Character Creation
Where a life was lived, and who still knows your face
Everyone in Dyrhal is born into a station: the shrine, the guild, the lord’s household, the land, or the streets outside all four. It is not a class and it is not destiny. It is the bargain your character was born into, who fed them and what they were taught to do with their hands in return; it is the world they came out of and know the customs of, not the world they must stay in. It is where they learned what they know, who taught them, and who still remembers their face at a gate. You choose one Station; then a Background within it, the particular life you led there; and then a Contact from it, one person from that world who knew you before the road did.
Station
The shrine
Every settlement in Dyrhal is home to at least one shrine, if not nine. The shrine knows everyone, because everyone comes to the shrine: to be named, to be married, to be buried, and in between to ask for things. A priest or shrine-keeper who remembers you from the rites is a person who can vouch that you exist, which in a barony with scant records is worth more than it sounds. What the shrine can give is sanctuary, a word in the right ear, and a door that a lord’s men hesitate to break. What it cannot give is anything that would shame the god, or the shrine, before lord or commoner.
You were raised in the shadow of a shrine or a wandering holy figure, learning rites before you learned certainty. Your faith may be sincere, pragmatic, or already fraying, but the language of belief is second nature to you.
Skills · pick 2Lore, Persuasion, Healing
Competenciesconducting basic rites and observances; recognizing holy symbols and taboos; proper behavior at shrines and holy ground
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Ritual Clothing, Holy Symbol, Dagger. 2d6 SR.
The keeper of the shrine you grew up under, who taught you the rites and still counts you among the faithful. They answer to no one but the god and the settlement, and they want the shrine kept, its offerings honored, and its name good. Scandal, an oath broken in the god’s name, or a lord who wants the shrine’s ground for something else can make them look away.
The one who keeps what is left at the shrine — grain, cloth, coin at the god’s feet — and decides where it goes when a household comes asking. They want that giving in their own hands and the settlement in the shrine’s debt. Shortage, theft, and being exposed for trading favors are what they fear.
A wanderer the road takes for god-touched, known at way-houses and shrines from one barony to the next and answerable to none of them. They want the god’s word carried, offerings kept honest, and the powerful reminded whose name they swore on. Shrine keepers find them inconvenient, their allies are unreliable, and they have a gift for provoking lords, and are often beloved by the faithful amongst the common folk.
Station
The guilds
The two guilds — merchants’ and craftsmen’s — hold everything in a town that is bought, made, carried, or shipped, and the people inside them are bound to each other by charter and to the baron by quota. A guild Contact knows what things are worth and who is lying about it, can put you on a barge or in a caravan, and can get a job done ahead of the queue. The guild’s loyalty is to the guild. A member who breaks its law for you has ended their own career, and knows it.
You spent your youth learning a craft under a master who demanded patience more than inspiration. You know the value of good tools, steady hands, and work done properly.
Skills · pick 2Craft, Trade, Lore
Competenciesuse of basic tools of the trade; evaluating workmanship quality at a glance; familiarity with guild customs and apprentice expectations
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Craft Tools, Dagger. 2d6 SR.
Your strength was put to use early, hauling stone, timber, or tools long before adulthood. You understand work sites, danger, and the quiet pride of building something real.
Skills · pick 2Construction & Labor, Persuasion, Craft
Competenciessafe use of heavy tools and equipment; identifying structural hazards; understanding worksite hierarchy and signals
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Gambeson, Basic Tools, Dagger or Hand Axe. 2d6 SR.
You grew up among scales, contracts, and careful words. You learned early that profit often matters more than truth. The world beyond the shop offers larger risks and greater rewards.
Skills · pick 2Trade, Lore, Deception
Competenciesreading ledgers, tallies, and trade marks; understanding weights, measures, and coinage; familiarity with market etiquette
EquipmentGood Clothing, Writing Kit, Dagger. 3d6 SR.
You grew up among ropes, tides, and shouted orders, learning to keep your footing while the world moved beneath you. Life at sea taught discipline, danger, and dependence on others.
Skills · pick 2Seamanship, Survival, Melee Combat
Competenciesbasic seamanship terms and shipboard roles; tying knots, handling lines, and sail work; understanding ship hierarchy and discipline
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Gambeson, Hand Axe or Dagger. 2d6 SR.
You earned your keep watching the road and sleeping with one eye open. Bandits, beasts, and bad weather taught you that danger rarely announces itself.
