Toy browser spirit (Deadlands: Hell on Earth Classic)

The Junkman Cometh is one of my most beloved books in the Wasted West line.  Which is kind of odd, frankly; toxic spiritworkers and Doomsayers tend to be more my style in a lot of ways.  Something about post-apocalyptic kitbashes of scrounged junk that shouldn't be able to do the things they do just lightens this little anti-civ eco-anarchist's moldy heart.

The idea, of course, is that junkers use traditional spiritworking methods to interact with the tech spirits.  Everything has a spirit, but the less involved people are with the production of the object, the less it resembles what it might have been had humans not involved themselves, the more its spirit changes.  Eventually, these changes build up to enough of a difference that the object's spirit can no longer be called a nature spirit.  It just doesn't play by their rules or have their relationship with the world, divorced from its components' original contexts.  These are the spirits the junkers talk to and negotiate with and convince to make their devices do things.

The Junkman Cometh, the splatbook for junkers, introduces the idea of browser spirits.  Tech spirits who have braved many battles with the fear spirits that serve the Four Reckoners, the gremlin spirits that sneak into devices, and the nature spirits grow more and more powerful by absorbing these opponents.  Once they get large enough, they can serve as mentors and familiars to junkers who are particularly good at what they do.  

Five types of these browser spirits are described in the book:  appliance, building, car, computer, and gun.  While these seem particularly appropriate for the wandering and adventuring survivors of the ghost-rock apocalypse, they don't seem to cover all the possible types of tech spirits out there.  This, then, is the first post of mine trying to rectify that by introducing five more types of browsers (and, thus, of tech spirits):  clothing, drug, sex aids, toy, and vittles (industrialized food).

Associated Powers:  Agility, brains, finish, jerry-rig, miniaturize

Almost as powerful as car spirits, the spirits of the toys given to and enjoyed by children (of all ages!) have long enjoyed the caring devotion of their organic friends.  Anything which might have been given to another for their amusement and laughter had one of these spirits inhabiting it, from teddy bears to the two-inch plastic dinosaur the 5-year-old carries everywhere to complicated robot amusements that moved and lit up and made sounds.  Sports equipment, as well, provided them a home.  

Toy spirits often seem unintelligent, as they often know naught else but silliness.  Junkers with particular kinds of hearts can see that this silliness is often the best way to communicate some essential bit of wisdom from the spirit world.  It's certainly the most fun.  Every toy spirit pursues their goal, to lighten the day with smiles and giggles, with a dedicated and obsessive focus seen in few other beings.  This often results in toy spirits and the junkers who have befriended them seeming limited or overly self-contained in scope, even more so than most junkers.  Tainted junkers can never have a toy browser; they're just no fun.

The past 13 years since the g-bombs fell have seen another element of their work grow to prominence.  So many people in the Wasted West are lonely.

White:  The junker gains a +4 bonus to all tale-tellin' and ridicule rolls for an hour.
Red:  Friends of the toy spirits live a charmed life.  Reduce a single roll on the Backlash table by -4.
Blue:  If the junker succeeds on a Hard (9) leadership roll, they can allow a Tainted junker to act as if they had one level less of the Taint for 1d20 minutes.  The TN of this roll is increased by +2 for each of the following Hindrances possessed by the junker: mean as a rattler, bloodthirsty, and vengeful.
Legend:  With great exertion, the browser can flood an area no larger than 25' on a side with its joyful essence, lowering the Fear Level of that area by 1 for 1d4 hours.

Queer Spirits:  Categories are useful bullshit, and the edge cases are the most fun.  Toy spirits (and other kinds of tech spirits) can occasionally resemble or shade into other kinds of tech spirits.  For example, drones and other types of RC gizmos can be inhabited by toy spirits, car spirits, or spirits that are kind of both.  Robots can lend themselves to a similar situation involving computer spirits and toy spirits, as can things like video game systems,  Building spirits find themselves merging with toy spirits in engineering kits, the flashy sort of Legos marketed to parents who want their kids to go into STEM when they're older; bits of those kits might instead resemble a cross between tool and toy spirits.  EZ-Bake ovens and the like hold within them spirits that resemble both toy spirits and appliance spirits, while clothing and toy spirits intermingle in costumes and clothes intended for dress-up games.  It can be hard to find the queer mixture of toy spirits and vittles or drug spirits, but candy (and the sort of medicines designed to mimic candy) is the best place to look.  I don't think I need to mention that sex aid and toy spirits blend and intermingle both easily and often.

Neurally Ambiguous: Gepetto Must Die

 

Quarantine has been a weirdly powerful time for me, allowing me to get my license back and a car to use it with, and to start what I hope to be something of a career writing RPG material and streaming on an RPG show called Show Us Your Crits (specifically its adult stream).

Next Thursday, the first episode of a Shadowrun camapign I'm running will stream live at https://plexstorm.com/stream/showusyourcrits#.  Neurally Ambiguous: Gepetto Must Die follows the prostitutes Marko Lee (human music journalist), Pera Veneziano (the elf former pop-opera singer), and the ork known as La Diablita, everyone's fantasy of a runaway Catholic schoolgirl . . . who happens to be able to cast spells!   These three are bunraku, hooked on a digital drug called BTL chips (Better Than Life) that replaces their personalities.  It's a heady mix of my mind control fetish with my social conscience set in a world blending cyberpunk and fantasy.  Specifically, in a version of Chicago just recovering from the nuclear bomb blast that mostly failed to contain the invasion of bug spirits from beyond reality.

Episodes will be archived for on-demand viewing at https://www.youtube.com/c/ShowusyourCrits/ (please subscribe, if you'd be willing. We'll be giving away a piece of memorabilia every 100 subscribers until we hit 1000.  We're quite close to 200!!)

If you want to even further subsidize a gamer trying to build up the finances to meet bos needs and hopefully help others, I started a Patreon to support my RPG writing and streaming.  You can donate as little as $1 a month, and it all helps, quite a bit.  Just a couple weeks ago, I gained enough donors to essentially have an extra month of GA+foodstamps every year!  You can become a patron at https://patreon.com/queermythopoeia

Thank you very much!

Poison Oak mentor spirit (Shadowrun 5th edition)

The Show Us Your Crits adult stream is building up to Neurally Ambiguous: Gepetto Must Die, the Shadowrun 5e campaign I'll be running in which we follow the lives, dreams, and struggles of a house full of bunraku prostitutes.  And engage in some mind control fetish fun, as well!  In the flow of my excitement, I have reached back into my pile of half-completed ideas, found this, and polished it off to present to y'all.  I hope you enjoy it!

As always, thank you to my patrons Jaina Bee, Ferny, Casey, Dave, Todd, and Darius.  They and my other patrons saw this post a week early ~ if you would like to support my writing and my streaming (and join them in seeing all of my blog posts before anyone else), you can do so on my Patreon ~ even $1/month helps a tremendous amount! 

Poison Oak

The original namesake of what is now called Los Angeles, Yaang lives on the edge of the forest, crouching and invisible.  Most famous for the oil on her leaves to which metahumans are uniquely allergic, she nonetheless holds many powers.  Upon annexing LA in 2061, the Pueblo Corporate Council experienced a fad for the old techniques of using her juice or soot to color baskets and tattoos; a close relative of hers is used for lacquer in Japan.  Poison Oak feeds deer with her leaves and squirrels with her berries, and has always helped the Chumash cure many ills.

Advantages
All:  +1 for Artisan and First Aid tests.  A magical lodge counts as +1 Force for the purpose of crafting qi foci in the form of tattoos.
Magician:  +1 die for Counterspelling Tests and anchored rituals, +1 die for summoning plant spirits.
Adept:  3 free levels of Stillness.

Disadvantages
Poison Oak guards, but she does so without violence, preferring instead to make things so unpleasant for intruders that they leave of their own volition.  Accordingly, her followers must succeed at a Charisma + Intuition (3) test in order to take any directly violent action, each time.  They have no problem using non-violent means like many health or manipulation spells to soften up targets for their more . . . direct teammates to then be violent at, however.

Similar Archetypes:  Forest, Guardian Angel, Fence, Smudge. 

Notes on Character Synergies and Use
The Nahua ("Aztec"), druid, Hindu, Muslim, Romani, Shinto, Wiccan, and Wuxing traditions all summon plant spirits to help with health spells, while the Oceti Sakowin ("Sioux") ask them to help with detection spells and Zoroastrians with manipulation spells.  With their predilection for not being seen and for stunning, rather than killing, their enemies, druids might be especially drawn to following Poison Oak.  Nahua and Shinto use Charisma to resist Drain, which is a less than optimal combination with Poison Oak's skill bonuses (though it does help them with the mentor spirit's disadvantage).  That hardly seems to be severe enough to outweigh the fact that, culturally, they are the most appropriate traditions in which to approach Poison Oak.  (OK, so Nahua isn't really, but there's no Chumash tradition or anything of the sort >.< )  An Oceti Sakowin follower of Poison Oak is likely to focus on espionage work, while a Zoroastrian might find bodyguard work most comfortable; Poison Oak followers of other traditions likely gravitate towards being healers.

The green magic tradition recently discovered by the Tzuri Group under the waves off of India's coast has, quite expectedly, proven to be very fertile ground for Poison Oak mages, summoning plant spirits for help with every kind of spell except manipulation.  They do use Charisma to resist Drain, though.  The Tzuri group also recently revealed that they had knowledge of a tradition they call necro magic, which summons the plant-like rot spirits for help with health spells.  Perhaps ironically, since it uses Logic to resist Drain, Poison Oak necro mages truly excel as healers.  DocWagon has made it known that . . . convincing . . . such a mage to accept employment from them would be worth a grip of nuyen.

Though most of the Ways could easily be appropriate for an adept following Poison Oak, the Artisan's and Invisible Ways are probably the most common among such adepts, though there are a perhaps shocking number of Poison Oak adepts on the Speaker's Way.

Faith means more than you think, Khalid (In Nomine)

As always, thank you to my patrons Jaina Bee, Ferny, Casey, Dave, Todd, and Darius.  They and my other patrons saw this post a week early ~ if you would like to support my writing and my streaming (and join them in seeing all of my blog posts before anyone else), you can do so on my Patreon ~ even $1/month helps a tremendous amount!

 

Mary Reba “Miss Velvet” Pleasant, currently known as Lord Griffith

When Mary Reba Pleasant went to the Library shortly after her death, it took some cross-referencing among the many books there to figure out why her Destiny was a darkly sensual, percussion-heavy theme, richly resonant and ornately delicate.  There was only a single report that mentioned her, and the mercurian who wrote it interpeted this melody as a Destiny to be a successful high-class professional dominatrix.  The Black graduate student followed that thread of research into the lives of her clients and came to the conclusion that she had spread selfless concern for intersectional liberation among powerful business executives.  Until the tragic car crash that claimed her life in 2007, her career involved ordering the wealthy white men who patronized her (sometimes in both meanings of the word) to read the writings of Black feminist and socialist theorists.  At least three non-profits sprung from this work, founded by men who had seen her, amidst innumerable shifts in corporate policy and lobbying goals.

