Traits describe the most important facets of your clan, and can be helpful in coming up with a solid concept. They are split into positive traits (that will make your clan useful/powerful) and negative traits (that will cause you grief)

At character gen you must pick one positive trait to describe your clan. You may take additional positive traits by taking additional negative ones to the same value, up to a maximum of four positive traits in total (and three negative).

You cannot pick the same trait multiple times. If you want a really focused family, consider taking matching traits. For example a family of master toolmakers could have 'Professionals: Smiths' and 'Custodian: Smelting plant'.

Negative Traits do not necessarily need to be fixed immediately, but if you don't act on them they may ultimately come back to bite you.

Characters belonging to the same clan must take the same clan traits. Traits are not cumulative and do not stack for multiple players. You are however allowed to come up with multiple NPCs.

The traits you choose will affect your game in the following ways:

The positive traits at least will make your clan valuable to the community as a whole, and give you something to barter with the other players. The negative traits will give you an idea of what you need to overcome to get you clan up to full strength, at which point they can only help you more.

All traits will hit you with plot, mainly in what your family ask you to do. This could be solving their embarrassing problems, or helping their unique attempt at world domination.

In broken worlds, our goal is not to have you role-playing by yourself, solving your families problems. Your families are there to give you an incentive to turn up to court but it is recommended that you get the other players to solve your families problems, in exchange for you solving theirs. By and large, thing will play out that it is easier that way.

We hope that every player, in addition to their own goals, will have a clan goal that they are trying to fulfil beyond 'look after my clan'.

The traits you choose will shape that goal, and in turn the future of the Archipelago. Assuming all goes well for you, a clan of loremasters may found a library of knowledge. A clan of smiths may start an industrial revolution.

Your clan is huge. Really huge. Far too many people to remember the name of, and an awful lot of mouths to feed. How your clan became so big is an important question: did you adopt some orphans you found on a rock? Could your great granny just not think of anything better to do on rainy afternoons? Having a large family means more work coordinating people and keeping everyone alive. However, it means you've got a lot of help in Getting Things Done.

This trait makes tasks requiring unskilled laybor much easier, as long as you can coordinate people. Note that only your immediate family will benefit from other traits. If you took the Professionals trait, this does not give you four times as many craftsmen.

Your family has the equipment or the knowhow to put up one hell of a fight. They could fight with the discipline of a well oiled machine, or the brutality of a well oiled barbarian. You aren't raiders, though you might have been once, and people will likely be wary of you.

This trait will mean your family will do better than average if it comes to large scale combat. It’s not a guaranteed victory, and you'll still need to convince them of who is their enemy, but this is the starting point if you want raise an army.

Pick a mundane trade your family excel at. Perhaps they build homes that last, forge steel that doesn't bend, or bake cookies that taste better than sin? Whatever it is, it will be in demand, and as long as you can keep doing it, you will be a popular bunch. However, guard that cookie recipe closely, because the more people who know how to do what you do, the less valuable you are.

This trait gives your family a highly specialized (and valuable) craft skill. This will give you something to trade with other families and better assistance at appropriate tasks. It will also give you Plot to improve the family trade (find better tools and materials, or fulfil some eclectic work orders.

Note that you cannot use this trait to give your family a general skill boost. It must be in a very specific trade or profession, outside of which your family are as talented as the next man.

Your family have things. Lots of things. Lots of useful things that other people need. Either you managed to bring a useful supply with you to the new world, or you happened upon something valuable when you got here. This could be a ranch of useful beasts, a coal mine, or a secret blend of 11 herbs and spices.

This trait will give you something valuable to trade or work with, that will not be readily available to the other families. It must take effort to exploit the resource (mining more ore, training more animals), and it will generate plot revolved around protecting and enhancing that resource (breeding a better animal, mining too deep…).

Your family understand the importance of safeguarding knowledge. Perhaps you have countless songs, or books of lore to teach you. Perhaps your family consist entirely of really old people. Your family goes out of its way to learn new things, chronicle it, and appear valuable for teaching other people.

Pick an area of knowledge to specialize in. You will know more about this area than other players, and be able to easily research more details. Your family may ask you to help with this research, or to get them access to the knowledge of other clans.