Skills · pick 2Melee Combat, Survival, Beastwise
Competenciesstanding watch and rotating sentries; recognizing threats to caravans and camps; understanding basic guard discipline and hierarchy
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Heavy Gambeson, Spear, Hand Axe or Short Mace (choose one), Shield. 2d6 SR.
A former master or a respected craftsperson of the craftsmen’s guild who remembers your hands. They want their reputation, their quality, stable inputs, and good apprentices. Rivals, guild fines, and scarce material are the levers that move them.
The merchants’ guild’s agent, buying, selling, and moving goods in the town and on the road. They want profit, an edge in information, and reliable people who solve problems quietly. Bandits, debt, and being caught dealing off the books can end them.
Master of a caravan or of a barge, hiring the guards, booking the cargo, and keeping to the season. They want safe delivery, hands they can trust, and a margin that survives the tolls. Weather, border tolls, and a bad season leave them with very little to give.
Station
The hall and the yard
In Dyrhal the household is the hall and the yard together: the manor reeve, the clerk, the old sergeant, the armorer, the lord’s bastard nephew, and the men on the wall are one establishment, fed from one granary and answering to one name.
This is also where Dyrhal keeps its clerks and its soldiers. Outside the guilds there is no one else to feed a man who writes for a living, and every man-at-arms answers in the end to some lord, so the clerk and the spearman come out of the same hall as the bastard and the minstrel. What any of them can do for you reaches exactly as far as their lord’s name, and no further. None of them can help you against the house itself, and when a lord falls, everyone who ate at his table falls with him.
A household Contact can get you through a gate, into a feast, out of a cell, or onto a patrol’s route, and at the top of the scale can put a lord’s standing between you and the law. Everything they do is done under a lord’s eye, and the price of a favor is often that the lord now knows your name.
You were raised close enough to power to taste it, but never enough to claim it. Courtesy, culture, and hierarchy were drilled into you alongside resentment or ambition.
Skills · pick 2Melee Combat, Lore, Command & Tactics
Competenciesbasic literacy and writing; familiarity with noble customs and heraldry; understanding feudal obligations and expectations
EquipmentGood Clothing, Heavy Gambeson, Short Sword, Hand Axe or Short Mace (choose one), Shield. 3d6 SR.
You were trained to read, tally, and record in a world where such skills carry quiet power. Writs, laws, and ledgers taught you how authority truly works.
Skills · pick 2Lore, Trade, Persuasion
Competenciesreading and copying formal documents; knowledge of local and household laws, fees and procedures; navigating household favors
EquipmentGood Clothing, Writing Kit, Dagger. 2d6 SR.
You lived by wit, story, and performance, trading charm for shelter and coin. Taverns and courts taught you how people listen and what they want to hear.
Skills · pick 2Persuasion, Deception, Lore
Competenciesperforming music, stories, or routines for an audience; knowing popular songs, tales, and gossip; understanding patronage and hospitality customs
EquipmentTraveler’s Clothing, Instrument or Entertainer’s Kit, Dagger. 2d6 SR.
You were handed a weapon and told to be useful. Whether by a lord’s need, desperation, or choice, you learned the basics of the spear-line under someone else’s command.
Skills · pick 2Melee Combat, Survival, Command & Tactics
Competenciesbasic weapon maintenance and drill; understanding chain of command and orders; setting and maintaining a watch
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Heavy Gambeson, Spear, Hand Axe or Mace (choose one). 2d6 SR.
You grew up in the train of a noble household or warband, among cooks, porters, drovers, servants, wounded soldiers, and those who gathered what battle left behind.
Skills · pick 2Healing, Construction & Labor, Streetwise
Competenciescaring for clothing, equipment, fires, pack animals, and provisions; recognizing military routines, ranks, shortages, and signs of disorder
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Gambeson, Basic Tools or Healer’s Kit, Dagger or Hand Axe. 1d6 SR.
The lord’s manor reeve, or the clerk who keeps the rolls, the keys, and the accounts of a house. They want order, a full granary, and the stability of the household — and to be blamed for nothing. Intrigue, an audit, or the lord’s displeasure can undo them in a day.
A sworn man, sergeant of the gate, a wall captain, an armsman kept on past his fighting years for what he knows. He wants discipline, the men under him looked after, and old grudges honored. He answers to orders from above, his body is failing, and his ties to old failures run deep.
A thane, a Komes, or a hanger-on of the hall with limited but real influence. They want prestige, errands they can deny, and quiet victories over rivals. Those rivals, a scandal, or a standing that was never firm can cost them everything.