As a Bodhisattva, Mary Reba dallied long in the Halls of Creation and the Glade, and even made some surprisingly regular trips over to the Church of the Sword, whiling away the Paradisiacal days chatting philosophy amongst the throngs in its halls as well as in more individual assgnations amongst its many rooms.  Much like Laurence’s Church, the Catacombs received her often, and she acted much the same there, too.  Those blessed, community-minded souls who explore the practice of selfless gossip probably shouldn’t have been as shocked as they were when Mary Reba submitted a saintly petition to an Archangel named something other than Eli or David.

Khalid smiled when she asked him if she could do his work on Earth, according to the angels Habib and Artiya’il who were in attendance at the time.  “But though you are mubarak, neither are you Muslim nor are you even paricularly invested in any other Faith.”

“Wali malak, what you say is true.  My Faith has always been invested in people and in politics, but that is the very crux of why I did approach thee with my petition.  I do believe that I have come to a realization concerning the nature of your Word that by need must be shared with one you have also had.”

Khalid chuckled, Habib and Artiya’il say, and that was his sole response.

“Faith is not a thing limited in direction to the upward-pointed eyes.  Trust in another is a type of Faith.  Vulnerability is a type of Faith.  Willingness to be led is a type of Faith.”

“Knowing your history, do you presume to the hubristic blasphemy that you can be the object of this Faith?”

“I am ever naught but a vessel for whatever Divinity casts ths light within which we are meeting.  I have been led to believe that the Qu’ran describes humans as Allah’s successor on Earth.  Humbly, that is all the work I wish to do in the corporeal realm.”

Khalid granted Reba’s request, and now Lord Griffith travels throughout the world, teaching those who wish to submit how to do so in the face of their greatest fears and long practice holding to their Will white-knuckled as the only force steering them through the world.

Corporeal  2 // Strength  4 Agility  4 // Body  16
Ethereal  2 // Intelligence 3 Precision 5 // Mind 6
Celestial  3 // Will  6/12* Perception  6 // Soul 18

Vessel/2, Status/2, Charisma/1 (general good looks) + Charisma/1 (nurturing dominance)

Skills:  Area Knowledge (Atlanta/3), Detect Lies/3, Driving/1, Emote/3, Escape/1, Fighting/1, Knowledge (Pro Domme/3, Black Feminist Socialist Theory/1), Languages (Arabic/3, English/3N), Medicine/1, Seduction/1, Small Weapon (Cane/2), Swimming/1
Advantages:  Blessed
Songs:  Nightmares (Ethereal/2), Opening (Celestial/2)
Rites:  Inspire faith in something holy; Instill true faith in a faithless person

*  Mary Reba’s Will is doubled for purposes of resisting any resonance, attunement, or Song that can be resisted, as well as Fast-Talk and Seduction attempts. (This does not apply to powers resisted by characteristics other than Will, but it does apply to resisting orders if Mary Reba becomes a servant!)

Mary Reba Pleasant is created according to the rules for a starting player character Saint in the Corporeal Player’s Guide.  She is also inspired by Mistress Velvet and Reba Maybury, both dominatrices using their Dominance for social change.

Gli Meccanichi di La Cosa Nostra, a GURPS Classic setting

As always, thank you to my patrons Jaina Bee, Ferny, Casey, Dave, Todd, and Darius.  They and my other patrons saw this post a week early ~ if you would like to support my writing and my streaming (and join them in seeing all of my blog posts before anyone else), you can do so on my Patreon ~ even $1/month helps a tremendous amount! 

Genre:  Anime-esque, crime story, urban fantasy, mecha, alternate history

Premise:  Mafia drama in the present day, plus mecha and ceremonial magic

Tech Level:  As with the real world of the present day, the world is a mature TL 8

Character Creation:  150 points, up to 40 points in disadvantages, up to 5 quirks; can trade points for cash (B16, B83), trade points for equipment (CI17), and use temporary wealth (CI18)

Books:  GURPS Cabal (magic system only, there is no giant conspiracy; rival organizations such as the Yakuza or Bloods might have access to different styles of magic, just as powerful), GURPS Cops (for enemies), GURPS Grimoire, GURPS High-Tech, GURPS Magic, GURPS Mecha, GURPS Modern Firepower, GURPS SWAT (for enemies), GURPS Vehicles, GURPS Vehicles Expansion 1, GURPS Vehicles Expansion 2

The Roaring Twenties were a helluva time to be a mobster.  The Anti-Saloon League had no idea the can of worms they would end up opening.

Edward S. Ellis is the first person to have described the device now known as a "mecha" in his dime novel The Steam-Man of the Prairies.  That's much earlier than the Roaring Twenties, of course, but it took until World War I's horrifying trench warfare tactics to make Johnny Brainerd's invention real.  The first true walking mecha ~ named "Mother" ~ was built by the British in 1916, and it won the war by breaking the stalemate of the trenches.

January 1920 saw the start of Prohibition, as the "Thirsty-First" Amendment and the Volstead Act kicked in.  Crime immediately skyrocketed, and the Mafia were right there in the thick of it.  Five months later, the United States government made the fateful decision to disband the Mecha Corps entirely.  Most of the remaining mecha were distributed among the infantry, with a few falling off a truck into Italian hands.

Not all the mecha that flooded the streets during Prohibition were American-made, however.  In May of 1919, the Italian government had ordered 1400 Fiat 3000 light battle meccanichi and 50 Fiat 2000 heavy battle meccanichi (in fact, the heaviest design of all mecha at the time) from the luxury automobile company Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino.  Only 100 of the former and 2 of the latter were delivered, as the order was cancelled when the war ended.  Two years later, FIAT workers raised the red flag of communism over their factories in a major strike.  The centrist parties who worked with the trade union Confederazione Generale del Lavoro to end the strike utterly failed to prevent Benito Mussolini's coup d'état the next year.

Waves of Italian immigrants, many of them Mafia, many of them communists, streamed to New York City.  With them came the designs for the FIAT meccanichi and even a few in various stages of completion, plucked from the waste pile at the factories they seized from the capitalist bosses.  With this brainpower, the American Mafia could now produce more meccanichi and innovate.

Which they did.  And the government didn't.  The results of this reality in an age of unprecedented illegal profit were quite predictable.

Also to our benefit was the Italian history of magical practice.  From our nonne keeping alive the old folkways to the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Misraïm keeping alive Cagliostro's wisdom, the 1909-1910 visit of the gifted medium Eusapia Palladino, and the very contemporary writings of Arturo Reghini and Julius Evola, we had access to many secret knowledges.  Soon, our circles and our sigils adorned the meccanichi, wreathing them in powerful enchantments.  Evola's work as a mechanic and an artillerist and Reghini's mathematical genius offered the Mafia unprecedented insight in anchoring these spells into cutting edge technology.  Of course, both went on to be fundamental in the development of fascism, so fuck those guys.

Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis tried to fight the tide in 1928, but he was still a soldier at heart and no policeman.  His solution was the Experimental Mechanized Brigade, but it was disbanded after only three months.  Guess who got the benefit of its leftovers?

 

La Cosa Nostra in those days was smart.  They knew they had the freedom to flaunt their social power, but they knew the advantage the meccanichi gave them relied on them having no balance fielded by the forces of the law.  They kept the meccanichi quiet, using them in shadow and in rumor only.  Until the goddamn Mustache Petes came from Catellamare del Golfo.

Salvatore Maranzano came to this country looking to kick off a war.  His boss, Don Vito Ferro, sent him here to start one and, in February 1930, he did.  The Sicilians hadn't been, how do you say, acculturated into the mechanized Mafia of the States.  Their enthusiasm led them to make mistakes.  Visible ones.  Suddenly it wasn't just poor folks' urban legends that featured the meccanichi, but the newsreels.  Luckily for us, America was still wallowing in the depths of the Great Depression.  Frankly, Prohibition gave us the money to keep ahead of the tax-funded cops' attempts to match our armament in the streets.

Unfortunately for us, the New Deal started pumping money into police budgets the very next year after the Castellamerese War and, by the time the War rolled around, the gap had almost been closed.  Our operations were on the ropes and we were starting to scramble.  Only the newly-minted Commission and a dedication to Omertà kept us in business.

World War II saw the government essentially surrender, as they reached an agreement with the imprisoned Lucky Luciano to get a wide variety of services from the Mafia in order to defeat the Axis.  As part of this Operation Underworld, Lucky cannily negotiated to acquire upgraded designs and materials to produce more meccanichi.  Including military specs, which we could fund with the proceeds from Cuban and Vegas casinos.  Once again, the balance was in our favor and it would remain so until the Apalachin Meeting in 1957 and the Valachi trial in 1963.

As the government once again focused unbelievable amounts of effort into destroying us, the battles between our meccanichi and those of the pigs were freed entirely from the need for concealment.  The streets rang with our gunfire for three decades during which only the rise of the New Age and its magical innovations kept us alive as an outfit.  The RICO Act cost us Vegas in the 80s, but the real turning point came with the twin blows of John Gotti's trial and the fall of the Berlin Wall at the beginning of the 1990s.

Without the arms race against the Soviets, the military dumped ordinance and training into local police departments.  Finally, after 70 years of trying, the cops could match our meccanichi in the street.  Three decades of slowly losing ground has left us where we are today, a mere shadow of what we once were.

***

Each of the families of the Mafia produces its own set of meccanichi, with the Cerrito family of San Jose being one of the most prolific in doing so (and in fact, keeping current with mecha technology by intertwining themselves with the tech industry is the only thing keeping the family in existence since 2009), though the Five Families of New York, naturally enough, have the history, money, and power to pump out a good number as well.  Meccanichi are referred to by make and model, much like cars.  Like cars, specific meccanichi are often further marked by specific variations on the basic design (y'know, like the Toyota Corolla SE, the Corolla LE, etc.)

All of the weights and prices below are approximate targets, and will likely be adjusted when I actually stat out the various Mafia meccanichi.  The prices do NOT include the price of any enchantments on the meccanichi, as these tend to be after-market additions by made mages of the purchaser's crew.

