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Chigan: Geomancy



Geomancers in Chigan are specialists in locating and arranging spaces conducive to good luck and positive spiritual properties. Where astrologers find lucky times, geomancers find and to some extent arrange lucky places. Geomancers take the Hidden Lore (Geomancy) skill.

Geomancy has two significant uses. One is to find and arrange auspicious places at which to begin a new activity (for example, a birth, a marriage, or negotiate a treaty). “Arranging” involves modest changes to the location, such as clearing interfering shrubbery, moving furniture around, erecting temporary barriers, or painting or putting up banners or tapestries in suitable colors. An attempt takes one week and a roll against Geomancy skill using the standard Geomancy modifiers (see below). If the roll succeeds, participants in the venture present on site at the beginning (for example, a child being born, a newlywed couple, or negotiating diplomats, but not assistants or spectators) get one reroll as per Luck during that venture. On a critical success, the participants get one reroll per year, should the venture last that long. Failure by more than three results in one failed roll in the course of the venture per Unlucky, or one per year on a critical failure.

The other use is to construct fortunate and healthful buildings in which to live and work. This requires both finding the site and participating in the design of the building. The roll takes the standard Geomancy penalties and takes one month of work. Effects depend on the degree of success or failure:

Failure by 10+: -1 to HT rolls and 1 failed roll, as per Unlucky, per year.
Failure by 6-9: -1 to HT rolls to recover from injury and resist the effects of age and disease.
Failure by 1-5: no special effect.
Success by 0-4: +1 to HT rolls to recover from injury and resist the effects of age and disease.
Success by 5-8: +1 bonus to HT roll and 1 reroll as per Luck every year.
Success by 9-12: +2 to HT rolls to recover from injury and resist the effects of age and disease and 1 reroll per luck every year.
Success by 13+: +2 bonus to HT roll and 1 reroll per Luck every month.

A Geomancy roll is unmodified if the geomancer has complete freedom to pick a site within an area of 100 square miles or more. However, restrictions on available space (if, for example, other buildings are already in place or land owners prevent access to the land) can impose significant penalties in built-up areas. The roll is at -1 for every 10 square miles less the geomancer has to work with; the roll is essentially at -10 if the geomancer can only rearrange a given site. Because there are cosmic influences involved, Astrology can be used as a complimentary skill. Architecture may be used as a complementary skill for constructing buildings.

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