Lakewalkers for GURPS

[jeriendhal]

This is just a quick attempt to write up the Lakewalkers from Lois Mcmaster Bujold's [i]The Sharing Knife[/i]. Input would be appreciated.

Background: Lakewalkers are a variant branch of humanity in The Wide Green World, an area that can be best described as resembling the American Midwest, running from the Great Lakes region to Louisiana, assuming that a couple of thousand years in the past there was a continental Mageocracy that got destroyed in a magical apocalypse. Now Lakewalkers patrol the lands, hunting and destroying "Malices", remnant creatures created by the event that periodically pop out of the ground to attempt to suck out all life from the area. They also protect "Farmers" (basically anyone who doesn't have Lakewalker blood) who are slowly repopulating the devastated areas, and building up their tech level to a higher point than the Lakewalkers.

Shorter version: Magical Native Americans with psi powers.

Note: All powers are through Lakewalker Groundsense (GS), which can be thought of as a low level version of The Force. TL is assumed to be TL 2, with up to TL 4 imports from Farmer manufacturers.

Stats: Attractive [4], Claim to Hospitality (other Lakewalker camps) [10], Detect Life (GS -10%) [27], Empathy (GS -10%) [14], Extended Lifespan/1 [2], Healing (GS -10%) [27], Mind Control (GS -10%) [45]*, Mind Shield/6 (GS -10%) [27], Obscure 5 (GS -10%) [9], Social Regard (Lakewalker) +2 [10], Telekinesis 2 (GS -10%) [9], Low TL -2 [-10], Code of Honor (Lakewalker) [-10] Reputation: Black necromancers (Farmers, occasionally) -2 [-10] ** Total: 154 points

Disadvantages that are common, but not universal, among Lakewalkers include: Intolerance (Farmers), Unusual Feature (oddly colored eyes)


* Actually using Mind Control on a subject is considered a major crime in Lakewalker society, being far too similar to what Malices do to their victims. Nevertheless, a Lakewalker sometimes can accidentally "Beguile" a farmer if they use their other abilities. Make a separate IQ roll to avoid using it when treating a Farmer with Healing.

** Destroy any Malice found, never build any permanent buildings, be prepared to leave everything if attacked, do not use "Malice Magic", Share when the time comes.

Comments

[sraun]

As editorial nit-picks - I think you have the ** in the wrong place in the Stats, and you're missing a / in Obscure/5.

This looks like a high-powered Lakewalker to me - the only thing he's missing is the bit about making Sharing Knives (which might be a Healing specialization - how are you dealing with that?). This could be just that it's been a while since I looked at the GURPS PSI powers.

[ankewehner.livejournal.com]

Not familiar with GURPS, just wondering if "must breed to ensure there will be a next generation of Lakewalkers" should go in the code of honour, or if that was just Dag's mother.