1. The DeCavalcante Soprano, a very basic human-compatible $300k 1.5-ton utility mech mostly used as a cheap status symbol among made men
2. The Bufalino Teamster, a $400k 3.5-ton labor-style battlesuit often sold or gifted to unions as part of taking them over
3. The Cerrito Mustache Pete, a human-compatible $500k 2-ton light battle mech intended to be flashy and ridiculous as a distraction
4. The Colombo Soldato, a no-nonsense $600k 1.5-ton light battle battlesuit that serves as mechanical muscle for the organization
5. The Lucchese Pentito, a $750k 2.5-ton light battle battlesuit based on police designs intended to combat the Mafia
6. The Genovese Camorra, a $1.25m 6-ton scout mech designed to function as a lookout
7. The Gambino Bootlegger, a human-compatible $1.5m 5-ton scout mech intended for use as a smuggling vehicle
8. The Bonanno Gigantino, a human-compatible $1.5m 10-ton light battle mech designed to intimidate
9. The Cerrito Omertà, a $2m 5-ton transforming scout battlesuit optimized for stealth
10. The Colombo Tarantella, a jump-capable $2.5m 2-ton arachniform medical mech
11. The Genovese Mano Negro, a $3m 5-ton scout/light battle transformable battlesuit designed for use by assassins
12. The Chicago Bloody Nineteenth, a $3.5m 4.5-ton light battle mech with bombs and guns for all those times you just need someone dead and you don't care about the details
13. The Lucchese Gaetano, a jump-capable $4m 4-ton command utility mech designed for capos to better manage their crews
14. The Gambino Racketeer, a human-compatible $6m 2-ton utility mech marketed as an all-purpose machine to help business run more efficiently
15. The Bonanno Maranzano, a human-compatible $6m 6-ton command light battle mech, the only mech designed for use by underbosses
16. The Cerrito Consigliere, a flight-capable $7m 6-ton command scout battlesuit marketed to lieutenants and advisors
17. The Chicago St. Valentine's, a $7.5m 7-ton light battle mech designed to camouflage itself for the massacre
18. The Cerrito Godfather, a $8m 2-ton command light battle battlesuit worn by many a don and pretentious capo
19. The Genovese Bugsy, a human-compatible $9m 5-ton command utility mech marketed to ambitious made men who want to start their own outfit
20. The Cerrito Rispetto, a human-compatible $10m 1-ton luxury command utility mech for the don or dona that wants to impress their peers

A very D&D interpretation of Hello Kitty (Pathfinder 1st edition)

My sweety Sumiko Saulson, award-winning horror and Afrosurrealist author, is a huge Hello Kitty fan.  This D&D interpretation of the Japanese icon is dedicated to hir and hir friend Hobbit :-D  It will serve as the initial seed of a new campaign setting for me ~ well, two new campaign settings, actually.  The world of Sanri Pyefwan, which this post is about, will be a Pathfinder 1st edition setting, while Sanri Phaivii will translate these characters and other things into a D&D 5th edition setting.  This will let me explore the different genre assumptions and inspirations for each of these wonderful games.

As always, thank you to my patrons Jaina Bee, Ferny, Casey, Dave, and Darius.  They and my other patrons saw this post a week early ~ if you would like to support my writing and my streaming (and join them in seeing all of my blog posts before anyone else), you can do so on my Patreon ~ even $1/month helps a tremendous amount!

Haroktii Howait zep Djodj tep Mari zep Anshni tep Magret
Birthday:  The First Day of the First Decan of the Third Month of Low Water
Place of Birth:  The capitol Chowa Ta ("Harmonious City")
Gender:  Female
Race:  Gijinkh catfolk (stats below)
Residence:  Sanri Puro Ta ("World Palace City")
Height:  Five apples
Weight:  Three apples
Age:  46 years old
Quote:  "Mishru can never have too many friends!"
Siblings:  Mimyi Howait (twin sister; ancestors witch (tatterdemalion) 12/Charm (Love) and Community (Family) cleric 8)
Spouses:  Diadani Sutaa (gijinkh catfolk bard 6/investigator 3/expert jeweler 2) and Mai Merod (quwi kitsune woodlands witch (gingerbread witch) 16/bard 4)
Companions:  Kath (quwi kitsune), Djib (deep one hybrid), Fif (oicentaur), Djodi (rougarou), Djowi (penu ratfolk), Djud (penu ratfolk), Mori (mole goblin), Rori (akher ratfolk), Tamas (coldborn werekin), Tim and Tami (vanaras), Tipi (coldborn werekin), Takhshii Djamu (batrikh tengu), Zesi (raikhma kitsune)
Pets:  Djamii Khit (raiju), Shugaa (hamster), Taini Djam (embalming bear)
Enemies:  Queen Inuhakh of Shyama Ta (shyama catfolk), Hiku (witchwolf werekin), Fankhur (shyama catfolk)
Appearance (as always, I lack any sort of visual arts skill, so I put forth two pictures to blend together to envision Haroktii)

Harokti Howait, a female gijinkh catfolk, wears the ancestral red bow known as Beru shen Hap-Ered ("Hair-Bow of the River-Child") on her left ear as the Koushye ("The Great House") who rules the land of Mishru.  Cute, bright, sweet, kind-hearted, tomboyishly beautiful girl and very close to her twin sister Mimyi, Harokti's rulership has spread the influence of Mishru throughout all the world, affecting the art, writing, cuisine, theatre, clothing, bodywork, and technology of many realms.  A small but widespread cult has even sprung up scattered amongst many countries, hailing her as a new goddess, the prophesied Ras Tefer.  Stylized versions of her likeness adorn the vehicles, purses, plumbing, ovens, hearths, pottery, and jewelry of these worshipers, and several plays about her are performed on stages frequented by them.  Dolls, icons, tableware, and furniture are common gifts even in far-foreign lands.

A practiced baker herself and an avid collector of treasures of all kinds, Koushye Haroktii's love for her mother Magret's dhourra (a kind of rye galette stuffed with honey and apples) is well-known and a source of national pride.  When she is not governing ~ or even sometimes when she is! ~ she practices music and paints beautifully.  The library at Sanri Puro Ta has grown to wondrous levels during her reign, as she loves to read the fiction and poetry of all the world; Mishru's other scattered libraries have enjoyed this patronage as well.  Haroktii is a devoted worshiper of Manekh Nekhor, a nonbinary goddix represented with the antennae and shell of a snail and butterfly wings behind.

Twelve years before Haroktii's birth, her father Djodj wore the Beru shen Hap-Ered and busied himself with a traditional Mishrun practice of weaving sandals from flowers and strips of bark.  Haroktii and her twin sister were two of several children he sired with Magret.  She was born with a rare congenital defect which makes her mouth remarkably small, with thin lips that cause it to almost disappear when her mouth is shut.  Many have said that those in her presence find this unusual trait comforting, as they can be happy or sad together with the Koushye and always find their emotion reflected on her face.

Koushye Djodj negotiated a political marriage between Haroktii and the Abyayalan princess Mai Merod while visiting that distant land during her second year.  The rituals of their respective cultures were performed the next year, although any marriage between two three-year-olds is by need more ceremonial than anything. They do remain happily married 43 years later, however.  The marriage brought attention to the toddler Haroktii, though her first international fame faded within a couple of years and international gossip turned to her elder siblings and their new families.  Haroktii entered her first musical competition in the middle of this period of celebrity, at the age of four.  Despite her young age, she quickly mastered the clavichord and performed admirably.  By the time she was 32, she'd expanded her musical talents to include the guitar as well as the clavichord and her voice.

When Haroktii was a small child, Koushye Djodj didn't have strong opinions about her among his throng of heirs, but he warmed up to her as a youth when she became involved in the mercantile side of palace business.  A human emigré to the Land of Faërie by the name of Adalheidis became her partner in business and closest friend until their respective lands required duties of them that pulled them apart.  Her success at trade came as a surprise to everyone, but cemented her status as Djodj's chosen heir.  By the time she was 28, Haroktii's fame had been eclipsed by that of the adventurer An Pamman, even despite the fame of her pet raiju Djamii Khit.  It wouldn't be regained until she took the Beru shen Hap-Ered six years later.  However, as the chosen heir of the Koushye was fading into the background of her people's imaginations, famous heroes of foreign countries such as the goblin whimsy oracle Lady Agag and the elfin Charm/Travel cleric hai-Ramyerac began to champion her as an ideal of power and beauty.

Hai-Ramyerac had an airship built for Haroktii's 31st birthday in her favorite colors (there are lots of pink) with her image painted on its sails and a carving of her on its prow.  Lady Agag, on the other hand, hired the famous gnome jeweler Kimorali Snommis to produce an entire collection of unique jewelry for the Mishrun princess that she still wears to this day.  Horaktii liked this gift so much that three years later, she hired Kimorali herself to add to it!

At 33 years of age, Haroktii's archrival since the age of 13, Queen Inuhakh of Shyama Ta, began forcing members of her army that committed a variety of transgressions to wear pink badges with her face on them in order to embarrass and shame them.  The next year, shortly before accepting the Beru shen Hap-Ered from her father, Haroktii spent half the year in Tabgach Washya and half in he-Ong Keang establishing Mishrun embassies in each country.  However, her first major act as Koushye was in response to a financial crisis that struck the country during this period as the Hap Kau, the main river whose silty banks fed the nation, refused its yearly flood.  In the midst of famine, Haroktii built on and expanded the functioning of the Mishrun granary system to create a complex, massive system of banks, storing deposits of wealth and making loans to citizens both domestic and foreign.  These banks operated in two forms of pseudo-currency ~ grain-money and cattle-money ~ and helped revitalize Mishru's marketplaces, leaving them bustling and crowded even in the midst of austerity.  In the process, the foreign practice of coinage made greater inroads into Mishrun culture, with pieces of ceramic, copper, steel, silver, and gold from all the world over making their way through the populace.

This influx of foreign money and foreign culture brought the idea of skating to Mishru.  Lacking any ice, Haroktii's inventive subjects simply replaced the blades of foreign ice-skates with wheels, and then the island peoples of Mishru had the brilliant idea of using this as a way to bring their tradition of surfing to the land, attaching similar lines of wheels to small boards and using those to get around.  This fad was especially popular among Mishrun women, who enjoyed the speed with which they could complete chores by land-surfing.  

Two years after taking on the Beru shen Hap-Ered, Haroktii brought prosperity back to the farmers of Mishru by subsidizing the wine industry and merchants who sold the wine in foreign countries.  In the the 5th year of Haroktii's reign, having pulled her realm from starvation by building even more foreign connections, the Koushye ordered the opening of an embassy and marketplace in the southern country of Kiima Krengaa, the third such foreign embassy she had personally ordered and overseen.  To celebrate, she went on a traditional adventure with the Kiima Krengaan lungyeye ratfolk hero Sonikku za Hejjiyeye, an incredibly fast monk, in which they recovered the magical urn that had been used by the pirate known as the Quedagh Kid to contain the Phantasmal Fog.  This monstrous mist made evil doubles of those creatures who walked through it.  As is the usual practice in that country, the story was memorialized through the creation of a special costume called an amyibo.  Because of the rank and fame of the two heroes involved, this specific amyibo was enchanted, and two years later it was ritually gifted to the halfling fighter Maryush Maryush to use in his own adventures with his myceloid and grippli companions against his rival Waryush Blutosh (who had stolen the Phantasmal Fog).

