Arkai are natural leaders of the Ninth World, using wit, rhetoric, and the strength of working together to overcome problems. Heralds, nobles, and pioneers could be Arkai. Sometimes warlords, generals, and even guardians are Arkai. “Arkus” is common vernacular used by humans in the Steadfast and the Beyond for any person skilled in governing others, but in truth, the word applies only to those who are specially gifted in leadership. Arkai have the potential to spearhead armies, cities, or even entire regions, because their abilities surpass those who are merely good at running a long confidence game.
Arkai are usually quite intelligent, but being able to survive physical challenges is important for anyone exploring or establishing new communities in the Ninth World. As a result, many Arkai have a high Intellect and either Might or Speed as a high secondary statistic, depending on whether they like to come in strong or to get out of the way of threats. When forced to fight, Arkai prefer ranged weapons, though they’d rather get someone else to fight on their behalf if they can’t defuse the situation another way.
Arkai in Society: People who don’t have a talent for leadership or who haven’t trained long and hard to lead sometimes discount an Arkus’s abilities. Without personal experience in being an effective leader, it’s easy to assume that anyone can do it. In terms of public perception, Arkai are at the opposite end of the continuum from Nanos. Nanos are viewed with suspicion and fear because what they do is unknown, but anyone can tell someone else what to do. Of course, the secret is that it’s incredibly hard to convince people to listen, let alone tell someone else the best thing to do and not inadvertently lead followers into some kind of disaster.
Tales of both mighty and disastrous leaders are common in the Ninth World, with anecdotes of the disastrous (or at least the mediocre and bad) ones outnumbering the positive by ten to one. That’s because true
Arkai are relatively rare. Anyone can say they’re a leader, and many people do have experience in ordering others around. But that experience doesn’t necessarily equate to quality. Arkai are almost always found with others— peers, at least, if not followers. An Arkus is at their best when surrounded by those who can help them develop their ideas, turn their goals into reality, and improve society in a way that the Arkus most values.
Some Arkai claim power by showing their competence and winning over others. Other Arkai rely on their legacy of a noble birth, an inheritance, or even claims that they are representatives of a god, some ancient and dead species, or one that no longer exists in the world. These latter claims are appeals to authority and can be effective in the short term, but only if an Arkus can back up those claims with the actual ability to make good decisions on behalf of a larger community.
Arkai in the Group: Typically, an Arkus is the party member who leads from the rear, as their abilities are not directly aggressive. Compared to the Glaive or Delve, the Arkus isn’t nearly as robust. However, an Arkus is never too far away to verbally intercede on the party’s behalf. Many of their abilities require that they be able to talk to other creatures. This is especially true when an Arkus is operating within an allied community or horde. When the party needs to negotiate with enemies, calm a community, or take charge, the Arkus is the one they want.
Arkai and the Numenera: When it comes to the numenera, most Arkai are interested in items that allow communication across large distances or to many people at once, in objects that will extend their influence with others, and even in items that allow them to know what others think and believe. With such knowledge, an Arkus can better lead them or at least figure out how to gain their allegiance. Arkai understand that changing a creature’s mind against its will or otherwise compromising consent is not the way to build a following over time, because reputations are hard to shed once tainted by bad behavior.
Advanced Arkai: An Arkus might begin as a wide-eyed idealist interested in leading people to a better tomorrow, but as they advance, they might use their skills to become one of the leaders in an allied or newly founded community. Their presence helps a community be more robust and better able to survive hard times. They can rule effectively, because they know how other creatures think.
Some Arkus abilities rely on the character being located within an allied community or horde to gain their effect. For instance, Crowd Protection doesn’t provide benefits to an Arkus if they use it while they are alone in a ruin or accompanied only by other PCs. Other abilities, like Unseen among the People, require that those in the area not only know that the Arkus is an ally, but also have at least some knowledge of the area. That said, an Arkus can gain some of these benefits if they have at least three allies willing to give up their own actions each round to help the Arkus. These allies could be followers, important NPCs, or even other PCs.
As an Arkus, you have the capacity to influence other people and, on a larger scale, communities, hordes, and even society itself. Something in your background explains these unique talents, whether it is genetics, enhancements, training, or something else. Choose one of those three options described below as the source of your skills, knowledge, and abilities, or create your own background. This choice will provide the foundation of your character and give you an idea of how you can improve. The game master (GM) can use this information to develop adventures and quests that are specific to your character and play a role in your advancement.
You were born this way. Everyone always took to you. You always seemed to know the right thing to say. It all came naturally. Your voice was pleasant, your eyes shining and honest, and your face attractive. These qualities have always been strong enough that you could rely on them. While others studied a craft, learned to fight or steal, or tinkered with the numenera, you found that you could usually get what you needed and wanted by talking to people.
