Aether

An Expansion for Tephra: the Steampunk

Evangless 1 Daniel Burrow

The Job Short Fiction by Alex Whisenhunt

Darkness slowly settles over the city, coaxing the shadows part of town that with the right amount of money, you can
out from their hiding spots. The lamp lighters begin to make find anything your heart desires.
their rounds as the last rays of sun glide over the horizon; the Tonight though, he isn’t here for leisure nor any
lantern’s glow mirrors the stars in the sky above. Soon the desires of the heart. Tonight, he is here for the desires of his
only sound is the chatter of pigeons among building rafters pocketbook and the thrill of the escape. The coach pulls to
and the slow churning of gears in the nearby factories. To him a stop in front a small locale called the Twin Pig Pub. If his
it’s comforting, this turning of the day; a constant in his life, sources are right, a business exchange involving a new accel-
always occurring, always on schedule. erator weapon prototype will occur tonight, a device which,
On nights that he isn’t working, he will often sit by in the right market, will allow him to retire happy and early.
the window and marvel at the changes that have come over The clocktower toils out a single strike as he steps
this city during the past 30 years. When he was a boy, things down onto the sidewalk and pulls out his pocket watch. With
were simpler. When night came, the darkness came and city a shake of his head he sighs and heads inside. The clocktower
life came to a halt. But with the new gas lines, city life contin- has always been fourteen minutes fast for as long as he can
ues long into the night and factories toil twenty-four hours remember. The heavy doors lead into a smoke-filled room,
a day. Back then, bicycles were considered to be the future assaulting his senses with the smell of exotic cigars and pipe
of transportation, now you could hardly walk more than tobacco. The bar’s rich clientele come here to forget about the
few blocks without seeing some sort of new steam-powered world outside and drown themselves in various forms of ab-
motorcar traversing the city’s newly paved cobblestone roads. errant behavior. It’s the type of place that keeps the gas lamps
All of these changes made the city hardly seem like the same dimmed to hide the faces of its customers, and it’s the perfect
place anymore, but that barely touched the drastic changes place for under-the-table business to occur without attracting
that the discovery of aether brought to society. attention.
Sadly, tonight he doesn’t have time to muse over the At the bar he settles for a weak ale from the northern
past. Tonight he has a job to do. He slowly gets up from his countryside. He needs to keep his senses sharp if tonight is to
chair, cringing in pain as his weight settles on his gimp leg, go as planned. Next to him, a farishataa is slumped over with
badly deformed from toxics used in the civil war. his head in his hands. On a normal night he’d buy the man a
He pulls on a long tailed coat and grabs his top hat drink, but tonight he doesn’t have to time to help others—he
and cane from the closet; you can never be too dressed up in needs to keep his emotions locked away. If things don’t go
the part of town he is heading for. With a final glance around as planned, this man might end up being a hostage or even
his small fourth-floor apartment, he locks up the door and caught dead in the crossfire that was sure to happen.
heads outside to the steam-powered coach waiting for him. He glances down at his pocket watch again: two
These strange vehicles still confuse him, despite his minutes until one o’clock. Time to set things in motion. He
best efforts and many nights talking with mechanics. The gently swings himself off the bar stool, flinching at his bad leg,
intricate maze of pipes, dials, chambers, and gauges still baffle and meanders to the bar’s door. As he exits, he holds the door
his mind. Instead he has simply come to terms with the fact open for a small gnome carrying a briefcase to enter. Out un-
that there are many things in this new world that he will der the moonlight he glances up. It’s strange to be able to see
never understand. Even the aether-manipulating resonator the sky so clear here. Back at his apartment, the smog from
that he holds so dear, he fails to truly understand. Sure, he the factories covers up all but the brightest of stars. Taking a
grasps the basics: aether is a small particle that allows light to deep breath in the cool air, he pulls out a pipe and lights it,
pass through it, and with the right overlapping frequencies of signaling to his associates that the night’s activities are about
sound they can be manipulated. But anything past that might to begin.
as well be magic for all he knew. Most days he can’t stand the acrid taste of a pipe,
The coachman slowly guides him through the streets, but tonight the slow gentle puffs calm his nerves. He reaches
up from the lower-class block apartments to the busy “night over and pulls up his right sleeve, checking the various dials
district” (as he calls it). While not an actual city district, this and settings on his aether resonator, its dull brass tubing and
area in the upper-class part of town contains a large number gears glinting under the nearby streetlights. Content that
of restaurants, burlesque clubs, and various other sources everything is correct, he puts out the pipe and re-enters the
of entertainment that, unlike most of the city, experiences a bar, beginning the mental exercises necessary to block out
drastic increase in the number of visitors as night falls. It’s a the various sounds around him. Slowly the world becomes

