Swear A Wov, Make A Move - Part 1

This blog is meant for those who've read Crystalforged. If you haven't yet and want to avoid spoilers, you've been warned!

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Why yes, you did indeed see a "Part 1" in that title. I always do a post-story reflection blog, and I've grown accustomed to giving them a certain kind of structure, with setting, characters, and other notes. While a blog like that for Crystalforged will come, this story was something of an experiment. Not only in it being a crossover, but that it was a crossover with a tabletop game, and so how the game works had a lot of influence on how the story was crafted.

First let me tell you a bit about Ironsworn Starforged...

The Game

The Ironsworn system is one of the newer additions to tabletop gaming, the original Ironsworn book coming out as recently as 2018 and its sequel, Ironsworn Starforged, not having been out for even a full year yet at the time of writing this.

It's a very "fiction-first" kind of game. While there's some numbers and plenty of dice-rolling, the action is very character-driven and circles around the very personal stories of people who swear binding vows and then go through all manner of harrowing adventures to fulfill them. Interestingly, it's also built with the ability to play it completely solo, using "oracle" tables to generate details and answer questions rather than using a traditional game master. In fact, that's considered the default play mode, with optional rules added if you want to play with others.

If a result of a roll doesn't gel with the kind of story you want to tell, you're encouraged to discard it and come up with your own rewards for success and consequences for failure, and you're also encouraged to populate your world with places and people as you go and let the setting build itself organically, rather than detailing too much right off the bat. Each playthrough of an Ironsworn game is incredibly personal and can vary wildly from campaign to campaign.

The original Ironsworn is a low-fantasy game, while Ironsworn Starforged can range from science fiction to science fantasy depending on choices you make when placing down the basics of the setting at the start of play. Naturally, for Crystalforged I went for a hard lean toward science fantasy, since I'm writing a magical crystal unicorn traveling through a vault in search of an alicorn, but you can easily ground your story in more concrete sci fi if that's what you're itching for.

Amusingly, one of the more ironclad (pun intended) parts of the setting is that the game is intended to be played with characters who are human and focus on a more human-centric viewpoint. But that actually helped with slotting a unicorn into the role of PC instead. There's no support for mechanical differences between species, and so it doesn't matter if the character is a unicorn, a reindeer, or anything else. Those differences come out in the narrative details rather than the mechanics. They're all "human" as far as the game is concerned.

To create the basic outline of Crystalforged, I did some of the game book's basic worldbuilding exercises, built Rutile Quartz as a character, and turned the descent into the vault in search of Flurry Heart into an in-game expedition, albeit with some flourishes; the entirety of the chapter Ferrochrome was after the last die rolled. So in this blog, I'm going to pull back the curtain a little. I won't go into things dice roll by dice roll, just some of the groundwork I laid before writing.

The Truths

While a lot of nitty-gritty details in a Starforged game emerge through play, there's a set of pillars of how the setting works that are decided beforehand, referred to as the fourteen truths. Each has a few options that you can pick from (or roll to select, if you want to leave everything up to the dice) but also the option to come up with your own answer. The truths for Crystalforged were a mix of picking from the list, taking listed options and modifying them slightly to better meld with MLP, or purely custom, and go as follows:

Cataclysm

"The Celestial Plague extinguished the stars and moons in our home galaxy. The anomaly traveled at incredible speeds, many times faster than light itself, and snuffed out the stars and shattered the moons around us before we realized it was coming. Few of us survived as we made our way to this new galaxy. Here in the Forge, the stars are still aflame and the moons still guard the skies. We cling to their warmth like weary travelers huddled around a fire. We suspect the Celestial Plague was caused by distortions from a supermassive magical void, but we have no way of knowing for sure."

This one's a tweak from a provided option. In the book it's just called the Sun Plague, but since the sun and moon are treated as being equally important in the MLP universe, I added in that it targeted both. "Magical void" is also a spin on one option of suspected cause, which in the book is a black hole instead.

Exodus

"A ragtag fleet of ships—propelled at tremendous speeds by experimental FTL drives—carried our ancestors to the Forge. But the technology that powered the ships is said to be the source of the Sundering, a fracturing of reality that plagues us here today. The experimental drives used by the Exodus fleet are forbidden, but the damage is done. The Sundering spreads across our reality like cracks on the surface of an icy pond. Those fissures unleash even more perilous realities upon our own. Did we flee one cataclysm, only to inadvertently create another?"

This one is straight from the book, no tweaks. The Sundering is why reality is so unstable, though as Tundra notes in the story, the chaospawn do a lot of weakening of the integrity of local reality in their own right, and we'll get to them by the time we reach the end of the truths.