Now, all this might come from a heritage of quality forebears, or it could come from something more. A silver-tongued Arkus like yourself might have inherited these qualities from your family, or you might benefit from subtle mutations that alter your voice and mannerisms to be perfect for influencing others. You don’t really know. You just know that you’ve always been this way and that, while you look just like everyone else, you’re different. Of course, no one ever need know that but you.
Advancement: Just as you don’t know the ultimate source behind your talents, you don’t know their limits either. You have to continually test them and push yourself into trying new things. You might need to share your secrets with someone knowledgeable one day so that they can help you. Perhaps you’ll even discover the source of your abilities. Regardless, when your stats improve and you gain new abilities, it’s because you’ve taken the gifts you were born with and pushed them to the next level.
You might be a leader, but you don’t fit the mold. Although you gained your share of practical experience in learning how to influence others, you have the numenera on your side as well. Some of your knowledge of rhetoric and ability to speak at an enhanced volume is due to biomechanical bits implanted in your brain and spine, wired into your nerves and muscles. Your vocal cords are woven with subtle resonant threads. Subdermal plating makes your appearance more symmetrical and pleasing. Your facial muscles are interlaced with small elements that give you complete control over your micro expressions.
Alternatively, your genetic code could have been rewritten by engineered viruses, or the tissues in your body could have been reworked by nanotech, turning you into a paragon that others are drawn to. Or maybe you’ve been altered by strange science—radioactive treatments of bizarre energies, chemical compounds and drugs, or extradimensional enhancements—that makes you smarter and more able to see the implications of long-term planning than anyone around you.
Whatever the case, you’re the result of ancient knowledge made manifest in the present, and now you’re shaping the future. Perhaps your modifications are obvious and visible; perhaps they’re not. Regardless, you know that you’re more than merely human.
Advancement: Your leadership abilities are in some ways predicated on keeping the enhancements in your body working well and, when possible, improving them. You’re always on the lookout for new parts and systems that can be incorporated into your body or new doses of drugs and supplements to maintain your abilities. You might need to seek out surgeons, mechanics, or bioenhancement specialists to take you to the next level. Perhaps the Aeon Priests can help. At some point, you might find yourself in need of very specific, very rare parts to complete your enhancements. Such components might be found only in particular ruins of the prior worlds, or perhaps they’re available elsewhere for a high price. Either way, getting them won’t be easy.
When you improve your skills and abilities, it’s because you’ve altered your enhancements in some way. Some of them may even produce a more overt effect, modulating your voice and further honing your appearance.
You are eloquent, good-looking, or both, but what really separates you from the crowd is your training. Perhaps you worked as an intern with the Aeon Priests in Qi that work behind the scenes to lead the Order of Truth, where they taught you how to speak eloquently, debate convincingly, and synthesize the best plans from all those put forth.
You know a thousand different ways to argue and influence. You learned how to read people to ascertain their moods, distinguish their truths from their lies, and determine what they want and what they need to hear. You got a lot of practice using your skills in public, starting small at first but working your way up to leading community movements and taking charge of short-term community projects.
Advancement: When it comes to leadership, meeting with small convocations of your peers is always useful; however, there is no teacher like actual experience. You will develop some of your greatest skills and abilities on your own. Perhaps when the time comes, you will consider taking on an intern of your own, not only to pay back what’s been given to you but because through teaching comes discovery.
Roll a d20 or choose from the list below to determine a specific fact about your background that provides a connection to the rest of the world. You can also create your own fact.
| Roll | Background |
|---|---|
| 1 | You were in the military and have friends who still serve. Your former commander remembers you well. |
| 2 | You were the personal guard of a wealthy merchant who accused you of theft. You left her service in disgrace. |
| 3 | You were the bouncer in a local bar for a while, and the patrons there remember you. |
| 4 | You trained with a highly respected mentor. He regards you well, but he has many enemies. |
| 5 | You trained in an isolated monastery far away. The monks think of you as a brother, but you’re a stranger to all others. |
| 6 | You have no formal training. Your abilities come to you naturally (or unnaturally). |
| 7 | You spent time on the streets and even were in prison for a while. |
| 8 | You were conscripted into military service, but you deserted before long. |
| 9 | You served as a bodyguard to a powerful criminal who now owes you his life. |
| 10 | You worked as a constable. Everyone knows you, but their opinions of you vary. |
| 11 | Your older sibling is an infamous glaive who has been disgraced. |
| 12 | You served as a caravan guard. You know a smattering of people in many cities and towns. |
| 13 | Your best friend is a sage and a scholar. She is a great source of knowledge. |
| 14 | You and a friend both smoke the same kind of rare, expensive tobacco. The two of you get together weekly to chat and smoke. |
| 15 | Your uncle runs a theater in town. You know all the actors and watch all the shows for free. |
| 16 | Your blacksmith friend sometimes calls on you for help at the forge. However, he pays you well. |
| 17 | Your mentor wrote a book on the martial arts. Sometimes other warriors seek you out to ask about its stranger passages. |
| 18 | A man you fought alongside in the military is now the mayor of a nearby town. |
| 19 | You saved the lives of a family when their house burned down. They’re indebted to you, and their neighbors regard you as a hero. |
| 20 | Your old trainer still expects you to come back and sharpen her blades and clean up after her classes, but when you do, she occasionally shares interesting rumors. |
When playing a Arkus, you can spend 1 XP to use one of the following player intrusions, provided the situation is appropriate and the GM agrees.
