Ashori

AX.GAT.06.08 - Ashori

"We don't call it electricity. We call it the Current. We've been calling it that for a thousand years and we're not changing it because your instruments have a different word for it."

The Ashori generate bioelectric energy through a secondary organ system, a network of conductive tissue distributed through their body that produces, stores, and releases charge with varying degrees of control. They know this is unusual. Most species find it notable in the way they find all unusual biology notable: with a mixture of interest, wariness, and occasional inappropriate curiosity. The Ashori have developed an extensive set of cultural practices around managing this response, which boils down to: be upfront about it, demonstrate it on request exactly once, and decline to do so thereafter unless it's useful.

Their culture calls this capacity the Current, not as metaphor but as a literal description of what they experience as a distinct physical sensation, a flow of charge that builds and releases in patterns they learn to read like proprioception. The Current is not painful under controlled conditions; under stress, insufficient discharge management, or emotional extremes, it can be. Ashori children learn discharge management early the way other species' children learn not to touch hot things, the consequences of not learning are immediate and socially costly.

The Ashori relationship to the Current is not mystical by default. Many Ashori are entirely pragmatic about it: a physical fact, sometimes useful, requiring maintenance attention, no different in category from any other biological system. Others have developed philosophical or cultural frameworks that treat the Current as a spiritual phenomenon, an inheritance from something larger, a connection to the electrical character of the universe, a gift that entails obligations. Both orientations produce valid Ashori characters; the disagreement between them is a recurring source of internal community friction.

In the World

Ashori arrived on the Terminal primarily through the Survey Corps and the engineering-adjacent labor market, the Current's utility in systems work, EVA operations, and equipment calibration made them valuable in contexts that required precise electrical interaction with station infrastructure. This is a more technically skilled entry than the Gorrathi's labor migration and produces a different economic position: Ashori are generally employed in higher-credential contexts, face less obvious extraction pressure, and have developed a smaller but more institutionally integrated community than the Keth or Gorrathi.

The downside is a different form of the same problem. Ashori in systems and engineering roles are expected to use the Current as a professional tool rather than a personal capacity. The distinction matters to Ashori who have developed a relationship to the Current as something more than a utility function, and the station's tendency to treat it as the latter is a recurring source of cultural friction. Several Ashori community advocates have been making the argument that the Current is a lineage characteristic, not a professional qualification, and should not be a condition of employment. This argument has not yet landed with Station Authority leadership in the way they'd like.

Ashori who use the Current through the tradition framework rather than purely as a biological function are a growing presence on the Terminal, the fourth tradition's practitioners are disproportionately Ashori, though not exclusively. These practitioners have a relationship to the Current that other Ashori often find either inspiring or uncomfortably spiritual depending on their orientation.

Lineage Mechanics

Health Modifier: 0 (Applied at character creation and each time Fortitude is increased through XP advancement.)

Design Note: Ashori mechanical value is in their tradition access and inherited perks, not Health. A 0 modifier is correct, the lineage is built for active capability, not passive durability. Players who want a more durable Ashori invest in Body.

Cultural Talent: Strike 1D This die is free; it does not come from the Talent generation budget. Ashori physical training integrates Current management with close-quarters technique. The tradition of controlled contact charge delivery shapes how Ashori approach physical confrontation even before tradition training begins. Common Foci: Conductive Strike, Martial Arts, Intimidation.

Inherited Perks

The Current | Bioelectric Trait

The Ashori's bioelectric organ system produces charge continuously and can release it through physical contact or as a directed discharge. This is a biological function, not a power tradition expression, though tradition training builds on the same biological substrate.

Effect: Unarmed Strikes: When the Ashori makes a successful unarmed strike,
        they may choose to deliver a charge burst as a Free Action declaration.
        This adds 1 additional energy (electrical) damage to the hit beyond
        rolled successes. This is the Current's natural discharge; it does
        not require tradition access and cannot be suppressed accidentally.
        The Ashori must actively choose not to discharge.