One vicious rumor often told about Koushye Haroktii claims that the Vlaaraltfloumi princess Mivvi used magic to crate a mystical copy of herself and installed said copy on the throne of Mishru.

Haroktii Howait; CR 20
Middle-aged female gijinkh* catfolk bard (geisha) 12/occultist (naturalist) 5/expert baker 3
XP 204,800
NG Tiny humanoid (catfolk)
Initiative +4 (+4 Dex); Senses aura sight, low-light vision, object reading, scent; Perception +7, Sense Motive +38/+42 (empath feat, prognostication unlock, read aura unlock)
AC 29/33; touch 23/27; flat-footed 26/30; flat-footed touch 20/30 (+2 size, +4 Dex, +6 armor, +2 deflection, +5 insight; +4 cover in Yoru Shuyokh)
hp 100 (2d10+20d8+22)
Fortitude +16 (+9 class, +1 Con, +1 competence inspire greatness, +3 morale heroism, +2 sacred beacon of luck); Reflex +19 with advantage 1/day (+10 class, +4 Dex, +2 sacred beacon of luck, +3 morale heroism, cat's luck); Will +24 (+15 class, +4 Wis, +3 morale heroism, +2 sacred beacon of luck); situational +4 bonus against bardic performance, sonic, and language-dependent effects (well-versed), +4 to resist illusion effects and –2 against sleep effects (Nidjinut), +2 bonus on saving throws to resist spells of the pattern subschool (untold wonder)
Defensive Abilities Can exist comfortably in all high altitudes (Refukhu shen Afit-Affi), nimble faller, penalties from emotion effects are instead treated as morale bonuses equal to half the penalty’s value (untold wonder); Resist Fire 10 (Beru shen Hap-Ered); SR 24 (Refukhu shen Afit-Affi)
Weaknesses  –2 HD for the purpose of determining the number of HD used in sleep effects and the number of creatures affected and always counted first when determining which creatures are affected (Nidjinut)
Speed 20 feet
Melee Tiny nunchaku +18/+13/+8 melee (1d6+1d3-3 bludgeoning nonlethal plus shaken 1 round after dealing lethal damage plus possible spell siphon OR 1d3-3 bludgeoning plus possible spell siphon) (+14/+9/+4 BAB, +2 size, –4 Strength, +1 enchantment, +2 competence inspire greatness, +3 morale heroism; –4 Strength, +1 enchantment, merciful peaceful spell siphon)
Ranged Tiny sling +26 ranged (1d6+1d2-3 bludgeoning nonlethal plus -20 Stealth plus anti-invisibility plus DC 13 Will save to avoid being dazzled plus CL 10th searing light 1/day OR 1d2-3 bludgeoning plus -20 Stealth plus anti-invisibility plus DC 13 Will save to avoid being dazzled plus CL 10th searing light 1/day) (+14 BAB, +2 size, +4 Dex, +1 enchantment, +2 competence inspire greatness, +3 morale heroism; –4 Strength, +1 enchantment, beaming glitterwake merciful peaceful)
Space/Reach 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 feet/0 feet
Special Attacks Bardic performance (dirge of doom), focus power (cloud mind (Will DC 19), mental discord (Will DC 19), mind slumber (Will DC 19))
Bardic Spells Known CL 13th, 15th to penetrate SR; concentration +20

• Cantrips: (∞/day) detect magic, lullaby (Will save DC 18), message, prestidigitation, read magic, resistance
• 1st:  (7/day) abstemiousness (Fortitude save DC 19 (harmless)), cultural adaptation, identify, remove fear (Will save DC 19 (harmless)), restful sleep (Fortitude save DC 19 (harmless)), unbreakable heart (Will save DC 19 (harmless))
• 2nd: (7/day) build trust (Will DC 20), calm emotions (Will DC 20), create treasure map, dream shield (Will DC 20 (harmless)), honeyed tongue
• 3rd: (6/day) beacon of luck, bit of luck, charm monster (Will DC 21), deep slumber (Will DC 21)
• 4th: (5/day) bountiful banquet, treasure stitching (Fortitude DC 22 (object)), untold wonder (Will DC 22 (harmless))

Occultist Spells Known  CL 6th, 8th to penetrate SR; concentration +12

• 0: (∞/day) daze (Will DC 17), mending (Will DC 17 (harmless, object)), purify food and drink (Will DC 17 (object))
• 1st:  (6/day) charm person (Will DC 18), expeditious retreat, tears to wine (Will DC 18 (object))
• 2nd: (4/day) billowing skirt, daze monster (Will DC 18), feast of ashes (Fortitude DC 18)
  

Tactics 
Before Combat  Haroktii generally stores 4 points of mental focus in her coin purse, 3 in her guitar, 3 in her ointment jar, and 2 as generic focus.  She regularly casts untold wonder, bit of luck (6 points; can spend 4 for +2d8), and honeyed tongue on herself while holding court or on other Mishrun business, as well as activating Shu Unkh to cast heroism on everyone nearby.  Before any situation she expects to have a significant chance for combat, she will add a beacon of luck and conduct a tea ceremony with herself, her two spouses (Diadani and Mai), and her twin Mimyi to inspire greatness.  If the encounter happens in her throne room, she will have a continue heroism effect as she sits on her throne, and everyone around her will have knelt before it.  Haroktii believes strongly in the power of diplomacy and so always uses Diplomacy in an attempt to forestall any combat, no matter how seemingly inevitable.  Considering that she can roll 80 on a Diplomacy check relatively easily if she is benefiting from every possible bonus (which is always her goal), which is enough to convince a creature with a Charisma of 90 to provide aid that would result in punishment, it usually works. 
During Combat  Haroktii will start any combat by inspiring greatness while channeling a point of mental focus through her coin purse to activate mental discord, targeting a spellcaster if one has made their presence known.  After that, she will cast blissful encouraging unbreakable heart spells on one of her allies. The next two rounds will see her activating mental slumber, starting with the one she affected with mental discord.  From the fifth round of combat on, she will use deep slumber to continue neutralizing targets, mixing in the occasional charm person or charm monster.  If the combat is still raging after 10 rounds, she will change her bardic performance to a soothing performance.  Should combat end without a complete neutralization of the threat by Diplomacy or violence, Haroktii will usually expend her last round of bardic performance doing the Relentless Reprise.

Base Statistics  Initiative +3; AC 28/32; touch 22/26; flat-footed 25/29; flat-footed touch 19/29; hp 73 (20d8); Fortitude +9, Reflex +13 with advantage 1/day, Will +19; Melee Tiny nunchaku +13/+8/+3 melee (1d6+1d3-3 bludgeoning nonlethal plus shaken 1 round after dealing lethal damage plus possible spell siphon OR 1d3-3 bludgeoning plus possible spell siphon); Ranged Tiny sling +20 ranged (1d6+1d2-3 bludgeoning nonlethal plus -20 Stealth plus anti-invisibility plus DC 13 Will save to avoid being dazzled plus CL 10th searing light 1/day OR 1d2-3 bludgeoning plus -20 Stealth plus anti-invisibility plus DC 13 Will save to avoid being dazzled plus CL 10th searing light 1/day); Dexterity  17 (+3), Constitution  10 (0); CMD 21 (+14 BAB, –4 Str, +3 Dex, –2 size); Appraise +28/+32, Bluff +36, Craft (baking) +30, Craft (calligraphy) +19, Craft (painting) +17, Diplomacy +47/+51, Disable Device +11, Intimidate +19, Knowledge (arcana) +15/+17, Knowledge (history) +20, Knowledge (local) +20, Knowledge (nature) +13, Knowledge (nobility) +39, Knowledge (planes) +30, Knowledge (nature) +30, Linguistics +16/+18, Perception +4/+6, Perform (keyboard) +15, Perform (sing) +34, Perform (string) +15, Profession (merchant) +11, Spellcraft +27, Sense Motive +36/+40, Stealth +11, Use Magic Device +30

Morale  When two or more of her allies ~ or herself ~ are down to 25% hit points, Haroktii casts calm emotions in an attempt to shut the combat down.  If that doesn't work, she begins making use of the Beru shen Hap-Ered's and Kenkh Onen's offensive abilities while finally using her weapons against her opponents.
Ability Scores  Strength  3 (–4), Dexterity  19 (+4), Constitution  12 (+1), Intelligence  19⇒25 (+4⇒+7), Wisdom  13⇒19 (+1⇒+4), Charisma  20⇒26 (+5⇒+8)
Base Attack +14/+9/+4; Combat Maneuver Bonus +8 (+14 BAB, –4 Str, –2 size), situational +2 to disarm (nunchaku); Combat Maneuver Defense 22 (+14 BAB, –4 Str, +4 Dex, –2 size), situational +3 versus trip (nimble faller and Feline Grace), +2 versus bull rush, grapple, repositioning, and overrun (Feline Grace)
Feats Brew Potion, Blissful Spell, Catfolk Exemplar (enhanced senses), Craft Wondrous Item, Empath, Encouraging Spell, Exotic Martial Weapon Proficiency (nunchaku)⁺, Feline Grace, Light Armor Proficiency⁺, Martial Weapon Proficiency⁺, Medium Armor Proficiency⁺, Psychic Maestro (psychometry, read aura), Psychic Virtuoso, Scribe Scroll⁺, Shield Proficiency⁺, Simple Weapon Proficiency⁺, Spell Penetration 
Masterpieces Relentless Reprise (Will DC 24)
Skills Appraise +31/+35 (18 ranks, +7 Int, +3 class, +3 morale heroism; +2 for psychometry from Psychic Virtuoso), Bluff +41 (versatile performance: sing, +2 racial), Craft (baking) +33 (20 ranks, +7 Int, +3 class, +3 morale heroism), Craft (calligraphy) +22 (0 ranks, +7 Int, +3 morale heroism, +12 and usable untrained geisha knowledge), Craft (painting) +20 (7 ranks, +7 Int, +3 class, +3 morale heroism), Diplomacy +52/+56/+57 (18 ranks, +8 Cha, +2 racial, +3 class, +12 geisha knowledge, +4 Shu Unkh, +2 glorious presence, +3 morale heroism; +4 for hypnotism from Psychic Virtuoso; +5 competence to gather information; advantage to change attitude), Disable Device +15 (5 ranks, +4 Dex, +3 class, +3 morale heroism), Intimidate +24 (versatile performance: keyboard, +4 Shu Unkh), Knowledge (arcana) +18/+20 (5 ranks, +7 Int, +3 class, +3 morale heroism, always take 10 lore master; +2 for phrenology from Psychic Virtuoso), Knowledge (history) +23 (10 ranks, +7 Int, +3 class, +3 morale heroism, always take 10 lore master), Knowledge (local) +23 (10 ranks, +7 Int, +3 class, +3 morale heroism, always take 10 lore master), Knowledge (nature) +16 (3 ranks, +7 Int, +3 class, +3 morale heroism, always take 10 lore master), Knowledge (nobility) +42 (20 ranks, +7 Int, +12 geisha knowledge, +3 morale heroism), Knowledge (planes) +33 (20 ranks, +7 Int, +3 class, +3 morale heroism, always take 10 lore master), Knowledge (nature) +33 (20 ranks, +7 Int, +3 class, +3 morale heroism, always take 10 lore master), Linguistics +19/+21 (6 ranks, +7 Int, +3 class, +3 morale heroism; +2 for automatic writing from Psychic Virtuoso), Perception +7/+9 (0 ranks, +4 Wis, +3 morale heroism; +2 for read aura from Psychic Virtuoso), Perform (keyboard) +20 (4 ranks, +8 Cha, +3 class, +2 glorious presence, +3 morale heroism), Perform (sing) +39 (11 ranks, +8 Cha, +3 class, +12 geisha knowledge, +2 glorious presence, +3 morale heroism), Perform (string) +20 (4 ranks, +8 Cha, +3 class, +2 glorious presence, +3 morale heroism), Profession (merchant) +14 (4 ranks, +4 Wis, +3 class, +3 morale heroism), Sense Motive +38/+42 (versatile performance: sing, +2 racial; +4 for prognostication/read aura from Psychic Virtuoso), Spellcraft +30 (17 ranks, +7 Int, +3 class, +3 morale heroism), Stealth +15 (0 ranks, +4 Dex, +8 size, +3 morale heroism), Use Magic Device +35 (17 ranks, +8 Cha, +3 class, +2 magic item skill, +2 glorious presence, +3 morale heroism); can use any skill untrained (jack-of-all-trades)

