NNRPG: Ebenguard Reveal

Originally published at: NNRPG: Ebenguard Reveal - Ackerly Green

If you haven’t already, check out the Weatherwatch, Gossmere, and Flinterforge reveals to share your thoughts and read about how and why we structured guild skills and archetypes the way we have.

Next up, my own guild, Ebenguard!

Ebenguard was less of a challenge for me, simply because I have some pretty strong, defined ideas about Ebenguard’s place in the chronocompass pantheon (which in and of itself is SO Ebenguard.)

Yes, they’re “fighters”, yes they’re champions for those who can’t advocate for themselves, but I didn’t want the NNRPG versions of their bearings to just be militaristic, self-righteous, and bland (all things that Ebenguard can seem from the outside,) so I focused a lot on Ebenguard’s connection with inspiring others, honing their minds and bodies, and most of all, their connection to the sea.

Again, let me know what you think!

Ebenguard: The Champions

Fight, Athletics, Evoke, Influence, Notice, Physique
Guild Skill: Fight

Shoalwarden – The Arbiter of Balance:

Bearing Skills: Fight/Evoke

The Shoalwarden is Ebenguard’s sun-kissed Melee class. A formidable fighter, defender of the weak, and inspiring paragon of good, the Shoalwarden is a champion through and through. They are unparalleled in combat and unwavering in their protection of others. They are also unmatched in their stirring way with words. Their tongue is as sharp as honed steel when cutting foes to the quick, and bright as the sun when inspiring weary allies to hold the line a little longer. They often favor a single weapon and use it throughout their lifetime, honing it to balanced perfection and imbuing it with all manner of magimystic abilities. But their magimystic silverscale armor is an innate Affinity that protects them in the most heated of battles and can also be extended to others in need because balance requires both strength and weakness, but the Shoalwarden is always ready to right tipped scales with might.

Nautilore – The Maritime Mystic:

Bearing Skills: Athletics/Lore 

The Nautilore is Ebenguard’s moon-bearing Mystic class. Prizing agility and dexterity over brute force, they can move like an unseen current or crash like a wave when necessary, but they also possess the unique ability to bond with the tide itself. No Nautilore is ever without a phylactery of seawater they use as a focus, both to hone their mind, and to connect with the eternal memory that water holds. This bond not only grants them access to untold depths of history and lore, but the water they carry can also become any simple weapon that has ever touched the tide: a crashing cudgel, a jet stream spear, the stinging spray of a whip. With augmented skills Athletics and Lore, the water bears all that it remembers and the brinebearing Nautilore requires.

Marentide – The Scrying Sage:

Bearing Skills: Influence/Notice

The eclipse-bearing Marentide is Ebenguard’s Magic class. Marentides are uniquely able to scry the minds of those around them, allowing them to see choices others will make and actions they’ll take before they ever come to pass. They navigate the shores of time, observing the ebb and flow of the waves washing over the sand, knowing where the water came from, and where it will someday go. Using these flickers of foreknowledge, Marentides can anticipate events, prepare themselves and allies for impending sentient dangers, and deftly dodge or counter-attacks, both martial and magimystic. Using the augmented skills of Influence and Notice, Marentides can alter what will come to pass by seeing and affecting what has yet to happen. Caught in the tides of time, they straddle two worlds, both now and next, always poised to snatch the future from the jaws of calamity.

Thoughts? Questions? Ideas? Reply below!

Tomorrow, the Scholars of Thornmouth!

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Where’s my @Ebenguard fam?

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Also, because I didn’t mention it explicitly, every guild’s Mystic class has an intrinsic connection to that guild’s base element/mantra/house.

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:spiritseergimme:

I love it.

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Ooo, I’m totally gonna end up trying out both Nautilore and Marentide (besides the Bali classes ofc), they sound so cool. Can’t wait to see how they feel in play!

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:spiritseergimme:

Oh my word

I mean all of the different guild bearings have been such cool and unique classes so far, and it continues.

Y’all I’m so ready to mess with time magic you have no idea. Marentide my first play through let’s go!!!
What an absolutely fascinating way to make the tides of time a tangible ability that can be used in so many different ways!

Nautilore at first glance seems like a great way to play out your water bender fantasies, but it’s oh so much more than that. What an incredible concept. How many stories have you heard that always say something like “the sea remembers” or like “water demands you heed its wisdom one way or another” but to actually have a class where you can listen to the stories the water has to tell, on top of low key living out your water bending dreams? Stunning.

Shoalwarden is incredibly interesting in its own right as well. You would think that it’s set up to be the ‘tank’ for this game, but leave it to CJ to never make something so ordinary. I love the play on protection! Most games - either tabletop or in video games - you have a tank character and you’re like: yes this character takes all the damage so the other characters can do the “real” task at hand; but this isn’t just about taking damage for the sake of it. It’s a great mix of tank class and a mage class that specializes in barriers and protection of the party, and at the same time it’s so much more!

Ahh I’m so excited to play all of these!
I’m in love with all the water influence and sea imagery :cjheart:

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YES!!! I imagine making my Nautilore brine phylactery a sort of water sprite/familiar cause I live for pets in RPGs.

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Okay. I may be a die-hard Gossmere IRL (IBL? In Briar Life?), but I would very much like to play a Marentide. Like A LOT.

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Choosing Marentide is the easiest way to know which of your friends is the “Um, actually, no…” player in your group.

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Oh. Yeah. That’s me. :grimacing:

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Shoalwarden calls to me…

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This is really cool. Think about it - we all have our Guilds and our Bearings from the guide - we can explore all the quirky aspects of our personalities we want via the lens of these classes, and even have the Guild Bearing personality descriptions from the Guide itself to help inform our RP.

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!!! That’s my dream for this game.

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I’m in a similar boat to Augo - I’m definitely a Weatherwatch and not an Ebenguard. But the Nautilore bearing class sounds so cool because you can pull stuff from the water itself. I hadn’t even thought about the water bending possibilities, @Ginger, but that just makes it that much cooler :joy:

The Marentide and Shaolwarden are also awesome, but I think I’m starting to realize that the Mystic classes are my favorite so far. I can’t wait to see what you have cooked up for Thorny and Bali!

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I just told my best friend today, re: Thornmouth that it was a lot of fun to take a guild that’s often thought of as a bunch of bookworms and transform them into magical X-Men.

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MAGICAL X -MEN Oh crap, I’m so excited for tomorrow now.

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Choosing Marentide is the easiest way to see which of your friends is secretly a blue mtg player :joy:

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OMG A WATER SPRITE

WHY WOULD YOU TELL ME THAT
WHICH AM I SUPPOSED TO PICK FIRST NOW :sob::sob:

I’m also HYPED for the other guilds
A. Because … well Bali.
B. X-Men it up Thornmouth. The possibility!

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You might make a Thorny of me yet!

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Flat out, I love shoalwarden. It fits my own general aesthetic both in Briarverse and outside of it.

Especially since I see how I’d build myself out.
It’s a time.

THIS STUFF MAKES ME SUPER HAPPY.
It also is helping me feel a little better. I need to reconnect here and this will help.

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