Ratkin

From TSOY

Contents 1 Tooth and Teat: Ratkin 1.1 Appearance and Personality 1.2 One of the Litter 1.3 Crunchy Bits 1.3.1 Ratkin Species Abilities 1.3.1.1 Other Uses for Abilities 1.3.2 Ratkin Species Secrets 1.3.3 Ratkin Species Keys

Tooth and Teat: Ratkin

Ratkin are the newest sentient species in Near, and have just started to emerge from their animal past. They are generally untrusted by all other species except goblins, and known as dirty thieves. In reality, they are loyal allies, but have a hard time adjusting to the idea of owning something.

Ratkin are most often found in dead cities, especially the crumbling walled fortresses of Maldor, and live there in enormous litters, near-feral.

Appearance and Personality

Ratkin resemble nutria, enormous rodents, standing on their hind legs with prehensile thumbs. About three to four feet tall, they have pointed button noses, whiskers, and are covered in either grey, brown, or black fur, with the occasional albino all-white ratkin. Many ratkin are not completely used to bipedal movement, and drop to all fours to run, looking like nothing but a huge rat-dog.

A wandering ratkin will bond with his companions quickly, and is usually quite uncomfortable alone. Their tendency to take the possessions of their friends is well documented, though: they have little comprehension of the idea that you can own anything, except through guarding it. In the same way, they will quarrel with their friends quicker than a human would, but quarrels are forgiven as soon as they end.

One of the Litter

The basic unit of ratkin society is the litter, being the large group the ratkin is born with. Unlike other species, not everything born to a ratkin mother is a ratkin; a typical litter is three or four ratkin and ten to twenty normal rats. At birth, the ratkin are distinguishable only by their forepaws and their size, about one-and-a-half to twice the size of the rats.

Among a litter, you own only what you can fight for: any scrap of food or shiny object quickly results in a scratching, biting ball of chaos as rat and ratkin alike pile on. This is true from birth; the first act of a ratkin's life is to claw a sibling off a teat so it can have a drink. An outsider would wonder how many make it out alive, as sibling altercations are frequent and incredibly violent. Ratkin instinctually know how to hurt their brethren without seriously damaging them, though.

Any outside threat to a member of the litter is met with real violence, though. A predator attacking a lone rat or ratkin will quickly find himself prey to a snarling, vicious wave of fur, tooth, and claw, seemingly coming from nowhere. To a ratkin, an attack on any member of his litter is even worse than a personal attack on him, and requires retribution. Although the bond is not as powerful, this is also true about the horde, the larger family a litter is born into, which can number dozens or hundreds of ratkin, and thousands of rats. For this reason, a ratkin-infested ancient city is a very dangerous place to bring hostilities.

Ratkin do leave their original litter to wander the world of Near, though. The reasons are varied. Some ratkin lose their litter to explorers; some meet outsiders and see a way of life where they do not have to fight for every meal. They do not, though, lose the concept of the litter, and usually find a group of companions to bond with, becoming their new litter.

Crunchy Bits

Ratkin Species Abilities

Litter Bond (Instinct) Innate Ability

This is the ratkin ability to move as part of a group and automatically foresee the actions of its brethren. It can be used to defend anyone in the character's litter from danger, but another ability check (modified by this one) is needed to actually stop the danger.

Other Uses for Abilities

Ratkin use the Scrapping ability to fight with their teeth and claws. Their thick coat and sharp natural weapons give them no disadvantage against an opponent armed with normal-size weapons. In addition, they will often charge an opponent on all fours, achieving a great speed before leaping to savagely gouge the opponent. This is done in-game with an Athletics check, with the Success Levels becoming bonus dice for a Scrapping check.

Ratkin Species Secrets

Secret of Rat Familiarity

You gain a bonus die on all Animal Ken Ability Checks involving rodents. In addition, your character can speak to rodents in their own language. This secret is mandatory for Ratkin characters.

Secret of Rat Companions

Your character always has two to four rats around him, living in his pockets, scurrying on the floor, or the like. As a whole, they have the following abilities:

• Endure: Unskilled
• React: Adept
• Resist: Unskilled
• Scrapping: Unskilled
• Stealth: Competent

They scatter immediately if hit, even in Bringing Down the Pain, and do not return until the next scene.

Secret of Rat Size

Being a Ratkin, your character is smaller than most people in the world, and can use that to his advantage in combat. Gain a bonus die any time your character is avoiding an attack from someone larger than him or any other situation in which his reduced size may help (i.e. an Athletics ability check to wriggle through a pipe.)

Secret of Rat Vision

Your character is gifted with excellent night vision. You can never receive any penalties for low-light conditions and can see under the moon as if it were daylight.

Secret of Sibling Rivalry

You can refresh your character's Instinct pool whenever he gets in a knock-down, drag-out fight with a member of his litter. In addition, you can immediately roll your Litter Bond ability after the fight and add those bonus dice to your litter-mate's Healing Check.

Ratkin Species Keys

Key Name	Summary	Key XP	Buyoff
Key of the Litter	Your character has a litter he was either born into or adopted.	Gain 1 XP every time he defends a litter-mate from harm. Gain 3 XP every time he defends a litter-mate at great danger to himself.	Leave your litter to strike out on your own. (Note: You may choose to adopt a different litter at any time, but must buyoff this key and buy it again for your character to bond with the new litter. Your character may not have more than one litter at a time.)
Key of the Precious	Your character jealously guards his possessions, afraid that someone will try to take them at first opportunity.	Gain 1 XP every time your character gains a new possession by his skills - not when one is given to him or bought. Gain 2 XP every time your character gains a new possession by fighting for it. Gain 5 XP whenever your character successfully defends his possessions against theft.	Give away your possessions permanently.