Creation’s Overlords System

You want to make your own kingdom, directional spanning trading empire, or ninja assassin
teahouse? Do you find the Leadership system too bare bones and want to try something with a
bit more feeling and weight to it? Then the Creation’s Overlord system may be for you.

Creation’s Overlords System is different than the Creation Ruling Mandate system used in 2.5e.
I found the system neat, but overall too gamey in a sense. I felt as if Fate Core did a better job
of representing the changes in such a system. It was more engaging and felt more dramatic,
there were risks of failures (with and without cost) and victories that gave things other than a
binary win/lose system. So in this sense I take the chassis of the Social Influence system that
currently exists for 3e and modify it so it can be used to run a kingdom. I mean if something
works well then why fix it, just take the base system and rename everything to make people get
the terms mixed up because the both use similar systems. In a sense I feel like it's the chaos
mishmash of themes you get from Exalted in general: Very crunchy in some areas but largely
narrative in others. If you like the current Leadership system and don’t like additional crunch,
then this may not be for you.

Overview
At its core the Creation’s Overlord System is all about building and running your very own
organization. Whenever it’s a small but noble kingdom to the directional spanning organization
that would do anything for a buck, this system will cover it. The amount of Wealth and the scope
of your nation determines its overall Cohesion and you entact your will upon the world through
the various assets that your organization has via military power, cunning logistics/marketplace
knowledge, or vicious memetic rumors. The leader, or whichever subordinate he delegates to
make the roll, uses his own dicepool for the rolls but every other static value comes directly from
the organization itself. An organization's own Subterfuge allows it to protect how its own state
secrets work and prevent outsiders from interfering with their operation too easily.

Like social influence, the overall goal is locating the weak points of others organizations or using
their own assets against them somehow, but unlike social influence you don’t use it to convince
someone in a ‘soft’ sense. The goal is to keep damaging and/or causing complications for other
organizations until they eventually come to a bartering table with you, cede to your demands, or
effectively cease to be. There is not vanilla way to force people to comply, rather you keep
twisting their arm until they cry uncle. Then will be such a time to use the Social Influence
system to try and bend them towards your ways.

Lastly it also deals with the various warts and issues that plague organizations all the time. You
can make what is utopia but you’re going to need to work for such a thing. Various flaws and
problems can be caused all the time not only by your opponent but by your own actions.
Overeager subordinates can cause problems within your organization just as much as the fleet
you decommissioned broke off and became pirates who now cause problems for you.
Order of Actions
Like social influence, there is no set turn order per se. The players and Storyteller decide which
one goes first and the turn order is set, or if speed is an issue the leader of both organizations
roll (Wits+War/Bureaucracy) in order to go first depending on if its a military or bureaucratic
matter in nature. Once turn order is decided the organization may then declare their action.
Assuming if the opponent doesn’t somehow decide to interfere with the action then the Leader
selects an asset to use as his vector of assault and rolls their relevant dicepool in an area
against either a listed difficulty or against the opponent’s Competency rating in order to enact
change upon their organization.

Typically the dicepools used in this system involve the attributes of Charisma, Manipulation and
Intelligence with the skills of Bureaucracy, Socialize, and War. Others may be substituted at the
discretion of the Storyteller and player based on the current situation at hand. A Night caste who
wants to sneak in and cripple an asset by killing key personnel would be allowed to use
Dexterity+Stealth while a Twilight who wants to rebuild destroyed homes could use
Intelligence+Craft instead of a roll such as Intelligence+Bureaucracy.

Charms are also largely variable in this system. Mainly because I don’t feel like rewriting a lot of
them in order to make them compatible with this system. In such a case pick and choose what
variables you could apply to character actions. When a Zenith makes a rousing speech to
create a sorcerously enhanced anger in the population, it could create an angry mob at the
major asset level used to attack the foe while Speed the Wheels could make your bureaucracy
flow with such speed that attempting to counteract any of your organization’s projects would be
impossible without similar magic.

The base interval for each roll in an organization is one month. Certain actions may take shorter
or longer than others based on Storyteller discretion. A smaller organization may be better
suited to take rolls once per week while a directional spanning organization may be more suited
once per season. Motes and willpower spent by a Leader regenerate at a rate of 5m per turn.
This is represented by leading an organization to be very taxing. Out of Character wise your
Leader character may only pay for a full excellency once, but in character it represents him
constantly using a full excellency over the course of a month to handle affairs. In order to get all
of one’s motes and WP back they need to take a month off doing nothing, often letting a second
in command take over for this duration. This is also done to avoid giving players effectively
infinite motes and WP which is dumb.

