National Special Operations

The modern nations on Lumora have Special Operations units composed of active adventurers. These units serve as a combination of intelligence gathering operations and on call specialists, made to deal with important missions that require them to leverage the absurd power experienced adventurers are known to wield. Unlike all other factions, members of the National Special Operations faction are not all loyal to the same organization. They are in fact multiple unique organizations that provide similar benefits and skill sets to their members, and are all incredibly hostile to one another. These organizations include the Ironholme Bureau of Espionage, the King's Service of Mistyvale, the Portabrian College of Secrets, and the Lothe'lian Lodges. The structures, histories, and unique features of this organization are listed below.

Ironholme Bureau of Espionage
Note: Members of the Ironhome Bureau of Espionage cannot choose the Ironholme Armed Forces as their public faction.

The Ironholme Bureau of Espionage's history dates back to the year 454, decades before the coup against the oligarchy. Founded as private police force by Senator Ivandall, the Bureau was meant to combat industrial espionage, counterfeiting, and property crime. In actuality they were little more than a criminal gang that worked in service of the elite, leading some of the worst crackdowns on labor organization since the senate came to power. It was nationalized in 473, broadening their field to encompass all forms of national security following the first failed rebellion against the senate. In many ways, the violence used by the IBE and the resentment it stirred was what laid the groundwork for the coming rebellions.

Following the purges of the imperial bureaucracy, the IBEs overall structure has remained mostly intact. Each branch of the organization focuses on combating a particular activity or specialized in the use of specific tactics. Each branch has a head, and a number of supervisory agents who work as handlers. Agents not given a supervisory position move between the different branches as needed, often working with upwards of 5 to 10 handlers over the course of their career. Each branch head would report to the Deputy Director of Espionage, though as with most department head positions in the imperial bureaucracy this position has been left unfilled and the branch heads instead report directly to the Emperor.

As agents bounce between branches depending on the investigation they are currently pursuing operatives may be found engaging in any number of tasks, from chasing down corrupt officials, to performing deep cover espionage, to performing counterintelligence. While their is an official policy as to how agents are expected to behave in the field, both at home and abroad, they have broad leeway in terms of actions taken in service of their mission, with many joking that as long as the victim was guilty (or as long as no one finds out) it wasn't against regulations.

Agents are given a distinctive black trench coat along with their badge of office, which originated the colloquial term for an agent of the Emperor: a Blackcloak. As many of the missions undertaken during a Blackcoats career can never be spoken about to the public, in lieu of medals or ceremony they are instead given a white band to sow onto the sleeves of their coats, each of which represents a service to the crown which must never be spoken of. This tradition stretches back to the days of the rebellion, when soldiers who served valiantly were given a simple 3 inch square of colored cloth. Soldiers from Lian Ruf, a diocese on the border of Lothe'lia, were awarded 30 yards of white cloth for the success of their years of covert and guerrilla actions taken against the senate forces. The most decorated Blackcoats still serving as Branch Heads have sleeves made of that same bolt of cloth, and Lian Ruf still has the highest population of recruits accepted to the IBE of any diocese in the empire.

Badge of Office: A brass pin, and a long sleeved black trench coat.

The King's Service
Note: Members of the King's Service cannot choose the Mistyvale Royal Army as their public faction.

Since the rule of House Aesor began, there Court Spymasters and the agents of the King's Service have existed to protect the interests of the Kingdom of Mistyvale. The exact makeup and priorities of the service have differed from generation to generation as the Spymasters come and go. All members of the King's service report directly to the Spymaster, and are assigned to both long term postings and single missions across the world.

The agents of the King's Service are referred to as the Vinitari, a bastardization of the High Elven word for winemaker. This dates back to the history of Mistyvale under Elvish rule before the eruption of the Weeping Summit, where wine merchants were sent between the duchies as a way to open diplomatic maneuvers. Vinitari have no specific uniform as their postings and duties are so diverse.

More information about the Court Spymaster and the structure of the modern King's Service is forthcoming.

Badge of Office: ???

The College of Secrets
A Portabrian faction of spies trained by a small, little known offshoot school of Sentinela.

More information on this faction is forthcoming.

Badge of Office: ???

Lothe'lian Lodges
Note: Membership in the Lothe'lian Lodges is exclusive to Elf and Half-Elf Characters.

Within the realm of Lothe’lia there exist hidden monasteries dedicated to training the Empress’ agents. These Lodges are disparate in the lessons they teach, the philosophy they discuss, and even their laws. What they share, however, is a strict hierarchy, loyalty to Empress Lothelia, and endless secrets. Most lodges were created after the eruption of the Weeping Summit, during the long dark that followed, as the borders of the Lothe'lian Empire shrank as the monsters and Men rose up. The few that were active before were originally monasteries dedicated to the study and perfection of combat as art, as well as training Empress’ Blades, the assassins that serve at the Lady’s right hand.

