A TASTE OF...

THE WILDSEA
Felix Isaacs

STORM & ROOT

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 The hinges protested as she pushed on the door, years of rust grinding remorsefully
before giving way in the face of determination.
The workshop had never been the most impressive place and now, without the lanterns moth-fuelled and with the
amberglass windows boarded up, it was less impressive than ever. But as with many places on the
waves, it was what you did with it, what you used it for, what wonders and memories you
could make within it that really mattered.
Tarak coughed, a spray of tiny amber pieces scattering over the old workbench below her before she swept them
unceremoniously onto the floor. Yes, the waves had taken their toll, but it was a toll she'd been happy to pay.
In their place she dropped her pack, bulging with seven reaches-worth of oddities, and turned to the wall - to the
drawing board where all this started, so many years ago.
Grandfather would have approved.

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Overview
This is just a little free teaser for all of you lovely individuals that
downloaded either the digital core rules or the free basic rules from itch.
io, a few extra creatures and places from the Storm & Root expansion for
you to use in your games. I've chosen ones that don't use the new content
for airships or submersibles, or the new mechanics like pressure, snaps,
or scrutiny - you should be able to use everything here quite happily with
nothing more than the rules you already have.

That said, Storm & Root is kickstarting right now (as of April 11th 2023,
anyway), so if you feel like getting a lot more of this kind of thing then you
know where to go - and if not, enjoy a few extra free things! It means a lot
to us that you support the Wildsea in any way you can, and we'll continue
providing free and additional content as long as the wilds stay wild.

Thank you, wildsailors - enjoy!

Felix Isaacs

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stormandroot/

the-wildsea-storm-and-root/description
Free Starter Adventure Link: https://felixisaacs.itch.io/the-wildsea-one-
armed-scissor
Discord Link: https://discord.gg/2hV2gzAft7

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 HEARTSKAVO ORIGIN
Though the spores of the lower waves are famed for their virulence, some deep-rooted
infestations are not without their benefits.
It's something wildsailors learn to identify early on, that rattle in the chest when they
laugh, a scatter of spores after every sneeze. Nothing a good soak in a shadow-spring
won't fix.

But those that face the dangers of the rustling waves for a living are always looking for an
edge, and for some of them a myconic infestation isn't a parasite to be cleansed, but an
ally against the predations of the rest of nature. There's power in mushrooms, after all,
and the gau seem to get by just fine...

Right Spore, Right Time

The physical benefits a heartskavo reaps are entirely dependant on the kind of spore
they let take root within them, how they cultivate its growth and development, and
the biology they were working with pre-parasite. For ardent and ketra the fungus
tends to branch throughout the body, strengthening muscles and unfurling in shelf-
like protrusions outside the skin. Ektus, ironbound and gau tend to play host to furling
fronds that offer extra sensory apparatus, clicking mantles draping their already
impressive frames. And for the tzelicrae, the mothryn and the itzenko the concept of
willingly giving yourself up to myconic infestation is a tough one to come to terms with,
but can also yield impressive symbiotic results.

Second Heart, Second Mind

But it's not all beneficial, as one might expect. Heartskavo that let their infestation run
wild, as beneficial as it is, often begin to develop strange habits and urges related directly
to their position as host. A willingness or urge to seek out the depths or the upper airs,
flashes of memory and emotion that don't quite feel like their own, and most often
dreams that they seem to share with other myconic hosts, some long dead and some,
paradoxically, yet to be.

Questions to Consider
When you incorporate elements of the heartskavo into your character, consider the
following questions...
· Was your infestation by choice, a happy accident, or a curse you endure?
· What form does the fungus take? Are you, perhaps, the host of an aberrant haska
node, a haskavo disconnected from the network?
· How much do you feel of your original self remains, and how much have you
changed in the post-myconic years? Is that change down to you, or it, or the two of
you together?

Alternate Presentations
The aspects for the heartskavo can, with a little tweaking, be used to represent
parasites and symbiotes of various types. The presentation here is also one of mutual
co-operation and benefit, but there's no reason aside from comfort and tone that this
has to be the case.

