect: When an
adjacent ally is the target of an attack, the Steward
may inflict violence against the attacker.
Inflict Pacification. Free. All fighters adjacent to the
Steward gain Gentled. While a fighter is gentled, they
cannot deal more than 1 damage, but they cannot
suffer more than 1 damage either.

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.
Unlike basic enemies, Origin Classes do not split their
Passives and Techniques into Arcs, they simply have
them all when deployed.
Each Origin has a Template, something you put on to a
basic enemy as needed. Templates do not contribute to
the Passive limit. Origin Classes can also ignore this
limit.
Then, each Origin has Origin Classes: these are unique
classes that only fighters within the origin use, and they
have specific abilities as well. The Origins are
Virbanwan, Gatusan, Akai, Apumbukid, Ba-enon,
Baikhan, Issohappan, Annuvaran, Yawa, Beast,
Undead, Spirit, Aswang, and God.

VIRBANWAN
Virbanwans need no introduction. They are imperalist
warriors that seek to unite the Sword Isles under their
hegemony. Much of the time the Virbanwans the
Kadungganan fight will be part of the Virbanwan war
machine, known for its gunmetal, lion imagery (stolen
from Issohappa), and reliance on gunpowder and
proper military formations. However, there are better
Virbanwans, those that understand the Empire’s
machinations, the Empire’s faults, the truth of the matter.
They revel in the love and joy of their survival, in the face of
conquest.
VIRBANWAN TEMPLATE
March. Whenever a Virbanwan starts their turn while
adjacent to another Virbanwan, they can shift 1, but they
must keep adjacency to another. This can trigger for
more than 1 Virbanwan.
Unity of the Empire. Virbanwans have Soak equal
to the number of other Virbanwans they’re
adjacent to.
Gunmetal Weaponry. When a Virbanwan
inflicts violence while adjacent to other
Virbanwans, one adjacent Virbanwan of their
choice can choose to inflict violence as well if
they can.
Folk. All Virbanwans are folk. They have
Conviction for fighting, which they
might hold on to. If a Virbanwan’s
Conviction is tested or if only half
of their original number still
stands, they roll for Morale at
the start of their turn.
Morale: They have
a 5-in-10 chance of
surrendering or fleeing,
becoming Defeated.

279
 VIRBANWAN CLASSES
Conscript
Raider. Peasants pulled into the ranks to fight.
Inflict Violence: Spear. Melee Attack. Target 1
adjacent enemy. Damage d12+Bravery visceral.
Effect shift the target to any square adjacent to the
Conscript.
Heneral
Support. A mustachioed, uniform wearing general who
wields a saber. Intensely patriotic.
Inflict Violence: Crackshot. Ranged attack. Target 1
fighter in ranged 4. Damage 2d4+Bravery fire. Effect The
target must Resist or become Slowed 2.

PASSIVES PASSIVES
March, Unity of the Empire, Gunmetal Weaponry, March, Unity of the Empire, Gunmetal Weaponry,
Unbound Lightning, Killing Move Presence, Sanctuary

Disciplined. While within close burst 2 of a
Virbanwan Support, gain +1 Might.
Armored. Gain fire conditioning.
TECHNIQUES
All Out Attack. 2 Techniques. Melee Attack. Target 1
fighter in melee. Damage 2d8+Bravery visceral.
All At Once. Passive. When the Conscript is flanking
with an ally, they have +1 Might against all attacks
against the enemy they’re flanking.
Strategist. All allies in close burst 2 that deal damage to any
fighter with a Boon or Bane deals +1d6 damage.
Mandate. All allies in close burst 1 of the Heneral cannot fall
below 1 Posture.
Commander’s Orders. As long as the Heneral is in the
Battlefield, all Virbanwan fighters in the field deal
skewering damage.
TECHNIQUES
Berate. 2 Techniques. Effect: All allies in close burst 3 gain
Block 8.
Commandeer. 1 Technique. Effect: 1 ally in close burst 2
gains Precision and 3 Might on their next attack. [Recharge
6].

Cannoneer
Blaster. A Virbanwan unit clad in a steel breastplate and lugging around a
dragon-mouthed lantaka. Fires giant cannon balls to disrupt entire armies.

Inflict Violence: Fire Cannon. Area Attack. Target all fighters in close line
5. Damage 2d6+Bravery fire.

PASSIVES
March, Unity of the Empire, Gunmetal Weaponry, Critical Distance,
Aim

Station. If the Cannoneer does not move by the end of their turn, their next
attack becomes skewering and gains +1 Might.
Potent Cannon. If the target of an inflict violence is within 3 squares, deal
+1d6 damage and then push them 3.

TECHNIQUES
Dragonflame. 2 Techniques, Area Attack. Target all fighters in close blast 5.
Damage: 2d4+Bravery fire. [Recharge 6]
Plant Lantaka. 1 Technique. The Cannoneer can choose to plant their
lantaka in an adjacent square. They cannot inflict violence nor Dragonflame
unless adjacent to the lantaka. Any other adjacent fighter can Interact with
the Lantaka to use Dragonflame. While Planted, the Dragonflame removes
Recharge 6, and all area attacks from the Lantaka are increased by 3, and
have +1 Might.