Traits
Below is a list of traits that describe your organization. You’ll see that many of these are actually
reskinned Social Influence traits, but with slight tweaks to make them more suited towards
running an organization.
Leader
This is effectively the Leader of the Organization in question. An organization may be composed
of a single king whose word is unchallenged or a council of sorcerous sages who decided by
committee, but effectively this is the person who controls the organization and calls the shots.
The leader uses their dicepool for any action the organization takes. A leader may also decide
to delegate certain tasks better suited for other individuals, such as a King letting his General
handle military matters or his Spymaster to find any individual flaws that may exist in a rival
organization. A character who attempts to take action with an Organization when he isn’t the
leader or doesn’t have the leader’s permission suffers a -3 penalty to all rolls, such as when a
high ranking spy attempts to make a nation use their soldiers to attack another nation in order to
get war declared upon them.

Competency
Competency is a measure of the organization’s skill, in which a more skilled organization is
better able to deal with hostile actions by rival organizations without impeding the overall
function of the organization. This score functions as the Resolve stat of the Organization,
opponents needing to beat this score in over to make any significant or longstanding change on
your organization at large.

A high Competency is beneficial for warding off the assaults of your rivals, but it comes with its
own set of problems. First is that a high base Competency represents the bar for employment in
your company. If problems happen in your organization that represent loss of wealth or the
routing of one of your mercenary groups, replacing or repairing those losses becomes harder as
you’re attempting to select only the very best personnel. An organization of Competency 2
means they’ll take anyone with basic knowledge of their assigned goal, a Competency 5
organization demands only the best and brightest of people or long training times in order to get
up to par with your standards. This means you’ll often need to roll against your organization’s
own Competency in order to enact such changes! This often means only the most skilled or
brilliant of people are capable of holding together a high competency organization for long.

Competency is a standalone stat, but the maximum it can be is 5.

Subterfuge
Subterfuge is the ability to keep the inner workings and secrets of your organization obfuscated
from outside view. Unlike Guile in Social Influence, Subterfuge isn’t about hiding your assets
completely. Within the Scavenger Lands there are likely few people who have not heard about
Lookshy’s famed Gunzosha Troopers, and one probably only needs to pass a basic Lore roll to
know about them. What Subterfuge does is protect how your assets in general work. If an
organizations manages to beat the nation’s of Lookshy’s Subterfuge ranking then it means they
find out a basic level of how such suits work. A commander could develop countermeasures
against the Gunzosha suits while a businessman may instead attempt to buy out the rare
materials needed to service such suits. Likewise one would need to beat an organization's
Subterfuge in order to learn about any flaws the nation currently has in the midst. Flaws that are
not immediately obvious to an Organization itself is surely going to be just as hidden from
outsiders themselves.

Subterfuge is useful for keeping others prying noses out of your organizations vital assets, but
at the same time it can be a hindrance. A high Subterfuge could do things such as complicate or
extend how long an order takes to execute, forcing those in the Organization to go through
constant security checks to make sure secret information remains secret. Likewise hidden flaws
become all the more harder to spot in an organization, as either your own men become very
adept at how to keep things hidden from plain sight while non man made items could go
unnoticed.

Subterfuge is a standalone stat, but the maximum it can be is 5.

Assets
Assets are valuable items an organization uses to enact change upon the world or to defend
against change. They function similar to intimacies in the social influence system, but here they
are even more important as assets are the primary ways for an organization to actually affect
the world. They are so important that if one doesn’t have an asset to use as some sort of
approach for an action then that action automatically fails. If a General wants to launch a military
campaign against his enemy then he’ll need an army to do so!

Just like normal social influence, assets can be used to bolster the Competency (Resolve)
against hostile actions and can be used in decision points in order to negate an attempt a rival
organization attempts to make upon your organization. They function just like intimacies when
making rolls, including gaining Competency (Resolve) bonuses or penalties and when a higher
tier one would take priority.

The main difference is that assets do not reset like intimacies do. Whenever an asset is used in
an action it often needs some time to rest and recover. This occurs naturally over some period
of time, about once per season under normal operations. However many organizations typically
don’t want to wait that long in order to reuse some of their valuable assets. As such the
organization action of Recollect Cohesion can be used to successfully “reset” the use of an
asset for use once again. Any relevant philosophies an organization might have that could apply
to an action could also be used to ‘recharge’ the motivation of an expended asset, giving them
that much more motivation to finish a task before needing to rest once again.

