■ Background · No. 09Disposition · Loose contractorOrigin · Settled or Wild Frontier
Surveyor Class · Personnel
Field Reference · Backgrounds · No. 09

The Pathwalker

Leans toward body and hand and spirit.

Disposition
Loose contractor
Origin
Settled or Wild Frontier
Tier mod
+1 hand · −1 mind

You walked the Paths long before Solace found you. Your family did, or your village did, or you taught yourself when you were young and curious and terrible at staying put. You're not Solace staff — you're a contractor. A freelance scout. They pay you per expedition because nobody else can find what you find. You don't trust them. They don't trust you. The money is good, and the work suits you, and the alternative is sitting still in one world until you die. You probably have your own reasons for working with them, separate from the money. You may not have told anyone what those reasons are.

Tier modifier

+1 Hand, −1 Mind. You learned the multiverse through your hands and feet, not through study. Formal knowledge is harder for you than people expect from someone with your competence.

Perk · Pathwise

You read the multiverse fluently, in a way the Solace-trained surveyors don't. When you are the one to find, identify, or first cross a Path, you and any companions accompanying you treat the traversal as smoother and safer — the GM should narrate accordingly, and any Stress that would be incurred during traversal is reduced by 1 (minimum 0). This perk also marks you in the fiction: other Path-walkers in the multiverse can recognize you as one of them.

Signature item options

3 options
  1. Opt 01A personal weapon or tool, well-worn and not Solace-issue — chosen years ago and trusted since
  2. Opt 02A map of *your* Paths — the routes you know, drawn in a system Solace can't quite parse
  3. Opt 03A mark, tattoo, or token recognized by other Path-walkers as a sign of who you are and where you've been

Hooks

4 prompts
  1. H01I want to find a specific Path or world I've heard rumors of but never reached.
  2. H02I want to track down another Path-walker I knew before Solace got involved.
  3. H03I want to confirm something I suspect about how the Paths really work.
  4. H04I want to make enough on this contract to never need Solace again.
End of entry · Background No. 09 · Filed by Surveyor Class Personnel