Languages Antique Catfolk, Gnollish, Gnomic, Yukor
Special Qualities Bardic performance (countersong, fascinate, inspire competence, inspire courage, inspire greatness, soothing performance, suggestion), focus powers (legacy weapon, quickness), geisha knowledge, jack of all trades, lore master, magic item skill, mental focus 12 points, morale bonuses other than converted emotion penalties are increased by 1 (untold wonder), natural focus, resonant powers (glorious presence, physical enhancement), shift focus, tea ceremony, versatile performance (keyboard (Diplomacy, Intimidate), sing (Bluff, Sense Motive), masterpiece), well-versed
Combat Gear Shimzu ("Power; Dominion"; +1 merciful peaceful spell siphon Tiny nunchaku), Kenkh Onken (+1 beaming glitterwake merciful peaceful Tiny sling) with 20 stones
Other Gear  Beru shen Hap-Ered ("Hair-Bow of the River-Child")** , Refukhu shen Afit-Affi ("Robe of the Sun-Rat," a blue and white coverall-style garment; treat as Tiny robes of Xin-Shalast), Shu Unkh ("Feather Shirt," a yellow shirt worn beneath the Refukhu shen Afit-Affi; treat as Tiny Praenomen without the master/servant dynamic), Rokur ("Potter's Wheel"; treat as throne of pleasing mien), Yoru Shuyokh ("Growing Stronger"; treat as Tiny chariot of the conqueror), Nidjinut ("Rainbowroot"; treat as Clavis Somnus), coin purse (enchantment implement), guitar (transmutation implement), ointment jar (transmutation implement)

Aura Sight (Su): Haroktii can read the auras of creatures around him as a standard action. This functions as the aura sight spell with a duration of 1 round.

Bardic Performance: Haroktii can use this ability for 31 rounds per day. Each round, she can produce any one of the types of bardic performance that she has mastered.  Starting a bardic performance is a move action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. Changing a bardic performance from one effect to another requires Haroktii to stop the previous performance and start a new one as a standard action. A bardic performance cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if Haroktii is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round. A bard cannot have more than one bardic performance in effect at one time.  Each bardic performance has audible components, visual components, or both.  If a bardic performance has audible components, the targets must be able to hear Haroktii for the performance to have any effect, and such performances are language dependent. If Haroktii becmes deaf, she has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use a bardic performance with an audible component. If she fails this check, the attempt still counts against her daily limit. Deaf creatures are immune to bardic performances with audible components. If a bardic performance has a visual component, the targets must have line of sight to Haroktii for the performance to have any effect. If Haroktii becomes blind, she has a 50% chance to fail when attempting to use a bardic performance with a visual component. If she fails this check, the attempt still counts against her daily limit. Blind creatures are immune to bardic performances with visual components.

• Countersong (Su): Haroktii can counter magic effects that depend on sound (but not spells that have verbal components). Each round of the countersong she makes a Perform (keyboard, percussion, wind, string, or sing) skill check. Any creature within 30 feet of Haroktii (including her herself) that is affected by a sonic or language-dependent magical attack may use Haroktii's Perform check result in place of its saving throw if, after the saving throw is rolled, the Perform check result proves to be higher. If a creature within range of the countersong is already under the effect of a noninstantaneous sonic or language-dependent magical attack, it gains another saving throw against the effect each round it hears the countersong, but it must use Haroktii's Perform skill check result for the save. Countersong does not work on effects that don't allow saves. Countersong relies on audible components.
• Dirge of Doom (Su): Haroktii can use her performance to foster a sense of growing dread in her enemies, causing them to become shaken. To be affected, an enemy must be within 30 feet and able to see and hear Haroktii's performance. The effect persists for as long as the enemy is within 30 feet and Haroktii continues her performance. This performance cannot cause a creature to become frightened or panicked, even if the targets are already shaken from another effect. Dirge of doom is a mind-affecting fear effect, and it relies on audible and visual components.
• Fascinate (Su): Haroktii can use her performance to cause up to four creatures to become fascinated with her. Each creature to be fascinated must be within 90 feet, able to see and hear Haroktii, and capable of paying attention to her. Haroktii must also be able to see the creatures affected. The distraction of a nearby combat or other dangers prevents this ability from working. Each creature within range receives a Will save (DC 24) to negate the effect. If a creature's saving throw succeeds, Haroktii cannot attempt to fascinate that creature again for 24 hours. If its saving throw fails, the creature sits quietly and observes the performance for as long as Haroktii continues to maintain it. While fascinated, a target takes a –4 penalty on all skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception checks. Any potential threat to the target allows the target to make a new saving throw against the effect. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a weapon at the target, automatically breaks the effect. Fascinate is an enchantment (compulsion), mind-affecting ability. Fascinate relies on audible and visual components in order to function.
• Inspire Competence (Su): Haroktii can use her performance to help an ally succeed at a task. That ally must be within 30 feet and be able to hear Haroktii. The ally gets a +4 competence bonus on skill checks with a particular skill as long as she continues to hear the bard's performance.  Certain uses of this ability are infeasible, such as Stealth, and may be disallowed at the GM's discretion. A bard can't inspire competence in himself. Inspire competence relies on audible components.
• Inspire Courage (Su): Haroktii can use her performance to inspire courage in her allies (including herself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to perceive Haroktii's performance. An affected ally receives a +3 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +3 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls.  Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability. Inspire courage can use audible or visual components. The bard must choose which component to use when starting his performance.
• Inspire Greatness (Su): Haroktii can use her performance to inspire greatness in up to two people (herself or willing allies within 30 feet), granting extra fighting capability. To inspire greatness, all of the targets must be able to see and hear Haroktii. A creature inspired with greatness gains 2 bonus Hit Dice (d10s), the commensurate number of temporary hit points (apply the target's Constitution modifier, if any, to these bonus Hit Dice), a +2 competence bonus on attack rolls, and a +1 competence bonus on Fortitude saves. The bonus Hit Dice count as regular Hit Dice for determining the effect of spells that are Hit Dice dependent. Inspire greatness is a mind-affecting ability and it relies on audible and visual components.
• Soothing Performance (Su): Haroktii can use her performance to create an effect equivalent to a mass cure serious wounds cast at 12th level. In addition, this performance removes the fatigued, sickened, and shaken conditions from all those affected. Using this ability requires 4 rounds of continuous performance, and the targets must be able to see and hear Haroktii throughout the performance. Soothing performance affects all targets that remain within 30 feet throughout the performance. Soothing performance relies on audible and visual components.
• Suggestion (Sp): Haroktii can use her performance to make a suggestion (as per the spell) to a creature she has already fascinated (see above). Using this ability does not disrupt the fascinate effect, but it does require a standard action to activate (in addition to the free action to continue the fascinate effect). Haroktii can use this ability more than once against an individual creature during an individual performance. Making a suggestion does not count against Haroktii's daily use of bardic performance. A Will saving throw (DC 24) negates the effect. This ability affects only a single creature. Suggestion is an enchantment (compulsion), mind affecting, language-dependent ability and relies on audible components.

Implements:  Whenever Haroktii casts a spell, she must have the corresponding implement in her possession and present the implement to the target or toward the area of effect. This act is part of casting the spell and doesn’t require any additional action. If Haroktii lacks the corresponding implement, she can attempt to cast the spell, but must succeed at a concentration check (DC = 20 + the spell’s level) to do so. Spells cast by Haroktii without the appropriate implement are always treated as if they were cast at the minimum caster level for the spell in question (caster level 1st for a 1st-level spell, caster level 4th for a 2nd-level spell, and so on).

Lore Master (Ex): Haroktii is a master of lore and can take 10 on any Knowledge skill check that he has ranks in even when threatened or distracted. She can choose not to take 10 and can instead roll normally. In addition, twice per day, Haroktii can take 20 on any Knowledge skill check as a standard action.