Like intimacies there are different types, which in the case of assets are Tangibles,
Philosophies, and Flaws.
Tangibles
Tangibles are usually the most common type of asset in which they represent physical, tangible
things a company has. A Kingdom which is in an easily defendable position could have an asset
of “One way in or out of our Kingdom”, a trading company could have various minor
businessmen or subsidiary companies acting on their behalf, while a mercenary company could
have various armies capable of deploying on its behalf that possibly specialize in individual
areas. Either way these are often the things used most often in order to enact physical change
upon the world or to be protected from change.

Tangible assets can be hidden completely, which if they are and you’re targeted with one then
the Storyteller doesn’t even need to say what it is until the players find out about it.

Philosophies
Philosophies are the ideals that guide and steer a company, reaffirming what they actually are
what they strive towards. They effectively function somewhat as principles in the Social
influence system, representing specific mindsets or ideas rather than physical things. Does a
mercenary company sincerely want to make a better world for its clients or is any job just a
matter of how much coin one is willing to pay?

Philosophies are more used against morale based effects, allowing one to shield their
organization from vicious rumors or instilling such a thing upon other organizations. As such
they’re a bit more limited in scope; a cult’s fervent belief in their god won’t make an enemy army
go away but it can be used as a motivational booster to have their own men keep fighting when
they’re exhausted from previous efforts. Likewise when one searches their company under the
suspicion that someone is embezzling funds they can use their company’s belief in Honesty and
Truthfulness to search out the party responsible. Simple towns however can have basic
Philosophies such as “Ensure the well being and prosperity of the town and its people” to speed
things up.

One special philosophy is the called the Founding Philosophy that each and every company
has, the very reason for their own existence. This is always at the defining level and doesn’t
count as part of the asset pyramid (See below). Without some sort of Philosophy at the defining
level the organization begins to lose the meaning of its existence, not only effectively treating it
as leaderless for all intents and purposes (meaning a -3 penalty on all actions) and suffers stat
loss as if they lack any Cohesion but runs in danger of being reassigned a new nature by hostile
organizations or inner conspiracies within the company. In fact organizations without such a
thing will attempt to seek a brand new philosophy in order to run their company with, in which
case random philosophies will begin to crop up at the beginning of every new turn or previously
existing ones randomly increasing in strength until a new one rises to the top. These new
philosophies may be good ones, but they’re just as likely to be flaws.
Flaws
Flaws are essentially negative assets, problems or hardships that are facing the current
organization which may impair or impede functions. Flaws can be broken down into Tangibles
or Philosophies like any other asset, but one generally has little need or want for things such as
“Brunt down houses” in his town or “Our Leader is a Quack” philosophy. Flaws are often created Commented [1]: Burnt?
when an opposing faction slaps them on you with various leadership actions, develop through
some of your own leadership actions, or naturally and organically during play. Some problems
may be a bit bigger in scope and possibly not even solvable unless significant in character effort
is made to get rid of them such as “The Everything Ending Terror slumbers beneath our city”
while others such as “Bandits are pillaging our trade routes” are handled far more easily and
can be made to disappear. Flaws do still count towards the overall pyramid structure of an
organization, a major flaw being something that sucks up resources like a parasite until it is
dealt with.

Flaws not only impede actions in your own organization internally, but also externally as well.
When taking an action against a rival organization the organization may use the higher bonus of
their asset or your flaw in their defense. Even if you or your rival don’t know about the flaw itself,
things can be suspicious when your military campaign is ground to a halt by poor supply lines
caused by embezzlement by one of your senior employees. Such flaws can also be completely
hidden from sight, requiring an internal probe or investigation into your organization in order to
discover their existence. Worse yet flaws do not need to be reorganized like other assets, they
can continue to impede your organization until they are dealt with.

Flaws are still for all intents and purposes assets. A clever leader of an organization taking what
is perceived to be a flaw and using it to his advantage is encouraged. If a recent raid on a town
has led to a flaw of “Burnt Houses” then a mayor of a town using the asset of burnt houses as a
plea for help from a neighbouring nation is completely valid, as could the dramatic reveal of the
“The Everything Ending Terror slumbers beneath our city” be used to intimidate others who’d
want to attack or bully those surrounding you into giving you resources and support to keep the
monster at bay.