Communities

"We have made our mark in this galaxy, but the energy storms we call balefires threaten to undo that progress, leaving our communities isolated and vulnerable. Starships navigate along bustling trade routes between settlements. We’ve built burgeoning outposts on the fringes of known sectors, and bold spacers chart new paths into unexplored domains. But this hard-earned success is threatened by the chaotic balefires, intense energy anomalies that cut off trade routes and threaten entire planets."

Another one straight from the book. While powers have risen and fallen over the vastness of time, there's been some success in the civilizations that exist now, as well as trade between them, which is safe... right up until it isn't. Reality is fragile here, after all, and the balefires are an aspect of that.

Iron

"Iron vows are sworn upon medallions from civilizations past. Metal is a conduit for magic, and many pre-Exodus technology has channeled power through iron and its alloys. Conduits in the form of medallions were worn by these past civilizations, and these have been passed on to their descendants. When archo-tech heirlooms break down, new medallions are crafted from the metal; some of the most prized are those who started life as part of the starships that brought us to the Forge. Where they once acted as powerful magical devices, they now are symbols of our past and hold us to our word as we move onward into the future."

This is largely my own creation. There's an option to have vows sworn on pieces of the Exodus ships, but for this galaxy, that's only one place that the metal can come from, so I wrote the entry from scratch.

Laws

"Laws and governance vary across settled domains, but bounty hunters are given wide latitude to pursue their contracts. Their authority is almost universally recognized, and supersedes local laws. Through tradition and influence, bounty hunter guilds are given free rein to track and capture fugitives in most settled places. Only the foolish stand between a determined bounty hunter and their target."

Straight from the book again, and the source of the minotaur and his crew who hunt Rutile Quartz. Different powers hold dominion over different places, and putting out a bounty is the best way to see (what they see as) justice done once the perpetrator is off-world.

Religion

"Gods once walked among us, and some call to them in the hope that they will again. In ages past, there were majestic alicorns, awe-inspiring draconequui, titanic elder dragons, grand royal changelings, and much more. Many have been deified in their absence, and millennia later, some still call to Celestia and Luna, Mi Amore Cadenza, Twilight Sparkle, Discord, Thorax, and others to answer their prayers. While plenty are willing to consider a creature's personal deity to be just that, personal, some have organized themselves into forces like The Order of the Two Sisters, who enforce their doctrine on the planets they control."

A pure SilverNotes original. None of the options really spoke to MLP, and I wanted to have a setting where most of the heavy hitters of the past are long gone, so boom, a land where many of characters we know and love are now mythologized figures and patron deities to the creatures of today.

Magic

"Magic is life, and life is magic. Every sapient species has magic, to some degree, as do many nonsapient ones, and leylines run through the planets of the Forge, enriching them with power. Most of our scientific advances have simply been finding better ways to harness and refine magical energies through better and better conduits."

Also my own addition. The book's base options run from "no" to "rare" to "we found magic when we got here," none of which mesh with the story as a future of the MLP we know.

Communication and Data

"Information is life. We rely on spaceborne couriers to transport messages and data across the vast distances between settlements. Direct communication and transmissions beyond the near-space of a ship or outpost are impossible. Digital archives are available at larger outposts, but the information is not always up-to-date or reliable. Therefore, the most important communications and discoveries are carried by couriers who swear vows to see that data safely to its destination."

One straight from the book. It isn't an outright dark age (which is one of the options) but information still needs to travel, and the distances are vast. Things have been lost or deliberately buried and one settlement's information may be old or incomplete. It makes finding and sharing intel into an adventure all its own.

Medicine

"Orders of sworn healers preserve our medical knowledge and train new generations of caregivers. Life-saving advanced care is available within larger communities throughout the settled sectors of the Forge. Even remote communities are often served by a novice healer, or can request help from a healer’s guild in an emergency."

Straight from the book. As the fancy first aid kit that Tundra uses on Rutile shows, medical technology is definitely still around, and given what a big deal the comics make of Radiant Hope's healing magic, it's clearly something that's extremely important. Preserving and passing on medical knowledge has been a huge priority and even a drifter like Rutile can afford some basics like that kit.

Artificial Intelligence

"Artificial consciousness emerged in the time before the Exodus, and sentient machines live with us here in the Forge. Our ships, digital assistants, bots, and other systems often house advanced AI. For a lone traveler, machine intelligence can provide companionship and aid within the perilous depths of the Forge."

Straight from the book again. They only gain a mention near the tail-end of Crystalforged with Rutile's new ship, but MLP arguably already has objects with a mind of their own, see the Elements of Harmony or the Alicorn Amulet, so AI technology was clearly only a matter of time.

War

"Professional soldiers defend or expand the holdings of those who are able to pay. The rest of us are on our own. Mercenary guilds wield power in the Forge. Some are scrappy outfits of no more than a dozen soldiers. Others are sector spanning enterprises deploying legions of skilled fighting forces and fleets of powerful starships. Most hold no loyalty except to the highest bidder."