280
Mystic
Control. Sampalatayan Mystics who have infused
their ancient priest-healer practices with Ashen Star
mysticism and eschatology. Using orasyones, they
lock the battlefield down, and channel the Pure
Flame by their God.
Inflict Violence: Push. Ranged Attack. Target: 1
fighter in close burst 3. Damage 2 skewering earth.
Effect: Must Resolve or be pushed up to 1d6+1.
PASSIVES
March, Unity of the Empire, Gunmetal Weaponry,
Hex, Curse
Float. The Mystic is floating.
Branding. When the Mystic inflicts violence, they
can also make the target Branded.
Unmask. When the Mystic is brought to Battered,
they are unmasked, revealing a dangerous outfit
underneath their conservative robes. Every time they
are attacked, they deal 3 skewering soul damage back
at the attacker. Additionally, Tenderize becomes Fire
Whip, and changes the range to Close Burst 3 and
targets all foes within.
TECHNIQUES
Consummation. The Mystic summons angels to
attack those she branded. 1 Technique. Effect:
Consume all Branded to deal 1d12 skewering damage
to them all.
Earthspike. 1 Technique. Ranged attack. Target 1
fighter in range 4. Damage d8 skewering earth.
Effect: Push the target 1 square and a size 1 spike of
earth erupts in the square vacated. This can be
shattered at the end of a Mystic’s turn to deal Faith
skewering earth damage to all fighters in close
burst 1 of the spike.
281
Royal Guard
Sentinel. A heavily clad warrior in the stylings of
Issohappa, wearing a breastplates, greaves, tassets,
and intricate helmets made to look like the giant king
eagles that Virbanwa is so proud of, but have
contributed to the destruction of their habitats.
Inflict Violence: Greatsword. Melee Attack. Target
all enemies in close blast 2. Damage d8+Bravery
visceral.
PASSIVES
March, Unity of the Empire, Gunmetal Weaponry,
Mountain, Vigil
Defender Aura. All enemies in close burst 1 of the
Royal Guard have imprecision on all attacks that
don’t include the Royal Guard as a target.
Knight’s Initiative. Whenever an ally moves on
their turn while adjacent to the Royal Guard, the
Royal Guard can move alongside them, keeping
adjacency as much as possible.
TECHNIQUES
Resurgence. 1 Technique. The Royal Guard must be
Staggered. Effect: They gain Block 10, and then shift
3 squares. [1 Use]
Battle Guardian. Reaction. Effect: When an enemy
makes an attack in close burst 2 that does not include
the Battle Guardian, the Battle Guardian can shift 1
and then inflict violence against that enemy.
Sunsplitter. 2 Techniques. Area Attack. Target: all
enemies in close line 6. Damage 2d8+Bravery
visceral. Effect The Royal Guard marks all the
squares in the chosen line. When an enemy starts
their turn or moves into the marked line, they can
immediately leap into closest square adjacent to that
enemy, but still within the line. Then they can
immediately inflict violence. [Recharge 6].

CHIEF CLASSES
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 Traits 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 Posture by 8 per
Kadungganan less than 5.
CLASS TRAITS
Poise. Chiefs are powerful: they cannot be broken so easily.
Whenever you forcibly move a Chief or make them Bleeding,
Juggled, Dazed, Unbalanced Debilitated, Eviscerated, Sundered,
Slowed, Stopped, Stunned, they gain a Poise Token instead of
suffering the effect or gaining the Ailment. When they get 8
Poise Tokens, they are Poise Broken Broken.
While Poise Broken, Chiefs can be moved
forcibly and can be inflicted any Status. They
remove 2 Poise Tokens whenever they start their
turn afterward, until they lose all Poise Tokens
and lose Poise Broken. They cannot gain more
Poise Tokens while Poise Broken.
Phases. A Chief usually has more than 1 Phases, up to 3. This is
usually triggered when they fall to Staggered and/or Critical.
Each Phase has a set of Traits and Techniques, and these are
cumulative: Traits and Techniques from Phase 1 are kept during
Phase 2, for example, unless otherwise stated.
SUPPORT STATISTICS
Posture 200 Tempo 2
Bravery 4 Faith 4
Resist 7 Resolve 7
Speed 4 Jump 3

ARC 1 CHIEFS
Swordmaster
A master of the art of slashing, who has sliced a coconut tree in a single swing. Fear their name.
Inflict Violence: Dancing Sword Murder. Melee Attack. Target 1 fighter in melee. Damage 2d6+Bravery visceral.
Effect: Can shift 1 before or after the attack.