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ASPECTS QUICKSTART KIT
Your aspects help make your character unique, giving them ways to break the normal rules of the Wildsea. They also When you’re making a quickstart character
act as fictional permissions, to an extent - choose ones that speak to you, that you think you can weave into your story. and choose heartskavo as your origin, you gain
During Quickstart creation, choose 2 aspects from the list below. the following bonuses...

Networked Metabolism 2-Track Trait
Eating a properly prepared meal clears a mark on any one
of your traits and heals a box on any one of your injuries.
You are immune to the effects of airborne spores.
Revenant Step 2-Track Trait
Something about the way you move strikes fear into
animal and arthropod alike. You cut when attempting
most precise movements, but ignore all cut when
attempting to avoid damage from beasts and insect-
based hazards.
Noctovore 3-Track Trait
Heal a mark of damage on any one of your traits after
spending a day in extreme damp or darkness.
Cordevenant 4-Track Trait
Use a task to breathe life into any once-living specimen,
giving it the Fungal tag.
Myconic Crown 3-Track Trait
Mark to speed and control the growth of any non-sapient
fungus, spore, or mushroom.
Slow Surrender 5-Track Trait Edge (Choose 1)
Burn to immediately and completely heal an injury by Iron, Instinct, Teeth
replacing the affected area with a fungal proxy.
Skills & Languages (Choose 5)
Haskavic Dreamer 3-Track Trait Skills: Brace, Concoct, Cook, Harvest, Sense,
Sleeping allows you to dream of fragments of other Tend, Wavewalk
pertinent heartskavo lives, no matter how distant. Languages: Old Hand, Gaudimm
Spending a night at rest during a journey rewards you
with an insight into your current situation (supplied by
Resources (Choose 2)
Salvage: Frond-Scarred Plating, Spore-Bottle
the Firefly).
Specimens: Unfurled Mycobranch, Underspore Sample
Toxic Personality 2-Track Trait Whispers: The Other Side, Not As Bad As You'd Think
Just being around you raises one's tolerances. Your entire Charts: A Smudged Depth-Chart, Haskavo
crew is resistant to Toxin damage, and you are immune. Node-Map
Breath of Eaves 3-Track Trait Drive (Choose 1)
Use a task and mark to banish or redirect a sporewind, or Encourage others to accept a myconic colony
use a task and burn to summon one. Understand the dreams of a Haskavo Network
Wheezing Bellows 3-Track Gear Mire (Choose 1)
A musical instrument that most struggle to find even An urge to climb and burst and drift away
vaguely pleasant when played. Acts as a weapon in a You feel a ravenous parasitic hunger that is not your own
pinch, doing CQ Blunt or Toxin damage... Noisily.

Fungal Filaments 2-Track Trait Orbishroom 2-Track Companion

You can see perfectly in darkness or dim light, and in A plump little follower that rolls drunkenly around your
utter darkness you increase impact on any actions taken heels. Mark to gain a specimen, either Virulent Spores or
to discern the properties of your surroundings. Fungal Sheddings.

Unnerving Fronds 3-Track Trait

Treat Conflicts as Triumphs when attempting to scare
or unsettle a target. Any ship you crew resists insect
incursions.

Sporeburst 3-Track Trait

Mark to release a cloud of stinging spores, dealing CQ
Toxin damage to all nearby foes and coating them with a
layer of fast-growing mushrooms.

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 RAVELLER POST
Controllers of phantom cloth and enspirited fur, blending elegant materials and soulstuff into
a flowing kinetic marvel.
The average raveller is somewhere between weaver, medium and dancer, snaring the
essence of movement from the world of the wilds and folding it into the threads and furs.
They're distinguished by their clothing, most often - moving independently of the wind,
their scarves twisting and coiling around them or the hems of their jackets prowling
around their ankles like hungry wolves.

But a raveller is more than the threads they wear; many hold an impressive
understanding of the spirit world, combining this with the practical knowledge of thread
and needle needed by a master clothier. Their art is far less niche than it first appears,
and always undeniably impressive when demonstrated.