Evangless 2 Daniel Burrow

quieter, replaced by a light humming that gently pulses in He lowers his arm and opens his eyes, trying to make
intensity. his way out. Now’s his only chance. Another round of bul-
The bar doors close behind him, and he quickly scans lets pierce the air around him, shattering wood and sending
the room. The gnome is sitting in a booth on the far side, and splinters flying. He plants his back foot against the wall, like
the five undercover bodyguards that he spotted earlier are a runner at the starting line, and as one of the guard’s shots
scattered throughout nearby tables. He lets out a deep breath finally finds its mark, he pushes himself off, legs springing
and activates the device on his arm. Time seems to slow him forward. The world blurs momentarily as the push sends
down as he listens to it spin up, its humming rapidly changing him across the entire span of the room, colliding with a chair
in frequency as it produces radio waves that gather the aether and knocking a fleeing customer to the ground. Scrambling
around him. For him, it’s the sweetest noise in the world, a to his feet, he fires off two more shots and one of the guards
secret whispering of power that goes entirely unnoticed to crumbles to the ground. Ignoring the final guard, he pushes
those not trained in it. The humming increases and he makes past a last customer, through the doors, and steps into the
a few slight adjustments to correct for the environment night.
around him—accidently frying a patron would probably be The darkness outside is even blacker than before,
frowned upon. the moon’s light having all been sucked into his aether flare.
He can just barely see the glow under the gnome’s He smiles as he ducks into the shadows of a nearby alley. He
table as the aether gathers. The aether is swiftly pulling itself checks his pocket watch, checks the weight of the briefcase,
from the air, flaring just under the table. The gnome hasn’t and smiles: right on schedule.
noticed yet, but it’s just a matter of seconds. One of the bar
patrons—an undercover bodyguard—eyes him from under
the brim of his bowler. He flips a smaller breaker switch, lock-
ing in the device’s range; a few more turns of a dial sets the
desired intensity. It’s like a slow ballet to him, but he knows
that this dance is truly only a few seconds. With a crack, he is
brought out of his trance, the aether reaching a breaking point
and with a flash, the aether erupts like an explosion, striking
the gnome with enough force to shatter the booth and throw
him across the room.
The bar patrons react in slow motin as he leaps onto
the nearest table and races to the far side of the room, knock-
ing drinks from the tables, his sights set on the briefcase now
lying beside the charred remains of the booth’s former inhab-
itant. Halfway across the room, he draws his revolver and
fires at one of the guards who is recovering from the shock
faster than his associates. The bullet strikes him firmly in the
shoulder, knocking him to the ground.
With one final lunge, he hurls himself at the brief-
case, grasping it in his arms, and rolling into the fall. So much
for his top hat. Crouched, he fires off two more shots, two
more guards down. Now comes the hard part, he thinks to
himself. The bars customers are scrambling to exit the room, By Daniel Burrow
knocking each other down, all trying to be the first ones out, Art by Victor Helton
but the two remaining guards have had time to recover and Story by Alex Whisenhunt
draw their guns. With a flick of his wrist he activates the Special Thanks for Playtesting and Feedback to Spencer
device’s second preset. No time to make adjustments for the McAdams, Drake Narendorf, Kristopher Nagy, John
environment, but sloppy is better than dead. Baird, and Bobby Stephens
As the guards fire off their first shots, he flings himself
to the side, breaking through what little wood remains be-
tween the ruined booth and the one next to it. The humming Copyright 2015 Daniel Burrow of Cracked Monocle
of the device peaks, and he puts his arm in front of his eyes. A This supplement is designed for Tephra: the Steampunk
brilliant flash of light explodes through the air, blinding every- RPG using the Clockwork System.
one. People scream, a few fall to the ground, and the remain- Maps are included for the adventure and may be copied
ing bodyguards fire off several random shots. for personal use.