PASSIVES TECHNIQUES
Poise, Phases Rive. 1 Technique. The Swordmaster may shift 3 squares,
and then Inflict Violence if they can. During Phase 2, they
Blade Barrier. The Swordmaster has Evasion 5 vs all must roll d4 first, and then perform as many Inflict
ranged attacks as long as they’re not Staggered or Critical. Violences as the d4 roll.
Blade Grasp. When the Swordmaster suffers a melee Slashing Essence. Once at the end of the Swordmaster’s
attack, they may roll their d6+Bravery at the same time the turn, they may immediately deal Faith visceral damage to
target rolls their damage. If the Swordmaster rolls equal to all enemies adjacent to them.
or higher, the Swordmaster becomes immune to the effects
of the attack. Tenderizing Strike. When the Swordmaster Inflicts
Violence, the target must Resist or suffer Eviscerated 2 and
Every Movement A Slash. When the Swordmaster is Sundered 2.
Staggered, they immediately move into Phase 2: place
them at least 5 squares away from all fighters and they Phase 2
immediately take their Turn, even if it's not their Turn
Beat. The attacker that brought them to Staggered Awanggang Kalis. 1 Technique. Effect: the Swordmaster
immediately ends their turn. The Swordmaster heals 20 can command all Swords on the battlefield to deal 2xBr
Posture. visceral damage to all enemies adjacent to the Swords.
Each Sword then disappears from the battlefield. A single
While in Every Movement A Slash, whenever the fighter can suffer damage from multiple swords.
Swordmaster starts their turn, they may put down a 1d2
Swords in any unoccupied square within close burst 2. Any Mangangayam Blade. 2 Techniques. When the
fighter that moves into the Sword’s square immediately Swordmaster is Staggered or Critical, they can make an
suffers 1d6 visceral damage. area attack vs all enemies in close wall 12, dealing
d12+Bravery+Faith earth damage. The Swordmaster can
Phase 1 then teleport to any unoccupied square in the wall. They
then gain 5 Swordsaint Tokens, which they discard every
Killing Strike Form. When the Swordmaster makes an turn. As long as they have Swordsaint Tokens, they have +1
attack against a Staggered enemy, they gain +1 Might. Might.
Principle of the Blade. When the Swordmaster makes an Holy Sword Soul. 2 Techniques. Melee Attack. Target 1
attack while Critical, they gain +1 Might on their attack. fighter in range 1~2. Damage: d12+Bravery+Faith soul
The Cycle of Blades. When the Swordmaster makes an damage. Effect: The target suffers +2 to their next Turn
attack, they deal +1 damage per Sword in the battlefield. Beat. [2 Uses]

282
Dambuhala
Dambuhala means “colossus, giant”. These are powerful chiefs that can break through and destroy all obstacles in their
way by use of sheer overwhelming power. Their thews are like mountains, their skin is iron, the heaven trembles at their
voice. Damubahala take up a large portion of the battlefield, and they are particularly powerful against Raiders and
Blasters, as they can power through their attacks.
Inflict Violence: Earthshaker. Area Attack. Target all fighters in close blast 3. Damage: d10+Bravery earth. Effect: All
damaged are pushed 1.
PASSIVES
Poise, Phases
Break 1,000 Mountains! The Dambuhala is Size 2. They
have has 5 Soak. At Staggered, the Dambuhala reduces
this to 3 Soak but has +1 Might on all attacks. At Critical
the Dambuhala loses all Soak but has +2 Might on all
attacks.
Iron Skin Meditation. The Dambuhala can never have
their Tempo or their Turn Beat changed by other effects.
Phase 2 - Kurita Manifestation
The Colossus erupts in rage, which manifests in 1-2 of the
following ways:
0 Their shadow looms behind them.
0 Their armor breaks off of them, revealing a thousand
hands.
0 Their head twists revealing a wrathful visage.
0 Their one eye opens, finally, revealing three eyes.
0 They fuse with their surroundings, creating a Diwa-
fused Colossus.
0 A crown of Gahom erupts from them, creating a halo
of willpower.
Phase 2 triggers when the Dambuhala is Staggered.
They immediately push all fighters 5 squares away. They
immediately take their Turn, even if it's not their Turn
Beat. The attacker that brought them to Staggered
immediately ends their turn. The Dambuhala then
performs Blasphemous Boar Consummation.
At the start of the Dambuhala’s Phase 2, choose up to
3 fighters in close burst 6. Those fighters are Entombed
in a rocky carapace as debris falls upon them.
Entombed: An entombed fighter cannot take
Techniques, nor can they take their turn. The Tomb, a 10
Durability Object, must be destroyed to free the fighter.
Once freed, if the current Beat is past their Turn Beat, they
immediately take their turn in that Beat.
Ancient Palm Techniques. When the Dambuhala
pushes a target, they can immediately follow it up with
the Ancient Palm Combo: they shift into a square
adjacent to the target and then make the following melee
attack:
Target: Shifted fighter
Damage: d4+Bravery visceral damage.
Effect: Push the target up to 4 squares. If they
collide with Terrain, they become Embedded: they cannot
move voluntarily until they are pushed off terrain or they
push themselves off with an Interact.
Spite of the Mountain. If the Dambuhala suffers an
attack, they may inflict violence on the attacker after their
attack resolves.
Unbreakable. The Dambuhala cannot gain Poise from
forced movement. However the Dambuhala can be
Eviscerated. When the Dambuhala is Poise Broken, they
become Stunned while Poise Broken.
TECHNIQUES
God Creates Islands. 1 Technique, Melee or Ranged
Attack. To use this attack, there must be Blocking Terrain
adjacent to the Dambuhala. Target: 1 fighter in range 3.
Damage: d8+Bravery earth damage. Effect: Push the
target 1d4 squares. Effect: The blocking terrain becomes
difficult terrain instead, or if its a height it lowers its
height by 1.
Earthshatter. 2 Techniques, Melee Attack. Target: 1
fighter in close line 6. Effect: Shift to a square adjacent to
the target within the line. Damage: d8+Bravery visceral
damage. Effect: Push the target to the last square of the
line and then they must Resist or become Stunned 2. They
auto-fail if they collide.
Hellsunder. 2 Techniques, Melee Attack. Effect: Move 5
squares in a straight line. Make this attack to every enemy
the Dambuhala move through. Damage: d10+Bravery fire
damage. Effect: Each target must Resist or suffer
Knockdown 2. [Recharge 6]
Knockdown: All attacks against you gain Precision.
You cannot Flank, you cannot move voluntarily, you
cannot make Attacks. You can spend a Technique to stand
up and remove this.
Phase 2
Pinakakusgan Colossus. 2 Techniques, Melee Attack.
Effect: Grab 1 adjacent fighter and then leap 5 squares,
ignoring height and terrain. If landing on a higher height,
the target is Stunned 2. If landing on a lower height, deal
+2d6 earth damage. Damage: Deal d8+Bravery earth
damage. [Recharge 6].
Pinakakusgan Fist. 1 Technique, Melee Attack. Target: 1
adjacent fighter. Damage: 2d10+Bravery earth damage.
Effect: The target suffers Knockdown 2. [Recharge 6]
Knockdown: All attacks against you gain Precision.
You cannot Flank, you cannot move voluntarily, you
cannot make Attacks. You can spend a Technique to stand
up and remove this.
Pinakakusgan Gatling. 2 Techniques, Melee Attack.
Target: All fighters in close blast 4. Damage: 3d6+Bravery
fire damage. Effect: Each target is pushed 3 and then
becomes Unbalanced.
Special
Blasphemous Boar Consummation. Heal 3 Posture per
Fodder on the field, and then remove them. Then, deal
9999 skewering dark damage to all fighters in the
field. This is Steady and this damage cannot be reduced
in any way.
283
 And Heaven
Will Be Ours
“Apu. Apu! Do you hear me?”

