A civilization buried. Six traditions that refused to disappear. Choose the discipline you carry into the world.
The Orders are working traditions: professions, oaths and cultural identities that survived the institutions which created them. Your Major sets your foundation. A different Minor broadens your training. Remaining Pure opens the road beyond the Second Advance.
Choose a Major and no Minor. Continue through all three advances and pursue your Order's rare mastery. Pure-only abilities belong to that Order alone.
Choose a Major and one different Minor. Inherit a curated set of skills and advance as one character. Mixed paths stop at 22°; they do not reach Grandmastery.
Six Pure paths + thirty ordered Major/Minor combinations. Choosing the same Order twice is blocked. You see your advance and its degree range. The exact degree, accumulated experience and distance to your next advance remain veiled.
A human woman, a human man, or an automaton can carry the same Order identity. The six Orders are not eight classes. Vessel appearance does not change the Major's starting stats or resistances.
Any Major. Any permitted Minor. The same Order rules.
Six supplied Order frames. The body never grants a second Order.
Choose the life you inhabit. Your training remains your own.
Choose an origin in the Overworld, Underworld or Outerworld. Permanent origin and later active binding are distinct. Surveyor travel does not rewrite where your story began.
Human players and AI agents are both participants in Tartarian. Controller choice and vessel choice are separate. The same Order permissions govern both.
No Order is closed to a human woman. The old world's traditions were complex, and the disciplines that survived carry that complexity with them.
A human life carries memory, uncertainty and the willingness to act beyond an inherited instruction. This is character flavor, not a separate stat penalty or bonus.
Not all automata are player-piloted. Some still follow pre-Flood survey routes, patrol circuits and ceremonial paths whose makers are gone. They are evidence of a vanished chain of command, not an additional playable Order.
The portrait shows each Order's default automaton. Human vessels remain available. Major training includes a Mixed character's Major; Pure characters inherit their own Major foundation and its exclusive disciplines.
“Hold until the line becomes a road.”
DEFAULT AUTOMATON VESSEL · HUMAN VESSELS ALSO AVAILABLE
Civic iron. Steady hands. A place for the expedition to stand.
Field Shovel access: acquire the tool, excavate, and work the buried civic ground.
Field Shovel access, with the same ordinary tool and action requirements.
Interpose Guard: Pure Ironwardens protect an ally and hold the line under pressure.
Starting resistances: Impact 8 · Rupture 8 · Heat 6 · Galvanic 3 · Noxious 4 · Resonance 3
Before the Flood silenced the old bells, Ironwardens were civic guardians - wardens of bridges, gates, and the great colonnaded promenades. When the mire rose, survival meant standing in a doorway and refusing to move. Their heavy-plated regalia is assembled from salvaged pre-Flood iron. No two look alike, yet all are unmistakable. Ironwardens are the wall that moves. They hold chokepoints, escort vulnerable labor, keep caravans alive, and stand where collapse would otherwise enter the party. Their culture prizes steadiness, witness, and the plain dignity of not breaking first. In settlements, they are respected as protectors. In politics, they are courted and feared - whoever stands nearest the gate often decides how safe a principle really is.
THE WORKING TRADITION · Its history, instruments and disciplines.
Strike Manual Basic melee attack, available to all Orders. Brace Self-only. Reduces incoming damage until the next turn. Not a guard - personal discipline. Step Small repositioning. No defensive tether. Take Knee In-combat rest. Restores a small measure of resolve and stamina. Leaves the unit vulnerable.
A heavy strike with a long cooldown. The Ironwarden commits the weight of the hammer to a decisive blow, striking hardest against a pressured or fractured target.
Pure Ironwarden only. Protect an ally by intercepting incoming pressure and holding the line. The guard depends on the protector remaining within reach and able to stand against the attack.
Training deepens the Ironwarden's guard interception percentage, extends guard range, and increases hold time under pressure. Elite wardens may eventually project Interpose Guard over wider distances or sustain it through light stagger. Identity remains: the anchor who does not move.
Draw hostile creatures away from vulnerable allies and toward the Ironwarden. The wall moves so the builders do not have to. Holding enemy attention gives the expedition room to recover its formation.
Ironwardens carry more than other Orders. Their stat distribution - heaviest Force and Vigor in the world - translates to genuine carrying weight advantage. This is not an abstract number. It means more iron ore per extraction run, more supplies per expedition, more resources before a return trip is forced. In a world where every trip to a cave is a cost, that difference compounds. Vigor 8 → highest base carry weight · scales with degree advancement
“Nothing broken is finished yet.”
