CREDO
“You gonna eat that?”
WHO THEY ARE
The art and science of consumption is so basic to a sentient’s nature that it’s a wonder everyone isn’t a Learner. But it takes a certain kind of person to painstakingly examine a rock and another to lick it and the Learners are definitely the latter. However a normal person licking a rock might only learn what a rock tastes like (or if it’s actually bone), whereas a Learner who eats the rock grasps everything about that rock…as well as what it tastes like.
This ability to absorb knowledge about what you eat comes at a price: if it’s not meant to be eaten, it will do damage, and the object itself is destroyed. (Careful Learners get good at taking samples.) However, the better a Learner gets, the more rarefied the substances they can consume to comprehend. Eat a spoken sentence in another language to understand it. Swallow a feeling to know who felt it and why.
Learners have a reputation as a freewheeling bunch, but they take the results of their work very seriously. No one is better for finding alchemical reagents or quickly acclimating to an edible environment.
JOINING
You don’t need a sense of taste to become a Learner; if anything, it probably hurts more than it helps considering the wide variety of things you’ll eat over your career. Learners tend to know who they are; their unique perspective makes them stand out. You’re either a Learner or you’re not, and if you are, the Guild is the place to be. Welcome home.
POWERS
All powers are once between Rests and take an Action to activate unless otherwise stated.
ROLL OVER, I WOULD KNOW (LEVEL 1)
A Learner can ingest any physical matter and know its attributes, any alchemical properties, and what and where it came from. This process isn’t harmless, however, unless you’re eating something clearly and regularly eaten as food, it will do damage. 1 point’s worth – unless this damage would bring you to 0 or below. This power can never kill you, but sometimes you might wish it had.
While identifying what the matter came from, it will not only tell you the common name for a thing, but if it came from a being who has a given name, you’ll know that as well. This power can be used at will.
BEATIFIC BLISS (LEVEL 3)
A Learner can now use a bite attack (standard melee attack – STAT of their choosing at time of attack) to determine a being’s weaknesses. This provides the same information as the EXAMINE action while also doing damage and treating your enemy as a light snack.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND OR PRETEND TO (LEVEL 5)
Learners can now taste more rarefied objects, such as gasses, concepts, languages, and sounds – essentially anything immaterial. You immediately understand the essence, letter and intent of what you sampled. This power does 1 HP of damage and cannot kill you. Unlike the level 1 power, this does not destroy or harm what was eaten.
CONSUME, BECOME, BECOME, CONSUME (LEVEL 7)
The Learner can temporarily take on attributes of what they consume in addition to their usual understanding. Each consumption will grant you +1 to a stat of your choosing until your next rest. You can repeat this power until the total bonus equals [LEVEL/3].
EAT (LEVEL 9)
You can bite into anything, including seemingly impermiable or hard substances, and then consume it without harm. It must be smaller than yourself and may take several Actions to do so, especially in combat.
GOALS
How do you know what something is until you’ve made it part of yourself? There’s so much out there we don’t understand, but we will once we eat it. Some may look askance at our ability to consume, not realizing we’ve accepted our place as agentic beings, part of dizzyingly complex ecosystems, seeking not to find purpose, but to uncover the purpose already there.
REALITY PHILOSOPHY: EVOLVE
We ourselves are an evolution of an extent system; how dare we say this is all there is or should be? Let there be more to reality; let it be stranger than we can hope to understand. We’ll try to understand it all the same.
STRUCTURE
You can only Learn by doing, thus formal instruction or oversight within the Learners is non-existent. However, the Guild itself is a hive of activity devoted to cataloging and sharing the discoveries their members have made. It’s one of the largest employers of CORSAIR personnel as trying to keep up with documentation on their own would be impossible. Learners are left to their own devices…until it’s time to report in.
GUILDMASTER
Tidal Wave Serial Anonymity, Wellnest, UH10
TWSA [too-sa] was one of the Mouths in Wellnest – a role dedicated to breaking down other matter as efficiently as possible so it could be used to feed other parts of the city – and it shows. She quite liked her work then and decided there was no reason to stop once she became a Hand. Surprisingly, her skill set was not only transferable but useful, aiding in cataloging the strange materials found across the Worlds. TWSA herself is always smiling, muscled and sturdy with the iridescent plating of a scarab beetle, and usually eating something. This is by choice but also by commission, as her ability to ingest and survive anything is legendary, allowing Guilds and CORSAIR alike to identify substances without lengthier methods of testing. Everyone respects and admires TWSA – she once punched a hole through The Towers in order to taste its lungs – and data the Guild collects is available to all.
BENEFITS
People look the other way when a Learner eats something; unless it’s precious or important, getting in the way of a Learner consuming is seen as more harmful than making a big deal about a missing thing.
TITHES
Report anything and everything you eat, especially if it’s new. Learners spend hours, if not days, post-Mission reporting.
ACCORDS/TABOOS
OMEN
ACCORD: The Learner eats something, even if it doesn’t cause damage.
TABOO: They cannot eat that thing again until after their next rest.
ORATOR OF THE PROXY
ACCORD: The Learner prepares food for others. The meal must be edible and not intended to cause damage.
TABOO: If no one eats it, the Luck is lost.
WITHIN A SCREAM IS MEANING
ACCORD: The Learner carries a piece of unknown material with them.
TABOO: You cannot consume it before your next rest.