| Stat | Pool Starting Value |
|---|---|
| Might | 8 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Intellect | 11 |
You get 6 additional points to divide among your stat Pools however you wish.
First-tier Arkai have the following abilities.
Add them to the appropriate place on your character sheet, under Effort, Edge (in the appropriate stat Pool), equipment, and potentially skills and special abilities:
Effort: Your Effort is 1.
Leader: You have an Intellect Edge of 1, a Might Edge of 0, and a Speed Edge of 0.
Cypher Use: You can bear two cyphers at a time.
Weapons: You can use light weapons without penalty. You have an inability with medium and heavy weapons; your attacks with medium and heavy weapons are hindered.
Skills: You are trained in persuasion. In addition, you are trained in another interaction skill in which you are not already trained. Choose one of the following: negotiation, deceiving, public speaking, intimidation, or seeing through deception. You have an inability in crafting numenera, salvaging numenera, and understanding numenera. Enabler.
Community Leader: While you are present within a community, and actively and personally working on behalf of that community, the community’s rank is +1 for all purposes except damage inflicted. Enabler.
Demeanor of Command (2 Intellect points): You emote confidence, knowledge, and charisma to all who see you for the next hour. Your demeanor is such that those who see you automatically understand that you are someone important, accomplished, and with authority. When you speak, strangers that are not already attacking give you at least a round to have your say. If speaking to a group that can understand you, you can attempt to have them produce their leader or ask that they take you to their leader. You gain a free level of Effort that can be applied to one persuasion task you attempt during this period. Action to initiate.
Starting Equipment: You start with stylish clothing and a light weapon of your choice, two cyphers (chosen by the GM), one oddity, and 9 shins. If you start with a ranged weapon that requires ammunition (arrows, for example), you start with 12 of that type of ammunition. Before choosing your weapon and other gear, you might want to wait until after you’ve chosen your precepts, descriptor, and focus.
Default Starting Cyphers and Oddity: Your GM may provide you with starting cyphers and an oddity. Otherwise, you begin with the following.
Precepts: You have a wide range of abilities that give you an edge over other people. Some of these precepts are similar to esoteries in that you call upon a strange ability, use a device, and so on. Others are more mundane, relying on skill. Almost all require that you can speak to use them. Unless otherwise described, if they affect another creature, that creature must be able to perceive and understand you. Some precepts are constant, ongoing effects; others are specific actions that usually cost points from one of your stat Pools.
Choose two of the precepts described below. You can’t choose the same precept more than once unless its description says otherwise. You can keep track of these in the Special Abilities section of your character sheet.
Second-tier Arkai have the following abilities:
Precepts: Choose one of the following Arkus precepts (or a precept from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your first-tier precepts with a different first-tier precept.
Third-tier Arkai have the following abilities:
Expert Cypher Use: You can bear three cyphers at a time.
Improved Community Leader: A community continues to modify its effective rank by +1 for any task except for attack and defense. However, you do not need to be constantly present in and actively working on behalf of the community for it to gain this benefit; it gains it merely because of your past work in the community. Enabler.
Precepts: Choose one of the following Arkus precepts (or a precept from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier precepts with a different precept from the same lower tier.
Fourth-tier Arkai have the following abilities:
Precepts: Choose one of the following Arkus precepts (or a precept from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier precepts with a different precept from the same lower tier.
Fifth-tier Arkai have the following abilities:
Adept Cypher Use: You can bear four cyphers at a time.
Precepts: Choose one of the following Arkus precepts (or a precept from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier precepts with a different precept from the same lower tier.
Sixth-tier Arkai have the following abilities:
Recruit Deputy: You gain a level 4 follower. They are not restricted on their modifications. Enabler.
Alternatively, you can choose to advance a level 3 follower you already have to level 4 and then gain a new level 3 follower. Enabler.
Precepts: Choose one of the following Arkus precepts (or a precept from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier precepts with a different precept from the same lower tier.
