The Concupiscent Concord of Consilient Bibliognosts

Alpha Issue 4: Planned

“Knowledge is knowing where to look it up.”

The archivists, bibliotaphs, and librarians of this cult value the preservation of knowledge above all else. With the collecting of lore comes understanding and through the sharing of this cognition, all members rise in power.

Names

Roll a d12 for each column, pick your favorite, or make up your own.

d12	First Name	Last Name	Title
1	Evelyn	Cleeve	The Unseen Librarian
2	Giles	El Sheniti	The Erogophrontiste
3	Alexandria	Carnahan	Inamorata of Sapphic Logorrhea
4	Hildegard	Oku	Nun/Monk of the Paper Sheets
5	Ashurbanipal	Zenodotus	Chair of the Analogalantir
6	Pura	Gondishapur	Learned Libracator
7	Anastasia/Anastasius	Weisz	Undercover Library Bae
8	Cecilia/Cecil	Antioch
9	Adelaide/Adel	Rosalie
10	Suetonia/Suetonius	Crestadoro	Librarian Hot
11	Barinovael	Mogao
12	Babel	Borges

Traits

Traits are extremely versatile: as long as you can describe how a trait helps in a given situation, it adds a die to a roll.

d12	Trait	Slots
1	Thirst Trap [Appearance]	■ ■
2	Cottagecore [Appearance]	■ ■
3	Dark Academia [Appearance]	■ ■
4	Learning [Conviction]	■ ■
5	Tales [Conviction]	■ ■
6	Release [Conviction]	■ ■
7	Romance [Desire]	■ ■
8	Chivalry [Desire]	■ ■
9	Poetic Justice [Desire]	■ ■
10	Compulsion [Flaw]	■
11	Curiosity [Flaw]	■
12	Innocence [Flaw]	■

Powers

Powers are extremely varied, and often open-ended. Each power describes roughly how to use it, but it’s up to the imagination of the player to fill in the details, so long as everyone agrees.

d12	Power	Slots
1	Escapism. Read or recount an engaging story to yourself or a small audience then make a Graces check with a difficulty of 1 per listener above the 4th. On a failure nothing happens. On a partial success, all listeners are somewhat invigorated and heal 1d4 ability damage each. On a success, you are all (minus the story book or a story memento) transported into the story itself and live it as if it were real, until you dismiss it or a trigger condition of your choosing does so, at which point you reappear where you were, where the book or memento currently is. Everyone roll Mind. On a critical failure you gain a trauma flaw trait, on a critical success you gain a power gift.	■ ■ ■ ■
2	The Erratum Mind Virus. A pernicious and infectious illness has been spreading among bibliognosts and has dug its roots into you too. Each day, roll Brawn to see if it recedes or increases, starting at stage 1. You automatically infect any concordant you touch. Stage 1: You correct spelling and grammar obsessively. Stage 2: You correct signs, inscriptions, maps, and people’s statements. Stage 3: Books, writings, and illustrations around you correct themselves automatically. Stage 4: You correct the numerous errors in reality whenever you sleep. The virus cannot go below stage 1 or above stage 4 and no known cure exists.	■ ■ ■ ■
3	Academic Grimoire Magic. Ability to decipher and use grimoire through scholarly study.	■ ■
4	Collect Overdue Fees. A target that can see and understand you has borrowed for too long, whether from luck, from reality, or simply credulity, and it’s time to pay up. Succeed on a Mind check to inflict 1d4 Graces damage.	■ ■
5	Romantasist. You are the star of a romantic fantasy. For any significant creature where intimate attraction could be feasible despite of first impressions, you instinctively understand their struggles, desires, and how you could fix them.	■ ■
6	Necromantasist. You can’t spell necromancy without romanc(e). You know how to create vampires, well, sort of vampires, from the recently deceased. They are hopelessly in love with you, would do anything for you, and have most powers, flaws, beauty, and profundity you’d expect a fledgeling vampire to have. But after a day they rapidly age and decay. But they won’t die.	■ ■
7	Fifty [shades	braids
8	Mondegreenerie. Choose a specific spell. You once read or encountered it, but you since remember it wrong. Change some of its words such that it creates a different effect of at most equal power. You know how to cast it with a 28% miscast chance.	■ ■
9	That's Not How You Do It. Once per session you spot a small but potentially crucial flaw in a villain’s shenanigans, like in the sacrificial rite to summon Cthulhu, the spell to murder your friends, or just the way they’re currently tying you up. Use it to your advantage or for bargaining, as desired.	■ ■
10	Pansophic Introspection. Take 1 Graces damage to heal 2 Mind damage.	■
11	Shhh! Succeed on a Graces roll to temporarily silence something.	■
12	Applied Science. Take something reasonably valuable irrevocably apart to repurpose it to treat and heal 1 wound once per scene.	■