Intensity
Each asset has an intensity rated upon just like normal intimacies: Minor, Major, and Defining.
Rather than how closely one cares about a subject, intimacies are how important the assets are
to a company overall. Unlike social influence assets are used to support the company from the
bottom up in a pyramid sort of structure, meaning the amount of intimacies in one level of higher
intensity must be equal to or less than the intimacies from the previous intensity. Meaning if you
have three major assets you must have at least three or more minor assets. Failure to meet this
doesn’t do anything structure wise to the company other than having difficulty expanding as
they’re not getting the proper amount of resources in order to continue smooth operation, thus
until balance is restored then an organization cannot willingly elevate any of its assets in
strength nor take actions such as increasing Wealth, Competency, Subterfuge, and so forth.
The exception to this is a single Philosophy asset that is designated as the Founding Philosophy
of a company, which is exempt from the pyramid structure and needs no support to function as
the entire company is its support.

● Minor assets are assets which have a sway over how the organization operates without
being a core part of what they actually are. Fledgling or beginning operations, small
scale beliefs in the rank and file of the members, or flaws that are seen as a nuisance
rather than a thorn in one’s side. Organizations typically only act on minor assets in
situations or areas that are relevant to them to at the current time but not something to
ultimately obsess over. Minor assets give +2 to Competence when used against rolls
that oppose them and a -1 Competence when used against you.
● Major assets influence how organization acts and operates in many areas of its function.
Even when not placed in situations that are relevant to them, they are seen as important
pieces of the organization and thus warrant the Organization's time, money, and energy.
For a major trading company this could represent important trading bases throughout the
area or for a mercenary company possibly several of its more experienced and battle
hardened men. Flaws of this level are seen as significant problems, things that need to
be dealt with as they could significantly impede the operation of the company as a
whole. Major assets give +3 to Competence when used against rolls that oppose them
and a -2 Competence when used against you.
● Defining assets are keystones of the organization, figurehead or critical assets that are
seen as essential to the organization at large and would be seen as a significant blow
they were to disappear. Such assets are given the lion’s share of the organization's time,
effort, and resources to expect results and certainly give back impressive results. For a
mercenary company this could represent their elite First Company, a hardened group of
soldiers who have seen dozens of campaigns while a trading company would see its
central headquarters in Chiaroscuro as a powerful tool that collects and distributes all
information related to its trading activities. Defining assets give +4 to Competence when
used against rolls that oppose them and a -3 Competence when used against you.

Cohesion
Cohesion is how well an organization can keep itself together under hardship or duress.
Cohesion functions a bit like willpower, allowing a kingdom to keep themselves together in the
face of hardship. When an enemy general manages to overcome an organization’s Competency
rating then it is by selecting an asset or philosophy and spending a point or Cohesion that
allows the organization to endure by managing to recoup any losses.

Cohesion is a general representation of the health of the current organization in this sense, an
organization with the maximum amount of Cohesion available to it is seen to be doing very well
for itself, while those with no Cohesion means the cracks of an organization are starting to show
even to everyday citizens. Such organizations are not only rife to attacks from rival
organizations but suffer additional problems as people begin to jump ship. For every turn an
organization decides not to take actions in order to regain Cohesion then people begin to leave
the failing organization as soldiers desert their posts while mines go abandoned one by one.
One asset (selected by the player) degrades by a level once per turn or the
Wealth/Competency/Guile decreases at a rate of one per turn. This also doesn’t include the
additional issues of flaws also appearing. If an Organization takes an action that attempts to
regain Cohesion none of these traits will fall unless the roll itself fails.

Organizations that are larger tend to be more stable overall while others with vast sums of
resources can use money as a universal bandage to keep things running effectively. In this
sense Cohesion is calculated by adding up the Organization’s Scale and Wealth ratings,
maximum 10 and minimum of 2. Cohesion can be gained by taking the Replenish Capital
action.

Scale
Scale is how large your organization and how much reach or pull it has within the effective area
ranging from a tiny town to a directional spanning empire. Each rank in Scale is a significant
step up from the last, not able to be increased through simply raw rolling. Rather stories in itself
need to be told of how an organization is able to beat out or convince rivals in the area that it
may expand outwards to ever greater power and heights. Likewise going down a scale is
considered a major blow for an organization, but some organizations may prefer to cede control
of a collection of regions to retreat to a single country in order to recollect their strengths and
one day come back out on top. In this case reducing an organization’s scale is a significant
event, often involving a dramatic reshuffling of assets and not something an organization does
lightly.