Mental Focus (Su): Haroktii can invest a portion of her mental focus into her chosen implements for the day, allowing her to utilize a variety of abilities depending on the implements and the amount of mental focus invested in them. Haroktii has 12 points of mental focus; these points refresh each day. She can divide this mental focus between her implements in any way she desires. If an implement is lost or destroyed, the focus invested in it is lost as well, though Haroktii still refreshes those points of focus normally.  Once mental focus is invested inside an implement, the implement gains the resonant power of its implement school, and Haroktii can expend the mental focus stored in the implement to activate the associated focus powers she knows. If a resonant power grants a bonus that varies based on the amount of mental focus invested in the implement, the bonus is determined when the focus is invested, and is not reduced or altered by expending the mental focus invested in the item. Once all of the mental focus in an implement has been expended, it loses its resonant power until mental focus is once again invested in the implement. The implement grants its resonant power to whoever possesses it; Haroktii can lend the implement to an ally to assist that ally, but if she does so, he has difficulty casting that implement’s spells and can’t expend that implement’s focus on focus powers until she retrieves the implement or refreshes her focus.  Haroktii refreshes her mental focus once each day after receiving at least 8 hours of sleep. After refreshing her mental focus, Haroktii must spend 1 hour preparing her implements and investing them with this power. Mental focus that is not used before the next time Haroktii refreshes her focus is lost.  Haroktii can choose to save generic mental focus inside her own body instead of investing all of it, but expending this focus comes at a higher cost. Any focus power Haroktii activates with generic focus costs twice as much mental focus to use (and to maintain, if applicable). Haroktii can expend her generic focus through an appropriate implement on any focus power he knows, but an implement she didn’t invest any focus in at the start of the day grants no resonant power.

• Cloud Mind (Su): As a standard action, Haroktii can expend 1 point of mental focus  through her coin purse to cloud the mind of one foe within 30 feet. That foe is dazed for 1 round if it has 5 Hit Dice or less. If it has more than 5 Hit Dice, it is staggered for 1 round instead. The foe can attempt a Will saving throw to negate the effect. Whether or not it succeeds at the save, the target is then immune to this effect for 1 day. This is a mind-affecting effect.
• Legacy Weapon (Su): As a standard action, Haroktii can expend 1 point of mental focus through her guitar or ointment jar and touch a weapon to grant it a +1 enhancement bonus.  Enhancement bonuses gained by this ability stack with those of the weapon, to a maximum of +5. She can instead imbue the weapon with any one weapon special ability with an equivalent enhancement bonus. The item must have an enhancement bonus of at least +1 (from the item itself) to gain a weapon special ability. In either case, these bonuses last for 1 minute.
• Mental Discord (Sp): As a standard action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus through her coin purse to disrupt the mind of one living creature within 30 feet. The creature can attempt a Will saving throw to negate the effect. If it fails the save, the creature can’t concentrate on any spell effects and must succeed at a concentration check to cast any spell (DC = 15 + double the spell level). The affected creature takes a –4 penalty on this check if the spell includes a thought component. The creature takes a –2 penalty on all Will saving throws while under this effect. This effect lasts for 5 rounds.
• Mind Slumber (Sp): By expending 1 point of mental focus through her coin purse as a standard action, Haroktii can lull a living creature into a deep mental slumber, forcing it to view the world as a dream. The target must be within 30 feet of her, and it can attempt a Will saving throw to negate the effect. If it fails the save, the creature falls asleep, although it still perceives the world around it as a dream. This doesn’t cause the creature to fall prone, but it does drop whatever it is holding. The creature can’t take any actions while in this state, but it isn’t helpless — it perceives danger as part of its dream. The creature remains asleep for 5 rounds or until it takes any amount of damage, which immediately wakes it. At the end of each of its turns, it receives another Will saving throw to end the effect. The creature can be manipulated or examined without waking it, but it can’t be moved from its square without waking it. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. Regardless of whether it succeeds at the save, the target is then immune to this effect for 24 hours.
• Quickness (Sp): As a standard action, Haroktii can expend 1 point of mental focus through her guitar or ointment jar to grant supernatural quickness and reflexes to herself or a willing living creature you touch. This functions as haste, but the bonus to AC and on Reflex saving throws increases to +2. This effect lasts for 5 rounds.
• Resonant Power: Glorious Presence (Su): Haroktii's coin purse invokes the presence of all those who have relied upon charm to make their way through the world. Haroktii gains a +1 competence bonus on all Charisma-based skill checks and ability checks for every 2 points of mental focus invested in the implement, to a maximum bonus of +2.
• Resonant Power: Physical Enhancement (Su): Haroktii's guitar and ointment jar enhance her body. When Haroktii invests mental focus in each implement, she selects a physical ability score. The implement grants a +2 temporary enhancement bonus to that physical ability score for every 3 points of mental focus invested in the implement (to a maximum of +2).

Natural Focus (Su): Haroktii can always hear the spirits of nature whispering in his ears, and sometimes those whispers contain helpful advice. As a free action, she can expend 1 point of generic mental focus before rolling an ability check, saving throw, or skill check to add 1d6 to the result. Haroktii must be conscious and aware to use this ability, and she can use this ability at most once per round.  This ability doesn’t function while Haroktii is wearing metal armor or using a metal shield (although she can wear a suit of armor or use a shield altered by the ironwood spell). This restriction is similar to the druid’s armor restriction.
Object Reading (Su): Haroktii knows how to read information from items she examines. Examining an item in this way requires her to spend 1 minute handling the item. If the item is a magic item, Haroktii learns its properties and command word as if she had successfully examined the item using detect magic and succeeded at a Spellcraft check. This ability does not reveal whether the item is cursed unless the caster level of the item is 5th or less. If the item has any historical significance, Haroktii learns one piece of information about its past (as determined by the GM). Finally, if the item was last used no longer than 5 days ago, Haroktii learns one piece of information about the last creature to use the item. This information might be a glimpse of the creature’s appearance, a brief vision of what it saw while using the item, or perhaps its emotional state when it last used the item. The GM determines what information is gained in this way. This functions like the psychometry occult skill unlock (see page 196), but doesn’t require a skill check and can be used at will.

Relentless Reprise (Sing, Wind): Haroktii's songs replay endlessly in her target’s minds, sapping resolve and sanity.  Whenever she ends a bardic performance, she can add a quick reprise that makes it unnaturally catchy. Any creature within 30 feet of her when she finishes her performance will run the risk of having her tune replaying endlessly in its mind. Unless the creature succeeds on a Will saving throw (DC 24), the tune distracts it for 12 days. The creature takes a –4 penalty on concentration checks, initiative checks, and Perception checks as long as it remains distracted. The creature’s sleep also becomes fitful, requiring half again as long for the usual benefit and entirely negating the benefits of full bed rest beyond a normal rest. Once per day upon waking after rest, the creature can attempt a new Will saving throw to shake off the relentless reprise. If it fails, the creature takes 1d2 points of Wisdom damage (or 1d4 points of sanity damage if using the sanity rules from Horror Adventures). This is a curse effect with audible components.  Use: 1 round of bardic performance.  Action: 1 immediate action.

Shift Focus (Su): Haroktii the ability to shift her mental focus from one implement to another, though some of the focus is lost along the way. Shifting mental focus removes a number of points of mental focus from one implement and adds the same number – 1 to another implement; this takes 1 minute of quiet contemplation while touching both implements. Haroktii can shift her mental focus only from one implement to another implement; she can’t shift generic focus into an implement. Unlike expending focus normally, this shift can reduce the effect of a resonant power in the implement from which the mental focus was taken. It does not, however, add to the resonant power of the implement to which the focus is added.

Tea Ceremony (Su): By spending 10 minutes preparing an elaborate tea ceremony, Haroktii may affect her allies with inspire courage, inspire competence, inspire greatness, or inspire heroics. The ceremony’s effects last 10 minutes. Haroktii must spend 4 rounds of bardic performance for each creature to be affected.

*  Gijinkh Catfolk (three alternate racial traits; 12 RP instead of catfolk's usual 9)
+4 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, –2 Strength, –2 Wisdom: All catfolk are sociable and agile, but often lack common sense.  Because gijnkh are much smaller than other breeds of catfolk, they are even more agile, but weaker.
Catfolk: All catfolk are humanoids with the catfolk subtype.
Tiny: Gijinkh catfolk are Tiny creatures, so they gain a +2 size bonus to their AC, a +2 size bonus on attack rolls, a –2 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a +8 size bonus on Stealth checks. Tiny characters take up a space of 2-1/2 feet by 2-1/2 feet, so up to four of these characters can fit into a single square. Tiny races typically have a natural reach of 0 feet, meaning they can’t reach into adjacent squares. They must enter an opponent’s square to attack it in melee. This provokes an attack of opportunity from the opponent. Since they have no natural reach, they do not threaten the squares around them. Other creatures can move through those squares without provoking attacks of opportunity. Tiny creatures typically cannot flank an enemy.
Slow Speed: Because of their size, gijinkh catfolk have a base speed of 20 feet.
Low-Light Vision: In dim light, most catfolk can see twice as far as humans.
Cat’s Luck: Once per day when most catfolk attempt a Reflex saving throw, they can roll the saving throw twice and take the better result. They must decide to use this ability before the saving throw is attempted.
Clever Cat: Gijinkh catfolk are possessed of a naturally friendly disposition. They see social obstacles as games to be played and enjoyed. Gijinkh catfolk receive a +2 racial bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive checks. 
Nimble Faller: Gijinkh catfolk have an amazing sense of balance and keen knowledge of their own center of gravity. Catfolk with this trait land on their feet even when they take lethal damage from a fall. Furthermore, catfolk with this trait gain a +1 bonus to their CMD against trip maneuvers. 
Languages: Catfolk begin play speaking the language of their homeland and Antique Catfolk. Catfolk with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following languages: Elfin, Gnollish, Gnomic, Goblin-rhyme, the Small Speech of the halflings, Orcish, and Fairysong.
Favored Class (Bard): Add +1/2 to the bard’s bardic knowledge bonus (or, in this case, geisha knowledge).

