Bestiary

Comprising some of the many inventions of the Lord Viscount Talos Perdix, “grinder” is a catch-all name for a collection of weirdly technological spirit-beings from Theastavroses, a High-Umbral technology realm where unearthly science meets inventive spirit. That moniker comes from the grinding sound they make when moving — a sound that becomes a din when groups of grinders work together. For obvious reasons, then, Theastavroses is, to mortal ears, a loud, dissonant place.

Possessed of a rudimentary but subservient intellect, every grinder follows the purposes for which it was created. Most of these entities are errand runners, lab assistants, brute-force laborers, maintenance workers, and cleanup staff, with little “personality” to speak of. A few of the more elaborate grinders, however, work as courtiers in the halls of the Lord Viscount — greeting visitors, tending to their needs, and enforcing order and discipline throughout the Realm. In this capacity, a grinder may be “lent” to mages allied with the Lord Viscount, ferry them from place to place in the Lord Viscount’s domain, or deal with trespassers and other offenders in the most direct way possible.

Although the Lord Viscount’s creations may wander the Otherworlds (except for Realms where pure, elemental Nature defines reality), they’re far too vulgar to manifest on the Earthly plane. A grinder brought into human reality through a portal or other trans-dimensional technology simply freezes up and collapses into a heap of interesting junk. A technomancer with Hypertech 4 or 5 might try a combination of Forces 2, Matter 2, and Prime 2 to jump start such a creature (difficulty 7; see the Materialized Attributes and Health Levels, below); at that point, the grinder runs for one scene per success, after which its works grind to a permanent halt. (It’s worth noting that the Lord Viscount is not pleased when his gifts are treated with such carelessness.)

Willpower 5-7, Rage 4-8, Gnosis 2-5, Essence 20-40

Charms: Armor, Control Electrical Systems, Create Fires, Lightning Bolts, Materialize, Mind Speech, Short Out, Solidify Reality, Tracking

Materialized Attributes: Strength 7-13, Dexterity 2-4, Stamina 5-10; use Gnosis for Social and Mental Traits

Abilities: Alertness 2, Brawl 3-5, Crafts 3-6, Hypertech 4, Intimidation 5, Technology 4; courtier models also have Etiquette 2-4, Lore: Umbrood Courts 2-5, and Subterfuge 2-4

Materialized Health Levels: 8-10