The Esomechanist Superclass

The fourth superclass, the Esomechanists, are defined by lacking both the ability to weave chalk or manipulate curvature. As a result, they are compelled to use the mechanics of the verse in far more creative ways to achieve any semblance of combat viability. This they do through borrowing bits and pieces from other superclasses that they can wield without their baseline powers, while employing a set of new tricks as well.

Narratively, most who take the path of the Esomechanist are the Lancasters, those born without command over and in turn refuse to consort with the Amaranth Sultan. The Switchboard being a dangerous place has compelled them to adapt to survive. This document shows how they do it.

This document is an addendum to Weave and Warfare, and should ideally be read before this. Additionally, old Esomechanist writ that was in that document have been moved here, as the document did not tackle them to any real degree.

Workshop

TX/T-‘Aux’ - ‘Auxiliary Powers’

Add as a subheading under Further Notes

The auxiliary powers are additional powers in an actor’s arsenal card that are derived from things independent of their own personal lattice. These are primarily relics, chromegrafts, Slates and Teks.

All of these are ‘added’ to a character’s arsenal after the fact, and thus have additional ways they are classified and their powers are broken down. Chromegrafts due to their very close integration to the local lattice of their bearer can in a sense be considered abilities. However, particularly advanced chromegrafts that go beyond conventional implantations can be considered powers. Slates are similar, in that they are closely integrated with the lattice of their bearer, and because of their function, are considered casts.

Considering that they are sourced from something external, the actions granted by TXs are classed as powers.

TX - Relic Action Set

• Offensive
• Defensive
• Utility
• Feat

TX - Chromegraft

• As An Ability
  • Offensive
  • Defensive
  • Utility
• As A Power
  • Overclock

TX - Slate

• Digital Offensive
• Digital Defensive
• Weft Mimicry
• Directive

Slates are undergoing some revision.

T3 - Teks

• Offensive
• Defensive
• Utility
• Burst

Additionally under this category are the Praxis Powers. These are mostly passive powers that stem from the character’s association with a particular doctrine. Actively-used Praxis Powers are often under the other categories, which are simply granted a praxis component to how they function. Purely praxis powers are under this category as a result.

Preamble

Old writ from the main doc subject to revision.

This super-‘class’ isn’t so much a class, and is rather a means of describing a wide range of abilities and combat styles that may not explicitly have a Chalk or Void backbone. This ‘dump’ category sees all kinds of fighting styles developed by those unable or unwilling to use the more formal powers to fight, and Esomechanists instead build their arsenals around other things, such as Slates, Chromegrafts and even Glass.

As such, it is hard to define the powers of Esomechanists as a category, though the more common bases upon which Esomechanists majorly operate can be defined.

• Slate Esos boast considerable power over all things technological and digital, and the ability of Slates to interfere with the Calcic grants them a degree of control over that as well. Their control over machines sees them fight effectively by taking control of Chromelings or self-built mechanical constructs, while interfering with the abilities of opponents (especially chalk-reliant ones) with their Slates. Particularly advanced Slate Esos can perform a very elementary form of chalk weaving as well.

• Chromegraft Esos are immensely varied, relying on various grafts installed into their lattices for their means of combat. Wrist-mounted machine guns, self-replenishing missile back-mounts, spring-loaded joints for mobility, rocket assemblies built into the legs for flight, chest-mounted laser cannons; chromegrafts boast considerable variety and versatility.

• Glass Esos are particularly esoteric in nature, as the crux of their power is are Glass jaws; rifts between the Dancirah and the Vitric Shelf through which beings can move between each, and Glass finds its way into the Great Sky below. There are… methods to have these Jaws become actual jaws, and Glass Esos are defined primarily by a mouthful of jagged, translucent daggers, with a scintillating kaleidoscopic maw behind them. This passageway to the Vitric Shelf allows from drawing Glass when needed, and glass teeth are used to hone and shape it down to forms required by the subject. At higher levels of strength and skill, the power to open temporary maws in space is obtained, and summoning jagged protrusions of Glass in space sees the possibilities available to them widen considerably.

Esos can use G1 Teks, as they do not ‘output’ chalk.

Superclass Esoteric Arms

Old writ from the main doc subject to revision.

An excerpt from Glass;

But the most storied bit of knowledge acquired from the inquiry of Ryjik was in the making of weaponry. Before the attack on the Trinary Complex in the Vitric Shelf, Skydancers Onuris, The Hammer, and Ryjik, the Eater, collaborated in shaping a weapon. A weapon that harnessed chalk, glass, their stable crystalline-complex and the scintillate glass-inversion. It was called the PRISMpick, and it had power that spanned the DevitNet and the Dancirah. With it, with a single strike, it could breach and seize control of any network, any computational device, carve a path into any Vault, sunder any weave, and contend even with - admittedly - lesser ritualism. Within it was the power of Skydancer Ryjik; the power to eat, and render impotent.

Link to original

The PRISMpick was the first of the weapons that would come to be known as the Teeth of Ryjik. With their power and nature known and yet not fully explored, they became incredibly coveted. Forging them is no easy task, as glass is a material that actively opposes being worked upon. As such, so few of them exist that they have attained the status of myth, the PRISMpick itself being lost during the Refrain. This has only cultivated more interest in forging more of them, by any means possible, as those who wield them are believed to be able to defeat any obstacle to their aims, be it chalkweaver or construct.

Link to original

The Esomechanist superclass suffers - primarily - from a solid foundation upon which to develop and utilize powers. The Chalkweaver and the Depthstrider have chalk and the depths, and the Pale Amaran has both even, but the Esomechanist has none.

Thus, it is necessary for an aspiring Esomechanist to level the playing field though any means possible. One such means is learning to harness glass, the great equalizer, that which shreds complexity down to tatters. The Teeth of Ryjik are thus a major interest of all who fall under the Esomechanist domain, and though their weapons are scarce, those that come to wield them wield power in the Switchboard few can rival.

As such, there is no definite ‘shape’ for the Esomechanist’s super-class weapons, merely a boundary that something can grow and fill to become it. Working backwards from this however, has led many to adopt the usage of glass in their weaponry.

Combat Grafts

It is required that you have read The Lattice as a Canvas before this.

Striders may choose to get various grafts installed on their person that grant combat abilities, particularly in the case of chrome-based grafts. These grafts somewhat interface with a Strider’s calcic powers, but generally they must be designed to do so. In some cases, the Flash Protocol: Flashcharge can be used to supercharge a graft.