“I do, young one. I do. What hath transpired? Thine 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 stronghold. They have told me
to come get you--”

“Virbanwa! The Empire hath com. Their steel firearms shalt clash with our
swords and there shalt be war. The river is not stayed from its course: the Lords
shall revel and the slaves shall become as fodder. 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 Circle of Violence shall
spin, and heaven shall tremble.”

And Heaven Will Be Ours is an introductory adventure for five Prowess 1-2 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.

If you are a Kadungganan, stop reading here. The next few pages will be for Umalagad eyes.

284

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.
IMPORTANT ENEMY TRAITS
One will need the following Origin Passives that come
from the following Origins: Apunon, Virbanwan, and
Yawa.
YAWA
Yawa are demonkind: born from the atrocities committed
by Folk against or within Nature. Apply the following
Passives:
Perversion. When a yawa is Defeated, they discorporate
and then deal 2 skewering dark damage to all enemies in
the field. Ignore this effect if they died to light or soul
damage.
Atrocity. Yawa do not flee, and they have dark
conditioning. They are also considered Scourge.
Defile The Land. As beings of Unnaturality, yawa bring
Dihiyang with them everywhere. At the start of a turn of
any yawa, there is a 3-in-10 chance of an adjacent square
becoming Defiled Land. Defiled Land can only be
cleansed if an attack with light damage is used while on
it.
Defiled Land: Any non-yawa fighter that enters
or starts their turn in this square suffers 3 skewering
damage and then suffers Eviscerated 1. Any yawa fighter
that starts their turn in this square heals 4 Posture.

APUNON
Apunon are masters of their home environment. Apply
the following Passives:
Little War Mastery. If they are to fight in a battlefield
that they consider their home, they roll d4 instead of d6 in
the initial Tempo Roll.
Bonded With The World. Nature itself works to protect
the Apunon. At the beginning of any Apunon turn, there
is a 3-in-10 chance that a piece of grassy Height 1 Blocking
Terrain will arrive in any adjacent square to the Apunon.
Folk. All Apunon are folk. They have Conviction for
fighting, which they might hold on to. If an Apunon’s
Conviction is tested or if only half of their original
number still stands, they roll for Morale at the start of
their turn.
Morale: They have a 5-in-10 chance of
surrendering or fleeing, becoming Defeated.

285

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.
He can offer support if the Kadungganan wish to go to the
Abandoned Spirit Altar. However, he does not believe in
Ulay’s methods.
286
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: She believes the Demons can be strongarmed
into submission through sheer violence. She’s seen the
Virbanwans do it, so she 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 Dagsa, and the
Child of the Forest Lisi.
DAGSA
Majestic, Gigantic, Peaceful
Dagsa is a benevolent diwata that lives in the River Dagsa,
the river that bisects Palani from the rest of the forest.
Dagsa vows to keep Palani Village protected, but despite
their offerings, the demons have been getting to him.
Dagsa is dead. His corpse, fading away into grass and
river, sits gently by the riverbanks. The river Dagsa fades
in power. Dagsa 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.

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 Conquereror Battalion is
led by the Sword Devil Nitida, 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 teaching: 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
287
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 Enchanter, 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.

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 Dagsa 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 Dagsa. Make
an offering.
If the Kadungganan make an offering,
they will be led by a little moth in the
direction of Dagsa’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 yawa. 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 yawa. 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 yawa.
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 Dagsa’s death.
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, a giant Yawa Dambuhala blocks
the area. This is immediately Encounter
3. If they are victorious, the Yawa
Dambuhala is cleansed. If they are
Defeated, they are forced to retreat, and
the next time they arrive in Palani’s
Shrine, the Dambuhala 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,
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.
288
AREA 7: DAGSA’S CORPSE
The overwhelming body of Dagsa
dominates this area. It is bleeding and
dying. Wounds have been made from
sorcerous flame, bullets, and steel
slashes.
Dagsa will grant the Warband a
Treasure: Crocodile Tooth Spear. All of
the Warband can choose to deal water
damage when they inflict violence. If
they do, they deal +1 damage.
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
Soak on their first turn.
 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

289
ENCOUNTER 1 ENCOUNTER 2
Demons are assaulting the altar. Protect it. Face the Virbanwans who stand above you.

BATTLEFIELD BATTLEFIELD
A 10x10 field with the following field traits: A 15x10 field (vertical) with the following field traits:

0 A spirit altar square on the top side. It is a Durability
50 object.
0 Height 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 ally that is an Apunon
Assassin.
Kadungganan begin at the bottom of the map, single file.
0 The upper half of the battlefield should be rising in
height, with the highest height being height 5. The
Virbanwans all begin from Height 5 or 4.
0 Boulders all around: set at least 5 squares as squares
of H1 Blocking Terrain, which can be destroyed,
having 16 Durability.
0 Kadungganan begin at the bottom of the map,
single file, in Height 0 squares.
0 You can place up to 3 more Field Traits as needed.

OBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE
Defeat all yawa. Defeat Army Witch Iris Reyes.

SUB OBJECTIVE SUB OBJECTIVE

Make sure Maki is not defeated. Reward: Maki owes you Make at least 5 Virbanwans Flee. If you do, you gain their
one and gives you their Debt Token. trust.

LOSS CONDITION LOSS CONDITION

All Kadungganan are defeated or the Spirit Altar is All Kadungganan are defeated or you reach Beat 50
destroyed. without achieving your Objective.

ENEMIES ENEMIES
Enemies begin in no less than 6 squares of the Spirit Altar, ENEMY FORCES
probably surrounding Maki. 0 5 Virbanwan Lancer Fodder
ENEMY FORCES 0 1 Virbanwan Blade Maiden
0 5 Yawa Assassin Fodder 0 2 Virbanwan Barileers
0 1 Yawa Juggernaut 0 1 Virbanwan Hound
0 2 Yawa Hunters 0 1 Virbanwan Sorcerer Brave (Iris Reyes)
TACTICS
TACTICS As much as possible, each Virbanwan will not leave Iris’
side. Archers will take exploit their height advantage as
Every Yawa will spend their first turn attacking Maki. the Kadungganan try to go up to Iris, while 2 Lancer
Maki has Evasion 5 for the first attack against him. Fodders will stay behind while the rest of the Fodder
Afterwards, the Yawa will try and attack the spirit altar, work to slow down the Kadungganan. The Assassin will
though if there is a Kadungganan in range, they will use their superior movement to attack and then leave.
attack the Kadungganan first.
The Barileers will almost never give up their Height
Advantage and will do their best to not Stride to gain a
bonus to their Tempo.

290
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 0 The Battlefield is cut across vertically by a river,
that are water terrain that go across the entire map. which is water terrain and Height -1.
0 Height variations of -1 to +3. 0 Boulders all around: set at least 5 squares as squares
of H1 Blocking Terrain, which can be destroyed,
0 At least 5 squares of H1 Durability 16 Blocking having 16 Durability.
Terrain.
0 Kadungganan begin on the left side of the battlefield,
0 Kadungganan begin at the bottom of the map, while the enemies begin on the right side, across the
single file. river.
OBJECTIVE 0 You can place up to 3 more Field Traits as needed.
Defeat the Ogre of the Shrine. Defeating the Ogre opens
him up for a killing blow from Siwalo. OBJECTIVE
Defeat the Virbanwans.
SUB OBJECTIVE
LOSS CONDITION
Defeat the Ogre with light damage or soul damage. If you
do, gain the Hatred Agimat. All Kadungganan are defeated or you reach Beat 50
without achieving your Objective.
LOSS CONDITION
All Kadungganan are defeated or you reach Beat 50. ENEMIES
ENEMY FORCES
ENEMIES 0 1 Virbanwan Conjurer
ENEMY FORCES 0 1 Virbanwan Archer
0 1 Yawa Dambuhala (Ogre of the Shrine). Large and 0 1 Virbanwan Warlord
tusked. Like a bipedal warthog. 0 1 Virbanwan Ironclad
TACTICS 0 1 Virbanwan Barileer (Sapper Confiado)
The Ogre of the Shrine is not particularly smart, and will TACTICS
attack the closest fighter to them. When they attack, they The Virbanwan Archer will attack from afar, and the
will generally deal damage to as much fighters as Warlord will empower either the Archer or the Fist.
possible. They are prone to provoked. Confiado will not approach unless he is moving with the
Guardian.