**  Beru shen Hap-Ered ("Veil of the River-Child")
Aura strong abjuration and transmutation; CL 16th
Slot headband; Price 250,000 gp (equivalent to $50,000,000-$125,000,000); Weight 1 lb.
Description
This seemingly simple red leather hairbow worn over the left ear is set in the center with a cluster of small gemstones surrounding a small gold statuette of a falcon's head with the hood of a cobra.  Originally gifted to a wizard-Koushye by the god Shelyeru as a reward for his prowess on the battlefield, Beru shen Hap-Ered was believed lost when the Koushye was struck down by an ancient blue dragon. Centuries later, however, adventurers discovered Beru shen Hap-Ered among the ruins of Hakotumep. Researcher-priests acquired the hairbow shortly after, and when the priestess Tethres founded the current ruling dynasty, she claimed the Beru shen Hap-Ered for herself, making it into an inherited symbol of the Koushye.
The hairbow grants the wearer a +6 enhancement bonus to all mental ability scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). Treat this as a temporary ability bonus for the first 24 hours the headband is worn. It also grants skill ranks in Knowledge (nobility, planes, and religion) as a headband of vast intelligence.  The wearer of the hairbow also gains a +5 insight bonus to her Armor Class and fire resistance 10. Up to three times per day as an immediate action, the wearer of the Beru shen Hap-Ered can sacrifice a prepared spell or unused spell slot of 1st level or higher and transform it into a damaging ray, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. This ray deals 1d4 points of damage for every level of the spell or spell slot sacrificed. 
In addition, the hairbow has 3 charges per day. When struck by a critical hit or sneak attack, the wearer can spend 1 charge as an immediate action to negate the critical hit or sneak attack (as the fortification armor special ability, but without requiring a roll). The damage is instead rolled normally. Alternatively, the wearer can spend 1 charge as an immediate action to reroll a failed saving throw. He must take the result of the reroll, even if it’s worse.
A non-spellcaster cannot create rays with the Beru shen Hap-Ered, but still gains all the other bonuses and can use every other anility.
Construction Requirements Arcane Blast, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, eagle's splendor, foresight, fox's cunning, haste, moment of prescience, owl's wisdom, resist energy, shield of faith; Cost 125,000 gp

The Most Prized Republic of the Hatfieldling People (Traveller)

Inspiration can come at the oddest of times, which is why I am a big proponent of the Omnipresent Inspiration Hypothesis.  In this case, I had the idea for a planet in my version of the classic space opera RPG Traveller while watching Game Show Network with my grandmother.  In the universe I've built in my head for the setting, FTL travel is powered by sex and steered by storytelling.  All of the actual aliens (as opposed to the descendants of humanity's transhumanist and AI period) are drawn from the . . . questionable annals of real UFOlogy, and various forms of Spiritualism dominate the galaxy's religious landscape.  A secretive group of Men in Black known as the Company work to preserve the continuity of the human species, and set up a technocratic neo-feudalism built on the concept of subcontracting so they wouldn't have to govern.

Thank you, as always, to my patrons Darius, Ferny, Jaina Bee, Dave, Casey, and Todd.  They saw this post a week before anyone else did, and if that or the mere prospect of helping support my RPG streaming and writing efforts excites you, please become a patron on my Patreon.

(I use Wikipedia's Random Article link to name the many things I have to name when making an entire planet; I have provided links to the Wikipedia articles where useful, in case they might provide inspiration for the locations and people they named)

D435544-7 (barony)

System Nature:  Solo (Scimeca, K7 V/orange dwarf star)
Stellar Mass:  1.069x10³⁰ kg (0.5376 sol; 179,020.8 Earths)
Stellar Luminosity:  1.096x10²⁶ W, 1.8675x10²⁸ lm (0.498 Lₛₒₗ)
System Population:  355,791 Scimecan sophonts
Planets:  

• Scimeca I, 0.2 AU (habitable zone):  Hatfield (described in this post)
• Scimeca II, 0.4 AU (outer zone):  Nomia (C00027L-E, population 710, Unusual Custom: Conspiracy)
• Scimeca III 0.7 AU (outer zone):  The Planetary Barony of Hausu (E64523L-3, population 381, Sexist, Barbaric)
• Scimeca IV, 1 AU (outer zone):  Vidara, (X677000-0, population 0)
• Vidara Α:  Arthur's Missing Moon, (X000000-0, population 0)
• Scimeca V, 1.6 AU (outer zone):  Sprinters' Commonwealth, (D45021L-6, population 617, Deceptive)
• Scimeca VI, 2.8 AU (outer zone):  Julian Priestley, (X331000-0, population 0)
• Scimeca VII, 5.2 AU (outer zone):  The Planetary Barony of Morgan-Beavis, (D56044L-5, population 83,208, Fashion)
• Morgan-Beavis Α:  Weatherby Belt (XR00000-0, population 0)
• Morgan-Beavis Β:  Cover (X000000-0, population 0)
• Morgan-Beavis Γ:  Stadium (X000000-0, population 0)
• Scimeca VIII, 10 AU (outer zone):  The Baronet World of Goat's Rue (E63627L-6, population 171, Unusual Custom: Media, Unusual Custom: Technology)
• Scimeca IX, 19.6 AU (outer zone):  Robenhymer (the marquesal seat, B76733L-B, population 7459, Unusual Customs: Eating)
• Scimeca X, 38.8 AU (outer zone):  Beyond Counting (X54223L-0, population 703, Honourable, Barbaric)
• Beyond Counting Α:  Ghost Moon (X000000-0, population 0)
• Beyond Counting Β:  John Griffith (X000000-0, population 0)
• Beyond Counting Γ:  Solariella (X100000-0, population 0)

Mean Radius:  3520 kilometers (0.553 Earth)
Approximate Surface Area:  156,000,000 square kilometers (0.306 Earth)
Planet Density:  4.632 g/cm³ (0.84 standard; molten core)
World Mass:  6.271x10²³ kg (0.105 standard)
World Gravity:  4.119 m/s² (0.42 g)
Orbital Period:  44 days 13 hours 20 minutes 33.018 seconds
Rotational Period:  15 hours 41 minutes 16.8 seconds
Axial Tilt:  31 degrees
Orbital Eccentricity:  0.015
Seismic Stress Factor:  6
Atmospheric Composition:  Standard nitrogen-oxygen mix (78.08% nitrogen; 20.95% oxygen; ~ 1% water vapor; 0.9340% argon; 0.0408% carbon dioxide; 0.00182% neon; 0.00052% helium; 0.00017% methane; 0.00011% krypton; 0.00006% hydrogen)
Surface Atmospheric Pressure:  16.212 kPa (0.16 atm)
Mean Surface Temperature:  22.757 degrees Celsius (72.963 degrees Faherenheit; 295.757 Kelvins)
Hydrographic Percentage:  47% (73,320,000 km²)
Hydrographic Composition:  Liquid water
Tectonic Plates:  1
Oceans:  Björnsea, Central Sea, Cursed Sea, FaceKoo Ocean (minor), Goodloe's Ocean (minor), Leptogaster Ocean (major), New Puran Appu Sea, Ocean of the Commerce Lions (minor), Oddbjørn Ocean (minor), Ondřej Holeček Sea, Pedersen Ocean (minor), Pinacosuchus Sea, Sea of Winter, Senhoro do Porto Sea, Serpent Eel Sea, Stop Look and Listen Sea, 9 hexes scattered lakes
Volcanoes:  Bolton (undersea in FaceKoo Ocean), Charlie Meara (undersea in FaceKoo Ocean), Colorado (undersea in Pedersen Ocean), Corson (undersea in Oddbjørn Ocean), The Dirty Picture (undersea in FaceKoo Ocean), Fairchild (undersea in the Ocean of the Commerce Lions), Mahmudabad (undersea in Goodloe's Ocean), Makkada (undersea in Oddbjørn Ocean), Malheiros (undersea in Goodloe's Ocean), Mirea (undersea in Oddbjørn Ocean), Mount Stefanov (continental), Nauryzbai (undersea in Goodloe's Ocean), Poekilocerus (undersea in the Ocean of the Commerce Lions), Pūluga (undersea in FaceKoo Ocean), Swiss Super Cup (undersea in Oddbjørn Ocean), Washing Well (undersea in Goodloe's Ocean), Wrestling with the Commonwealth (undersea in the Ocean of the Commerce Lions)

Terraforming:  Greenhouse (-10% greenhouse effect), hydrographic (-4% surface water), terrain
Weather Control?  No
Native Life?  No
Satellites:  

• Hatfield Α, 21,120 km:  Wrecking Ball (X00024L-6, 1280 km, population 936, Nexus, Liberal)

Population: 261,606 Hatfieldling sophonts
Approximate Population Density: 0.00316 sophonts per km²; 316 km² per sophont
Exports:  Manufactured durables, natural compounds, processed metals, processed non-metals, recordings
Cities

• Primary
• Prosectoides City, population 999, D-class starport (50 feccu to berth)
• Liquidity Risk, population 992, H-class spaceport
• New Noejeongsan, population 992, G-class spaceport
• Taylorton, population 992, E-class starport
• Cool Air Station, population 991, E-class starport
• Sean's Shield, population 989, G-class spaceport
• Last of the Summer Wine, population 986, G-class spaceport
• Lac Nouveau Arrédoun, population 986, E-class starport
• Tiso, population 975, G-class starport
• You Think You're A Man, population 967, H-class spaceport
• Secondary
• Darren's Place, population 966, H-class spaceport
• Chaetoleon, population 956, H-class spaceport
• Reidville, population 948, H-class spaceport
• Neo-Steinkopf, population 948, H-class spaceport
• Derrick Fung City, population 947, H-class spaceport
• BetOnline, population 946, H-class spaceport
• SYT-7, population 937, H-class spaceport
• Nuovo Biogno, population 937, H-class spaceport
• Cochláin, population 926, H-class spaceport
• New Carter City, population 918, H-class spaceport
• Beavers', population 910, H-class spaceport
• Françoise Loranger, population 908, H-class spaceport
• Robert's Calling, population 905, H-class spaceport
• Claybanks, 902, H-class spaceport
• Tertiary
• 316 cities averaging 465.5 people, H-class spaceport
• 1008 cities averaging 50 people, 50 of which are 90-99
• 4945 cities averaging 5 people, 593 of which are 9
• 16,481 people living alone

Social Outlook:

• Progressiveness:  Conservative attitude, indifferent action
• Aggressiveness:  Expansionistic attitude, militant action
• Extensiveness:  Discordant globally, aloof interstellarly

Cultural Differences:  Unusual Customs: Media

Local Customs:  Child named for first piece of technology invented or improved

Government:  Representative democracy

• Representative Authority:  Tetracameral parliament with executive, judicial, and legislative authorities; all decisions must be approved by all four Assemblies, or duly empowered committees composed of members of all four
• the Assembly of Mediums, composed of 5 caucuses of 5 religious authorities for a term of six years
• the Peoples' Assembly, composed of 13 caucuses of 5 seats representing geographical districts of equal population for a term of two years
• the Labor Assembly, composed of 13 caucuses of 4 seats, each held by a different trade union for a term of one year
• the Vigilant Assembly, composed of 5 caucuses of 4 journalists for a term of four years

Known Factions or Revolutionary Groups:  

• George Pólya, Contract Baron of Hatfield, the current holder of the baronial contract held by Marinella me tin Robenhymer, Marquess of Scimeca, a fringe group with few supporters in which the contract baron holds executive & legislative authority, with a small team of independent marquesal agents overseeing his effectiveness and loyalty (judicial authority)

Uniformity of Law:  Personal

Law Level:

• Overall:  4.2 (low)
• Weapons:  4 (low)
• Trade:  2 (very low)
• Criminal Law: 7 (moderate)
• Civil Law:  6 (low)
• Personal Freedom:  2 (very low)

Technology Level:

• High Common:  7 (Space Age/late 20th century)
• Low Common:  7
• Energy:  7 (solar energy, early fuel cells)
• Computer/Robotics:  8 (Computer Age/early 21st century; massive parallel/low data, computer/2 bis)
• Communications:  8 (fibre optics)
• Medical:  8 (artificial organs, metabolics)
• Environment:  8 (orbital settlements, early weather control)
• Land Transport:  7 (hovercraft, high-speed trains)
• Water Transport:  7 (hydrofoils, hovercraft)
• Air Transport:  7 (supersonic jet, hang gliders)
• Space Transport:  6 (Atomic Age/mid-20th century; early manned rockets, unmanned rockets)
• Personal Military:  8 (RAM grenade launchers, early laser carbine, cloth armour, flak jacket)
• Heavy Military:  8 (particle accelerators, target designated missiles, composite laminate armor)

Trade Codes:  Low Gravity, Non-Industrial

A strong thread of personal sovereignty runs through Hatfieldling culture.  The government's powers are strictly limited by personal ownership of land, and concerns itself mostly with punishing one citizen's transgressions against another and ensuring the freedom of its citizens.  This is a planet of endless stretches of land forming an eternal frontier attracting homesteaders of all types and thin air that leaves those unprepared gasping in desperation.

