The Third Dynasty: The basics.

Axioms and World Laws

Magic: 16

The magic axiom of Dynasty is relatively high. While not widely practiced, it is
still powerful enough to allow a relatively codified form to exist. The practicing of
Magic is usually a lifetime pursuit, with age generally reflecting the power of the
spellcaster. The most powerful spells are lengthy and difficult to cast, and cannot be
impressed. Most magical items are of a “fire and forget” nature, some using multiple
charges, or are enchanted weapons and armor. The use of Theorems is almost always
required for designing a spell of any potency to be castable.
Magicians are seen with a certain level of fear and mistrust, and most magicians
keep their practice secret, or are solitary beings living mostly apart from society. The
exception being those serving the Emperor or other royal houses of the empire. These
magicians are afforded a certain level of respect, but are still generally feared and
mistrusted.
Wards and Golems are possible, spell design is however more time consuming
and the basic complexity for spells is higher than Aecial. The minimum complexities for
spell design are also higher for conjuration and alteration magic.

Social: 12

The social axiom of Dynasty similar to that of the ancient Chinese Empires.
Currency exists, as do the concepts of lending money and renting property. Civilizations
conquered by the Emperor are assimilated instead of enslaved. The Emperor rules
supreme, and is served in turn by house lords who rule their own land holdings and pay
tribute both in money, and military support, to the emperor.
Peasants owe allegiance to their respective lords, and the land they work is owned
by the royal house for which they work. Soldiers, while not royalty, are of a higher
station than peasants who are afforded few if any rights. Infighting among royal houses
is common, and usually manipulated by the Emperor. Marriage between royal children
must be approved, and is often directed by the Emperor himself. The social status of a
house is independent of it’s economic status, and for the most part more important.
Social status is mainly defined by how close a house’s blood ties are to the Emperor’s
own family.

Spiritual: 19

The spiritual axiom of Dynasty is it’s most defining axiom. Beings may attempt
miracles unskilled, though training gives great benefits. In game terms this means that a
miracle may be attempted without the faith and focus skill, using the character’s spirit
attribute, but they will not get a re-roll for their attempt and cannot spend a possibility on
the action.
 The most common myricales are thought of as “techniques” and practiced by
fighting monks and spiritual warriors of great power. These myricales are performed
quickly, sometimes instantly, with little or not preparation. They often take the form of
physical feats beyond the scope of normal physics such as running up walls, and across
water, or leaping fifty feet in the air and dancing across treetops. They also take on more
fantastic forms like turning one’s skin to stone, diapering into shadows, or breathing fire.

Tech: 14

The tech axiom of Dynasty is fairly low compared to Earth. Metalworking is a

fine art, and metal weapons, spears, swords, and knives are of a high enough quality to
make armor somewhat ineffective. Maneuverability and accuracy are more important to
the more skilled warriors than the protection provided by armor. Armor is most often
seen either worn ceremonially, or used by nomads and other less “civilized” peoples, or it
is enchanted in some way. Cannons are available, but rarely used except as a means to
breach defenses. Travel between continents is possible by way of sea, but rarely done
save by brave merchants and military vessels. Government officials generally travel by
magical means. Reading, writing, and block printing are all common among royalty,
though due to the low social axiom peasants are generally illiterate.

World Laws

The Law of Beauty:

There is beauty to be found in all things if one but knows where, or more
appropriately, how to look. Death, life, nature, violence, love, money, power, peace, and
war all hold a certain degree of unique beauty and are either cherished or reviled for their
aspects.

The Law of Beauty states that all things are beautiful to the right person, and
furthermore, the form that beauty takes depends in part on the perceptions of the person
beholding it. Thus two people beholding the same flower could see it in two different
ways. One could see it as a symbol of strength and vitality, while the other could see it as
an example of the fragility of nature and the human spirit.
This has a unique effect on the myricales of Dynasty in that when performed by
two different people the same miracle can have drastically different appearances, while
still gaining the same result within the game mechanics. An example would be a
technique called Stoneskin. One warrior might use the miracle and his skin would take
on the appearance of hard dull grey granite, while another person using the same miracle
could gain the appearance of polished marble, or jade, or possibly even metal or wood.
They would still perform the same miracle, with the same resulting bonus to their
toughness, but the two would appear outwardly very different.
Certain myricales might allow for more variation than others. An lightning bolt
could vary slightly in color an intensity, but a haste miracle would generally look the
same from person to person.
 The law of beauty also has the effect of rendering many skills a form of art in
some sense or another. Where as the reading and writing is a simple affair to many other
civilizations, calligraphy is a delicate and difficult art to master within the realm of
Dynasty. Architecture, Language, and even money are created with great detail given
over to their outward appearance. Buildings, Weapons, Books, Clothing, and even very
mundane items like eating utensils are often decorated extensively and with incredible
care and detail.
The outward appearance of all things and all beings is considered a reflection of
their inside, and because of the law of beauty, such is the case. In Dynasty, you can tell a
book by it’s cover. You just have to know how to look at it.

