What are Class Abilities?
A character's level represents the time they have spent training and they class-powers they've mastered with this effort. Class Abilities are those actions, privileges and equipment slots unlocked as your character gains experience and levels up. These privileges are separate from any you might gain through Rank and Position in your local government. Each Class includes a primary a secondary chain of Class Abilities. Primary chains can be accessed by 5 Hero classes and the relative Lord class. Lords can never access the secondary chains, only available to a different 5 of the Hero classes.
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Primary Caster Classes
The Caster Lord has dedicated their life to knowledge. As leaders, it's impossible to predict what a Caster Lord might do without knowing them personally. Casters aren't known for their unity in style or even sentiment. They can be kind or cruel, honest or secretive, considerate or selfish. Places led by Casters tend to have a concentration of Education and Research buildings, but these are not always built for the benefit of the People.
The Forester became connected to the nature spirits through familiarity. This Caster-Commander has learned a little bit of everything important. They've crept along the game trails, slept in the trees and envisioned what it would be like to be each creature in the forest. They've seen the most vicious in man and animal alike and focus on being able to face these violent challenges. Sovereigns and adventurers alike may try to give these naturalistic loners space, but there's always someone that could use their rare combination of skills.
The Astrologer hero has begun learning the great mysteries and has figured out how to get their rich friends to pay them for it. With a few personal questions and dramatic looks to they sky this Caster-Noble can read anyone's fate. Of course, their actual mystical abilities will take time to mature. The Astrologer must split their time between research, stargazing and maneuvering for more time spent alone to do the first two. They are in constant demand from superstitious and fearful citizens wanting their fortunes told, while their true interests lie in predicting far more interesting paths, such as those of the celestial bodies themselves. What makes them go around? Why do they shine so?
The Alchemist hero knows the basic rule of a low-magic world: Potions sell like hot-cakes. Whether it's a fakey tonic or a true healing concoction, they've dedicated themselves to unlocking the physical mysteries. Somewhere there is a perfect value between cheap herbs and expensive components that will make a useful potion that can be sold at a profit. This is the Holy Grail of the Caster-Trader hero and most abilities gained while leveling can be attributed to this endless search.
The Healer doesn't need to see a difference between Miracles and Mysteries. Wherever their awesome beneficial power comes from, the sick are cured and the wounded are healed by it. As far as Healers are concerned, that's all the proof or argument they need. As they level, the Healer becomes an incredibly important part of their Home settlement. If ever there are too few Healers in the world, they will become so valuable as to be loaned out by their homes to neighbor Settlements.
The Wizard is the most magically powerful player-class in the game. They are practically overflowing with Magic and can throw every Spell in the game before earning a single level of experience or rank of importance. These incredibly impressive heroes are known to be reclusive and dangerous, but are no more predictable than the weather. No two Wizards are exactly alike and most would take offence at the suggestion that they could be. Except of course for the ones that wouldn't be.
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Primary Caster Class Abilities
The Ritual of Plenty is the first ability a Primary Caster gains as they level up. This incredibly useful action allows Casters to produce a quantity of edible goods relative to their Creativity and Fervor. This is one of those handy actions that's good to start with and only gets stronger as the character levels and raises their Attributes. With Ritual of Plenty, the Caster character is rewarded with their choice of Bread, Livestock, Tinctures, Groceries, Fillets and Beer.
This is the first educational action the Caster gains. For the cost of a single Beer, a Primary caster can tell a long-winded and slightly musical tale. These tales tend to be historical and learned by Rote by obsessive knowledge-seekers as Casters tend to be. The people love story time and will reward the caster with a random collection of Bronze Litra. That this action also provides an Education bonus to the listening district may only be incidental to the reciting Caster.
A Symposium is a small elite party in which literature, poetry and philosophy can be discussed. Throwing yourself a small Symposium costs only a little bit of paper and makes the targeted district much more appealing for Peers to live in. In fact, every Symposium you throw attracts a few more of them, along with increasing the local Education for a daily cycle.
You have spent so much time in books and among the educated that you've become a veritable font of knowledge. Compared to the common working population, you are educational just to talk to. Every time you open your mouth, you manage to say something that seems unusual or advanced to most people. Anyone who has a complete conversation with you has probably learned something. In this way you have begun to passively increasing the Education of your surroundings.
Lately in your dreams you've begun to see the shape of a large book. You can somehow tell from the look of it that it's filled with every secret you've longed to know. When the dream began repeating, you knew it was time. You had gained enough experience as a Caster to equip a Grimoire. These dangerous books have the power to increase the reader/wearer's Mettle and Creativity. You get the feeling once you equip one, you won't want to take it off again except to equip an even more powerful Book.
While your research notes are meticulous, your personal items have never been particularly organized. With much of a day's effort, you can put your things in a slightly improved order. This will increase your effective storage capacity for about a day until the stacks sort of tumble again and your storage becomes it's usual comfortable pile of stuff.