Evangless 3 Daniel Burrow

 Aether
Luminiferous aether is a particle in the air around us that
allows light to travel through it. When aether is gathered,
Aether-Shaped Weapon Augments
light is able to travel through it faster and more efficiently. The following weapon augments can be applied to an
For most, gathered aether is used to create warmth. It is often aether-shaped weapon:
used in steam engines in order to thoroughly and effectively Accurate Powerful
heat the water. Aerodynamic Propelled
Aether is gathered from resonators, a machine that Bone-Shattering Reach
emits a radio frequency that draws in the aether. The resona-
tor can then release it in a form of free-floating and shap- Damaging Returning
able plasma. The resonator can hook up with a rifle or other Deflecting Signature**
projectile weapon in order to shoot the aether in place of Horrifying Streamlined
ammo. In just the past couple years, manipulator gloves have Inspiring Tangling
been created. These largely metal gloves are able to grasp the
aether and shape it into a weapon. Luminous*
* The luminous augment, when applied to an aether-shaped weapon,
Shaping Aether is 5 times as effective.
** The signature augment does not require the custom augment
By wearing a manipulator glove, you’re able to shape aether when placed on an aether-shaped weapon.
into a melee or thrown weapon. Shaping the aether costs 1
action point. Aether dissipates if it is released, disappearing
if not picked up within 1 action point of being released. If an
aether-shaped weapon is dropped, it has to be picked up with
the next action point. If an aether-shaped weapon is thrown,
Item Costs
it dissipates after hitting the target. Aether Resonator (without augments) 30
Attempting to shape aether without a manipulator Manipulator Glove 10
glove deals 10 hit point damage to the person doing it. This Both the basic aether resonator and the manipulator glove can
damage is soakable, but only by the shaper’s basic soak class be considered basic adventuring gear; therefore, an adventurer
(as in, they can’t get a tier 2 soak against this 10 damage). A can take both of them at character creation for no cost. Upgrad-
person can continue holding it next to their flesh for no dam- ing the aether resonator with augments, however, is paid for as
age, but it is uncomfortably warm. Aether can be shaped by a normal.
prosthetic for no damage—it counts as a manipulator glove.
A person who is capable of augmenting a weapon
(normally through having the Weapon Smith augment) is
able to add augments to an aether-shaped weapon. For 1 Aether Resonators
action point per augment slot, you can add an augment to Resonators draw in aether in the air around them, emitting
the weapon. You can only shape 3 augments onto an aether- a radio frequency that attracts the aether. The resonator
shaped weapon, unless you can shape beta weapons (in then gathers it into a pool, which it can be released. The re-
which case you can create 5 augments on the aether-shaped leased aether can be shaped by a manipulator glove or shot
weapon). from a synced firearm, bow, or crossbow. Resonators are
You can pass an aether-shaped weapon to somebody heavy devices; they require 2 hands to carry, though they’re
else. However, the person must also have an aether resonator normally worn as backpacks.
in order to constantly feed the aether; otherwise, it dissipates. An aether resonator is able to increase the light
in an area. A resonator is able to increase an item’s light
Manipulator Glove output by 5 times. A candle, for instance, might only emit
A manipulator glove is a glove largely made from metal and light within 5 feet. With an aether resonator, it increases the
capable of holding and shaping aether without harming the candle’s ability to emit light to everything within 25 feet.
wearer. When you are wearing a manipulator glove, you can An aether resonator also provides warmth to the
make unarmed attacks with your aether. This applies the person carrying it. A person carrying the resonator will not
bonuses from your aether to your unarmed attacks. be affected by the ill effects of cold weather.

Evangless 4 Daniel Burrow

 Aug HP
+2 +5
DIY
Resonator Designer +1 Every augment will increase the price. The higher the
marque, the greater the price. The market price for an aug-
Gadgetry Specialty ment can be found in the chart below.
You’ve studied the concepts behind luminiferous aether,
identified the frequencies that gather it, and can now build Marque I II III IV
aether resonators. Using your aether resonators, you can col- Market Price 30 150 750 3750
lect aether, alter many of its basic properties, and use it for a
wide slew of purposes. If you are building the resonator, you pay 1/5th the price,
Without spending any money, you can build and which is the same as if you were buying an augment one
maintain a number of resonators based on your current Do- marque lower. (As in, the material cost for a Marque III aug-
It-Yourself (DIY) score. The resonators can be upgraded with ment is the market price fo a Marque II augment.) The mate-
augments. You’ll learn 2 augments from this specialty, which rial cost for a Marque 1 augment is 6 princes.
can be selected under “Resonator Augments” below. These HP
augments have marques. At lower levels, you’ll start with Aug
+2 +6
Marque I augments. DIY
Each resonator can be upgraded with 3 augments.
Beta Resonators +1

