Book I: The Drifter — Chapter 2

The Soul

Memory & Progression

“You think the bullets are what kill you? No, son. The bullets just stop the heart. It’s the forgetting that kills the man.”
— Father Jebediah, Redeemer Priest

In The Veil & Lead, your character is defined by their Soul. It is a resource. It is the fuel for your power, the armor against the madness of the Veil, and the only thing distinguishing you from the monsters you hunt.

This chapter details the mechanics of Memory, Erosion, and Progression.

The Memory Palace

Your mind is a fortress. The walls are built from who you are—the experiences that shaped you, the people you love, the secrets you keep, the wounds you carry. In The Veil & Lead, this fortress is called the Memory Palace, and it consists of five distinct slots called Pillars.

When the Veil tries to tear your mind apart—or when you draw upon the chaotic energy of the Current—these Memories are the sandbags holding back the flood. They are your anchors to humanity, your fuel for desperate moments, and ultimately, the currency you spend to change the world.

Pillar	Source	Description	Example
The Scar	Tragedy	The wound that defines you	“The surprise on my brother’s face.”
The Root	Origin	A sensory detail of home	“The smell of coal smoke and machine oil.”
The Drive	Calling	Why you keep fighting	“The weight of the badge in my pocket.”
The Anchor	Bond	Who you love	“Maeve’s laugh on a summer evening.”
The Secret	Hidden	What you hide from others	“I know who really started the fire.”

You create your first Memory (The Scar) during character creation when you choose your Tragedy. The remaining four Pillars are completed during the Finishing Touches step of Chapter 1.

Creating Meaningful Memories

The best Memories share certain qualities:

Sensory and specific. A Memory should evoke sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch. “The smell of coal smoke and my mother’s cough” is stronger than “I grew up poor.”
Emotionally resonant. The Memory should carry weight. When you invoke it, you should feel something.
Brief. A single sentence or short phrase. Memories are impressions, not essays.
Actionable. You should be able to imagine situations where this Memory could motivate or guide your character.

The Five Pillars

The Scar

Tragedy — The Wound That Defined You

Your Scar is the Memory that broke you—and in breaking, shaped who you became. It emerges from your Tragedy, the event during character creation that changed everything. A good Scar captures the moment of impact: the sensory details burned into your mind during trauma. This is the Memory that wakes you at night. It hurts to recall, and that pain has power.

Tragedy	Example Scars
The Raid	“The smell of burning pine and my sister’s scream.” / “Boot prints in the blood on the kitchen floor.”
The Debt	“The Baron’s gold ring as he signed the papers.” / “My father’s hands shaking as he handed over the deed.”
The Miracle	“The blue light in the darkness that shouldn’t have been there.” / “The warmth in my chest when everything else was cold.”
The Duel	“The surprise on my brother’s face when he fell.” / “The weight of the pistol and how easy it was.”
The Illness	“The taste of bitter medicine and my mother’s tears.” / “The fever dreams where I spoke to something in the dark.”
The Betrayal	“The dust from his boots as he walked away with everything.” / “Her smile the moment before I understood.”

Sparking The Scar

Drawing strength from old pain, channeling rage or grief, or refusing to let history repeat itself.

The Root

Origin — A Sensory Detail of Home

Your Root is where you came from—a single vivid impression that captures the place that made you. It ties to your Origin and represents the environment that shaped your earliest self. The Root grounds you. When everything else is chaos, this Memory reminds you that you existed before the Frontier tried to kill you.

Origin	Example Roots
Consortium City-Born	“The hiss of steam pipes in the walls.” / “Gaslight on wet cobblestones at midnight.”
Dust-Born	“The silence before a sandstorm.” / “Stars undimmed by smoke or gas-light.”
Veil-Touched	“The hum that only I could hear.” / “My reflection blinking when I didn’t.”
Rail-Rider	“The rhythm of wheels on endless track.” / “The horizon always moving, never arriving.”

Sparking The Root

Navigating your home terrain, understanding people from your background, drawing on skills learned in childhood, or finding comfort in familiar things.

The Drive

Calling — Why You Keep Fighting

Your Drive is the reason you haven’t laid down and let the ash bury you. It connects to your Calling and represents your purpose—the thing that pushes you forward when your body wants to stop. The Drive is forward-looking. Where The Scar is about what happened to you, The Drive is about what you’re going to do about it.