291
ENCOUNTER 5
Palani has branded you as traitors.
BATTLEFIELD
A 10x10 field with the following field traits:
0 A flat map with 7 squares that are at Hindering
Terrain (Tree Stumps) and 4 squares that are
Blocking Terrain.
0 Height does not go higher than 2, but there are 1d6
Chasms everywhere, set secretly by the Umalagad.
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 eflee.
OBJECTIVE
Defeat the Assassins or all Kadungganan escape.
LOSS CONDITION
All Kadungganan are defeated or you reach Beat 50.
ENEMIES
ENEMY FORCES
0 1 Apunon Ritualist
0 1 Apunon Assassin
0 1 Apunon Juggler
0 1 Apunon Hound
0 1 Apunon 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 Enemies as
possible while still handing out Might.
292
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 Height variations of -1 to +3.
0 At least 5 squares of H1 Durability 16 Blocking
Terrain.
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 60.
OBJECTIVE
Defeat the Sword Devil Nitida and protect Palani’s Shrine.
LOSS CONDITIONS
All Kadungganan are defeated, you reach Beat 50 without
achieving your Objective, or Palani’s Shrine is destroyed.
ENEMIES
ENEMY FORCES
0 3 Virbanwan Guardian Fodder
0 3 Virbanwan Barileer Fodder
0 1 Virbanwan Swordmaster (Sword Devil Nitida)
ENEMY REINFORCEMENTS
Reinforcements arrive at the bottom of the map.
0 3 Virbanwan Guardian Fodder
0 3 Virbanwan Barileer Fodder
0 3 Virbanwa Barricade Fodder.
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
Fodder 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...”
 OBJECTIVE
ENCOUNTER 7 Defeat the Datu Ulay.
Defeat Datu Ulay.
SUB OBJECTIVE
BATTLEFIELD Defeat Datu Ulay!
A 20x20 field with the following field traits:
LOSS CONDITION
0 The lower half of the battlefield is Height 2 normal
terrain. The upper half is sandy Height 1 Difficult All Kadungganan are defeated or you reach Beat 50.
Terrain. Then the third half of that is Height 0
Water Terrain. ENEMIES
0 The Virbanwans and Datu Ulay begin at where the ENEMY FORCES
water meets the sand.
0 1 Apunon Blade Maiden Brave (Datu Ulay)
0 Kadungganan begin at the bottom of the map,
single file, at the earthen terrain. 0 1 Virbanwan Warlord
0 There will be 1d4+2 Size 2 Blocking Terrain 0 5 Virbanwan Guardian Fodder
boulders (Durability 25) in the field. 0 5 Virbanwan Archer Fodder
0 At the beginning of Beat 10 and every 5 Beats after 0 5 Virbanwan Lancer Fodder
that, cannons explode from the ships. All fighters in TACTICS
the sand terrain are safe. But those that are in the
normal terrain are valid targets. The Umalagad must Datu Ulay’s Conviction is steel. They will not hesitate to
roll a d10... attack, but they will stand alongside the Virbanwan
warlord as much as possible. The Fodder will swarm the
0 1-5: A Kadungganan is hit, they suffer a ranged attack field, but they will move together, exploiting their
that deals 3d6 visceral damage. If the Kadungganan Virbanwan nature as much as possible.
is behind Blocking Terrain (not in front of it, facing
the water), the terrain suffers the damage instead. If Nitida has not been defeated yet at this point, Nitida
0 6-10: A Fodder on normal terrain is killed. joins the fight here, after the fight with Ulay.

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.”

293
 The
Manuscript of
Songs

294
295

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 +1 when conversing with them.
13 - Abaca Rope. 5 dupa 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.
296
32 - Baikhan Cauldrons. Usually used for stews and soups,
they are usually traded in from the Southeast Continent (in
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 77 - Pandong. Any natural covering used as a lady’s cloak.
articulation is achieved by fusing zigzagging gold wire into
hollow hoops. From these dangle multiple round, rhomboid, 78 - Sarok. A headdress with a deep crown, used for travel
and foliate spangles and ornaments. on foot or by boat.

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.
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.

61 - Tutubi Necklace. Neck Trinket. Or dragonfly necklace. 83 - Incense Pots. Valued by those higher in society,
Made of gold, a kind of necklace made of thousands of important during death rituals, funerals, and mournings.
granulated gold beads, flattened to create a shimmering 84 - Bulat. A perfumed ointment, compounded of many
effect reminiscent of the tails of tutubi, dragonflies. ingredients, used for hair fragrance and luxuriant growth.
Expensive almost anywhere.
85 - Puno. A fine comb for removing head lice or ringworm
62 - Golden Forearm Bands. Wrist Bangles. Gold bands scales.
made of sheets of gold wrapped around the forearms,
decorated with rose and palmetto motifs. 86 - Silat. A toothbrush made of vegetable husk for cleaning
and polishing teeth.
63 - Gold Armbands and Bracelets. Wrist Bangles. Wide
gold flaring bands worn as bracelets. 87 - Powdered Duyong Bones. A panacea for all kinds of
treatment.
64 - Gold Petaloid Ear Ornaments. Earring. Ear ornaments
with petaloid protrusions and floral designs. 88 - Puso Rice Cakes. Rice cakes boiled in a little wrapper of
coconut leaves.
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.

297
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.
298
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
slaves, known as captive, 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.
299
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, but they
exist, and they are very easy to depose due to the volatile And that exactly is the problem: all five major polities (even
nature of political relationships. Great Kings very often have Apumbukid, who must engage in violence to sustain
the title of Maharajah. 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
Both Kings and Great Kings when they reach this position any one takes control of the Sword Isles, they can feasibly
take on a different title, something impressive, something take control of all of Gubat Banwa.
foreign, to consolidate their power.
When the balance is broken is when begins the Eighth Star
God-Kings/God-Queens - There are only five God-Kings in Era, poetically known as the Year of Kalakatri, Goddess of
the Sword Isles. These are the rulers of the five major Star Darkness and Murder. Even more poetically, it is known
polities. In Akai, it is the Sultana. In Virbanwa, it is the Batara as The Longest Year. The First Makinaadmanon once said
Lakan. In Ba-e, it is the Sangpamegat. In Apumbukid, it is the that the world ends at Eight, the holy number, the last
Jayavarnam (of which there are none, and is a title given only number, perfection of divinity. Thus: the Eighth Star Era is
to the God of Apu Dayawa). And in Gatusan there is the Hari said to be the final era of Gubat Banwa.
(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.