Regardless of the choice of Lodge, most teach some form of craft or profession (Useful for blending in amongst the other nations, though they sometimes miss the point of these lessons.) Time spent outside of learning an art is spent instead on training, Members, called Lodgemates by those few Men who are aware of them, spend vast amounts of their lives practicing moves and styles that have been developing for thousands of years. During this training elves are sent on trips out into the world, in order to both expand the knowledge base of the trainee, as well as perform tasks in service to their empire. Often these journeys can last for years at a time, as complicated schemes are set up and executed in the name of the Lady of Patience.

While the exact laws each Lodge member must hold to are different, their are some broad themes that are common to them all, listed below,


 * 1) Speaking of your identity as a lodgemate to non-elves or the disloyal is strictly forbidden. Repeat violations will be punished with removal of the tongue, or death.
 * 2) Orders from the Imperator must be obeyed.
 * 3) Imperial artifacts must not be allowed to fall into the hands of Men.
 * 4) No trace of your mission may be left behind. When possible limit the casualties of your mission, unless doing so would compromise the mission.

Badge of Office: ???

For King and Country
Choose a home nation whose government you work for. You are given a badge of office representing you rank, but rarely take it with you on assignment. If a character loyal to a nation hostile to your own discovers your identity you are open to PVP with them.

Travel Costs are negated on missions assigned to you by your home nation, or a nation hostile to your own. You get double fame on sessions set in your chosen nation or nations hostile to your own, and on any session with the  tag. If a  session was assigned to you by a nation hostile to your home, increase the fame multiplier to triple.

If a  session would not reward fame, you still gain 5 fame, or 10 fame if it was assigned by a nation hostile to your own. Do not apply multipliers from this ability to fame gained this way.

At the start of each session you may ask two questions of the GM which must be answered factually. These questions are restricted to information your character could have reasonably gathered beforehand. If the GM decides any information would be outside the scope of what your character could know, they must tell you, giving you the chance to either ask a different question or proceed getting only partial information or a half-truth.

License to Kill
You're  well trained in covert combat, skilled in the styles of your national military. You gain proficiency in the Stealth skill and your choice of the Sleight of Hand or Deception skills, along with a benefit based on the home nation you chose.

Ironholme
You gain proficiency in Alchemist's Tools, or another tool of your choice if you’re already proficient.

Mistyvale
You learn one cantrip of your choice from any spell list.

Portabria
You gain proficiency in one weapon of your choice.

Lothe'lia
You gain proficiency in Poisoner’s Kits, or your choice of either expertise or another tool of your choice if you’re already proficient.

Carte Blanche
You gain a benefit based on the home nation you chose.

Ironholme
You gain proficiency with all firearms, and your choice of one of the following features. This choice cannot be changed later.


 * Covert Tactics - You may add 1d4 to the result of your Stealth checks, and any allies within 30 ft of you may use your result on those checks for their own Hide actions.
 * Enhanced Interrogation - You may add 1d4 to the result of Insight and Investigation checks you make. You may harm a target to give yourself advantage on Intimidation and Insight checks against them for one hour.
 * Trencher's Trick - Enemies treat half cover you’re behind as 3/4ths, and 3/4ths as total. You may drop prone as a reaction.

Mistyvale
You gain one of the following feats of your choice: Magic Initiate, Fey Touched (Reworked), Shadow Touched (Reworked), Telekinetic (Reworked), or Telepathic.

You may spend a day of downtime to exchange a spell or cantrip you know for any other spell or cantrip from the same spell list.

Portabria
You gain the Martial Adept (Revised) feat. You may treat both Ironholme and Mistyvale as hostile nations for the purposes of For King and Country.

Lothe'lia
Choose one Cover Story feature and one Lodgemate feature from the list below.


 * Cover Story: Professional - You gain proficiency in one Artisan’s tool of your choice.
 * Cover Story: Creative - You gain proficiency in the Performance skill and one instrument of your choice.
 * Lodgemate: Bladework - You gain mastery in one of your choice of longswords, short swords, longbows, or short bows.
 * Lodgemate: Goldeneye - A surgical and magical enhancement is applied to your eyes, allowing you to enhance your sight up to three times per long rest. Characters with this feature usually have eyes that are a very distinct gold or orange color. While these colors can occur naturally it is rare. When you activate this ability you gain one of the following benefits for one minute.
 * You can see into the Astral Plane and through illusion magic.
 * Surfaces do not block your vision within 30 feet, allowing you to see through walls and floors.
 * You do not suffer obscurement penalties from smoke, fog, or darkness, magical or non-magical.