One out of sixteen Hatfieldlings lives alone, carving a home for themselves from the land around them, distilling industrially useful compounds from its surface, refining chemicals of many types therefrom, and tinkering with inventions aimed at a galactic market.  These homesteaders are famous throughout the Scimecan System for their eccentricities and irascibility.  They are the iconic inhabitants of the planet, with every Hatfieldling considering themselves cut from the same cloth, even those urban aesthetes from Prosectoides City, the (still not actually very large) capitol of the planet.

Scouts from the vastly more advanced planets of Nomia and Robenhymer will often spend a local year (approximately a standard month and a half) wandering Hatfield in search of new ideas for profitable products when sufficiently advanced technologically.

Hatfield maintains a military of about 34,000, of which about 5200 are in active service at any one time.  Any born citizen is required to serve for a period of two standard years (just shy of 9 local years), and Hatfieldling citizenship is easily acquired by offworlders, requiring only the purchase of a homestead and five standard years of military service.  The culture of the planet is one that glorifies the use of force thus embodied, replete with memes supporting the use of violence and force and the primacy of self-defense.  Hatfieldlings often posture abut the level of weaponry (or strength) they can bring to bear should a problem arise, and Hatfieldling social media often features such things prominently; this filters through into Hatfieldling foreign policy as well.  One slightly surprising result is that, despite the distrust between the native planetary government and the contract nobility of the Empire, Hatfield has been all too happy to contribute a large proportion of its military to the Marquis of Scimeca's service (and from there to serve the higher nobility) or even to the Baron of Hatfield, even in the midst of sometimes bitter conflict with these nobles (especially the latter).

The isolating individualism of Hatfieldling culture leads to inevitable and interminable disagreement between the planet's citizens, often spiced with extremes of passion and volume.  No one disagrees with a Hatfieldling like another Hatfieldling, but by the same token, no one agrees with one like another one, either.  Eccentric, inventive, and private as they are, the populace mistrusts change and difference.  Sure, Moisture Collector O'Shanahan a couple of miles down the road might be a damn fool, but he's traditional and that's vital.  This conservatism frustrates the popular desire to progress (though this is not a phenomenon easily visible to he average Hatfieldling), resulting in almost immeasurably slow evolution of culture and technology on the planet.  Offworlders are widely considered too strange to be trusted fully and wholly deserving of the sometimes-cold shoulder given them by natives.

Mass media provides the mechanism by which Hatfieldling culture builds a unity of culture, ensuring that the farflung pioneers of the planet are all drawing on a similar set of memes and ideas.  Craving that group identity without sacrificing their independence, it is not uncommon for Hatfieldlings to leave various media devices blaring at all times, whether televisual or audio, and a wide variety of rugged and self-powered devices are available to make certain that one can have entertainment present while working.  The most popular genre of show featured on these devices are game shows of many types, leveraging the deep-seated Hatfieldling competitiveness and independence to build an audience.

It is this very planetary obsession, and the conflict in the Hatfieldling mind between cultural conformity and prideful conflict, that has given rise to the oddnesses of the planet's governmental system.  Offworlders generally see a system almost mundane in its processes.  Tetracameral democratic systems are unusual, surely, but the idea that groups of politicians representing the citizens deliberate to determine how the society should act is far from odd.  The Four Assemblies share every power of government, which is a bit worrying, perhaps, but it is clear that the checks and balances in the system lie not in a separation of powers.  Tyranny is prevented by the varying constituencies of the Assemblies, instead.  Honestly, the strangest elements of the governemntal system in the eyes of offworlders are the rigorous division of each Assembly into 4- or 5-person caucuses.  Well, that and the lack of any sort of voting or elections.

Hatfieldlings don't trust politicians and their promises.  An irascible lot, anyone seeming to try too hard to be liked is immediately suspect in their mind.  There simply is no feasible or even possible mechanism to ensure that those promises are anything other than slick words intended to manipulate the heart and bypass the brain, and an electoral system only rewards those who seek victory, the fulfillment of their own desires, and the enactment of their own philosophies.  That last is the scariest idea to a culture so concerned with maintaining as homogenous a society as they can, as the lack of any way to assess whether those philosophies match those of the people electing a politician makes any idea of checks and balances a joke.

Assemblymembers on Hatfield are thus chosen by means of a game show.  The strict caucus system seen in the Assemblies is simply due to each of the four programmes featuring two teams of four or five candidates competing in each episode to progress through to sit on an Assembly.  The minimum age of these candidates is 15 standard years for unaltered humans (approximately 123 local years) or equivalent thereof, although every family must have at east one person who is 25 standard years or equivalent or older (approximately 205 local years).  As mentioned, there are four different shows, one featuring teams composed of people who all live in the same district, one featuring teams of people who do similar work, one in which only journalists compete, and one in which only religious professionals compete.  Each show works similarly, with a few very minor quirks here and there to differentiate them, and each feeds a different one of the Four Assemblies of Hatfield.

Throughout the year, every citizen of Hatfield is asked a total of eight questions, from which one answer feeds into the questions on the shows.  Each question they answer is asked to only 100 people (thus, there are a total of 20,928 different questions asked), and in a nod to the governance contract held by the Baron of Hatfield, the baron is allowed/charged with developing the list of questions (subject to approval by the Four Assemblies).  The discarded extra questions are intended as a block to politicians trying to game the system.  These survey questions occasionally concern important political, social, or economic issues, but most are inane, cultural, or humorous (e.g., "Name the hour that you get up on Sunday mornings.").  Occasionally, questions are posed only to certain demographics of Hatfieldling society, such as members of particular genders, races, marital statuses, etc.  By means of such seemingly minor surveys, candidates are tested on the depth of their knowledge of the overall mindset and worldview of Hatfieldling society.  The process, therefore, hopes to choose as winners and Assemblymembers only those people likely to vote the way most Hatfieldlings would vote if they could, a truer and more trustworthy candidate than could be chosen by an electorate.

Every round of the game, a certain number of these answers are concealed on the board, ranked by popularity.  Only answers said by at least two people can appear on the board.  A "face-off" question that serves as a toss-up between two opposing candidates begins each round.  The first candidate to buzz-in gives an answer; if it is the most popular, their team immediately wins the face-off.  Otherwise, the opponent responds and the teammember providing the higher-ranked answer wins.  Ties are broken in favor of the candidate who buzzes in first.  If neither candidate's answer is on the board, the other six or eight candidates have a chance to respond, one at a time from alternating sides, until an answer is revealed.  The team that wins the face-off may choose to play the question or pass control to their opponents.

The team with control of the question then tries to guess all of the remaining concealed answers, with each member giving one answer in sequence.  Giving an answer not on the board, or failing to respond within the allotted time, earns one strike, and three strikes give their opponents one chance to "steal" the points for the round by guessing any remaining concealed answer.  If they cannot, the points revert back to the team that originally had control.  If the opponents are given the opportunity to "steal" the points, then their team's captain gives their answer after the team confers with each other.  Any remaining concealed answers on the board that were not guessed are then revealed.

Answers are worth one point for every Hatfieldling citizen who gave them.  All revealed answers, including those given during the face-off but excluding the one used to steal (if applicable), contribute their points to the team that wins the round.  The number of answers on the board decreases from round to round. The first team to reach or surpass 400 points wins that match, gaining the chance to collect points which will determine if they will sit on the Assembly for the next term of service.

Those points are collected by two members of the winning team (representatives of the potential representatives, one might say) in a different format.  One candidate remains onstage with the host, while the other is sequestered backstage with headphones so that they cannot see or hear the first portion of the round.  The first candidate is asked five rapid-fire survey questions and has only 20 seconds in which to answer them. The clock begins to run only after the first question is asked, and the first candidate may pass on a question and return to it after all five have been asked, if time remains.  After the first candidate has either answered all five questions or run out of time, the board is cleared except for the total score, and the second candidate is then brought out to answer the same five questions.  The same rules are followed, but the time limit is extended by five seconds to 25; in addition, if the second candidate duplicates an answer given by the first, a buzzer sounds and they must give another answer.

The points earned in this last,special round are compared to every other winning team at the end of the season, and the top-scoring teams then go on to sit on the appropriate Assembly for the length of their term.  Should there be a tie which needs to be broken for the appropriate number of caucuses to be chosen, a special episode is (or episodes are, if necessary) aired with the same format, and the winning team of that episode gets the seats.  The Labor Assembly completely turns over all 42 of its seats (in 13 caucuses of four) every year, while every other Assembly staggers their available seats in order to ensure that there might be a season of their game show every year.  Thus, years alternate between six and seven five-seat caucuses of the 65-seat People's Assembly being available to be won, for example, as those seats have a term of two years.  The 20-seat Vigilant Assembly, which has a term of four years, turns over but a single four-seat caucus most years; every fourth year, two Vigilant caucuses are up for grabs.  Finally, the 25-seat Assembly of Mediums doesn't turn over any caucuses every sixth year, as it has only five five-seat caucuses and a six-year term.

There are no term limits, but no one can serve as an Assemblymember two terms in a row.  That restriction only applies to the individual Assemblies, however, allowing for the rare case of politicians serving consecutive terms in different Assemblies, with one famous individual managing to serve in all four Assemblies over the course of 13 standard years.

Any given Assembly decision requires a simple majority (50+1) to pass, with few exceptions, but at least two of the Assemblies must have achieved a two-thirds majority.  If that requirement isn't met, the bill or decision returns to the floor to be debated, rewritten, and voted on again.