300
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 brutaliy 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.
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 all-pervasive God, or
the Sage Mind.
301
Hiyang
Hiyang is an adjective. When something is “hiyang”, it is
attuned to the natural flow of the trichiliocosm, otherwise
known as Diwa, essence. Someone who is attuned with
Hiyang is known as Nahiyang, and they are moving in the
same flow as Hiyang. This philosophy of animistic harmony
is known as Hiyangism.
Becoming Nahiyang is an enlightened state but is not a final
salvation or liberation from the sufferings of life. When one
is Nahiyang, 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 Nahiyang: one can be
very easily brought out of Nahiyang. Those in Nahiyang 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
Nahiyang, 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 God but we all are God,
when one zooms out. Concordance is the ultimate embrace:
when one becomes Diwa itself, or Essence itself, you
disappear and become unseeable by Dihiyang beings,
transcendent animism. Very often, this is a common path to
Godhood.
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 Nahigmata 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.
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.”
302
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 First
Makinaadmanon 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.
303
Nahigmata
Awakened One to the Truth - Transcendent Animism. Paired
with a new chosen name: ie. Madaogong Senapati
Nahigmata, or Libong Kalis Nahigmata.
Makinaadmanon
The Path of Rushing Rapids 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.

One who possesses perfect wisdom. Someone so close to the
state of Nahigmatahood but chose to reject Transcendent
Harmony to stay and teach others in the Path of Rushing
Rapids. Very commonly Nahiyang, but some exceptions
exist: those that have attained a twisted understanding of
Perfect Wisdom and think that the cycle of nature must be
stopped or that all spirituality must be destroyed are known
as Makinaadmanong Gusbat.
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: for Nature is the most divine thing there is,
the Trichiliocosm is indifferent to you but it is not indifferent
to compassion and love. Live in harmony with the
Trichiliocosm’s absurdity and you will find Concordance.

The Path of Rushing Rapids

The Path of Rushing Rapids, spoken in a sermon by
Dalugdog Nahigmata, 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 rushing river: when you are in the river you think you
are just 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.
Similarly: the Self 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.

304
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.
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.
For Virbanwanon, 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 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.
Souls of young children do not go to Sulad. They become
birds of paradise in heaven.
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 reincarnate again.
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.

305
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.
306
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.]
307
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.
Language In The Sword Isles Some terms connect two nouns together to create a new
meaning. Gubat Banwa is war + land. The various kinds of
spirits have the region or location they live in before -diwata.
The locals have their own language, and each polity has their Banwadiwata (Land Spirit) means they’re a forest/
own languages. Gatusanun is closest to Sinugbuanon. Ba- mountain/inland spirit, basically any spirit in untouched,
enun and Virbanwanun is closest to Tagalog. Akainun is natural land. Dagatdiwata (Sea spirit) means they’re a sea
closest to Tausug. Apumbukidnun is closest also to spirit. Lungsoddiwata (Community spirit) means they’re a
Sinugbuanon, but also Maranao. They are mutually settlement spirit, whether the settlement be a small hamlet
unintelligible, though Gatusanun, Ba-enun, and Akainun or a large city.
can communicate passingly through brute forcing similar
sounding terms. Translating Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Grass Cutter Sword) to
Trade Mataram would then be “Sundangsin-Ganut” (Sword
However, when trading they use the prominent Trading of Grass-Clearing). This can be rendered either as
Language, Trade Mataram, which is a heavily mixed Sundangsinganut or Sundangsin Ganut and they mean the
language that built upon two frameworks: Put’wanun (the same. Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi (Heavenly Sword of
language of Put’wan) and Mataraman (the language in the Gathering Clouds) would be written as
old Mataram Kingdom, before it fell to ruin, and was “Sundanglangitnonsin Nangtigomng Panganod” which
succeeded by Naksuwarga). They were the foremost traders, translates closest to (Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds).
and thus everyone else took up their terms. Trade Mataram
is a constructed language that is explicitly similar to a Due to the nature of the Sword Isles, there is a great number
mixture of Bahasa Melayu and Sinugbuanon Bisaya, with of foreign terms that borrow from other terms. A
borrowings from Old Tagalog, Hiligaynon, and the Tausug worshipped god is usually understood to be a diwa. But a
languages. borrowed term from Naksuwarga has become used to refer
to worshipped gods that do not live in nature and/or live in
Words are modified through the use of particles. In the sky, which is balahala.
particular:
To get words for Trade Mataram, use Cebuano, Hiligaynon,
-sin is equal to “of” in English, and is used to show that or Butuanon words for common things, while more esoteric
something afterwards owns it. Therefore: Sundangsin or specific concepts such as noble lords, flying serpents,
would translate to “Sword of”. Sundangsin Kadaugan would winged beings, etc. can be Javanese, Thai, or Balinese in
translate to “Sword of Victory”. origin. More modern concepts can have Hokkien or
Manga- is a plural modifier and added in front of a word. Mandarin roots, such as the printing press and carriages.
“Mangasundang” means “Swords”. “Mangasundangsin Use these to spice up your Gubat Banwa settings.
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”.
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.

308
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.
309
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.
Combat Summary
The circle of violence is unbroken, therefore seize heaven’s thunderclaps. How will one ever
bring about a better world without using violence? It is the burning sword one must wield or
else the land will be engulfed in a scarlet blood sky. Is this what you want? Of course not.
Traverse the lands and become Concordant: the cycles of violence can be changed. Now will you
fight? Or will you die like a dog? Prove your fucking conviction! Rejoice in the glory of combat!