Darcy wants to create an Arkus. She puts 4 of her additional points into her Intellect Pool and 2 into her Speed Pool; her stat Pools are now Might 8, Speed 11, and Intellect 15. She’s smart and charismatic, somewhat graceful, but not particularly tough. As a first-tier character, her Effort is 1, her Intellect Edge is 1, and her Might Edge and Speed Edge are 0.
Darcy chooses the precept Goad to help to aid her friends when dealing with dangerous or annoying creatures and Anecdote to help them in most other situations. As her skills, she is automatically trained in persuasion, and chooses negotiation for her second skill—she really wants to be able to influence people to get them to do what she wants. Finally, she gains the Community Leader ability, which provides a benefit to any allied community or horde that she is part of.
An Arkus starts with two cyphers. For her character, the GM chooses an injector that will ease any tasks she makes to deceive for one hour as well as a cypher that unfolds like a suitcase to create a level 5 installation that persists for 28 hours, providing water and food to anyone who triggers it during that time. Darcy carries a long knife, a decorative light weapon that she decides was a gift given to her by a relative. The knife is both a weapon and an impressive implement of office, should she choose to use it that way. As a light weapon, attacks are eased and it inflicts 2 points of damage.
Darcy chooses Serene for her descriptor, as a way to both increase her Intellect Pool— which increases to 17—and provide training in Intellect defense tasks. Serene also provides training in tasks related to having grace under pressure, which is something she knows that anyone trying to step into a position of leadership must acquire. Serene provides options for an initial link to the starting adventure, which Darcy decides is related to remaining calm during a difficult situation involving an attack of strange alien creatures that rained from the sky like hail.
For her focus, Darcy chooses Descends From Nobility, but only after spending some time deciding what kind of character she wants to play: a somewhat privileged and naive character who, for reasons that might not be immediately obvious, has left the place where she would’ve had everything and moved into a much wilder region and way of life. She hopes to prove to herself that she isn’t defined by the
Player characters have the option to gain followers as they advance in tier, as provided by type or focus special abilities. Followers do not need to be paid, fed, or housed, though a character who gains followers can certainly make such arrangements if they wish. A follower is someone whom a character has inspired (or asked) to come work with the character for a time, aiding the character in a variety of endeavors. A follower puts the PC’s interests ahead of, or at least on par with, their own.
The PC generally makes rolls for their follower when the follower takes actions, though usually a follower’s modifications provide an asset to a specific action taken by the PC they follow.
Modifications: A follower can help a PC in one or more tasks, granting the PC an asset to that task. The level of the follower indicates the number of different tasks they can help with. The tasks that the follower is able to help with are predetermined, usually chosen by the PC when they gain the follower. A level 2 follower who the player determines is a spy could grant a PC an asset on two different tasks, such as stealth and deception. Followers cannot help with tasks that they don’t have modifications for; for the purpose of helping, treat the follower as if they had inabilities in all nonmodified tasks.
When the follower acts autonomously rather than helping the PC, they act like a normal NPC that has modifications. Thus, the modification increases their effective level for the associated task by one step. For example, the level 2 spy follower with modifications for stealth and deception attempts stealth and deception tasks as if they were level 3 and all other tasks as level 2.
Follower Assets to Combat and Defense: A follower cannot grant an asset to a character’s attacks or defense until the follower is level 3 or higher. Even then, the follower can help with attacks and defense only if they have a modification for that kind of task.
Some focus abilities may grant a special exception to this rule. For instance, the Controls Beasts focus in Numenera Discovery grants a level 2 follower (a beast companion) with modifications for combat.
Follower Level Progression: A follower increases in level by 1 each time a PC advances two tiers after gaining that follower. When the follower gains a level, the PC also chooses the task that the follower gains a modification for.
Exceptional Follower: When a character gains a follower, there’s a small chance that the follower will be exceptional in some way, a cut above other followers of their kind. The GM determines when an exceptional follower is found, possibly as an additional reward for smart or engaging roleplaying where the PCs impress or otherwise positively interact with one or more NPCs, some of whom may later go on to become one of the PCs’ followers. An exceptional follower has the same qualities as a regular follower but is 1 level higher. Pet: Any PC can potentially gain a pet, though a pet typically doesn’t provide modifications. If a character wants a pet that can do this, they must gain the pet through an ability that grants followers. On the other hand, a wellcared- for pet grants an asset to a PC’s tasks related to achieving peace of mind, finding comfort, and resisting loneliness.
Followers cannot help with tasks that they don’t have modifications for; treat the follower as if they had inabilities in all non-modified tasks for the purpose of helping.
The modifications provided by followers could come across as fairly dry and mechanical. To avoid that, you could present each follower in a way that makes them more compelling and interesting. Here are a few examples of how to describe a follower, depending on their mix of modifications.