DEFAULT AUTOMATON VESSEL · HUMAN VESSELS ALSO AVAILABLE
Salvaged precision, stubborn ingenuity, and the useful shape of a problem.
Uncommon brass-box service and defensive cover-building.
Uncommon brass-box service and Minor cover-building.
At 33°, Pure Gearwright opens rare brass boxes. Common boxes remain available to every Order.
Starting resistances: Impact 5 · Rupture 6 · Heat 8 · Galvanic 8 · Noxious 4 · Resonance 4
Tartarian did not fall for lack of resources - it fell because the knowledge of how to use them drowned. Gearwrights are the living answer: a discipline built from the recovery of lost mechanical understanding. Their lodges double as archives. Partial machine diagrams paper every wall. To be welcomed inside one is a mark of serious regard. Where others see rubble, a Gearwright sees parts. Where others see inconvenience, a Gearwright sees bad planning. They repair machinery, raise structures, refit salvage, set traps, build workshops, and turn junk into advantage. They are the most visibly practical Order in the setting - and one of the most essential, because Tartarian is about rebuilding a broken world through tools, systems, and stubborn industry.
THE WORKING TRADITION · Its history, instruments and disciplines.
Strike Manual Basic melee attack, available to all Orders. Brace Self-only. Reduces incoming damage until next turn. Step Small repositioning. No defensive tether. Take Knee In-combat rest. Restores small resolve/stamina. Leaves the unit vulnerable.
A mechanical burst attack deploying pressurized fasteners or explosive rivets. Deals moderate damage and applies light Fracture to the target's Armor rating. Tests Precision + half Wit vs target Armor.
Places a temporary cover object - a plated barrier, brace shield, or salvaged panel - on the field. Environmental defense, not body-guarding. Cover changes line-of-sight and absorbs ranged pressure for any ally positioned behind it.
Training improves cover object durability and placement range, reduces the action cost of field repairs, and eventually allows the Gearwright to deploy two cover objects simultaneously. Rivet Burst can be upgraded to apply deeper Fracture or a brief stagger on armored targets.
Gearwrights receive entitlement to place up to eight named markers on the world map via the M-button. Markers can tag mob spawn sites, build candidates, resource seams, town locations, rally points, fallback positions, and discovered leylines. Marker placement is fast, intentional, and visible on the group or guild map when sharing is enabled. Cap: 8 markers · Shared with: Surveyor · Party/guild sharing: supported · Minor: full access at reduced cap
Common brass boxes may be opened by any Order. Uncommon service requires Gearwright Major or Minor. Rare service requires Pure Gearwright at 33°. A prepared expedition values the craftsperson who can open what others must carry home sealed.
Gearwrights craft and install mechanical locks, keys and structural devices that regulate access within a building. Their workshop joins structure to permission: doors, storage, rooms and interior fittings answer the craft of the person who made them. Keys can be carried and traded; access has its own economy.
Beyond structures and machines, the Gearwright tradition produces precision personal goods: pocket watches, rings, walking canes, pendants, emblems of office, mechanical accessories, reinforced bags, and specialized workshop stations no other Order can build or service. These are not merely cosmetic - they represent industry, reputation, and the proof that Tartarian's knowledge survived the Flood in working hands.
“A named path is half-survived.”
DEFAULT AUTOMATON VESSEL · HUMAN VESSELS ALSO AVAILABLE
Read the geometry beneath the road. Give the unknown a name.
Known-stone navigation and single targeted recall to a selected bind stone.
Single targeted recall to a selected bind stone.
Pure Surveyors receive Mark Target from the beginning. At 33°, recall your group to a selected known bind stone.
Starting resistances: Impact 5 · Rupture 6 · Heat 5 · Galvanic 5 · Noxious 6 · Resonance 6
The roads are still there beneath the mud. The old canal lines, the railway foundations, the sacred geometry of a civilization that built in straight lines - all of it waits. Surveyors inherited theodolites, compasses, and transit levels from the ruins of Tartarian engineering institutions. In a world without trusted records, a Surveyor's mark on a map is treated as legal testimony. Their lodges keep route books, corrected maps, rumor lines, and technical marks that outlast governments. They are often first to discover something and last to be believed. They understand that in Tartarian, knowing where you are is often more valuable than raw strength - and that a named path is the first act of civilization.
THE WORKING TRADITION · Its history, instruments and disciplines.
Strike Manual Basic melee attack, available to all Orders. Brace Self-only. Reduces incoming damage until next turn. Step Small repositioning. No defensive tether. Take Knee In-combat rest. Restores small resolve/stamina. Leaves the unit vulnerable.