VICTORY AND LOSS CONDITIONS REACTIONS STATUSES

When Combat begins, the Umalagad must lay out explicit Usually just 1 Reaction, only outside of
Victory and Loss Conditions. There might be Side-Objectives your turn. Bleeding
that can be completed for additional rewards. Defend. 1 Reaction. When you suffer
damage, gain Conditioning to all of that Whenever you spend a Technique, you suffer 2
RHYTHM, BEAT, AND TEMPO attack’s damage, and then gain +3 on your skewering damage. Bane.
Dazed
When Combat starts, roll d6+Tempo to find out next Turn Beat.
beginning Turn Beat. At the end of every turn, add your You can only willingly target fighters adjacent
Tempo to current Turn Beat to find your next Turn
POSTURE BROKEN to you, you lose all Stances, and you cannot
Beat. Your next Turn Beat cannot be below 1 in interval. When you fall to 0 Posture, you are Posture take any Stances. You cannot flank and you lose
Broken. Choose one: all Evasion. Bane.
Become Defeated. You are taken out of Debilitated
Rhythm is the Turn Order. Rhythm is cut up into Beats, play, suffer a finishing blow, and are All your attacks are glancing. Bane.
like seconds. Rhythm begins at Beat 0, and goes up subject to the Umalagad’s moves.
indefinitely, until the Combat is won. Enlightened
Spend 1 Conviction to stay in the
combat. At the start of your next turn, you Gain +[duration] to your Faith. Boon.
YOUR TURN automatically heal back to your Critical
value.
Eviscerated
When the Beat reaches your Turn Beat, you can take your Suffer an additional [duration] damage from
turn. You can perform 3 Techniques in any order. all attacks. Bane.
PRECISION AND IMPRECISION
Precision: Roll dice twice and take better Ferocious
result. Gain +[duration] to your Bravery. Boon.
START OF TURN Imprecision: Roll dice twice and take Floating
End all effects that end on the start of your turn worse result.
Does nothing for flat numbers. Ignore all terrain. Boon.
Fraying
Perform any abilities or effects that happen only on Start of MIGHT AND WEAKNESS
Turn, in any order. Represents damage over time: burning, poison,
Might: Add +d4 to damage. bleeding, etc. Every end of your turn, suffer 1d6
Weakness: Suffer -d4 to damage. skewering damage. Bane.
3 TECHNIQUES Both stack up to 3 times. Cancels each
Hastened
other out.
Stride. You can move a Crack. Deal 1 damage to CONDITIONING/VULNERABILITY Double your Speed and Jump. Boon.
number of dupa equal to any fighter or object Hidden
your Speed. within 3. Conditioning: Suffer half damage from
damage type. No one has line of sight to you except for those
Step Evasively. Shift 1. Interact. Use an item on Vulnerability: Suffer +1d6 damage from adjacent to you. Boon.
you, or interact with an damage type. Juggled
Shove. Push an adjacent adjacent item or EVASION You lose all Reacts, all damage against you
fighter or object by 1. environmental object. Evasion stacks. When the target of an gains +1 Might, you lose all Stances and you
Inflict Violence. Your attack, roll d10 before the attack and try to cannot take on any Stances, you cannot flank,
Second Wind. Once per roll equal to or below. If so, you avoid the
Basic Attack, which is and you lose all Evasion. Bane.
combat, you can Second attack completely.
different depending on Provoked
Wind to heal Posture
your Discipline. Each ATTACK MODIFIERS The fighter that Provoked you is the only valid
equal to your Critical
Discipline makes attacks target for your melee or ranged attacks. All area
value. Glancing. The attack deals half damage.
differently. Skewering. The attack ignores Soak. attacks must include the Provoker as a target,
Steady. The attack ignores Reactions and or else you cannot perform the attack. When
END OF TURN Evasion. you move while Provoked, you cannot end in a
End all effects that end on the end of your turn square farther from your Provoker. Bane.
MOVEMENT AND RANGE Regeneration
Moving into adjacent squares costs 1
Suffer Fraying (d6 skewering damage). Speed. Moving into a diagonal square You have a means of healing yourself as the
costs 2 Speed every other square. This fight drags on. At the start of your turn, heal
means that moving into a diagonal square half your Critical value, rounded up. Boon.
Regain all spent Reacts. costs 1 speed, but then moving into Slowed
another diagonal square after that costs 2 Your Speed is halved, rounded up. Bane.
Speed. Moving into another diagonal
square after that costs just 1 Speed again. Stopped
Perform end of turn abilities and effects. You cannot move voluntarily. Bane.
Counting Ranges is the same.
Sundered
ADJACENCY AND MELEE Lose all Conditioning and Soak, and you
Lower all durations by 1. cannot gain any more. Bane.
Adjacent. All squares that touch your
square in every direction. Stunned
Add Tempo to Turn Beat. Melee. Every square orthogonal to you. You cannot Flank. You lose 1 Technique on your
turn and cannot perform Reactions.
EXCLAIM Attacks (which most EXCLAIM You can choose to end Unbalanced
your turn (go to end of turn) FLANKING
Inflict Violences are) get All attacks against you deal +1 damage, you
weaker as you perform more at any point. If you do, you Flanking. You and 1 ally on two opposite
sides of a single fighter’s space is cannot perform Reacts, you cannot take on any
of them on your Turn, as your have -X to your next Turn Stances, you lose all Stances, you cannot flank,
target raises their defenses. Beat, with X being the considered flanking them. Attacking a
fighter you’re flanking has Precision. and you lose all Evasion. Bane.
Your second attack’s damage number of Techniques you
is halved. Your third attack’s did not perform on your Unyielding
damage is trisected (divide by Turn. RESIST AND RESOLVE You cannot be forcibly moved unless you want
3, round up). This is known as to. Boon.
Roll a d10 and roll equal to or lower than
a Combo Breaker Penalty. your Resist or Resolve to successfully
Resist or Resolve against the effect.