Some example areas of knowledge are: Beasts, Old Legends, Storm Lore, Mist Lore, Religions, and Alien Races. You may use this trait to gain knowledge of an area of magic. Give us a rough outline of the sort of things you are interested in, and we'll help you fill in the details.

Your family are seers, priests or scholars with dark powers, the ear of the Gods, or secret knowledge about the true nature of the universe… or so you claim. Whether what’s behind the blood, feathers and bubbling cauldrons is truly a Dark Power, or just a very good telescope, you're able to predict the future better than most.

As seers, you make it your job to figure out what threatens the Archipelago, and telling people how to stop it. You'd better be on the money though, or you may find people stop listening to your advice.

This trait provides two things: A means beyond normal of predicting the future, and a strong reason for people (NPCs at least) to listen to you. This is a good trait to take if you want to lead the Archipelago, though it will take a lot of work in confirming your predictions.

When taking this trait, give us a rough idea of *how* your family scrys and we'll work with you on it. Is it through a magical ritual, or some strange device? Either way, you won't fully understand how you do it, and part of your plot will be figuring it out/keeping it working.

If you take this trait with Skunthorpe it will be a lot harder to get people to listen to your predictions; you'll be treated more like Cassandra than the Oracle of Delphi

A silk tongue runs in your blood line. Sure, you're not a particularly strong lot, or talented or wise or rich. But you know people who are, and you know other people who want those people. Simply by working your magic you make something valuable, whether it’s another families' goods or your own.

This trait sets your clan up as fixers, and makes you the first port of call if someone has a problem. You can ask for advice on who might be able to solve a problem for you.

It also lets you get a fair deal in any negotiation. The other party will always get a glowing report about what you've provided, and you'll know if you are getting your money's worth.

Finally, as traders, you may have traded with some strange parties, and know something others don't about the outside world.

If you take this trait with Skunthorpe, your trading 'business' is more like a black market; people won't trust you or come to you for help as much, but they will know that you know where to get things unavailable through normal means.

Your clan are responsible for an important structure or system. This could be a smithy, school, hospital, mill, theme park, temple to the gods, irrigation system, watch tower, library, quarry, or any number of things. Since the move to the new world, you've had to leave behind an awful lot of the infrastructure, but your family have the knowledge, staff and elbow grease to rebuild something specially valuable.

This trait, like resources, gives you something valuable to barter with. It will require a lot of effort to set up, but once up, it runs itself.

Your family are naturally charismatic. No matter what they are up to, it will be portrayed in a good light. Alternatively, they are tight lipped or know the penalty for blabbing about what you've got in the basement. In some way, you are doing a good job of appearing to be something different to what you are.

This trait is useful if you have a dark secret, or plan that you don't want others to find out about. It will make it harder for other families to spy on you, and you will have some control over the rumours they hear about you.

On occasion you will be called upon to help maintain the illusion, such as arranging an elaborate misdirection, or hunting down a loose lipped traitor.

If you take this trait with Skunthorpe, its effect will change from people perceiving your family in a good light to your family being tight-lipped and news of our misdemeanors not getting out.

Somewhere along the way, your clan was forced to split up. Perhaps you lost each other a storm, or were faced with the choice between starving together or living apart. Alternatively, there could be a group of people out there who would owe you a favour if you ever met them again.

This trait allows you to describe a second branch of your clan who have not found the Archipelago yet. If you can find them, they will be able to provide additional resources and talents, but it will take some effort to find and rescue them.

If you take this trait, the second branch could be an alien race. Let the GMs know a rough idea of what you want, and we'll work out the details with you.

Your clan stands united. Perhaps a past tragedy has formed tight bonds between the lot of you. Perhaps you have a religious symbol you are unified in your devotion to. With this loyalty has come self reliance, and your clan operates like the proverbial well oiled machine.

Taking this trait means your clan will rarely cause you trouble, or ask you for help (they handle their own problems). You will have more time to work on your own projects, and can more easily manipulate your clan, if you can manipulate the thing that binds them together.

High influence characters will still have responsibilities, and you will need to work to maintain the unifying feature of your clan.