Calling	Example Drives
Gunhand	“Someone has to hold the line.” / “The badge still means something to me.”
Muck-Raker	“There’s wealth enough to escape this life.” / “My family eats because of what I find.”
High-Roller	“The next hand could change everything.” / “Everyone has a price, including fate.”
Shepherd	“Faith is all we have left.” / “Someone has to tend the wounded.”
Psy-Slinger	“This curse might as well be useful.” / “Power is the only freedom that matters.”
Mindweaver	“If I don’t control this, it controls me.” / “The truth is worth the price I pay for it.”
Seer	“I’ve seen how this ends. I’m trying to change it.” / “Someone has to watch the road ahead.”
Flesh Shaper	“Bodies break. I fix them. It’s simple.” / “Pain is just information.”
Bastion Soul	“The Current took everything from me. Now I’m the wall it breaks against.” / “I refuse to bend.”

Sparking The Drive

Pushing through exhaustion, refusing to abandon your purpose, acting in accordance with your core motivation, or inspiring others with your conviction.

The Anchor

Bond — Who You Love

Your Anchor is a person—someone whose existence reminds you that you’re still human. They might be living or dead, present or distant, known to the party or kept private. What matters is that they matter to you more than survival itself.

Special Mechanical Significance

The Anchoring recovery method (which clears 2 Erosion during Downtime) requires a meaningful scene with someone connected to your Anchor Memory. If your Anchor is burned and the slot remains empty, you cannot use Anchoring until you Harden a new Memory in that Pillar.

Anchor Prompts:

A spouse, lover, or former flame whose face you still see when you close your eyes
A child—yours by blood or by choice—whose future you’re fighting for
A mentor who believed in you when no one else did
A sibling who still writes letters you can’t bring yourself to answer
A dead friend whose voice you still hear giving advice
A rival whose respect matters more than you’ll admit
A stranger you failed to save, whose memory drives you to save others

Sparking The Anchor

Protecting someone who reminds you of your Anchor, acting as your Anchor would want you to act, fighting to return to someone who waits for you, or drawing strength from the knowledge that someone believes in you.

The Secret

Hidden — What You Hide From Others

Your Secret is something true about you that you don’t want known. It might be shameful, dangerous, illegal, or simply private—but it’s yours alone, and its exposure would change how others see you.

The Secret is narrative fuel for the GM. At some point during the campaign, your Secret will threaten to surface. Strangers will appear who know what you’ve done. Evidence will emerge. Someone will ask the wrong question. How you handle that moment defines your character.

When you create your Secret, consider sharing it privately with the GM while keeping it hidden from other players. The reveal becomes more powerful when the other characters learn it alongside their players.

Secret Prompts:

A crime you committed that someone else was blamed for
A betrayal you’re ashamed of, buried so deep you almost believe your own lies
The truth about your origins—who your parents really were, or what you really are
Something you witnessed that powerful people want kept quiet
A deal you made with someone (or something) you shouldn’t have trusted
A desire you can’t admit to yourself, let alone anyone else
A connection to a faction you’ve publicly rejected
A death you caused that wasn’t as justified as you’ve told yourself

Sparking The Secret

Using knowledge from your hidden past, lying to protect your history, acting to keep your secret buried, or drawing on skills or connections tied to the person you’re pretending not to be.

Using Memories

Memories are more than backstory. They are mechanical resources that interact with the game in three ways.

1. The Spark (Active Benefit)

Once per session per Memory, you may Spark that Memory—invoking it for immediate benefit. When you Spark, choose one of the following:

The Blaze (+2 Dice)

Narrate how the Memory motivates, guides, or empowers you in this moment. Gain +2 dice (Pool Bonus) to the relevant roll.

Example: Caleb is trying to intimidate a Consortium enforcer. He Sparks his Scar—“The dust from his boots as he walked away with everything”—describing how the cold fury of that betrayal surfaces in his eyes. He gains +2 dice to his Force check.

The Ember (+1 Mettle)

Narrate how the Memory steadies your resolve without directly aiding your action. Recover 1 Mettle instead of gaining dice.

Example: Maeve is low on Mettle after a brutal fight. During a quiet moment, she Sparks her Anchor—“Eliza’s laugh on a summer evening”—describing how the memory centers her. She recovers 1 Mettle.

Spark Limitations

Each Memory can only be Sparked once per session, regardless of which benefit you choose
The narrative connection must be plausible (GM adjudicates edge cases)
You cannot Spark during Downtime—only during active play

2. The Bulwark (Passive Defense)

Your intact Memories form a barrier against mental intrusion and supernatural fear. The more of yourself that remains, the harder you are to break.

