Each Borrower is two sides of the same being: a bright and a dark side, connected to each other through any reflective surface. In the vast environs of Borrow, filled with cunning godbeasts, Borrowers tend to live alone – or rather, only with their other selves – for years at a time, challenging themselves to greater feats of strength and greater stories to tell when they meet another of their kind. As a result, they tend to talk to themselves or anyone in range and can have the bad habit of trying to show off. When your reputation is made when no one is watching, being around others all the time can be difficult. Still, they are loyal companions and skilled survivalists.
WHERE THEY’RE FROM
The world is a mirror. Borrow itself has a bright and a dark side, with those who live there able to freely cross between as long as a reflective surface is available. Each side contains very different biomes – the dark side is a bioluminescent tropical environment with deep rivers interspersed with stone ruins while the light side is a petrified forest surrounded by salt flats and a vast red sea.
Godbeasts, animals that have learned how to cross between the sides, have a taste for sentient flesh, developing their own intellect through the devouring, and become cunning, ruthless foes for Borrowers. A trophy from a godbeast is a prize indeed.
ADVANTAGE: CROSS OVER
Only one side of a Borrower may be “real” at any given moment. The other half will usually be around or nearby. Once between rests, a Borrower may swap positions with their other half, no matter how far apart they are, as long as they both have access to mirrored surfaces.
KEY QUALITIES
Tough, loquacious, excitable, creative
HOW THEY EXPERIENCE THE WORLD
“Kinna of the Everlasting Brood? Never heard of them. Now I fought a dragon once – it had six pearls in its head, six! And it was as long as from here to that mountain, all slithery, thousands of claws clacking against the rock. It didn’t care if anyone heard it, four of its heads were bellowing a challenge, and I meant to answer. After the sixteen ablutions and the six gestures of respect, I raised the first of my weapons and waited. (This goes on for several hours.)“
HEALING
Borrowers are tough – they have to be – and excellent at patching themselves up after battle. They can heal themselves – and only themselves – out-of-combat as many times as they wish, but can only heal themselves to full twice in combat.
WHAT ARE THEY MADE OF?
One half of the Borrower is warm-blooded mammal and the other is a translucent, tenebrous substance.
NAMES
[Name given to bright side by shade side] ra[Name given to shade side by bright side]
Example
Naa raAbix