Style & Substance

For most ravellers, the first choice they make as they walk the path is whether to
concentrate on woven fabrics or once-living furs. The former tend to be seen as more
elegant, silks and canvases whirling around them as they leap and dance and fight, the
latter more bestial in their approach as they draw from memories of claw and tooth. But
this dichotomy is by no means all-encompassing - a fabric-based raveller might sew
their sailcloth ghast with sawteeth and wreckjunk to create a blood-stained dervish, just
as a fur-based raveller could surround themselves with pantherskin as they steal softly
through the night.

Woven Realities
Spend long enough thinking of the world as a series of materials to be sewn together
and you'll catch glimpses, here and there, of what it might be when it's torn apart. Some
ravellers eschew their usual focus on the physical and dive headlong into the hidden
spaces behind the veil, turning their delicate needles to taks that should be impossible.

Questions to Consider
When you incorporate elements of the raveller into your character, consider the
following questions...
· Do you use fur, cloth, or nothing at all to make your mark on the world?
· So many colours, so many patterns, a palette of nature to choose from - when you
dance and spin, what do your allies see in the blur?
· Where's your limit? Is there a soul that can't be sewn, a pattern you won't follow?

Alternate Presentations
Raveller aspects, especially their complex aspects, work really well even if you
remove the element of fur and fabric from them, substituting other materials instead.
Alternatively you can leave out the spirituality that comes as standard with this post and
instead focus on the movement, having a raveller able to manipulate their fabrics using
nothing but elegance and training.