Intact Memories	Mental Defense Bonus
5 Memories	+2
3–4 Memories	+1
0–2 Memories	+0

This bonus applies to ECHO + Resilience checks to resist Fear, ECHO + Focus checks to resist Psionic intrusion, and any roll to resist effects targeting your sanity or sense of self.

As your Memories burn away, your defenses crumble. A character with only one or two Memories intact is fragile—vulnerable to Mindweavers, to the whispers of the Veil, and to their own unraveling mind.

3. The Fuel (Psionic Cost)

For Psionics, Memories are the ultimate currency. When you cast a Rank 5 Talent (a Miracle), the cost is one Memory—burned permanently. This is detailed in Book III: The Current.

Even mundane characters can lose Memories through Backlash, extreme Erosion, or encounters with certain Veil-Born entities. The Memory Palace is never truly safe.

Losing Memories: The Break

When your Erosion track fills completely, you experience a Break. One of your Memories is torn away—consumed by the Current, dissolved into the static between worlds.

The Burn

Choose a Memory. You decide which Pillar to sacrifice. This choice should reflect the narrative—if you’ve been pushing yourself in combat, perhaps The Drive goes. If you’ve been ignoring your relationships, perhaps The Anchor.
Strike it from your sheet. The Memory is gone. You forget it immediately and completely. You cannot remember what it was, only that something is missing.
Reset your Erosion. Your Erosion track returns to 0. The wound has closed—but part of you closed with it.

Losing a Memory is disorienting. One moment you’re reaching for something that defined you; the next, there’s only absence. You might not even realize what you’ve lost until someone mentions a name that should mean something, and it doesn’t. Other characters might notice the change before you do.

The Empty Slot

An empty Memory slot affects you in several ways:

Reduced Bulwark. Fewer Memories means lower Mental Defense bonus.
No Spark. You cannot Spark a Memory that doesn’t exist.
Anchoring blocked. If your Anchor slot is empty, you cannot use the Anchoring recovery method until you Harden a new Memory there.
Narrative weight. The GM may describe moments where you reach for something that isn’t there—a name you can’t remember, a face that should be familiar.

Hardening Memories

When you have an empty Memory slot, you can eventually fill it. This process is called Hardening, and the result is a Hardened Memory.

Hardened Memories are built from recent pain. They function like original Memories, but they are fundamentally different in character. Where original Memories might be warm, hopeful, or joyful, Hardened Memories are forged in the aftermath of loss.

Requirements for Hardening

Cost: 8 XP
Timing: Downtime only. You cannot Harden a Memory during active play.
The Absence: You cannot Harden a Memory during the same Downtime in which it was burned. You must live with the empty slot for at least one session.
Narrative Source: The new Memory must stem from events that occurred after the original was lost.
Scene Requirement: Roleplay a brief scene that establishes the moment this new Memory crystallized.

Original Memory	Possible Hardened Replacement
“Maeve’s laugh on a summer evening.”	“The grave I dug for her with my bare hands.”
“I fight for love.”	“I fight because there’s nothing left to lose.”
“The warmth of my childhood home.”	“The ash where home used to be.”
“My father’s hand on my shoulder.”	“The weight of his pistol in my hand.”
“The hope that tomorrow will be better.”	“The certainty that I will make someone pay.”

Hardened Spark Restrictions

Hardened Memories CAN be Sparked for: survival and endurance, violence and aggression, fear/grief/cold determination, protecting what remains, vengeance or justice.

Hardened Memories CANNOT be Sparked for: charm/seduction/gentle persuasion, joyful creativity, hopeful inspiration, tender emotional connection, appeals to innocence or mercy.

This restriction reflects the nature of what you’ve become. A Hardened Memory can fuel your survival. It cannot fuel your joy.

The Hollow

When your final Memory burns away—when all five Pillars stand empty—you become Hollow.

The body remains. The identity is gone.

You remember nothing—no name, no history, no connections. The person who lived in this body has been erased.

Your character is no longer playable. They become an NPC under the GM’s control.
Something else may remain. The Current fills empty vessels.
Some Hollows become violent, some passive, some actively malevolent.
The Circle of Ash has sanctuaries for Hollows; the Redeemers burn them.

Earning Experience

Session Awards

At the end of each session, go through this checklist with the group:

Award	XP	Trigger
Survival	1	The character is alive
The Struggle	1	Overcame a significant threat (combat, social, environmental)
The Discovery	1	Learned a secret about the Veil, Factions, or History
The Flaw	1	Voluntarily complicated the scene due to Tragedy, Secret, or bond
The Lesson	1	Suffered a critical failure or major setback

Typical Session: 3–4 XP. Players should nominate each other for the Flaw award.