Sometimes an augment will take up multiple augment slots. Gadgetry Specialty

For example, if an augment is worth 2 slots, a resonator only Requires: 4 skill points in Gadgetry & Resonator Designer
has 1 more available slot for an augment after the 2-slot aug- specialty
ment has been applied. Your resonators have greatly advanced, their complexity and
Number of Resonators you can Maintain usefulness warping together into one state-of-the-art aether
resonator. Your resonators are now beta and can now be aug-
Without needing to buy anything new, you can build some mented with two more augment slots, allowing a resonator
resonators entirely out of your spare parts. These resonators to have up to five augments on it. However, except for people
must be constantly maintained by you and stop working soon who are exceptionally skilled in science, only you know how
after leaving your care. You can build and maintain a number to use your beta resonators.
of resonators based on your DIY score. You can build new
resonators or augment old ones during any period of down- your betaIf resonators,
anybody other than you attempts to use one of
they must succeed in rolling a science
time you have. result one tier higher than the highest level marque you
Your DIY: 1 2 3 4 5 6 have on your resonator. If your resonator has a Marque IV
You can build: 1 1 2 2 2 3 augment, it is impossible for them to use it (unless they can
somehow obtain a tier result of 5 with their science attribute).
Your DIY: 7 8 9 10 11 12
You can build: 3 4 4 4 5 5 Aug HP
+1 +7
DIY
The Cost of Resonators Prototype Resonators +1
If you need to build a resonator that you can’t build for free Gadgetry Specialty
from your DIY score, you will need to buy the materials for it.
The resonator, without augments, will have a base Requires: 16 skill points in Gadgetry, Resonator Designer and
cost of 20 princes. If you buy a resonator and augments, Beta Resonators specialties
you will add the price of the augments onto the price of the You’ve perfected your beta resonators and made them work
resonator. If you craft an unaugmented resonator, it will have for everybody. Now anybody can use a resonator that you
a cost of 4 princes. designate as being a prototype.
Syncing Resonators Aug
+2
HP
+5
Aether resonators can be synced up with an object or de- DIY
synced for 3 action points. A resonator can be synced with
Resonator Basics +1