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ASPECTS
Your aspects help make your character unique, giving them ways to break the normal rules of the Wildsea. They also
act as fictional permissions, to an extent - choose ones that speak to you, that you think you can weave into your story.
During Quickstart creation, choose 2 aspects from the list below.
Off the Cuff 4-Track Trait
Whatever clothing you wear ripples with inner life,
sometimes even acting on its own accord... Not always in
the most helpful ways, though. Treat your clothes as an
extra limb, capable of manipulating additional objects.
To Shreds 4-Track Trait
You see the threads that bind reality to whatever lies
beyond the veil. Mark Mire to slice or tear a usually
resilient material as if it were cheap cloth.
The Threads That Bind 2-Track Trait
The ragged edges of your clothing unravel into fluttering
tendrils of cloth. Treat Conflicts as Triumphs when
climbing or brachiating and increase Impact when
attempting to tangle, trip or ensnare a nearby foe.
Anchoring Thimble 3-Track Gear
You can use a task to tie a spirit to one of your resources,
consuming the resource and anchoring the spirit.
Chiraloth 3-Track Gear
Mark to have clothes re-stitch themselves to mimic a
uniform or piece of unique attire from a wildsea group or
faction. Burn for a perfect, precise visual recreation.
The Loom 3-Track Gear
A large contraption of needles, pattern-cards, and rolling
drums. Treat Disasters as Conflicts when crafting or
repairing anything with a fabric-based resource.
Grappling Needle 3-Track Gear
An oversized needle and thread, used to aid with
swinging and climbing. Deals LR Spike damage.
Plush Pal 4-Track Companion
With rough-cut stuffing, buttons for eyes and a fledgling
soul, the plush pal is an effective and adorable friend.
Porcuquill 3-Track Companion
A spiny little critter nestled among your clothes. Mark to
produce a rare resource, Perfect Needle.
QUICKSTART KIT
When you’re making a quickstart character
and choose raveller as your post, you gain
the following bonuses...
Ravelliko 2-Track Complex Companion Edge (Choose 1)
A writhing bundle of living fabric that wears you as Grace, Sharps, Veils
much as you wear it. When you choose the Ravelliko as
an aspect, it gains two benefits of your choice from the
Skills & Languages (Choose 5)
Skills: Delve, Flourish, Outwit, Rattle, Study,
following list...
Sway, Vault
· Words in Thread: The Ravelliko can rapidly stitch
elegant writing across itself to communicate directly
Languages: Highvin, Lyrebite, Signalling
(in any language you speak). Resources (Choose 2)
· Crawlscarf: The Ravelliko holds you just above the Salvage: Rusted Needles, Coil of Thread, Ragged Silk
ground, moving you around with a silent, silken step. Specimens: Dyeberries, Patch-Ouli
· Unpick: Use a task to gain a resource, Fine Thread or Whispers: Ravel and Return, Tied Together
Coarse Fabric. Charts: A Tapestry Map, A Knotted Navi-String
· Spirit of Silk: Deals Salt damage at CQ or LR.
· Sewed Edging: Deals Keen damage at CQ or LR.
Drive (Choose 1)
Clothe a being that has never been clothed
· Living Dye: The Ravelliko's colours swirl in vibrant,
Acquire a perfect leviathan pelt
mesmeric, or camouflaging patterns.
· Catchsail: Yor Ravelliko can catch the winds - mark Mire (Choose 1)
to take to the air and glide for a short time. Your threads snap and fray when out of sight
Time is a tangled tapestry, your presence an uneasy blade
Memorial Fur 2-Track Complex Companion
A stark reminder of death and beauty, a fur taken from
a once-great beast that now blankets and protects you.
When you choose the Memorial Fur as an aspect, it gains
two benefits of your choice from the following list...
· Leftover Eyes: You have 360 degree vision, and
reduce the impact of any effect that makes it more
difficult for you to see.
· Feral Memory: Mark to gain a temporary two ranks
in a skill related to the animal your fur was taken
from. These ranks last until end of scene.
· Leathern: You're resistant to Keen and Frost damage.
· Jaws & Claws: Deals CQ Spike or Serrated damage
(choose when you gain this aspect). “Not everything is connected...
· Sinewed: Treat Conflicts as Triumphs when leaping.
· The Beast Without: When you mark the last box on
But everything could be."
this aspect's track, instantly hijack focus. An attack
made with this focus has increased impact.
Hapteriz Nova, Mothryn Raveller
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Jyorachnids
(Large) Too Many Legs, Too Many Feathers
Thick-legged tarantulas roughly the size of an elephant, jyorachnids are covered in a
colourful plumage stolen from their usual prey, canopy-dwelling birds. Despite this
theft of piecemeal feathers a joyorachnid arranges and attaches them with the same
care that a tzelicrae scholar would spin a web-poem, often creating patterns that closely