Milestone Awards

Milestone	XP	Trigger
Arc Completion	5	Resolved a major storyline
Nemesis Defeated	3	Killed or neutralized a recurring enemy
Faction Shift	2	Significantly changed standing with a Power
Memory Forged	2	Created a Scar Memory through play

The Burden Award (Psionic Only)

Psionic characters may earn +1 XP at session end if they used Rank 3+ abilities during the session AND suffered meaningful narrative consequences (visions, Veil Bleed symptoms, social stigma, Memory burn). This helps offset the Psionic XP tax.

Spending Experience

XP is spent during Downtime between sessions or adventures.

Raising Attributes

Increase	Cost	Cumulative
Rank 1 → 2	10 XP	10 XP
Rank 2 → 3	15 XP	25 XP
Rank 3 → 4	20 XP	45 XP
Rank 4 → 5	30 XP	75 XP

Improving Skills

Increase	Cost	Cumulative
Rank 0 → 1	4 XP	4 XP
Rank 1 → 2	6 XP	10 XP
Rank 2 → 3	9 XP	19 XP
Rank 3 → 4	15 XP	34 XP

Learning Talents

Type	Cost	Requirements
Mundane Talent	4 XP	Appropriate Skill at Rank 1+
Psionic (Rank 1–2)	4 XP	ECHO ≥ Talent Rank, Channel 1+
Psionic (Rank 3–4)	6 XP	ECHO ≥ Talent Rank, Mentor or Grimoire
Psionic (Rank 5)	6 XP	ECHO 5, Mentor or Grimoire, GM approval

Other Purchases

Action	Cost
Specialization	5 XP (requires Skill Rank 3+)
Clear 1 Erosion	2 XP
Increase Mettle Cap	8 XP (maximum +2 total)
Harden a Memory	8 XP (requires roleplay scene)

The Legend Track

Your reputation is tracked from 0 to 10. Legend is not bought with XP—it is awarded by the GM for deeds that spread through word of mouth.

Effects of Legend

Legend	Benefit	Consequence
0–2	Anonymous	No special treatment
3–4	Known locally	+1 die to Intimidation in your region
5–6	Regional reputation	+1 die to Command; −1 die to Stealth/Disguise
7–8	Frontier-wide fame	+2 dice to Intimidation/Command; −2 dice to blend in
9–10	Living legend	Automatic recognition; bounty hunters and nemeses seek you

Gaining Legend

Deed	Legend Gained
Killing a named Boss NPC	+1
Surviving a full Rupture (5-die pool) without fleeing	+1
Completing a major contract that changes local politics	+1
Spending §100+ in a single night (public spectacle)	+1
Winning a public duel	+1
Any deed that would spread through stories	+1

The Bounty Board

At the start of each session, roll 1d10 for characters with Legend 5+. If the roll is less than their Legend score, their fame catches up:

Margin (Legend − Roll)	Consequence
1–2	A local tough wants to prove themselves in a fight or contest
3–4	A faction agent (Consortium, Redeemer, Vulture) is actively looking for them
5+	A supernatural predator (Skin-Changer, bounty hunter with Psionic backing) is hunting them

Downtime

Each player gets one Action per day of Downtime:

Action	Effect
Recover	Long Rest: Heal IRON HP, clear all Strain, attempt to clear 1 Grievous Wound (Medicine check)
Therapy	Clear 1 Erosion via Vice, or 2 Erosion via Anchoring (requires scene with Anchor-related NPC)
Acquire	Shop for items (Scrip) or Scrounge for rare items (SAVVY + Scrounge vs TN 13)
Train	Spend XP to raise Attributes, Skills, or learn Talents (Talents require source)
Work	Earn 1d10 Scrip through labor, gambling, or odd jobs
Forge Scar	Fill an empty Memory slot (8 XP, requires roleplay scene)
Research	SAVVY + Lore to learn about a location, enemy, artifact, or mystery
Craft	Create ammunition, simple tools, or modify equipment (requires materials)

Downtime Length

Situation	Typical Downtime
Between sessions (in town)	1–3 days
Major story break	1 week
Significant time skip	1 month+ (montage)

Continue to Chapter 3

Your soul is defined. Now arm it. Firearms, armor, special ammunition, and the salt economy of the Frontier.

Chapter 3: The Armory & Economy →

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