Incompatible with Internal Conflict

Something incredibly fundamental is missing in your clan. Perhaps the crops keep failing, you are reduced to living in a smelly cave, or you only have one pair of trousers between the lot of you. This is not something that can be trivially rectified, and your family will be neither happy nor productive until it is.

This trait will require you to fix. It will require bartering with other PCs and a significant effort. What’s more your enemies will be able to exploit this weakness until it’s fixed. We reserve the right to veto weaknesses that will be too easy for you to fix.

Nobody understands your pain. Your clan is small or nonexistent. Perhaps it’s just you and your sick grandmother, or seven infant children. Perhaps you are the lone survivor of a pirate raid seeking revenge. Your primary concern should be founding a clan of your own to watch your back.

A small clan is a significant disadvantage, as you will need to beg the services of other clans to achieve anything large scale. Unless you can form a strong alliance, you may be very vulnerable.

This trait is incompatible with Extended family. Also, you cannot take extreme clan influence (+3 or -3) with this

For some reason your family are distrusted as Them Over There. This may be a misunderstanding on arrival at the fragment, or an unfortunate hereditary deformity. If a sheep dies, you probably did it. If the storms destroy everyone and everything your neighbour ever loved in a pandemonious apocalypse, you again. You find it really hard to impress people, and get the respect you deserve for your achievements.

Beside getting blamed for everything, this trait will make it difficult for your clan to work or ally with others. Even if other PCs trust your PC, it'll take significant effort to get the two clans to do anything other than fight… Until you've fixed things.

Taking this trait will change the functioning of the traits Mystics, Traders and Image Control quite significantly; see their descriptions for more details.

Your clan are in a bit of a pickle. For some reason, you are having trouble with the business of producing a next generation. Perhaps you are short on a particular gender, horrendously inbred, impotent, or just very shy. On the other hand if your 'clan' is some form of organization such as monks, you're having recruitment problems and are likely to end when your current members die out. Whatever the case, you have a hurdle to overcome if you wish your family to do something other than die out.

While this trait will leave your clan a bit melancholy, the main disadvantage lies in your clan's future. Unless you fix the problem, your clan will not get an eternity turnsheet, or be remembered by the future of the colony.

Something you do is not likely to make you popular. Perhaps you believe in virgin sacrifices. Perhaps your skills lie in slavery or poison. Perhaps it is a sin for your family to touch soap. Sure what you do is useful, but people aren't going to like you for it.

Your clan will regularly ask you to perform an unsavoury task. This will both take up your time, and bring you into conflict with other clans. If your point of conflict becomes too trivial, we reserve the right for your family to get more… creative in their requests.

Your clan are still coming to terms with the whole opposable thumbs thing. As a whole, you are set in your ways, and very resistant to new ideas or people. Maybe you are all crotchety old men who remember when this was all fields (they're lying). Maybe you have an established way of life that is very important to you, and no one wants it threatened.

This trait can take one of two forms. Either your family will be reluctant to accept new ideas and technologies, or really poor at grasping them. To improve your families lot, you will either need to spend time convincing them, or writing an instruction manual…

It’s never been the same since Mary said that thing to Sharon. There is something of a feud going on in your clan, and until it’s settled you're going to find it hard to get anything done. What is the root of the conflict, and what’s made it so hard to resolve?

It will take a significant effort to straighten things out, and until it is you will find it difficult to have more than a couple of your family working on the same task.

This trait is incompatible with Loyal.

Your clan is cursed. Some illness or malady is causing you no end of grief, and it’s not going away. This could be a mundane illness, or something much more outlandish.

Simple enough, until you find a cure, your family are going to be fighting wounded. If you would like a magical illness, give us a rough idea of what you would like, and we'll help you with the details.

Somewhere along the way, you met some people who didn't like you very much. Thankfully, the nature of the Broken World meant you were away and gone while they were still looking for their pitchforks. Unfortunately, the nature of the Broken World means you'll never know when they will turn back up again. Could this be another branch of your clan you don't get on with?

Similar to “They're Out There Somewhere”, this allows you describe another branch of your clan who, if they find you, will probably try to kill you. You may use this trait to have a feud with an alien race. Give us a rough idea of the nature of the feud, and we'll help you fill in the details.