What You Were, and What You Become

They do not look like heroes. They look like people who have run out of easier options. Often those are the same thing.

In Dyrhal nobody begins as a fixed heroic type. Characters begin as people formed by labour, bond, duty, fear and whatever training life has already forced on them. A background tells you where you begin. It does not tell you where you end.

Making someone

• Backgrounds, not classes — an acolyte, an apprentice artisan, a peasant, a street urchin, a warrior recruit. Every character is human, and every one of them is trying to survive in a tragic world.
• Four ranks, and Acumens — Trained, Skilled, Expert, Master. Each rank brings an Acumen: the particular part of a skill you have actually learned, and where your edge lies. Expert and Master are earned through meaningful use, not just points.
• Advancement by milestone — Skill Points arrive when a chapter of play concludes. They may be banked across sessions and invested a piece at a time.
• Competency over rolling — routine work needs no dice. You roll when the situation is risky, opposed, time-pressured, or genuinely uncertain.
• Omen-Born and Standard-Born — only the Omen-Born may reach for the Unseen Craft. Those born under no sign are steadier, and harder to kill.
• Contacts and succession — characters are tied to living people. When one is lost or retires, the story can continue through someone who must take their place.

Background is a foundation, not a cage.