Note that scale doesn’t necessarily mean you have uncontested control in an area. In could
mean an Emperor whose word is law across the land such as the Scarlet Empress, but there
could be other organizations cohabiting the same area. Two wildly successful Guild Factors
may have caravans selling the same products across the same direction, and while they
compete in that area it doesn’t mean they are mutually exclusive in that area. Something like the
Realm however would be mutually exclusive in the Blessed Isle (probably, this is written before
the 3e Blessed Isle book).

A larger organization attacking a smaller one is able to be done to a certain extent. If an

organization of maiden assassins operate out of a local teahouse that is considered Scale 1 and
wants to kill the corrupt leader of their Scale 2 city then it can be done, same thing if they were
in Nexus and wanted to kill off one of the Guild Factors in the city which is regarded as Scale 3.
Each scale instead applies a -2 penalty to all actions against the larger organization (So if
they’re one higher then you have a -2 penalty, if they’re two higher than a -4 penalty). This
represents attempting to overcome the difference in size and sheer resources the bigger
company can throw at them. Any larger organization is often too big in order to enact any real
change upon it. Likewise the larger organization becomes too large to effectively deal with such
a small organization. At this point the best way for a large body to handle such as thing is take
an action to make a new asset that is designed to locate and deal with with the teahouse
assassins. What is considered to be a minor asset to the larger organization could be a full
fledged subsidiary that is statted out like another organization that the teahouse assassins now
need to deal with.

● Scale 0: The organization's consists of a single person and is in name only. The only
people who likely believe you are the insane bums down the street.
● Scale 1: The organization is the size of a town or hamlet.
● Scale 2: The organization is the size of a modest city or spread out over several towns.
● Scale 3: The organization is spread out over a small country or is the size of one of
Creation’s larger cities such as Chiaroscuro or Nexus.
● Scale 4: The organization is the size of a single large country or is spread out over
multiple countries. In such cases each province could be an asset unto themselves.
● Scale 5: The organization encompasses the area of an entire direction or continent.
● Scale 6+: Each additional point of scale beyond this represents control of another
continent or direction of Creation. The only current organizations with this size are the
Realm and Guild and even they tend not to control all of Creation yet.

BONUS HEAVEN’S REACH SIZES

Due to the scope of Heaven’s Reach, use this scale to continue on after 5.

● Scale 6: The character’s organization is spread out over the entire planet. At this stage
you’re either a planetary leader or a company whose business is seen as vital to the
world in general. In planets with insane population counts, as in the hundreds of billions,
this is seen as taking over an area about the size of a continent.
● Scale 7: Your organization is now roughly the size of an entire Solar system. Special
planets who have insane population counts within the hundreds of billions count on this
level.
● Scale 8: Your organization is now roughly several solar systems in size, this is often the
level of very successful civilizations in the Frontier.
● Scale 9: Your organization is is now the size of an entire sector. Currently to date the
only organizations pulling this off are, again, the Guild and the Central Empire.
● Scale 10: The organization has influence throughout the Galaxy itself. Only the Golden
Age had effectively this size.

Wealth
Wealth is the amount of resources the organization has in general in order to accomplish its
goal. This doesn’t represent the raw amount of money the company has at any one time, but
rather the total amount of resources it has to throw at any given problem. Wealth functions as a
buffer of sorts, organizations often needing an amount of wealth equal to their scale in order to
cover base expenses, failure to meet this can cause various problems to begin cropping up as
resource shortfalls begin. A Scale 3 organization having a Wealth of 2 isn’t a terrible thing, one
would be penny pinching for a while but often the problems would be minor. If that same
organization has wealth one then major problems can begin happening as soldiers go without
proper weapons or personnel able to repair trade caravans leave for organizations that actually
pay them. There are some exceptions to this, such as if you have a group of Brass Legionaries
to do work for you for virtually no pay... at least before you need the proper resources to service
them. Basically if you have a Wealth rating of at least two or more less than your current size,
you may want to quickly fix that or consider downsizing your organization by reducing the scale.

Otherwise wealth is largely a static value, it increases the amount of Cohesion an organization
has and in a pinch can be lowered instead of paying a point of Cohesion or accepting a
new/altered asset. I couldn’t think of other ideas for it but if you have ideas then throw them in
there. In case you’re wondering if a character can use his personal resources as a form of
wealth, then yes you can do that.