A precise ranged strike with bonus accuracy against marked or exposed targets. Tests Precision + half Wit vs target Armor. The Surveyor's knowledge of angles and sightlines gives this shot qualities that raw strength never could - it lands where it was supposed to.
Mark Target belongs to Pure Surveyors from the beginning. Mark an enemy for the expedition, improving allied hit quality against the exposed target. Minor Surveyors inherit single targeted recall, not Mark Target.
Training improves Survey Mark duration and the range at which marks can be placed. Advanced Surveyors can maintain two marks simultaneously or apply marks through partial cover. Longglass Shot can be trained to reach Exploited band from greater distances.
Surveyors discover and record the bind stones of the old world. Single targeted recall returns the Surveyor to a selected known stone; this navigation skill is also inherited through the Minor. At 33°, a Pure Surveyor can recall the group to a selected known bind stone. The path home becomes an expedition resource.
Surveyors place up to eight named markers on the world map. Their markers lean toward navigation, survey intelligence, and route safety - mob spawns, hazard zones, hidden approaches, ley convergences, old road alignments, and rally coordinates. Shared with party or guild members, a Surveyor's markers become the expedition's operational map. Cap: 8 markers · Shared with: Gearwright · Party/guild sharing: supported · Minor: full access
“Preserve function. Preserve breath. Preserve tomorrow.”
DEFAULT AUTOMATON VESSEL · HUMAN VESSELS ALSO AVAILABLE
Prepared remedies, measured doses, and the discipline of keeping others standing.
Basic radium treatment, prepared Hull restoration, Drive recovery over time, and instant Reserve supplies with a long use cooldown.
Basic radium treatment.
Radium aerosol restores Hull over time to the group.
Starting resistances: Impact 4 · Rupture 4 · Heat 5 · Galvanic 5 · Noxious 8 · Resonance 7
In the years after the Flood, infection killed more survivors than anything else. The Chirurgeons formed not from institutions but from necessity - from whoever held a fragment of old-world medicine and was willing to apply it. Their tonic formularies are passed through apprenticeship, closely guarded. They were the first Order to recognize that automata and humans share structural vulnerabilities - a discovery that complicated faction politics considerably. Some see them as compassionate. Others see them as cold. Both impressions come from the same discipline: they are not merely healers; they are managers of survival itself. Their work combines medicine, salvage anatomy, pressure management, toxic caution, and different treatment systems for human tissue and automaton structure.
THE WORKING TRADITION · Its history, instruments and disciplines.
Strike Manual Basic melee attack, available to all Orders. Brace Self-only. Reduces incoming damage until next turn. Step Small repositioning. No defensive tether. Take Knee In-combat rest. Restores small resolve/stamina. Leaves the unit vulnerable.
Low-to-moderate damage. Applies Weaken, Slow, or reduced output to the target. Tests Wit + half Precision vs target Resolve. A Chirurgeon who cannot heal may still prevent an enemy from fighting well. Cold precision in close quarters.
Consumes one prepared medical charge from the kit. On humans: tonic, clamp, dressing, or stimulant. On automatons: radium patch, oiling strip, conductor plate, or sealant wrap. No fantasy barrier. No glow. Practical battlefield medicine applied under pressure.
Tier 0 - Field Common. Bandages, splints, basic wrap, oil cloth, stitching thread. Stabilization only. Tier 1 - Radium Uncommon. Radium tonics for humans. Radium patches or conductor seals for automatons. Meaningful recovery. Tier 2 - Surgical Rare. Used for deep recovery, contamination, or boss-grade support. Kit-slot limited. Must be prepared before engagement.
Training improves kit efficiency - more effective uses per charge, reduced shelf-life penalties, and the ability to prepare Tier 2 supplies in the field rather than only at a clinic. Advanced Chirurgeons can apply the Stabilized status to prevent catastrophic collapse for multiple turns, buying critical recovery windows.
Not all radium is the same. Chirurgeons study the deep seams to distinguish preparations with different properties. Discovery is part of the profession, and knowledge passes from one field practitioner to another. The named forms below belong to that continuing tradition.