multiple things; for example, a resonator might be synced Gadgetry Specialty

with both a rifle and a manipulator glove. Requires: Resonator Designer specialty
If the person syncing the resonator was not the You’ve learned the basic augments known most commonly
creator or taught how to sync the resonator, they must roll a among resonator designers. You learn the following aug-
Sciences roll equal to the highest marque of the resonator. If ments: Burning, Flash Cloak, Light-Absorbing, Micro-Reso-
the resonator is beta, it’ll require a Sciences roll equal to one nator, and Self-Lit. If you already had any of these augments,
higher than the highest marque of the resonator. you can instead learn a new one.
Evangless 5 Daniel Burrow
 Aug HP
+1 +7
DIY
State-of-the-Art Resonators +1
Aether as Projectiles
Gadgetry Specialty Aether resonators can be synced up with a projectile
Requires: Resonator Designer specialty & 4 skill points in weapon (such as a crossbow, firearm, or bow) so that the
Gadgetry projectile shot from the weapon is aether instead of the
The resonators that you design are state-of-the-art, perfect normal bolt, bullet, or arrow. When you do this, you use
small machines that could easily win awards at any scientific the normal damage that the weapon would deal, but it also
exhibition. When you make a resonator, it is automatically deals the effects of the aether. You cannot use custom am-
a light item (in that it only requires one hand to wield and munition with an aether-synced weapon—the aether acts
can easily be concealed), and the resonator always functions as the ammunition.
in complete darkness due to it having its own internal light Aug HP
+1 +8
source.
This specialty functions exactly like the Micro-Reso- Fast Shaping Eva
+2
nator and Self-Lit augments. If you already know the Micro- Armsmith Specialty
Resonator or Self-Lit augments, you can learn new augments Requires: Weapon Smith specialty
to replace them. You’re able to rapidly shape your complex aether weapons.
Cost to Craft: A state-of-the-art resonator costs You no longer need to spend the extra action points in order
780 to buy or 156 to craft yourself (if you know this spe- to add augments to an aether-shaped weapon; you can add
cialty) but cannot craft it from your DIY. If you so choose, you those augments during the 1 action point required to initially
can make a medium-sized self-lit resonator for 60 to buy or shape the weapon.
12 to craft yourself. You do not always have to make your
resonators state-of-the-art, but if you are crafting the resona-
tor with your DIY, there is no additional cost and it takes up
Aether-Shaping & Instant Draw
no augment slots. Normally, you must spend 1 action point to shape an
aetherform weapon. With the Instant Draw specialty (from
Agility, page 131 of the Tephra Playing Guide), you can do
it for 0 action points.
If you combine Fast Shaping with Instant Draw, you
can shape an aetherform weapon and add augments freely
for 0 action points. Pretty scary, right?
Aug HP
+1 +9
Eva
Aetherform Modules +1
Armsmith Specialty
Requires: Weapon Smith specialty
You’ve created a variety of weapon modules that allow you to
drastically alter your aetherform weapons. You can now apply
all weapon augments that you know to aetherformed weap-
ons. For instance, if you know the Cryothermal augment,
you can apply the Cryothermal augment to an aether-shaped
weapon.
Description: Modules typically are small, odd gad-
gets that you can attach to weapons. A cryothermal module
might look like a small, fist-sized engine that’s cold to the
touch. When it’s placed into the aetherform weapon, the
whole weapon becomes icy looking.
A jackhammer module might have the appearance of
numerous floating gears that revolve around the aetherform
weapon. When you attack with the weapon, the gears spin
rapidly, grabbing onto mechanical parts and ripping them to
shreds.
A module can look however you’d like. Please de-
scribe it with as much creativity as you can muster.
Evangless 6 Daniel Burrow
 p Resonator Augments M Sundering an Aetherform Weapon
An aetherformed weapon cannot be sundered unless the
Aether Absorption aether resonator that’s feeding it is sundered.
Resonator Augment
Your aether resonator is constantly absorbing aether in the air
around you. When you are attacked by an aetherial weapon, Cauterizing
be it from an aether-shaped sword or an aether shot from Resonator Augment
a rifle, your aether resonator will increase your soak class The aether released from this resonator sears the skin, in-
against the attack. stantly cauterizing any wound it causes. The aether released
+1 soak class against aether cannot deal bleeding damage or cause bleeding. If it deals
a wound or a fatal that would cause the target to bleed out
+2 soak class against aether (such as cutting off an arm or leg), the body part is severed
+3 soak class against aether but the bleeding does not persist. If a fatal is dealt to the neck,
+4 soak class against aether the attacker can choose whether it instantly kills the victim
or fails to kill the victim. If used on a person who is bleeding,
Bright Blast it instantly cauterizes a wound and stops bleeding damage.
When used in such a way, it costs 2 action points.
Resonator Augment
Cost to Craft: The cauterizing augment has no
Resist: Cunning (negates) marques and can be learned by anyone with the Resonator
Cost: 2 AP Designer specialty. It costs 30 to buy or 6 to craft yourself
Your aether resonator is able to release an explosion of (if you know the augment).
aether, blinding those within 5 feet of the resonator unless
they’re able to make a cunning resist. When you release the Enhanced Heating
aether blast, you roll your Cunning and everyone in the area Resonator Augment
rolls their Cunning to resist. If they fail against you, they areWhile all active resonators can provide enough heat to warm
blinded for a number of turns. the person carrying it, this resonator is able to heat a large
Blinded for 1 turn area. Those within are immune to the normal problems from
Blinded for 2 turns cold weather, and it causes ice and snow to melt. Further, the
enhanced heating provides a bonus to those within when
resisting cold effects (such as the Cryothermal and Freeze
Burning Exhausts augments).
Resonator Augment
The aether is extremely hot and lingers on the skin after an at- Heats within 10 feet of the resonator and those
tack, searing it. Any attack made with the aether causes burns. within gain a +4 to resist cold effects
These burns will recover during the victim’s next breather. Heats within 25 feet of the resonator and those
within gain a +8 to resist cold effects
Tier 1 Burns (-1 on defense rolls)
Heats within 50 feet of the resonator and those
Tier 2 Burns (-3 on defense rolls) within gain a +12 to resist cold effects
Tier 3 Burns (-5 on defense rolls) Heats within 100 feet of the resonator and those
Tier 4 Burns (-7 on defense rolls) within gain a +16 to resist cold effects