● Wealth 0: You are flat fucking broke. If you’re an organization that’s Scale 3 or higher
and you reach this wealth level then only the most dedicated of people are going to
remain behind.
● Wealth 1: A modest start up of Resources 2.
● Wealth 2: Effectively Resources 3.
● Wealth 3: Effectively Resources 4.
● Wealth 4: Effectively Resources 5.
● Wealth 5: Effectively Resources 6. This represents the amount of money that extremely
successful people would have. Alternatively this could be the GDP of a small country if
much of their population was geared towards some sort of efficient production role.
● Wealth 6: The amount of wealth produced by this level are those of extremely successful
people in very wealth areas which the amount of money that exchanges hands every
day would boggle the layperson. Areas such as Nexus or Chiaroscuro make this amount
of amount of money or large nations such as An-Teng or the Confederation of Rivers
could throw around without significantly troubling them. Deathlords often have a
personal treasury with an amount of money equal to this instead of it.
● Wealth 7: This amount of resources shows the major movers and shakers in Creation.
Examples of places with this amount of wealth in Creation would be the entity of the
Confederation of River, An-Teng, or the personal resources of the very business savvy
Silver Prince. The amount of wealth in this instance is often spread out all over a
direction in Creation to fund innumerable operations.
● Wealth 8: The maximum form of wealth for Vanilla Creation, having one’s wealth spread
all over creation to fund various activities all over. The only examples who currently have
this amount of success are, again, the Realm and the Guild.

BONUS HEAVEN’S REACH SIZES

Take the resources listed in the Heaven’s Reach Guidebook (Page 311 in the PDF document)
and go on the scale there to a maximum resources of Wealth 10 (Functioning as Resources 11
or N/A). Simple and easy conversion.
Might
Might is a measure of supernatural capability a particular asset has. Functioning sort of like
appearance, one gains bonus dice based on the difference between the highest Might score vs
the lower one. Might is different in the sense that it doesn’t apply to the organization at large but
rather individual assets within the organization itself. It is completely possible to have one asset
at Might 2 while another may be Might 4. The list below serves as a guideline for possible Might
bonuses. The Leader who make rolls in the Organization’s steed does not count himself as a
part of Might, instead the Leader may use powerful charms or other magic to bolster his rolls
instead. Like really even an excellency makes you look like a vengeful god.

● Might 0: The group is composed of nothing more than ordinary mortals. No supernatural
talent to speak of in this area.
● Might 1: At this level the characters have minor supernatural blessings or features that
make things easier for them. A beastmen army tribe, young godblooded hero, or minor
supernatural blessings could have this level of supernatural might that are not quite at
the level of sorcery.
● Might 2: At this level the asset enjoys a modest amount of Supernatural might that give
them a significant but not insurmountable advantage over most competitors. An example
could include a young Dragonblooded, First Circle Demons, or some sort of artifact rated
at roughly three dots to aid in the roll. Natural features, such as a city that is easily
defensible with only one way in or out, can have a might rating of this level simply due to
the incredible advantage they provide in a siege.
● Might 3: An asset with this Might level are supernaturally potent assets that give
considerable advantages of most mundane opponents. Examples in this area include
powerful supernatural oaths of loyalty, a single Celestial Exalted, a single experienced
Dragonblooded or young Dragonblooded circle, a second circle demon, a Raksha
raiding party, or a potent artifact rated at level 4. An asset at this level also confers an
additional +1 to Competency or Subterfuge when used on the defensive.
● Might 4: Assets of this level of supernatural might often have most mundane opponents
cowering in fear just by their mere mention. Examples could include a circle of Celestial
Exalted, an experienced Dragonblooded brotherhood such as a Shikari Wyld Hunt, or an
artifact 5 artifact including something such as a warstrider. Typically such things may
often be better played out in a dramatic scene then glossed over in the game, but seeing
the sudden appearance of a Shikari Wyld Hunt suddenly appearing on a Realm
protectorate city and taking action by slapping a flaw or some other grief on a players
organization is a powerful way to send off a beginning warning shot quickly.
● Might 5: At this stage the asset has such a significant amount of might that only the most
foolhardy or brave of souls could even consider opposing such a thing, or at least dread
the person capable of fielding such things. At this level extremely powerful assets such
as Third Circle Demons, some Artifact N/A items, Warstriders within an environment that
suits them (EX: Emerald Chevalier in areas of large open plains) or groups of elemental
dragons count as such things. Assets of this level add another +1 bonus Competency or
 Subterfuge when guarding against hostile actions, stacking with the previous bouns for a
total of a +2 bonus.
● ALL Might: This ranking confers special or unique advantages that don’t provide dice
bonuses but rather a nearly insurmountable wall to scale. Those under the sway of The
Perfect’s staff confer no information as they die before giving any, the Realm Defense
Grid annihilating any hostile force, or the walls of Gethamane making it functionally
impossible to conduct a military effort on the city when the gates are closed. For this
reason it doesn’t count as N/A might, but having all the might needed to basically beat
the opponent, hence ALL Might. Unless one has a specific plot device to overcome such
an advantage, any assault a rival organization uses with this is deemed automatically
successful while any defense is also automatically successful. Anime reference? What
do you mean, I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Actions
The following is a comprehensive list of actions one can take when using the Creation’s
Overlords System. Suggested dicepools are listed with them but as mentioned previously they
are just that, suggestions. If a Leader can think up a more appropriate dicepool then they’re
welcome to do so.