The Law of Posture

In the realm of Dynasty, social posture is everything. It is important for everyone
to act the proper part within their own station, according to social rank. Social rank is
generally determined by one’s ancestral heritage first, and secondly their financial worth,
physical prowess as a warrior, occupational particulars, and their personal “face”.
Face is considered of paramount importance to an individual. One’s outward
appearance is only a part of this aspect. Face is what others perceive your worth to be,
not only in outward appearance, but in social status, and in honor.
Honor in Aecial is a manifestation of a person’s personal worth as a defender of
justice, and their inward aspects of goodness. Honor in Dynasty is a measure of one’s
outward value to others as a measure of personal worth, social status, and in many cases
blind adherence to forms and traditions. Someone can murder a rival in cold blood and
gain much honor so long as the proper forms are followed.
But honor is only an aspect of face in Dynasty. While a peasant has no honor in
the eyes of his masters, he may still retain some degree of face by properly acting the part
of his lowly station. Though a peasant can never rise to royalty, he can gain honor by
gaining the permission of his patron to become a soldier and thus gain a degree of honor
equal to his service to his new master.
When a person makes a social indiscretion, one can still save face by following
the appropriate forms. In some cases this can be a simple as a carefully worded apology
and an appropriate gift to make amends. In other extreme cases only the shedding of
blood can save face for an individual. Sometimes in ritual suicide, sometimes in
violence. Such terms are often up to the affronted to decided, within a range of
appropriate solutions.
Actions which are considered affronts to the people, meaning peasants or to the
public as a whole, are atoned for by paying the appropriate tribute to the emperor, as they
are considered acts against the Empire. Actions which affront the gods are atoned for
through the temples. Actions which offend both the empire and the gods, generally call
for death and the only matter of debate is the appropriate manner and place of the
atonement.
The law of posture not only has the effect of making social status of paramount
importance, it has also created a skill unique to Dynasty. Posturing.
Posturing is the act of trying to spiritually dominate someone based on one's own
personal abilities or worth. Posturing is a spiritual skill in which is used to try and
intimidate an opponent. The posturing skill is described at the end of this section.
The Law of Eternity

The law of eternity states that time changes nothing. Seasons come and go,
people live and die, but life goes on. Peasants accept their lot in life because such has
always been the case for peasants. The great cities still stand, the great temples are still
holy, and the great ruler Emperor Ming has ruled for thousands of years and will continue
to rule for thousands more.
This is the law that the emperor has used to stagnate the social and technological
development of his people and preserve, even develop the spiritual and magical axiom.
The unchanging contentment of his people, despite the overwhelmingly large portion of
which lives in poverty, has allowed him to maintain order within his own cosm with a
minimum of social development. The unchanging nature of the gods has allowed
thousands of years of religious development, and the spiritual axiom has grown gradually
but steadily over the course of millennia.
The law of eternity also limits people’s ability to rise above their station. In game
terms this means that a player’s character may not advance significantly in social status
without having successful played a hero card either within Dynasty, or in a manner in
which the tale would be told in Dynasty. Without such a tale being spread, a Dynasty
character can only very gradually advance within their own society.
A Dynasty character can advance in station outside of Dynasty as quickly as is
possible within that reality, but such advancements will mean nothing within his one
cosm, and may in fact lower his or her own people’s opinion of them as they will be seen
as being influenced too much by the ways of outsiders.