mimic the birds of their local territory. Use a jyorachnid if you want the crew to face what on
the surface may appear to be an unusual hybrid or spider and bird.
Drives
Consume & Collect: Though jyorachids will attach wildsailors if they're hungry enough,
or backed into a corner, their main targets are almost exclusively of the feathered
variety. Though if a wildsailor is wearing some kind of feathered garment, that may
prove impossible for the spider to resist...
Presence
Sight: A flash of colour among the leaves. Web-spattered feathers.
Sound: Staccato clicking.
Taste: Meatier than one would expect from a spider, with a faint twist of citrus.
Resources
Specimens: Spider Feathers, Spinneret
Whispers: Wildsea Hybrid
Aspects
Aerial Movement: Despite their feathers, jyorachnids are wingless - they can’t fly. What
they can do is climb to a vantage point, leap off, spread their limbs and glide down onto
their target.
Mandibles: No venom, but sharp fangs above mincer-like mouthparts. An attack from a
jyorachnid usually deals CQ Spike damage.
Natural Irritant: The web-based chemicals that jrorachnids use to attach stolen feathers
to themselves have the side-effect of coating those same feathers in a natural irritant,
deterring even larger predators. CQ attackers are likely to be left with feather-fragments
in their skin, causing painful itching until treated.
Quirks
Mancatcher Web: While few jyorachnids spin webs, those that do use a silk so strong and
sticky that it requires cutting implements or acid to free something entangled within.
Such spiders often pull their own stolen feathers out with these webs, either by accident
or as a form of territory marking.
Prodigious Leapers: All jyorachnids have an impressive jump, but some can clear an
entire spit in a single bound if they choose to.
Truefeather Rumours: Laughed off as the ravings of the drunk and mire-scarred, there
are still persistent rumours that some newly-hatched jyorachnids actually emerge from
their eggs with tufts of feathers on show. Perhaps their avian predation is merely an
attempt to recover something lost during their early lives?
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Redfeather Strigia
(Huge) Why Soar When You Can Smash?
The first, and last, thing that many unfortunate delvers of the depths see is a mass of
cream and crimson approaching at the speed of a steam train. These beasts nest and
lay their eggs in the drown, but smash their way up to the sink to hunt - favouring
submersible crews above all other morsels. Use a redfeather if you want the crew to face
something massive, ferocious, and determined.
Drives
Empty the Can: Unlike the majorioty of wilds-dwelling creatures, strigia don't back
down once they've smelled wildsailor blood, no matter how much damage they take.
They are perfectly capable, and entirely willing, to break through deck-planks and hull-
metal in search of a meal.
Presence
Sight: Half-eaten carcasses strewn around a ruptured vessel. Masses of broken
bones making a macabre nest. A dark shape barreling toward an unwary
ship.
Sound: Thunderous hooting and ear-piercing shrieks.
Taste: Strigia flesh tastes like carrion, no matter how fresh it is
Resources
Specimens: Clawed Wingtip, Huge Talon, Crimson Feathers
Whispers: Blood on the Wing, Cries at Night
Aspects
Swift But Clumsy Flight: Redfeathers can fly, but poorly, and only for short distances.
They usually end up crashing and barrelling into their targets at the end of a gliding leap
(dealing high-impact CQ Blunt damage).
Day Blindness: Redfeathers are exclusively nocturnal hunters, being mostly blind in
daylight, but their chosen hunting domain - the sink - ensures a near-constant shroud
of darkness that suits them perfectly. Leading a strigia into an area of bright light will
likely disorient it... or enrage it.
Sonic Shriek: A blast of high-pitched sound loud enough to send anyone close reeling,
often let forth before a rushing attack. Deals CQ Blast damage to multiple nearby targets
that can hear.
Beak, Talon and Claw: All uncannily sharp, able to tear through armour like it was
nothing with unerring CQ Keen or Spike damage.
Quirks
Chemical Spew: Some redfeathers don't just stop at a vessel's crew, they consume the
engines as well. These particular individuals can vomit forth spumes of chemical fuel,
dealing LR Frost, Acid, Blast or even Flame damage (at the cost of some temporary
discomfort and disorientation for the owl itself).
Chameleocuda
(Large) Scaled, Piscine, Shimmering
An icthyonic predator that slinks through the upper branches, chameleocuda are sly,
measured and capable of holding a serious grudge. Adept at changing colour to blend
in with their surroundings, even on the move, their ability to mimic their environment
borders on the supernatural. Use a chameleocuda if you want your crew to face a
slow, careful enemy they can barely see.