Audit
Suggested Dicepool: (Intelligence/Perception + Bureaucracy/Investigation/Socialize)

The Leader takes time to perform an extensive and comprehensive investigation into his own
organization in order to discover any potential flaws that his organization may be having. The
leader spends a point of Cohesion and rolls his dice pool against the Subterfuge of his own
organization, any flaws add a bonus to Subterfuge equal to the bonus it gets for resisting an
attempt. If successful the leader regains a point of Cohesion and locates a hidden flaws, if any,
that exists within his organization. Such a flaw may be targeted normally by future actions.

Bolster Infrastructure
Suggested Dicepool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Intelligence + Bureaucracy/Socialize/War)

The Leader takes time to bolster the infrastructure of his organization, increasing it to a new
level of skill or repairing any damage taken to his company. The Leader selects a stat he wishes
to increase such as Competency, Subterfuge, or Wealth and roll against a difficulty of (Current
rating of stat + 1), adding the defense bonus of any flaws to the attempt if they are relevant. This
action costs a point of Cohesion to attempt but if successful the stat increases by 1 and the
point of Cohesion is returned. Competency or Subterfuge may be increased to a maximum of 5,
Wealth may only be increased to a maximum of whatever the rating was at before it was
damaged. It can be increased if there is a new and significant market opportunity within the
area, such as a rival major trading company going out of business, in which case all business
within the area roll and whomever passes with the most threshold successes snaps up the old
rival’s businesses.

This dicepool varies depending on the action undertaken. If one’s wealth was attacked and
stolen by raiders then one can use War to lead a daring charge to take it back. Socialize can be
used to talk to your employees and try to sooth over problems, while Bureaucracy can be used
to effectively streamline the process or solve it with good old fashioned paperwork.

Contest Action
Suggested Dicepool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Intelligence + Bureaucracy/Socialize/War)

There are times when a Leader needs to take personal action not to attack a rival organization’s
own assets but attempt to slow any progress they have on such a thing down. In order to take
this action an organization must have had a successful probe action to attempt and learn what
action the target organization is about to take OR have some sort of Spy in the midst of the
organization (As a guideline, a spy with an asset level will be able to automatically detect
anything an asset at that level is doing, so if you have a major asset spy planted within a rival
organization you would be able to learn about any action taken by major or minor assets). Once
you know of the action the target organization is about to take you can replace the difficulty of
their action with the amount of successes on the roll of this action and by spending a point of
Cohesion. War makes a flurry of raid actions on a nation’s supply lines, Socialize spreading
vicious but short lived rumors of the organization’s future deeds, or Bureaucracy to apply red
tape to whatever the rival organization attempts. Bonuses and penalties to defenses add and
subtract automatic successes on both sides. If you gain more successes over the rival
organization then their action is thwarted by you as they are unable to accomplish anything due
to constant interruptions and you regain a point of Cohesion. If you continue applying pressure
to a rival organization successfully various flaws may begin manifesting in rival organizations,
such as supply shortages or local people calling your competence as a leader into question.

In case you really piss in people’s cereal and annoy more than one organization off, every
organization who wants to dogpile on one unlucky opponent may do so. Take the highest result
from any one roll and add a single automatic success for every additional organization that
aided in the attempt.

Downsize
Suggested Dicepool: N/A

Facing severe external pressures or crippling internal pressures, a company can elect to
downsize itself in order to recollect its most vital assets and temporarily lessen the problems
that plague it. The Downsize action requires no roll but isn’t an action to be taken lightly, as it
reduces the Scale of your organization by 1. Assets are completely reshuffled in the instance,
allowing one to possibly purge some of the problems plaguing their company in exchange for
other possibly smaller ones. This is pretty damning for most organizations, but the flip side it
does completely refill the amount of Cohesion an organization has to act with. Organizations at
scale 1 can use this action, but such a thing is effectively suicide as it destroys the organization.
Enemy spies cannot take this action, only the original Leader can declare it.