From the book. While there were massive powers will full-scale armies and wars in the past, now it's smaller powers hiring mercenaries as their muscle, much like how bounty hunters are used to enforce laws.

Lifeforms

"Many sites and planets are infested by dreadful chaospawn. These aberrant creatures threaten to overrun other life in the galaxy. The spawn are hostile creatures born of the chaotic energies of this galaxy. Hundreds of abandoned or devastated outposts and derelict ships stand as testament to their dreadful power."

Mostly from the book, with really only the name changed from what they were originally called, which is "forgespawn." The book doesn't give any indication of what they look like, however, so the mix-and-match critters approach to resemble Discord was all me.

Precursors

"Over eons, a vast number of civilizations rose and fell within the Forge. Today, the folk we call grubs—scavenger crews and audacious explorers—delve into the mysterious monuments and ruins of those ancient beings. Incomprehensible technologies, inexorable time, and the strange energies of the Forge have corrupted the vaults of the precursors. Despite the perils, grubs scour those places for useful resources and discoveries. But some secrets are best left buried, and many have been lost to the forsaken depths of the vaults."

From the book text-wise, though in implementation, I have the vaults being from civilizations like Equestria and the Crystal Empire, that have since fallen, rather than anything that pre-dates the Exodus, which is usually the implication in Starforged with the vaults.

Horrors

"Put enough alcohol in a spacer, and they’ll tell you stories of ghost ships crewed by vengeful undead. It’s nonsense. Within the Forge, space and time are as mutable and unstable as a flooding river. When reality can’t be trusted, we are bound to encounter unsettling phenomenon."

From the book. The horror truth is really more of ghosts truth, really, when you look at the full options. In this case, Rutile's belief of "dead is dead" has held true, barring cases like Rabia that are nearly dead but still hanging on in artefact form. However, with how fragile reality is, some truly strange things can happen, and those fuel a lot of superstition.

The Character Sheet

Characters in Ironsworn Starforged consist of a character sheet tracking most of the numbers, and then some asset cards which represent skills, abilities, vehicles, NPC companions, and other things that provide an advantage. I built Rutile Quartz with everything that would be available to a newly-created character, and so her kit looks like this:

As you can see, it's pretty simple. The legacies in the centre are the ways that you earn experience points, so they're naturally blank at start of play, as is progress on her background vow. Every character has a background vow, one they made before play even starts and becomes their driving motivation to make all other vows. The Impacts are likewise blank, because those come about due to things going horribly wrong during play and leaving a lingering consequence

Health is self-explanatory, but spirit could be said to be health points for your character's mental well-being; a lot of what Rabia does to Rutile over the course of Crystalforged is eroding at her spirit. Supply is an abstract representation of your character's gear; there's no detailed equipment system, though you can see where I made a couple of notes on things she usually carries around. Momentum is a stat that you can build over the course of an adventure and then "burn" to salvage a bad roll; extremely good rolls will sometimes give it as a bonus, and in some cases you can sacrifice something to get a bit of momentum to use later.

The stats are always one 3, two 2's, and two 1's. Rutile's highest stat, heart, represents courage, willpower, and compassion, and helps with facing danger head-on, weathering attacks on her spirit, and being persuasive. Edge gives an advantage to ranged combat and moving with agility, a must for a unicorn who relies on spells and guns. Wits is cleverness and perceptiveness; while Rutile's not very book-smart, she's observant in combat and quick-thinking and alert to trouble, at least when not under Rabia's influence. Iron is raw physical prowess and presence, which as a little unicorn pony she doesn't have a ton of, and shadow is deception and stealth, and Rutile couldn't sneak her way out of a paper bag.

When it comes to the assets, it's only the first point on each card that matters; additional ones can be filled in as a character spends experience points to make them more effective. Her assets are her ship (which every character gets), two paths (the closest things to classes the game has) reflecting her status as the last crystal pony and the empathic powers that comes with, and Tundra as a companion with her expertise in archo-tech. For a longer-term story, I would have built Tundra as a full character, but for a first outing, I tried to keep it simple. Well, simpler.

"All that work for a one-off contest entry?"

Well, here's the thing...

1. I never do things half-way when story crafting.
2. Who says this is a one-off?

An ending like the one I gave kind of begs for more story, after all, since Rutile Quartz's new role in rebuilding the Crystal Empire has only just started. While I don't see this as the actual future of my mainline Verse, there's more shared worldbuilding there than you'd think, so I think it can safely be called a branch, one that I intend to come back to.

See you all with the next blog, and in the future, the next installment.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Fascinating glimpse behind the scenes, especially the possibility of more from this time period. Looking forward to the other blogs at minimum.

[iisaw]

I'll have to read this as soon as I've finished Crystalforged!