Evangless 7 Daniel Burrow

Enraged Fires Micro-Resonator
Resonator Augment Resonator Augment
Your resonator brings aether into the air around you, but the Your resonator is considerably smaller than the standard
resonator does not immediately absorb the aether. Instead, heavy resonator.
the extra aether in the air lingers there, slightly warming the
area within 25 feet of you. Fires that start within the resona- Medium
tor’s area require extra action points to put out, and fire- and Light
heat-effects are more difficult to resist (such as the Pyrother-
mal and Combustion augments). Muted
+1 AP to put a fire out and -2 to resisting heat- and Resonator Augment
fire-effects Normally an aether resonator that’s turned on will emit a
+2 AP to put a fire out and -4 to resisting heat- and whistling sound as it gathers aether. Your resonator is no less
fire-effects potent, but significantly more difficult to hear.
+3 AP to put a fire out and -6 to resisting heat- and Tier 2 Cunning to notice
fire-effects Tier 3 Cunning to notice
+4 AP to put a fire out and -8 to resisting heat- and Tier 4 Cunning to notice
fire-effects Impossible to notice (unless they can get a Tier 5
Cunning to notice)
Flash Cloak
Resonator Augment Pure Energy
Cost: as a Deflection (normally 1 AP reflexively) Resonator Augment
Your resonator has an aether storage compartment that can The aetherial plasma released from your resonator is less
be entirely released with a switch. The flash cloak, as it’s often dense, passing straight through inanimate objects. Attacks
called, is used to just temporarily blind enemies as they are made from pure energy decrease the effective soak class of
attacking. You can use your aether resonator to make a de- your target, though only for the purposes of the attack.
flection, granting you a bonus on your evade roll. This can be
used against both melee and ranged attacks. This only affects -1 to soak class
people who have sight. -2 to soak class
+4 on the evade roll Radiation Burns
+5 on the evade roll Resonator Augment
+6 on the evade roll Your aether is able to deal internal radiation burns to its tar-
+7 on the evade roll get. The radiation burns cause extra damage when hitting the
target, then causes decreasing damage every turn thereafter.
Metal-Searing At marque I, the radiation burns causes 3 damage when it first
Resonator Augment hits. On the turn thereafter, it’ll deal 2 damage, and on the
third turn, it’ll deal 1 damage. This damage is not soakable.
Your aether is both exceptionally hot and designed to melt The radiation damage can only deal hit point damage, not
metals that it comes in contact with. When a weapon made wounds damage.
from this aether is used to sunder a metal weapon or item, it
gives its user a bonus to strike for determining the sunder. If a person is hit by radiation burns twice, the second
radiation burns replaces and renews the first. For example, if
+4 to strike when sundering a metal item a person was hit with radiation burns dealing 5 damage two
+8 to strike when sundering a metal item turns ago and is hit again this turn, the radiation burns will
return to 5 damage and start decreasing from there.
+12 to strike when sundering a metal item
+16 to strike when sundering a metal item Begins dealing 3 damage
Begins dealing 4 damage
Begins dealing 5 damage
Begins dealing 6 damage

Evangless 8 Daniel Burrow

Light versus Aether
Without aether, light cannot exist. If you suck out all of the
aether in an area, no source of light will function in that
area. For example, if you use the Black Trap augment on a
person holding an illumitorch, the illumitorch will effective-
ly stop working (it will immediately resume working once
aether is restored to the area). Aether also prevents special
sources of light, such as a farishtaa’s halo, from functioning.
Aether versus Aether
Sometimes, two aether resonator users will be competing
to use all of the aether in an area. For instance, one person
might be trying to absorb all of the aether in an area with
the Widespread Darkness augment while another wants to
blind people with his Flash Cloak augment.
Any time two resonator users are competing for
aether, they will roll their Science attributes and tier the
result. If one person tiers higher than the other, the win-
ner’s ability functions but the loser’s does not. If they tie,
they both work, but they only work up to the area exactly
in-between them. For example, the darkness would only
extend halfway to the other resonator user, while the flash
cloak would only affect people halfway to the darkness-
creating resonator user.