Remember, there is no hard mechanical way to increase in size. Such a thing only comes with
time and effort invested into growing the organization.

Probe
Suggested Dicepool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Perception + Investigation/Socialize)

The Leader takes time and effort in order to search a rival company for any flaws their
organization may have or weak points within currently existing assets. To use this roll the
Leader spends a point of Cohesion then rolls their relevant dicepool against the target
organization’s Subterfuge, which the target organization may select some sort of asset of
philosophy to defend against such an attempt. If successful the Leader who rolled against a
point of Cohesion back and either learns of a potential flaw the rival organization has (if any) or
a potential weak point of an asset which allows them to plan a form of attack.

Replenish Capital
Suggested Dicepool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Intelligence + Bureaucracy/Socialize)

The Leader spends time and effort maintaining and restocking his organization. New business
deals are closed and cost cutting measures are taken with Bureaucracy while Socialize involves
exposing company morals to reset Philosophies. To take this action the Leader may select one
expended asset and rolls the relevant dicepool with a difficulty of the Organization’s
(Competence + defense values of any relevant flaws - any Assets that could help aid in the
attempt). If successful the Organization regains a point of Cohesion and the asset is effectively
reset again for use. Note that any assets used to aid in this attempt are not expended, as while
this is work it is usually not very demanding work. In a situation where an organization somehow
has no assets remaining, they can replenish a minor asset without needing to use another as a
vector. If an Organization with no Cohesion is attempting this action then any problems resulting
from no Cohesion will not happen so long as this action was attempted.

Shift Policy/Asset
Suggested Dicepool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Intelligence + Bureaucracy/Socialize/War)

This action is taken when a leader wants to take action against an Organization’s assets, be it
his own organization or that of a rival organization. The roll is undertaken in the same way, pay
a point of Cohesion and roll the relevant dicepool against an Organization’s Competence plus
any modifiers. Remember you must use one of your asset’s as a vector for the attack or else it
automatically fails. Rival organizations will typically select an asset to defend against it but in the
Leader’s organization it may possibly represent dissent or fear of change in the company which
may not only add the defense bonus of a possible but that of an asset or Philosophy to a
competence bonus (For example, convincing a batch of Druidic Witches to accept an automaton
work force may clash with the Witches beliefs). If successful you create either a new asset at
the minor level or increase a previous asset up a stage (Minor to Major, Major to defining). Like
intimacies one needs to use a previous asset at the current level in order to bolster it higher, so
increasing an asset from Minor to Major involves using a minor asset to support it, the same
goes in reverse if you wish to reduce an asset in effectiveness. From here there are some
differences on if you used this to target your own organization or a rival’s.

If you targeted a rival organization’s assets then they change as per normal. A military raid
could leave a minor asset destroyed while a major one could be significantly impaired in
function. For example burning down civilian houses could put a flaw of “Many people are without
homes” major flaw on the target kingdom, which will last until repaired. Which they better be
quick, as a rival organization could possibly target that flaw to bump it up to the Defining level as
“Our Kingdom’s buildings are in ruins!” If an action of this sort creates a hidden flaw for the
organization, then Probe actions are required to learn of them unless they were immediately
obvious in their inception, such as a recent attack bolstering a small group of people to become
freedom fighters against the tyrant of their own country and you supplying the arms to them.

Using this on your own organization has more interesting effects occur. Minor Assets can be
created at a whim without rocking the metaphorical boat of your own organization, but altering
an asset that is major or defining (whenever that is going up or down in intensity) causes
massive friction within the organization. People bicker about the possible problems that such
large changes could bring and causes irreversible friction or problems in the organization, thus
creating a brand new flaw of strengthening an existing one. Even the most noble of companies
will have assholes and the most evil companies noble men, even an automaton society or
society with no free will might have trouble as problems not foreseen begin to crop up. Thus
begins the eternal race to find and locate such problems before they become too big of a deal,
typically with an Audit action. If you take a needlessly cruel action or action that strongly
misaligns with the company’s morales/philosophies to correct a problem (EX: Using slaves to
construct something when you were founded with a strong anti-slave stance) then a Flaw
immediately starting at the major level could very well appear! Flaws are an exception to this
rule, and even a major flaw can typically be lowered down then out of existence without causing
more problems. Defining flaws are a bit trickier to defuse, thus special attention needs to be
taken on how to approach the problem without creating additional flaws in the process.