While leading the efforts of manual labor is not your forte, your character has now led enough classes and group experiments to reasonably manage a Construction project. For the cost of a few Bricks, Boards and Canvas, you can increase the building speed of a single construction by an amount based on your Mettle, Fervor and Creativity. This will allow you to use your current Attributes to motivate the workers and speed progress.
Train Magicians
Rather than gaining the ability to train usual troops, the Primary Caster become able to train new Magical Units. This is a rare opportunity for your character to contribute to the Magical consistency of their world. Magical units are not exactly common and are not cheap to create. Details for this action beyond it's basic function are not currently available.
While the Clergy can unite Man and Woman in holy matrimony, the Caster can unite Man and Woman or Man and Man or Woman and Woman in domestic bliss. Vows are spoken and kept, but not with any power more binding than the pure human will to support each other. Handfastings can be undone with relative ease, unlike Marriages and are not gender-specific. A Primary Caster can perform this sacred ritual when they realize that they can and have enough prestige that the people will accept their word that the couple is joined.
Equip Familiar
Your mastry of your own magic and the magical affairs around you has reached a beautiful point. You are able to support the responsibilities of a personal Familiar. Each of these unique magical creatures must be located, enchanted and specially trained to help you in your studies rather than just being an adorable distraction. Every Familiar, according to it's training quality, increases their owners's Creativity and Philosophy.
Without proclaiming them as your long-term students, a relatively high level Caster can choose a single other Player and Mentor them for a day. This guidance helps that character take on the characteristics of a Caster, enhancing their Reason, Creativity and Philosophy for a single day. This action costs an almost laughably small amount of Paper and Dyes for a scholar, but annoying to get a hold of if these are not items that sit in your inventory for days at a time.
You have become well known and to a certain extend respectable enough to be accepted as a protector of a friendly settlement. Whether in your home city or one that's friendly with it, you can spend a measure of Bread to assign the units of your personal Army to add to the defenses of your chosen settlement.
Equip Astrologer
There are so many calculations involved in advanced magical research. While basic star-chart calculations hold useful information to you, you no longer have time to spend taking measurements every night and calculating the precise interpretations. The Astrologer's organization, that trains new assistant Astrologers, has sent you a polite letter letting you know they're aware of your challenges and are finally ready to offer you the service of one of their members. These astrologers are very exclusive and only work for accomplished Casters. They don't want to be mistaken for the charlatans that read the 'fortuntes' of the rich and gullible. Each trained Astrologer increases their master's effective Creativity and Judgement based on the quality of their training.
This is an ancient pagan rite of the original Rome. Each Caster as they enter the highest levels gain access to this unique ritual. This festival requires a little bit of the ancient Roman good life. A little Wine, a little Beer and Livestock and a lot of pure Magic energy. Together with your settlement you'll drink and dance and remember that giant spiritual power that made Rome great. People who have been living in the nearby wilderness will see the firelight and hear the Festival and be drawn to your settlement. This will cause Population numbers to swell in every related District.
Equip Cloak
The Cloak is a classic sign of Caster prestige. Primary Casters adopt it late in their level progression and thus value this gear-type all the more. The moment you've got one, you begin to peer ominously at people from beneath your deep cowl. The heavy fabric feels good draped over your shoulders. You know you can hide an unreasonable collection of spell components and spell scrolls within your voluminous sleeves. Apart from the pure fun of wearing one, each Cloak enhances the wearer's Judgement and Creativity, based on the quality of it's crafting.
In your research, you've discovered this ancient Yule celebration. This Goddess-based ritual translates to "Night of Mothers". Participants sacrifice and feast near the time of Mid-Winter. The Mothers in question are often represented in threes, and are a remnant of the mother worshiping tribes that have mostly gone into hiding as Christianity becomes rather forcefully Evangelistic. This celebration requires Tinctures, Familiars, Paper and quite a bit Magic to perform. Doing so will increase the Judgement attribute of everyone in the targeted settlement for the entire day of the ritual.
Equip Sigil
The Sigil is a magical glowing personal symbol that represents only you. Of course, when you buy it, it's just a magical glowing symbol. It doesn't take on a personal note until you've put it on. Each Sigil an increase the wearer's Judgement and Reason, making their Casters more Caster-like and able to succeed at their caster-tasks. Wizards will eventually be able to equip two glowing magical symbols.
Enlightenment
Enlightenment is both an action and a Scenario triggered by that action. Just as there were multiple Enlightenments in various areas throughout the Renaissance, so too can players trigger their own individual Enlightenments. In order to ritualistically broaden the minds of all your fellow Citizens, you will first need a large collection of Paper, Magnets and Glass. How you bring up the knowledge and acceptance of the populace is your business but in the end they will all have a higher Creativity and Reason for a while afterward. This is a temporary effect and the people around you may need to re-enlighten them later.