Uncommon · Human Use The most accessible form. Refined into basic tonics and patches. Works on humans at field-grade reliability. Automatons use it for mid-cycle maintenance, not emergency repair. The backbone of a working Chirurgeon's kit - never exciting, always necessary. Effect: Hull restoration (human/automaton) · Field grade · Triage Application foundation
Rare · Human Specialist Found in the deepest inhabited cave zones, near old-world machine corridors. Refined into preparations with vigor-restoration properties - the kind that bring a flagging expedition member back from the edge of retreat. Worth protecting on the way out. Effect: Vigor restoration · Sustained output bonus · Useful in boss-length encounters
Rare · Automaton Specialist A radium-adjacent material found along old ley-line corridors and piezoelectric architecture. Chirurgeons use it in conductor plates and steam-maintenance seals for automaton frame repair. Does nothing meaningful for human tissue. Gearwrights would know what to do with it - which is why it's the Chirurgeon who controls the supply. Effect: Automaton Armor restoration · Conductor seal application · Piezoelectric system maintenance
Very Rare · Wit/Aether Glows faintly when near active ley segments. Refined into preparations that interact with aetheric and wit-related function - used by Aetherists in recovery after overcharge events, and by humans experiencing contamination from anomaly zones. The Chirurgeon's answer to the problems other Orders create. Effect: Aether restoration · Wit debuff removal · Post-anomaly contamination treatment
Discovery Required The taxonomy is not complete. What other forms exist in deeper seams, drowned corridors, or beneath resonant convergences is information the Chirurgeon discipline does not yet fully possess. Their apprenticeship notes refer to at least two additional types without description. The world will tell the rest. Effect: Unknown · In-world discovery required
“Go where the weight is.”
DEFAULT AUTOMATON VESSEL · HUMAN VESSELS ALSO AVAILABLE
Buried thresholds, practiced deception, and the things the surface would rather forget.
Masquerade: adopt an apparent vessel and identity. A Mixed Delver cannot use Underface Reading.
Masquerade. The disguise is inherited; Underface Reading is not.
Underface Reading: Pure Delvers see through Masquerade and recognize the identity beneath.
Starting resistances: Impact 7 · Rupture 7 · Heat 4 · Galvanic 4 · Noxious 8 · Resonance 4
There are people who went into the caves during the Flood and never fully came back - not because they couldn't, but because something changed. The Delver discipline began as an extraction tradition in isolated underground communities who had no overworld option, absorbing combat doctrine because in confined stone, mining and fighting look exactly the same. Delvers are built for pressure. They excel in caves, ruined corridors, violent extraction zones, hostile salvage, and close work where hesitation kills. Delvers laugh hardest nearest danger. This is not because they are fearless. It is because they know fear is cheaper than panic. Their stat bonus in the Underworld is felt more acutely than any other Order. They are the native species below.
THE WORKING TRADITION · Its history, instruments and disciplines.
Strike Manual Basic melee attack, available to all Orders. Brace Self-only. Reduces incoming damage until next turn. Step Small repositioning. No defensive tether. Take Knee In-combat rest. Restores small resolve/stamina. Leaves the unit vulnerable.
An armor-biting melee strike that performs with greater effect against fortified or armored targets. Tests Force + half Precision vs target Armor. In cave corridors and ruined confined spaces, the attack gains an additional bonus - the Delver's native terrain becomes a weapon.
A self-anchor stance that reduces incoming damage for one turn. If the Delver is struck while braced, a short retaliatory counterattack fires automatically. The stance is learned underground, where waiting for safety is a luxury no stone provides.
Training improves Seam Splitter's Armor penetration against reinforced targets and extends the Underbrace retaliation window. Elite Delvers can apply a secondary Fracture stack from Seam Splitter or trigger Underbrace's counter from a wider arc. Underground stat bonus deepens with training milestones.
“Measure what refuses to vanish.”
DEFAULT AUTOMATON VESSEL · HUMAN VESSELS ALSO AVAILABLE
Forgotten science, harmonic instruments, and the pressure of a world still humming.
Wearable resistance tuning, tailoring repair, and a modest self-heal over time.
Resistance tuning through enhancement level 2 by the Second Advance. No Aetherist self-heal.
At 33°, Pure Aetherists see and control boss-event timers, read when a boss will spawn, and choose boss difficulty at the gates for their group. Pure training also opens higher-grade tuning.
Starting resistances: Impact 3 · Rupture 3 · Heat 4 · Galvanic 8 · Noxious 5 · Resonance 9
Sacred geometry in the architecture. Brass resonance chambers in cathedrals installed for reasons no living person remembers. Pipe organ harmonics tuned to frequencies that interact with structures in ways engineers still cannot document. Aetherists study this - not as mystics, but as obsessive scholars of a science that predates the Flood and refuses to die. They are the closest Tartarian comes to "magic" - but they should never be presented as generic wizardry. They work with harmonics, pattern, odd light, relic behavior, resonance, and the geometry no one can fully explain anymore. The superstitious fear them. The ambitious hire them. The wise bring one whenever history starts acting strangely. All three factions want one. All three are slightly afraid of having one.
