Zilats of Satyrine

I love the idea in Invisible Sun of zilats. There are vislae, like the player characters, and there are nons who can’t use a single spell. But there are also zilats who can do one particular kind of magic and nothing else. In my campaign I like the PCs to be special so I limit the number of other vislae they interact with. Most of the NPCs they encounter are zilats and it can be really fun to come up with their magical specialties.

There’s a short list in The Path (p. 124) and I used that to make a list to draw from when randomly generating folks around Satyrine. To pad out that list, though, here are some more ideas from my own needs and also the specialties of Mistlings from the Mistborn series (which also has its own roleplaying game which I like). In my version of Invisible Sun, zilats are specialized (as the book says) and they can use their powers for effects a level higher than their level (a level 5 ice creator can make ice objects up to a level 6 effect). They can also “stretch” to do similar magic at a level below their level (the ice creator could make something out of glass or amber as level 4). Things that are outside of their type of magic, or too different from their specialty (like the ice creator trying to make wood or rock), they just can’t do.

1. Beguiler: Illusion magic, which might mean crafting physical glamours, musical sounds, tactile sensations, etc.
2. Creator: Magic of creation with a single focus such as a wood creator, metal creator, ice creator, etc.
3. Eradicator: Destructive magic which could mean demolishing buildings, destroying evidence, removing markings, etc.
4. Grabber: Magically teleporting objects to them such as valuables, weapons, liquids, ores, etc.
5. Infiltrator: Turning certain things invisible such as themselves (obviously), vehicles, buildings, etc.
6. Leaper: Magical teleporters who can teleport themselves and others, whole vehicles, or sometimes magical objects (these are called banishers).
7. Runner: These zilats use speed magic to propel themselves, speed up time, or accelerate objects.
8. Seer: Divination which can see into the past, future, present, alternate timelines, etc.
9. Speaker: Using telepathy, these zilats can hear thoughts, sense emotions, feel desires, etc.
10. Spirit Hunter: Exorcism magic is in high demand and spirit hunters might specialize in demons, ghosts, angels, etc.
11. Tormentor: A disturbing talent, the ability to use pain magic could inflict pain, absorb pain, convert pain to pleasure, etc.
12. Protector: These zilats can offer protective magic against all sorts of dangers such as fire, curses, poisoning, possession, etc.
13. Trainer: Magic for affecting beasts might mean the ability to control them, feel their emotions, communicate with them, etc.
14. Bravo: Strength-based magic creates a zilat ready for physical feats such as lifting weights, bending metal, brawling, etc. Obviously, the level -1 for “similar magic” shouldn’t apply to normal fighting for a weightlifting bravo.
15. Gardener: Magic for affecting plants or fungi which might mean growing them, shaping them, talking to them, etc. Specialties should be either plantst or fungi and “similar magic” can run either way: a plant-speaking gardener might be able to stretch their magic to shape plants or to talk to fungi.
16. Meta: In a magical world, these zilats have the power to sense and interpret magic, though they often can’t cast themselves. They might specialize in sensing spells, identifying spells, tracing spells to their caster, boosting others’ spells, etc.
17. Rioter: Emotional magic can be used to enflame emotions, reveal emotions, dampen emotions, etc.
18. Shadows: Stealth magic is different from infiltrating magic which makes things invisible. Shadows can hide sounds, leave no footprints, disguise intention, etc.
19. Vedette: This zilat can achieve amazing feats with one of their senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell but also intuition, pattern-recognition, temporal awareness, etc. Obviously, normal senses aren’t at level -1 for “similar magic” so a touch vedette wouldn’t be worse than normal at seeing a hidden door, although they might still have a better chance to see through a visual illusion, especially since they can combine that with their sense of touch.
20. Ritualists: While zilats can’t cast spells like vislae a rare few can use long-form magic to a limited degree. They usually only know a small handful of rituals (not more than half their level rounded down) and nothing that’s a higher level than they are. Their specialties are, naturally, conjurations, invocations, enchantments, and rituals.

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