Presence
Sight: A brief blur among the leaves. A deeper shadow in darkness.
Sound: A growing hiss.
Smell: Crezzerin and salted meat.
Taste: An unpredictable morass of salt and gristle and sweetness.

Resources
Specimens: Jutting Tooth, Chromatic Scale, Swivelling Eye,
Piscinesque Meat
Whispers: Active Camouflage, Ocean to Ocean

Aspects
Canopy Slink: Chameleocuda move with impossible grace and silence,
their camouflage making them little more than a ripple in the air. Cut on
any attempts to hear, see or target them while this camouflage is active.
Saltmaw: Chameleocuda bites deal medium spike damage, but they can
also exhale a slowing miasma of salt and toxins if they choose.
Piscine Tail: Long and strong, their fishlike tails help with balance and
weight regulation. Chameleocuda can grip and climb most surfaces with ease as long as
their tails are intact.

Quirks
Rainbow Zoetrope: Some past injury has turned the chameleocuda's camouflage into a
flickering mass of contradictory colours - it's impossible to miss, but looking at it causes
intense headaches and nausea.
Tame: The chameleocuda has a rider that poses just as much of a threat, likely armed
with weapons capable of dealing LR blast or spike damage.

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 With each finger a stone,
With each stone, a promise,
A sacrifice remembered,
As long as the skies roll o'erhead,
With each daybreak a prayer,
With each meal, a memory,
For these lofty heights remind us,
Of what a life lived below could
have been,
And for each of the pieces,
Of this grand home now spinning,
We offer thanks to you, Parnak,
And all you have been.
- Transcription of a hymn to
Parnak's continual grace and
protection, originally in lyrebite.
Parnak's Rest (Prototerritory)
Temple-Shards: Three hundred and forty, at last count
Penalty for Missing Mandatory Offerings: Three days of
contemplation from the lowest floating shard
While religion, in its more organised forms, is
comparatively rare across the rustling waves, 'rare' is
not the same as 'absent'. Parnak's rest was, in the pre-V
times, a temple, and a temple it remains - though the
objects and rituals of worship have changed somewhat
over the years.
And on the subject of change, the temple's structure and
location are caught in an ever-shifting dance. While the
chunk of ground upon which the main temple once stood
remains firmly intact, the stone (and everything else for
a half-mile radius) seems to have been lefted skyward
at some point after the ravages of the verdancy, splitting
into multiple shards but maintaining some sort of aerial
cohesion in the process.
Parnak, In The Flesh (Wonder)
Splayed over an ancient altar at the heart of the temple
complex, the corpse of Parnak - ten-armed and bristling
with gears and wires - is an imposing sight, even in
death. The devotees that call this temple home tell stories
of his sacrifice, how he led their ancestors to this holy
place at the time of the great calamity that forested the
world, how each of his fingers lifted a different section
of the outer temple's stone into the skies, and how he
eventually gave all that he had, down to the last shreds
of his own soul, to keep it aloft long after his time would
pass. Though these stories are definitely not based in reality,
as inquisitve wildsailors will no doubt discover, the majority
of the temple's inhabitants believe them wholeheartedly.
They have no idea what Parnak truly is and, if they learned
the cost of their devotions and what's being traded for the
continued safety of their home, they would likely be appalled.
10
Parnak, In Truth (Horror)
The body in the main sanctum is dead, after a fashion,
but then so are many individuals across the wildsea that
lead comparatively normal lives. In 'life' Parnak was an
ironbound, an arconaut of considerable skill researching
the temple's ancient history (back when it was a wavetop
spit thrown up by a rootquake, long before it attained
the floating majesty of the present day). It was, as in
many cases, an overambitious experiment that reduced
Parnak to his current state, ironbound body left empty
and arconautically-infused soul spread throughout every
inch of the temple's stone. He's been trying, for years,
to coalesce - to reverse the explosive outcome of his
experiment and piece the temple back together, but the
offerings of the priests and attendants that surround him
interfere with his attempts every time. Ironbound bodies
are easy enough to control with a spark of life within them,
but being displaced throughout the temple has stretched
him thin. Though Parnak is still 'alive', in the sense that he
can think and, to a limited extent, feel, he now thinks with
a geological slowness, and what communications he can
muster take place over that same aching timescale.
The Devotees (Feature / Hazard)
A stolid and serious bunch, most likely due to the
awareness that their home floats through the skies
of the wildsea through a mechanism that they can
only attribute to divine intervention (and concerning
Parnak's true state, they're not actually too far off in
that assumption). Their practices are simple, mostly
consisting of a mandatory gifting of offerings, to be piled
on the floor around the altar. It's this growing pile that
frustrates the disembodied Parnak, continually shifting the
weight of the temple's heart and throwing off his already-
slow calculations. Most of the offerings are simple salvage,
purchased from passing traders or fished from storms, but
every now and then an object of signifiance is found and
donated. If they would only abandon this practice...
Forgotten Gods (Feature)
Though all of the converted living quarters
and sacred spaces are now themed around the
worship of Parnak, there are still parts of the
temple that remain mostly untouched. The devotees
rarely explore the outlying regions, especially those
separated from the main body of the temple by hundreds
of feet of empty air. Crews that go delving through the floating
stones of the outer complex are liable to find objects of religious
significance to pre-Verdant gods, the beings that the temple was originally
constructed in honour of. The precise forms of these gods are left up to the
group and the Firefly to decide, though based on the temple's lofty ceilings
and overly large doors there's a more than zero chance that the original
gods - or, indeed, their worshippers - were something other than
pre-verdant humans.

11
 Excerpt from the Wildsea Storm & Root Expansion
The Wildsea & QuillHound Studios: © Felix Isaacs 2023
Artworks used are © copyright their respective artists: © Kyllian Guillart 2023, © Mon 2023,
© Omercan Cirit 2023, © Pierre Demet 2023, © Shmeckerel 2023 & © BlueTwoDays 2023

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LIVE ON KICKSTARTER APRIL 2023

THE WILDSEA
STORM & ROOT
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