The active or passive score I came up
with is made out of three slots:
The left one refers to the way
of acquiring one’s aspect, or getting in touch with it (for example,
knowing is not something done actively, you just know, which is why
the Mage has got a juicy green + there).
The right one indicates the way
the class is using their powers. Roughly spoken, if you use them for
yourself or for others (like the Rogue, who gives the stuff they
stole to others).
You will notice there’s some things
like stealing I consider solely active. You can’t really accidentily
steal something. It’s the same for knowing on the passive side.
The middle one only exists for
the Heir and the Witch, it’s 0 for the others. Having a middle + or –
means the class is the most passive or active (excluding Muse and
Lord, of course). I added them because the Witch is the only class
who can influence their aspect directly and in both directions,
whereas Heirs literally just inherit their aspects and let it take
control (see John, who turned into Breath to dodge without knowing
what was even going on).
Why don’t Page and Knight have any
symbols? Because they change their (+) and (-) scores during their
development and I think 0 fits them better because of that. See this
It’s still a bit wacky tho. like what even are bards
Statuette of Heqat, the Frog Goddess, about 2950 BC, Predynastic Period, Late
Naqada III
Period to early first dynasty, travertine, 15.4 x 14.7 x 15.5 cms. Now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio.
It’s late and I can’t go to sleep without finishing this, so I’ll just talk about it now:
Pages and Knights, the exploit classes.
People keep saying that the Knight is the active and the Page the passive exploit class, and that’s it. I disagree with that.
We can’t call somebody who uses their aspect to protect others active and somebody who evolves into a literal monster that can do almost anything with their aspect passive. Surely, the Knight starts off weaponizing his aspect for himself, and the Page provides others with his aspect, but that’s not a constant for their entire class, it’s the first step of their development.
A knight changes from actively using their aspect as a weapon to wielding that weapon to keep their friends from harm. I believe the reason for that is the need of the Knight to get closer to others and finally drop his mask in order to become strong. Using your powers for the good of others is a defining passive trait (one of them).
Page are the opposite. They have to stop providing others with their aspect and start doing things on their own. Once they’ve overcome their deficit in their aspect, they stomp anything to the ground with their insane powers. That’s pretty high up on the active scale!
See what I’m getting to?
The Knight goes from active (-) to passive while they’re developing.
The Page goes the other way, from passive (+) to active (-).
And that my friends, is why their classes as a whole can never be defined by just active or just passive.
And it’s also why I call them switch classes.