Station
Beyond the manor ring
Beyond the manor ring the people who matter are the ones who know the ground: the reeve who settles disputes and remembers who owes what, the old hunter who taught you where the game runs, the man at the ford who knows which patrol is late. They have little to give but what they know and where they can hide you, which in the wrong season is everything. A rural Contact will shelter you from pursuit and walk you across a barony in the dark. Taking you in against the holding’s will is another matter, and costs them their place.
Your life was built around the land and the animals that sustained it. You learned endurance, routine, and quiet resilience. The wider world is harsher — but not unfamiliar.
Skills · pick 2Survival, Melee Combat, Beastwise
Competenciesbasic animal care (feeding, grooming, herding); familiarity with rural customs and obligations; use of common farm tools and implements
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Dagger or Hand Axe. 1d6 SR.
You learned the forest by necessity, not romance. Tracks, weather, and game shaped your days more than people did. Civilization feels distant, but never entirely safe.
Skills · pick 2Beastwise, Survival, Ranged Combat
Competenciesuse and maintenance of simple hunting gear; knowledge of common game animals and seasons; safe travel through local wilderness terrain
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Gambeson, Basic Tools, Dagger or Hand Axe, Bow (if Ranged Combat chosen). 2d6 SR.
You learned to tend wounds before you learned to ask questions. Blood, sickness, and suffering are familiar, even if mastery still lies ahead.
Skills · pick 2Healing, Lore, Survival
Competenciesdressing and redressing wounds through recovery, and splinting a break; recognizing common injuries and illnesses; keeping wounds, hands, and linen clean
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Gambeson, Healer’s Kit, Dagger. 2d6 SR.
The manor’s man who settles disputes, assigns labor, and remembers who owes what. They want the peace kept and the manor’s obligations met. Famine, tax pressure, and being seen as weak are what they cannot afford.
An experienced woodsman who taught you the ground and still claims a territory. They want their grounds protected, the old ways kept, and respect returned in kind. Rivals, wardens, injury, and age press on them.
A smuggler-guide, ferryman, or pass-keeper who knows the crossings the patrols do not use. They want safe crossings, quiet routes, and to be paid for their discretion. Patrols, feuds, and a “price” that keeps rising are the shape of their trouble.
Station
After dark
The street has its own trade, unchartered. A fence, a runner for a gang, a gate-man who takes coin: these are people who know what moves through a town after dark and who is asking about you. They deal in messages, hiding places, and a few hours of silence while the lord’s men look elsewhere, and at the far end of the scale they will stage your escape and take the blame. Their loyalty is bought and can be outbid. A Contact here who betrays their own crew for you has made an enemy that does not forgive.
You learned to take what others failed to guard and to disappear when noticed. Locks, purses, and blind spots feel like puzzles waiting to be solved.
Skills · pick 2Thievery, Stealth, Streetwise
Competenciesfamiliarity with criminal codes and expectations; spotting locks, bars, and who keeps watch; knowing where stolen goods might be fenced
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Basic Tools, Dagger. 1d6 SR.
You survived by your wits and quick hands, learning the rhythms of a town’s underbelly before you learned to read. Trust was a luxury; speed and silence were not.
Skills · pick 2Stealth, Streetwise, Thievery
Competenciesmoving through a town’s streets without being noticed; knowing which doors are left unlocked and when; reading people’s intentions by posture and tone
EquipmentCommon Clothing, Dagger. 1d6 SR.
You lived by ambush, intimidation, and the threat of violence. The road was both livelihood and battleground. Whether desperation or cruelty drove you, you learned how quickly order breaks down.
Skills · pick 2Stealth, Streetwise, Ranged Combat
Competenciessetting up simple ambushes on roads or trails; maintaining and hiding weapons and gear; recognizing signs of pursuit or retaliation
EquipmentPoor Clothing, Gambeson, Dagger or Hand Axe, Bow (if Ranged Combat chosen). 1d6 SR.
A buyer of stolen and unasked-about goods. They want discretion, leverage, and a steady flow of merchandise. A lord’s men, rivals, and clients who talk are the dangers they live with.
A street lieutenant who holds a few streets and the messengers on them for someone larger. They want their streets held, loyalty kept, and the lord’s men looking elsewhere. A sweep by the lord’s men, betrayal from inside, and debt to whoever they run for can turn them in an hour.
A lord’s sergeant-at-arms who takes coin. They want money, control, and the information that comes from both. Blackmail, their own lord’s suspicion, and a hand that is now overplayed are their weaknesses.
Steel Age · Chapter II