Surging Heat
Self-Lit Resonator Augment
Resonator Augment The aether is constantly generating heat so extreme that it
Normally, gathering aether does nothing unless there is light deals constant damage to people who are touching it. If you
in the area to heat it up. The aether released from your reso- are holding an aether-shaped weapon with your bare hand,
nator is self-lit. Without a light source, the aether glows and is you take damage every turn. If you are using this aether to
functional even in complete darkness. grab somebody, that victim takes this damage every turn.
Cost to Craft: The self-lit augment has no marques This augment can only be affecting a single person once, so
and can be learned by anyone with the Resonator Designer if you have multiple aetherform whips with surging heat all
specialty. It costs 30 to buy or 6 to craft yourself (if you grabbing a poor individual, he will only take the surging heat
know the augment). damage from one of them. This damage is unsoakable.
3 unsoakable heat damage
Static Shocking 4 unsoakable heat damage
Resonator Augment
The aether pulsates with an electric current, slightly shocking 5 unsoakable heat damage
the nervous system of those hit by the aether. Those struck 6 unsoakable heat damage
suffer a penalty to their next evade roll as long as it’s within
the next turn. Unbreakable
-2 to the next evade roll Resonator Augment
-4 to the next evade roll Your resonator is extremely resilient to sunders. Your resona-
tor reduces the result of an incoming sunder.
-6 to the next evade roll
Reduces sunder by 1 tier
-8 to the next evade roll
Reduces sunder by 2 tiers
Reduces sunder by 3 tiers
Reduces sunder for 4 tiers
Evangless 9 Daniel Burrow
 Resonator Augments for Black Traps Resonator Augments for Radiation
Black Trap Irradiated
Resonator Augment Resonator Augment
Cost: 2 AP Cost: 1 AP
While all aether resonators absorb darkness from the air You can irradiate your aether, causing those struck by it to be-
around them, a black trap resonator is able to focus on where come nauseous. It costs 1 action point to irradiate the aether,
it absorbs aether. This resonator is able to put a “black trap” and the next attack made with the aether causes the nausea.
in a single adjacent space, putting a single spot in complete When nauseous, they suffer a -2 on all rolls until they spend a
darkness. If a person is in that spot or attacking through that number of action points settling their stomach.
spot, they suffer the affects of being blind (taking a -4 to ac-
curacy and evade). The black trap lasts for a number of turns, 1 AP must be spent settling your nausea
depending on the marque. 2 AP must be spent settling your nausea
Black trap lasts for 1 turn 3 AP must be spent settling your nausea
Black trap lasts for 2 turns 4 AP must be spent settling your nausea
Black trap lasts for 3 turns Note: This augment is designed to be upgraded with the
Highly Irradiated augment.
Black trap lasts for 4 turns
Note: This augment is designed to be upgraded with the Fast Highly Irradiated
Black Trap and Focused Black Trap augments. Resonator Augment
Requires: Irradiated augment on the Resonator
Fast Black Trap Your aether is full of radiation that seeps into the target’s
Resonator Augment system and nearly debilitates them. Those struck by highly
Requires: Black Trap augment on the Resonator irradiated aether suffer a greater penalty than normal.
Cost: 1 AP
-3 to all rolls
You’re able to drop a black drop on a spot with lightning
speed. It now only costs 1 action point to drop a black trap. -4 to all rolls
Cost to Craft: The fast black trap augment has no -5 to all rolls
marques and can be learned by anyone with the Resonator -6 to all rolls
Designer specialty. It costs 150 to buy or 30 to craft your-
self (if you know the augment).
Focused Black Trap
Resonator Augment
Requires: Black Trap augment on the Resonator
Your resonator is able to create a black trap at a range, de-
pending on the marque of this augment.
25 feet
50 feet
75 feet
100 feet

Evangless 10 Daniel Burrow

 Resonator Augments for Light-Absorbing Widespread Darkness
Resonator Augment
Light-Absorbing Requires: Light-Absorbing augment on the resonator
Resonator Augment Your aether resonator is able to draw in aether from a vast
Cost: 1 AP area, darkening an immense area. You can decrease or
You are able to tune up your aether resonator, absorbing increase this area in the same way that you can decrease or
an immense amount of aether in your area. The decrease increase the darkness in an area.
in aether makes it harder for light to pass through, darken- Up to 25 feet from the resonator
ing your area. This decrease in light affects your space and
all spaces within 10 feet of you. You can adjust the darkness Up to 50 feet from the resonator
(decreasing or increasing it) for 1 action point. Up to 75 feet from the resonator
-1 to accuracy and evade Up to 100 feet from the resonator
-2 to accuracy and evade (counting as poor lighting)
-3 to accuracy and evade
-4 to accuracy and evade (counting as total darkness)
Note: This augment is designed to be upgraded with the
Widespread Darkness augment.

Evangless 11 Daniel Burrow