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HARBINGERS

ARCANOI

A Harbinger can learn the following Arcanoi at initiate and common level.

ARGOS         INHABIT         FATALISM

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Any other Arcanoi a Harbinger learns is common level only.

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The Underworld’s unsettled spaces are vast and hostile. Spectres, plasmics, Maelstroms, and stranger hazards threaten the unwary traveler. Subjective distance and protean terrain render cartography an exercise in futility. The only reliable method of navigation through the Tempest is Argos, the ancient Arcanos of travel. Only the desperate and foolhardy sail the sunless sea without a Harbinger guide, whose expertise can make the difference between a narrow escape and an unexplained disappearance. When unencumbered by companions, a traveler versed in Argos can evade or outrun even the Tempest’s greatest dangers.

 

Guildmarks

As Argos affects the Tempest, so too does a bit of the Tempest soak into each Harbinger. A wraith skilled in these arts gradually develops jet-black eyes, and her clothing flutters in intangible winds that gust with her emotions.

 

The Guild

Harbingers’ Guild folklore holds that the Guild existed long before it became the dominant body of Argos practitioners. Its apocryphal founders were victims of the first shipwrecks who continued their seamanship after death. The tale’s accuracy is debatable, but the Harbingers have always been closely associated with mariners, and Guild culture shows heavy influence from maritime (and, later, aeronautical) customs. Harbingers have always been travelers; their Arcanos’ very nature enables and sometimes seems to compel it. Some are messengers, vital in an environment where communication moves at the speed of travel. Others are explorers, plumbing the Tempest’s depths or seeking the farthest shores or Dark Kingdoms. Those of a more mercantile bent become traders or guides, moving wraiths and their goods throughout the Underworld. All but the most cynical, however, adopt the sailor’s ethos of always aiding vessels in distress, adapting it to the Underworld. Many wraiths owe their continued existence to a Harbinger’s timely intervention. Stygian tradition holds that interfering with a Harbinger, particularly with one engaged on a mission of mercy, brings ill luck. In the Guild’s heyday, its members’ constant motion forestalled any attempt at rigid organization. Harbinger society was a loose meritocracy ranked by navigational prowess and deeds of exploration or rescue. What structure existed hinged on the Harbormasters, veteran Harbingers who retired from travel to serve as Necropolis trade factors, lighthouse keepers, shipwrights, weather forecasters, and occasional lifeboat captains. The Harbormasters also maintained the Harbingers’ relationship with the Hierarchy, working closely with the Stygian government but never becoming part of it. Focused on the Tempest, the Harbingers had few conflicts with Charon’s laws. Any participation in the revolt was individual choice, not Guild mandate, and most Harbormasters counseled early withdrawal. The Breaking had little impact on the Harbingers’ comings and goings or their roles in the Underworld. Most Harbormasters remained discreetly in place; the few Necropoli that did eject them quickly became Maelstrom-wracked backwaters.

 

Factions

Beyond the Harbormasters, the Guild’s internal divisions mark out the Harbingers’ trades and agendas. Circuit Riders travel between smaller Necropoli, either alone or as part of like-minded Circles, providing skilled services that the Hierarchy can’t or won’t. The Anemographers study the Tempest and plumb the Underworld’s darkest recesses. Privateers enjoy a mixed reputation, capable of moving any sort of goods but also likely to flout Hierarchy law and common decency for the right price. By contrast, Emissaries cultivate an aura of incorruptibility, serving not only as messengers but as trusted mouthpieces for wraiths who can’t themselves travel to conduct critical business. The most-respected Harbingers, though, are those for whom patrolling the Tempest and rescuing distressed wraiths is not a duty but a calling — one which yields a complex and not always warm relationship with the Ferrymen.

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