Tricks of the Trade
Your specialty is what makes you useful to your home nation. You cultivate a role for yourself when working on a team, from the following list of abilities.

Lookout
You’ve sharpened your senses enough to pinpoint creatures even through walls and doors. While moving at less than half your speed, you can use the Search action to identify the locations of any creature within 30 ft of you, allowing you to ‘perceive’ creatures through walls. You must beat the Stealth check of any creature attempting to hide from your senses as normal.

Smooth Operator
Your charisma is legendary, when you succeed on a deception check against a creature, you charm the creature for the next 24 hours. This charm ends if you make an attack in the presence of a charmed creature. Additionally you can quickly fabricate an identity from whole cloth, so long as you look as though you belong, most creatures will not question simple explanations as to your presence.

Demolitionist
Bombs, grenades, guns, sledgehammers, and rams. The tools of destruction have always fascinated you. Attacks against unattended objects, such as doors, walls, locks and safes cannot miss, and treat all dice rolled as if they had rolled the maximum.

Cleaner
Espionage is dirty business, and none is dirtier than covering it up. In a world with magic that can spot a spy miles away, sometimes you need someone capable of erasing the passing of others. You know a few tricks, and can use an action to become undetectable by magic for one minute. While undetectable, you cannot be detected through the spells detect thoughts, scrying, or other methods of detecting you. Additionally while undetectable magical traps and similar effects such as runes do not trigger from your passing.

Infiltrator
You have a climb speed equal to your speed, but lose this climb speed at the end of any consecutive turn you spend climbing, regaining it only when you spend at least one turn without climbing, or jump from one surface to another. When you succeed at unlocking a door or other portal using thieves' tools, you gain advantage on Stealth checks for ten minutes, as the adrenaline rush of a smooth entry enhances your perception and reaction time.

Mastermind
You’re an expert at planning, with an eye to become one of the brains behind the extensive operations of international espionage. You often try to take the lead on jobs, and are able to use the Help action, or the Bardic Inspiration class feature if you possess it to assist any creature that can hear you, regardless of distance.

Assassin
Just as cleaners must be specially trained to cover up crimes from magical detection, assassins receive special training to make sure those they kill stay dead. When you deal damage to a creature it becomes marked for one minute. When a marked creature dies they cannot be revived or spoken to with spells of 3rd level or lower. You may perform a one minute ritual on any marked corpse, when you do spells of 5th level or lower cannot be used to resurrect them.

Counter Intelligence
This ability is forthcoming.

Foreign Contacts
You’ve made many friends in your times abroad, and your contacts and experience give you some additional tricks you can use when the going gets tough. Choose two Foreign Contacts.

Whenever you select a power from this list, choose a nation from the list below, then choose a power from that nation. You cannot choose abilities from your home nation, and you cannot choose the same ability more than once. Each contact will have a minor NPC named associated with them which can be added to the Friends and Contacts section of your character sheet. You can choose to take the NPC listed as your contact or talk to an Admin to create your own of a similar rank. Your contact can be tapped for additional assistance on sessions, but is likely to require compensation or a favor in return.

'''GM's are actively working on NPC profiles for many major characters, including the ones listed below. Apologies for the wait, and please bear with us.'''

Ironholme

 * Disgruntled Lieutenant - While interacting with members of law enforcement or the military you gain +1d4 on all checks. Your contact is Tibor Galavan, a Lieutenant in the Ironholme Armed Forces.
 * Former Royalist - You have +1d4 on History checks to remember information about military conflicts or battles. Increase session fame and downtime rewards by 10% (rounded up). Your contact is Jacoby Stillhart.
 * Union Shop Steward - When you purchase mundane consumables you may do so at half their base cost. Your contact is Harley Garland, a shop steward for the Alchemist's Union.

Mistyvale

 * Academy Lecter - You may spend a day of downtime to exchange a spell or cantrip you know for any other spell or cantrip from the same spell list. Your contact is Margrave Harper, a professor of Generalities of Magic.
 * Nobility - You gain an additional +1d4 on Wisdom (Insight), Charisma (Persuasion), or Charisma (Deception) checks against people of a higher social standing than you, and on Intelligence (History) checks related to the noble families of Lumora. Your contact is Lord Commander Bagran Lancaster, Baron of Threepoint Spire.
 * Captain of Industry - When you purchase mundane, non-consumable items that aren’t crafting materials, you may do so at half their base cost. Your contact is Bartimaeus Stone, head of Stone Industries a small time arms manufacturer.

Portabria

 * Master Sentinel - You can tell at a glance what creatures have access to extra attack or multiattack. Your contact is Helena Tavros, a dueling instructor at Sentinela Academy.
 * Tierviena Moneylender - Increase session gold rewards, and physical treasure by 10%. Your contact is Jerimiah Malcus.
 * Privateer - You gain proficiency with Water Vehicles. When you purchase raw materials you may do so at half their base cost. Your contact is Silver-Hand Antioch, a mercenary and Privateer licensed by Sentinela.



