Meet the Cast

Character Creation in GotF

For full details on creating characters in GotF read the section in the core book. Here there is just enough information to understand the characters in our colorful cast.

GotF follows the Cypher System for character creation. All characters are Name: a DESCRIPTOR TYPE who FOCUS, God of DOMINION. The “God of” is unique to GotF, and the dominions are limitless, as they do not affect dominion abilities. There are 4 Types available in GotF, and they mostly line up with Cypher System Types, with a few abilities removed, and some options added.

Champion (Warrior in CS)
Strong, battle hardened, generals and fearsome soldiers.

Shaper (Adept in CS)
Wizards, strong connection to magic, shape the universe to their will

Destroyer (Explorer in CS)
Lone wolves, thieves, assassins, spelunkers, those who venture off on their own

Savior (Speaker in CS)
PR person, charming, charismatic, influential, good with words and emotions

Descriptors are drawn from the Cypher System corebook, although there are some new ones created for the GotF corebook. Some descriptors are not appropriate for the setting (ex. mechanical), so a table of appropriate descriptors is available in the GotF book.

Foci are always in verb form, and describe the character’s special or specific abilities. They can be magical or mundane in nature, but they tell a lot about the kind of person the character will be. Again, there is a list of appropriate foci in the GotF book, but the full descriptions are in the Cypher System corebook. There are some cool new foci in the GotF book.

Meet the Cast

Before we dive into more of the adventures, let’s take a moment to meet our brave heros. Here you’ll find as much as we know about their personalities, backgrounds, and motivations. There will be updates to this section later, as the characters grow and develop, and as we meet new friends along the road and grow our pantheon.

Zahir: a Calm Shaper who Walks with the Night, God of Choices
Played by my husband, Matthew, Zahir is a young man in his early 20’s. Matthew’s focus includes a Shadow Flavor, so all of his magical effects are shadowy and mysterious. In appearance Zahir is slender, with dark hair and dusky skin. In our world, we would describe him as Middle Eastern. He wears a turban, and has elegant clothing of a rich quality.

Zahir was born in the Ruinscape, in the Tanubar Holdfast, where his father rules as a lord. 2 years ago he left Tanubar, after a strong disagreement with his father. He spent time wandering south, through the mountains to the Nightlands. He wound up in Cryserech, where he met Datura. The two of them traveled to Corso together. Their closeness allows for a +1 on any collaborative dice rolls.

During his travels, Zahir has gained deep distaste for the slavery trade. He is not above thievery from the right people, and while slow to attack, kills without compunction once drawn into battle. His weapon of choice is the magical spell Onslaught, which strikes as a physical or mental blast of shadows. Upon leveling up, he became Trained and took 3 Divine Shifts in the attack. This lowers the difficulty of hitting any target by 4 levels and increases the Damage to 13 points, before applying any levels of Effort. It is a terrifyingly effective attack.

Datura: a Perceptive Destroyer who is Hunted by Moths, God of Forbidden Knowledge
Darcy Ross played Datura. You may recognize her name from Cypher Speak Podcast, or from Monte Cook Games, where she serves as their Community Relations Coordinator.

Datura is a spelunker by nature, drawn to those hidden places that others don’t access. She is slim and petite, perfect for sliding into small spaces, and she dresses in functional and decorative black leather, Tomb Raider style.

She originally joined Zahir in Cryserech, after gaining a mysterious second shadow in a cave. Believing that her abilities lay in Siphoning Power, Datura found herself frustrated by her inability to access them properly. A seraph (Session 6) whispered a secret to her, revealing the true nature of the shadow: a cloud of magical moths that are drawn to and feed her power. She has only just started exploring the new abilities that come from embracing this power.

In combat she stays back, but is still lethal with her Haladar, a light weapon that allows for two strikes per round. When that fails she falls back on her crossbow and 8 throwing daggers. Her true love though is deciphering puzzles and researching ancient, forbidden secrets.

Yarrow (Frick): an Empathic Savior who Finds the Flaw in All Things, God of Truth & Lies
In their day life Maggie is a circus and visual artist. They play Yarrow, nicknamed Frick, one half of the duo Frick and Frack. The names/nicknames are used interchangeably in adventures.

Yarrow is the calmer one in the duo, more likely to think before charging in, and much better at speaking to people.

They are slender and androgynous in appearance, a neutral face on a neutral body, influencing people’s thoughts and actions with carefully chosen words. Although they are often forgotten, the words remain. In battle, their ability to pinpoint crucial areas to attack, combined with their battle ax, makes them a force.

Yarrow started out in Cryserech, in a poor family. They learned early on that people would do as you wanted, if you sold ideas to them the right way. Their grifting talents served them well, as they left home to wander. They fell in with pirates around the Sea of Vapors, and sailed around the Nightlands southern coast for some years, occasionally stopping off in various towns to scam supplies, or to scavenge in the wastes. Eventually they made their way up the Sunset River to the Iron City. Here they met Zinnia (Frack), living in a tavern.

Zinnia (Frack): an Impulsive Destroyer who Bears a Halo of Fire, God of Children
Athena is another circus artist, and children’s teacher. She is real-life besties with Maggie. Her character, Zinnia, is the other half of Frick and Frack, the inseparable duo. Frack is wilder and more carefree, prone to charge ahead without planning. At heart they are good natured, but their wild nature and lack of social graces often put people off.

Frack’s appearance is difficult to pin down, as she is often surrounded by her fire shroud. She is vaguely androgynous, and always slightly disheveled. Mostly though, people focus on the fire. It tends to draw a crowd.

Of her past, Zinnia remembers almost nothing. She knows she must have had parents, because everyone has those. But she has no memories before working in the Iron City. Cruel masters made her work in the hot forgeries, surrounded by molten metal. One day, a tragic accident killed many workers, but left her untouched. Her strange fire powers started manifesting that same day. Afraid of her abilities, the iron workers forced her out of the only home she had known, leaving her to a life of drink and menial labor.

When Frick and Frack first met, it was in a tavern on the outskirts of the Iron City. Here Zinnia lived, working as a portable heater and fire starter. She was paid with all the alcohol she could consume, which was plenty. Yarrow opened her mind to the possibilities of life outside the tavern, and she never looked back. She and Yarrow embarked on several adventures together, which remain fuzzy in their minds. This is likely due to their tendency to use Erase Memory on each other. Yarrow uses it when Zinnia has a particularly wild brain wave, and Zinnia uses it when she has already done the crazy thing that Yarrow will disapprove of. Their rambling journeys eventually landed them in Corso.

Cerena: a Skeptical Shaper who Speaks Curses, God of the Left Behind
Cerena is played by Alex, a delightful gamer friend of the group.

Cerena is an older lady, once a priestess of Balakar, God of the Winds. She is petite and frail-looking, but her looks are deceiving. Cerena's powerful curses allow her to grow tattoo armor that offers powerful protection from melee and ranged damage, and it bites back after an attack.

She grew up in a convent-style group, working diligently to serve Balakar. After the Fall, she became disenchanted with gods in general, and became a die-hard atheist. She is stubborn and skeptical of her increasing divinity. Coming to terms with her growing powers is a challenge. Older than most of the party members, Cerena is the only one who remembers a time before the Fall, before the permanent eclipse, and before the descent into moral decay. Her strong will and cautious nature inject a note of sanity and clear-thinking into the party's dynamic.

Having traveled with the caravan for a while, Cerena is intrigued by the auras around the rest of the party members (although she maintains that they're not divine auras). She decides to tag along to learn more about harnessing her powers and to use the party's demonstrated strength to bring back some moral goodness to this damned world.