Equipment

d12	Item	Slots
1	Adversaria of the Avid Miniate. Take 1d4 Mind damage to bring to life a circus of a dozen marginaliae from this practice book of illumination, in all their grotesque glory. These diminutive demons will follow your instructions with Promothean teamwork and devotion for a day, after which they will scurry into the four winds. Treat them as mischievous level 2 oddlings with a 1d4+2 attack befitting their unorthodox nature.	■ ■ ■ ■
2	Pseudomonarchia Daemonum. A reliable catalogue of 69 Princes, Duchesses, Lords and Ladies of the Infernal Offices, preserving their true names before later scribes corrupted them. Call upon them at will, but be sure to have adequate bargaining material.	■ ■ ■ ■
3	Portable Private Reading Nook. From a carrot to a cozy, plush corner for two readers amid stocked bookshelves and a choice tipple and snack that never run out. The nook is hidden and manifests however and wherever it would fit in most discreetly nearby, be that behind the walls via a secret passage or in the clouds on an invisible string.	■ ■
4	Consilient Concord Chirograph. A universal library card identifying you to all Concord members and granting access to most libraries if wielded proficiently. Cost half a fortune to replace.	■ ■
5	Grimoire. Start with a published grimoire of your choosing.	■ ■
6	Autumn’s Plaid Midi. A woolen skirt that inconspicuously holds up to 3 books, wine bottles, keys, index cards, cheeses, or a mixture thereof. All other items fall through its pockets.	■ ■
7	The Enchiridion of the Limited Index. For any given fact of reasonable import this book has a 50% chance of listing where to find it.	■ ■
8	Sharp Skirt and High Heels. Heels as stiletto (d4 Brawn or Agility damage, depending on aim), skirt fully on point (+1 Graces and Mind).	■ ■
9	Embroidered Shoulder Bag of the Mirabiliary. Holds up to 2 books plus sundry items, while retaining its dainty form.	■ ■
10	Rims of Reading Between the Lines. You get an extra die on rolls to decipher a text, decode a message, discover a subtext, or seduce an attracted creature.	■
11	The Incunabulist’s Facetiae. First and fully uncensored edition of this masterfully illustrated collection of lewd anecdotes, advisories, and yarns. Guaranteed to rouse or vex any gender or persuasion, depending on context.	■
12	Bookworm. Devours an average book over the course of an afternoon while absorbing its knowledge. Fleetingly imparts that knowledge to whomever devours the worm—after a day or so it’s gone.	■

Carousing

See Playing the Game for how and when to use this table. In any case, it assumes letting off steam in the way that only your cult can. Remember that when gaining a new gift this way you automatically gain the slots to go with it.

d12	Result
1	Inventory. You drew the short straw and were assigned to inventory the Archives, as if such a thing were possible. The mere thought drives you half mad. Lose 1 Mind. Regain it once you either somehow finish the job or weasel out of it and spend a week at a spa.
2	Oublié(e). The Archives are vast and treacherous and you fell into a dark hole that left you trapped and helpless for what felt like an eternity. Choose a character who rescued you in exchange for a favor yet to be named. You have a sinking feeling you won’t like it.
3	Seven Minutes in Heaven. You accidentally found a way to bring your fictional crush to life. Only briefly, but what a tulpa-tastic seven minutes they were. Watching them melt back into the page was another matter. Gain the Metalepsis Obsession [Flaw] trait gift.
4	Exhausting Adventure. You discovered a hidden society deep in the Archives. At first they worshipped you as their fire god. Then it became clear they meant to offer you to their actual one. Your escape was long and grueling, and you now have new enemies in pursuit. Start the next adventure with 1 wound.
5	The Pen is Mighty. You were so lost in your research, furiously scribbling notes and annotations, that you didn’t notice your hands cramping. For a day, your fingers are stuck in claw-like shapes, useless for writing or anything else that requires a delicate touch.
6	Spanked. A recent play or discipline session left a lasting impact, as it should. Choose whether you spend the day locked in a restraining device or nursing a bum too sore to sit on. Gain the Good Pet [Conviction] trait gift.
7	Horny Vampire Encounter. You were pushed against the wall by one of those total snacks from the Haematic Coterie of Incarnadines and you definitely didn't mind. Only, you're theirs now. Gain the following 4-slot power gift: Wanton Vampire Thrall—You were embraced and you're somehow even hotter now (+1 Graces), stronger (+1 Brawn), faster (+1 Agility), though more easily distracted (-1 Mind). Forthwith your sustenance is blood. Sunlight is your enemy: you can barely see in it, and all your ability scores are halved (rounded up). You can crawl across walls and ceilings in deeply unsettling ways. You are utterly at your sire’s beck and call, and they always have some perverted errand for you on your adventures.
8	Toast of the Gala. Whether in real life or in your mind, you turned heads at a lavish ball, having outdone yourself with wit and grace. Add +1 to Graces.
9	Illuminating. Contemporary marginalia of demons, beasts, and above all cats doing deeply undignified things are utterly captivating, and you spent ages perfecting your own. Gain +1 Agility.
10	Eltdown Shards Revelation. You made a breakthrough in deciphering the inscriptions on these clay shards, which frankly no one should be able to read. Gain +1 Mind. If you roll this again, you go insane instead.
11	Unrepentantly Overdue. You checked out something rather spectacular and kept it out all night, renewing it again and again. Your diligence is now quiet legend in the reading room. Gain +1 Brawn.
12	Deserved Promotion. The Concord recognizes your work with a grandiloquent new title and lets you choose a grimoire from its vaults. Add +1 to any ability.

Academic Grimoire Magic

Functions as the Purgis Pact’s grimoire magic, with the sole exception of the results of the ritual’s Mind check:

Critical Failure. As Failure, and the grimoire is damaged: the ink has run, annotations have become illegible, or the binding has come loose. If this happens 3 times, the grimoire is essentially ruined.
Failure. Your overworked the text. Take 1d4 Mind damage from the strain of the study.
Partial Success. Useful but messy work. Unlock the cantrip for the day but you've covered the relevant pages in annotations—make the next check at difficulty 1.
Success. Unlock the cantrip for the day, add useful annotations, halving miscast chances from the tome’s spells for the day.
Critical Success. As Success, plus reveal a new random spell from the book, or teach an already revealed spell to a participating ritualist (counts as a 1 slot gift whose use requires performing the grimoire ritual with the teacher).