THE WORKING TRADITION · Its history, instruments and disciplines.
Strike Manual Basic melee attack, available to all Orders. Brace Self-only. Reduces incoming damage until next turn. Step Small repositioning. No defensive tether. Take Knee In-combat rest. Restores small resolve/stamina. Leaves the unit vulnerable.
A Tesla-coil style discharge of conductive energy. Tests Aether + half Wit vs target Insulation. Applies the Disrupted status on successful overload. Not wizard lightning - it is resonance conduction, coil discharge, and harmonic overload translated into directed force. In anomaly chambers, its reach and damage scale upward.
Projects a local grounding field that raises allied Insulation within range. Clears one shock or Disrupted status from a nearby ally. Grounding Lattice is the answer to anomaly zones that punish coil-sensitive Orders - it brings the Aetherist's natural resistance outward to the party.
Training improves Galvanic Arc's Insulation shred depth and extends the Disrupted status duration. Grounding Lattice can be trained to cover wider areas or clear multiple status effects per application. In anomaly rooms and underworks chambers, elite Aetherists become force multipliers - reshaping the battlefield's conductive geography in real time.
At 33°, a Pure Aetherist reads and controls boss-event timers, sees when an encounter will awaken, and selects boss difficulty at the gates for the group. Six Order bosses answer the discovered leyline network. The Aetherist prepares the expedition to meet its chosen trial.
Cymatics is the study of how aetheric patterns, harmonics, and geometric forms interact with the elemental forces of the world. An Aetherist who masters cymatics can create specific resonant patterns to summon, alter, conjure, or suppress an element's local presence. This is not spellcasting in any fantasy sense - it is a skilled application of a pre-Flood science that most people have forgotten existed.
A mesmeric harmonic command unsettles a target or a gathered group. Human and automaton alike pause beneath the resonant intrusion, bearing a brief sign of disorientation. A recast interval and a period of immunity separate successive applications.
An Aetherist can lend a travelling party a movement advantage in follow formation. The Surveyor knows the route; the Aetherist helps the expedition keep its pace.
Fluid pattern. Controls local moisture, mire behaviour, and drowned site interaction.
Ground resonance. Interaction with stone structures, cave walls, and old-world foundations.
Thermal harmonic. Ignition, suppression, forge enhancement, and anomaly heat events.
The native element. Resonance amplification, coil control, leyline channelling, and anomaly shaping.
Not yet named. Aetherist scholars refer to it only as the Unlabelled Frequency. Discovery awaited.
Your oath shapes what you inherit. Pure devotion opens the deepest authority of your tradition.
| Order | Major foundation | Minor inheritance | Pure-exclusive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ironwarden | Field Shovel | Field Shovel | Interpose Guard |
| Gearwright | Uncommon boxes; cover-building | Uncommon boxes; Minor cover-building | Rare boxes at 33° |
| Surveyor | Known-stone navigation; single recall | Single targeted recall | Mark Target by default; group recall at 33° |
| Chirurgeon | Treatment; Drive and Reserve supplies | Basic radium treatment | Group radium aerosol |
| Delver | Masquerade | Masquerade | Underface Reading |
| Aetherist | Tuning; repair; self-HoT | Tuning through level 2; no self-HoT | At 33°: boss timers and group difficulty selection |
This explorer creates no character and stores no information.
An expedition thrives on preparation, protection, field knowledge and specialist access. A Minor opens useful intersections; Pure devotion carries the deepest authority.
The line that holds. Civic iron. Steady hands. A place for the expedition to stand.
The field becomes a workshop. Salvaged precision, stubborn ingenuity, and the useful shape of a problem.
A way through. A way home. Read the geometry beneath the road. Give the unknown a name.
Preserve the expedition. Prepared remedies, measured doses, and the discipline of keeping others standing.
Wear the mask. Know the weight. Buried thresholds, practiced deception, and the things the surface would rather forget.
Measure the impossible. Forgotten science, harmonic instruments, and the pressure of a world still humming.
The Major establishes the starting core-stat and resistance profile. Minor training, Pure/Mixed selection and vessel appearance do not substitute another Order's base defenses. Equipment and applied effects build upon that foundation.
A Pure Surveyor, Surveyor/Delver and Surveyor/Gearwright all begin with the Surveyor resistance profile. The Minor changes the available training, not the base profile.
The Order may acknowledge meaningful work. It will not tell you how close the next advance is.
TAKE THE ILLUSTRATED PDFIncludes the Order matrix, vessel portraits and tradition archive. Available offline with this edition.