Lothe'lia

 * Elven Diplomat - When you are in a civilized settlement you can get away with minor criminal offenses, such as refusing to pay for food at a tavern, breaking down doors, or intimidating a shop keep because the guards refuse to take action against you. You contact is an elf going by the pseudonym Ancarn, a diplomatic liaison to Mistyvale.
 * Lodge Agent - You have +1d4 on Intelligence checks to identify poisons. When you craft a poison you may craft twice as many doses for the same amount of materials. Your contact is an elf going by the pseudonym Raenir, a lodgemate posing as an Alchemist in Ironholme.
 * Wildling - You may use an action to improvise camouflage for yourself. For one hour afterwards you are lightly obscured, and may make stealth checks to Hide even while only lightly obscured. If you move more than half your speed on any turn, you lose these benefits until you use an action to re-camouflage yourself. Your contact is Darius Whittenmire, a guidemaster of the Amber Hunt originally born to a Wildling community in Lothe'lia.



Etraine

 * Dragonrider -
 * Benivene Minister -
 * House Voat Gaoler -



Kovarik

 * Attorace Hier - You gain an additional +1d4 on Persuasion checks against undead and non-humanoid creatures. You can automatically tell the time of death of a corpse and age of bloodstains. Your contact is Dynar Delivore, the favored son of House Delivore.
 * Rathmore Noble - You gain an additional +1d4 on Arcana checks against magical traps and alarms. When looking at a creature you automatically know the base spell level of the highest level spell they have prepared. Your contact us Tanith Rathmore, twelfth daughtor of the Rathmore House.
 * Silver Courtesan - You gain an additional +1d4 on checks related to Enchantment magic. You can automatically tell when a creature's actions are being magically compelled, but not what form that compulsion takes. Your contact is a vampire smuggler going by the pseudonym Hanna of the Silver Court.
 * "Cacinoe Upstart - You gain an additional +1d4 on checks related to insects. You can automatically tell when looking at a creature if it's natural or the product of summoning magic. Your contact is Halifax Cacinoe, son of the founder of House Cacinoe."



Advanced Briefing
You may ask an additional question of the GM before the start of a session using For King and Country.

At any time during a session you may ask a question of the GM which must be answered factually. You may use this ability twice per session.

Networking
You gain an additional Foreign Contact, and an additional Trick of the Trade.

Enhanced Tricks
You become more comfortable in one of your chosen roles, gaining an additional ability for one of the Tricks of the Trade you already possess:

Lookout
You can use the Search action as a bonus action. You can use your reaction to allow an ally that can hear you to move up to 15 ft, or to move 15 ft yourself.

Smooth Operator
Knowing how to roll with a lie or turn a faux-pas into an amusing anecdote can go a long way to getting you in with the target. When you fail a social roll, such as Insight, Deception, Persuasion, or Intimidation, you can make a different social check as a reaction, success on this alternate roll brings all the same benefits as if you had succeeded on the first check, and prevents any negative consequences from your first check.

Once you have used this feature on a given skill check, you cannot use it again on that check until you have completed a short or long rest.

Demolitionist
You’ve become a master of working with explosives and alchemical items. You can take an action to change the properties of a mundane consumable item, though only one adjustment may be applied at a time.


 * You may increase the radius of the item by 5 ft.
 * You may decrease the radius of the item by 5 ft, and halve the distance the item can be heard going off.
 * You may change the shape of an item from a radius to a cone with the same distance.
 * You may double the damage an item deals by reducing the affected area to a 5 ft square.

Cleaner
Sometimes it's best to avoid killing. The heat from such a thing can bring down retribution like a hammer. Sometimes, though, death is unavoidable. The best a cleaner can do is make sure a kill isn’t discovered till the mission is done. You can hide bodies in spaces normally too small, snapping bones and rearranging limbs to make things fit. You can hide bodies and other objects in containers up to two sizes too small for them.

Infiltrator
You gain the Skulker feat, or if you already have it you gain a bonus feat.

Mastermind
Sit at the center of your spider’s web, pulling the strings to engineer success. You can use the Help action as a bonus action on your turn, and you may use your reaction to allow a creature that can hear you to reroll a check or save they’ve made.

Assassin
The magic that powers your mark is reinforced. The mark now lasts for 10 minutes after dealing damage, and spells of 5th level or lower cannot be used to revive or speak with the marked creature. When you perform your one minute ritual spells of 7th level or lower cannot be used to revive or speak with the target. You also gain access to a one hour ritual that prevents the spell True Resurrection from reviving the marked creature.

Counter Intelligence
This ability is forthcoming.