The Posturing Skill

Most of you have seen Kung-Fu movies, or Anime where two opponents will
spend a rather long amount of time talking to each other, sometimes striking martial arts
poses, sometimes acting carefree, but always trying to unsettle their opponent before the
fight actually begins. This is posturing.
When a player from Dynasty attempts to posture, he chooses a single skill to use.
He makes a single roll for both the chosen skill, and his posturing skill. He then
compares the skill result for the chosen skill to the extended power push chart, and
applies that number to his skill total for posturing.
His opponent may then choose to resist and so choose his own skill to use and
make his own total in the same manner. The opponent does not have to use the same skill
as the instigator. The two posturing totals are then compared and the result is gained
from the posturing interaction chart. The result lasts for the rest of the fight, unless
another attempt at posturing is made before the fight is over. This new result then takes
effect until another attempt is made, or the fight ends.
An example of how this would play out would go like this:
Mike’s character, a warrior monk named Goto, is facing off with an evil wizard
named Lo-Pan. Mike decides to try and posture to intimidate the wizard. He has a
posturing skill of 12 and a martial arts of 15. Mike rolls his die and gets a 16, which has
a bonus number of 3 giving him a total of 15 for posturing and 18 for martial arts. He
compares his martial arts total to the power push table for a result of +7, which he then
applies to his posturing roll of 15 for a total of 22. Goto whips off a quick series of kung-
fu moves, and ends with a deadly looking dragon form fighting stance. Locking eyes
with his opponent he sais, “Now you will face the deadly power of the White Dragon
style!”
The wizard Lo-Pan counters by posturing as well. He chooses his aportation
magic skill and rolls. Lo-Pan rolls a 17 for a bonus of 4 to his aportation skill of 17 and
his posturing skill of 13. The 21 aportation translates to a +8, which he adds to his
posturing result of 17 for a total of 25!
Lo-Pan whips open his robes with his hands, gestures a few times and causes a
windstorm to swirl around him causing his hair and robes to whip and crack violently in
the wind as he smiles viciously back at Goto. He wins the contest by 3, which the
gamemaster then compares to the posturing interaction chart and declares Goto unskilled
for the duration of the fight.
The actions taken by a character during posturing are purely cosmetic. A
character may not actually use their martial arts skill to attack their opponent while
posturing, the are simply striking a pose, breaking a nearby board for effect, or some
other such action. Wizards who attempt to use one of their magical skills for posturing
are considered to be casting an illusion on the fly. For simplification any roll that results
in a negative bonus number will cause backlash equal to the penalty number, although the
overall attempt may still succeed.
Any skill can be used appropriately if the player can describe a plausible way for
the skill to cause the desired effect. The faith skill could be used to say a prayer out loud
or recite an old proverb. Intimidation could be used to make a short speech. Even beast
riding could be used to cause a horse to rear menacingly. The skill itself is less important
than the bonus number it offers to the posturing skill. It should be up to the referee to
decide what skills can be used, and to help a player find an appropriate description for
how their character is using that skill. Just remember that the chosen skill is simply the
cosmetic component of his posturing attempt, the true action being taken is a spiritual
contest of wills.
A character may choose to ignore a posturing attempt. If they are from Dynasty
they are still subject to the Law of Posture however and must still take a result of
unskilled for that round and the next. This represents the character conceding the contest
of wills immediately and simply taking the penalty.
Characters not from Dynasty may ignore posturing without any penalty and can
simply attack that round. Posturing is an action like any other, however a character may
not attempt any other actions for that round while posturing. If a character has already
taken an action, and then their opponent postures against them, they must ignore the
attempt and take the appropriate penalties for the next two rounds following.
Characters from other realities have the option to learn the posturing skill, but this
will subject them to standard penalties for ignoring posturing. They must also find a
teacher for this skill as it cannot be learned without some education in the ways of
Dynasty.
 Characters who are from dynasty, but lack the posturing skill, may attempt to
resist with their spirit attribute alone. They of course treat the action as being unskilled,
and they may not choose another skill with which to boost their attempt.
Posturing can be used as a one on many action, or a many on one action.
Posturing should be considered a test of wills whenever test is an approved action and a
card should be given for a successful attempt. Possibilities may be spent on posturing.
They go tho the single roll, and thus benefit both skill totals.
Willpower alone may not be used to resist posturing, nor may posturing be used to
resist the intimidation skill. Posturing only affects posturing.

Notes: This is really my first attempt to codify posturing. It was something Bert and I
noticed about kung-fu movies and anime. If you want to see some real posturing, just
watch DragonBall Z and see how long it takes them to stop talking to each other and start
actually fighting.

The posturing interaction chart is the same as the test/intimidation chart, except that a
result of zero causes no effect to either character.

I understand that this skill has the ability to totally dominate a fight between two
characters, and I wanted it that way. It also leaves them very vulnerable if two Dynasty
characters are fighting surrounded by other combatants from other realities who can
simply ignore what they are doing and blast them with a plasma gun.

The first time I used this skill in game, it was hilarious because my character had already
gained a reputation as a serious ass kicker, and this was the first time we had fought
people from Dynasty. So we all piled out of our transport and everyone prepared for the
worst expecting a tough fight. My character promptly stepped to the front struck a silly
pose with his sword screaming a war challenge. Of course everyone else exploded
laughing, even after two of the yoshin warriors took off running because of the break
result. My character had already learned the hard way that outsiders didn’t give a damn
about it when he tried to posture against them. Picture something akin to Raiders of the
Lost Arc when the guy with the two huge swords came out of the crowd at Indy.