        Electrical Resistance: The Ashori reduces all electrical damage by 3
        before applying it to Health (minimum 0). Their biology was adapted
        to manage charge; receiving charge from an external source registers
        as noise rather than damage below a significant threshold.

        System Interaction: At Touch range, the Ashori may attempt to interface
        with powered systems through direct physical contact. This allows them
        to make Lore (Systems) rolls without standard interface equipment for
        basic diagnostic functions (power levels, system status, active
        processes). It does not replace hacking tools for intrusion or
        manipulation.

Activation: Free Action (discharge declaration); Passive (resistance, system sensing)
Scope: Touch (system interaction); Self (resistance)
Genre Note: The discharge is a declaration, not an automatic effect, the
            player states they're delivering charge when they hit, before
            the GM resolves the damage. The system interaction is deliberately
            limited to diagnostic functions without equipment; it is a
            flavor capability that reduces gear dependency for basic checks,
            not a bypass for secured systems.

Arc Discharge | Active Capability

Under conditions of stress or deliberate activation, the Ashori can release a burst of charge in a radius rather than through contact. This is more taxing than touch discharge and has a recovery cost; it is not routine.

Effect: Once per scene, as a Primary Action, the Ashori releases a radial
        charge burst affecting all creatures (not the Ashori) within Close range
        (0–5 ft). Each affected creature must make a Body Save (Threshold 2)
        or suffer the Hindered condition until the end of their next Turn.
        Creatures with electrical immunity are unaffected.

        Creatures that critically fail (no successes, Wild Die shows 1) suffer
        Stunned instead of Hindered.

        After using Arc Discharge, the Ashori's Current depletes significantly
        and they suffer Disadvantage on any roll involving the Current perk's
        charge-delivery or system-interaction functions until the end of the
        current scene. This is biological depletion, not a standard condition.

Activation: Primary Action (1× per scene)
Scope: Close range (all creatures)
Recovery: Per scene; Disadvantage on Current functions until end of scene
Genre Note: Arc Discharge is designed to be a tactical tool used at a
            meaningful moment, not a routine opening. The depletion cost
            is real, an Ashori who opens with Arc Discharge loses their
            charge advantage for the rest of the scene. Players should
            feel the tradeoff. The Stunned critical-fail result creates
            upside for risk-tolerant players without making the ability
            reliable at its ceiling.

Power Access

Ashori have strong natural alignment with Arc Theory (Force category, electromagnetic/energy projection, AX.GAT.08.06). Their Current provides a biological foundation that tradition training formalizes and amplifies. The distinction between the Current's biological function and the tradition's trained capability is clear mechanically but permeable in fiction.

Effect: The Ashori may train and use the Arc Theory Odd Talent tradition.
        Access granted at 1D in the Arc Theory Odd Talent.
        Governing Attribute is Body or Wit, determined at character creation.
        Body-governed expressions are physically direct (discharge at range,
        conductive manipulation). Wit-governed expressions are precise and
        calibrated (field shaping, targeted disruption).
Genre Note: Ashori using the tradition are building on the same biological
            substrate as their Current perks. In fiction, the distinction
            between "using the Current as a biological function" and "using
            the tradition" is not always clear. Mechanically, they are
            distinct: perks are always available; the tradition is subject
            to the Flux resource mechanic. Narrate accordingly.

Attribute and Talent Caps

Context	Maximum Value
Attributes	5D
Body Attribute (Ashori)	6D
Wit Attribute (Ashori)	6D
Talents	5D
Foci	3D

Cap increases: The Ashori may raise either Body or Wit (not both) to a maximum of 6D, corresponding to the Governing Attribute chosen for their tradition at character creation. An Ashori who governs by Body raises Body to 6D; one who governs by Wit raises Wit to 6D. This choice is made at character creation and is permanent. Cost: Current Value × 3 XP for the 5D → 6D raise.

Roleplaying the Ashori

The Current as Character

Decide how your Ashori character relates to the Current before play begins. Is it a tool, a responsibility, a source of identity, a burden? The philosophical division within the Ashori community is real and produces meaningfully different characters. An Ashori who treats the Current as a professional utility and an Ashori who treats it as a lineage inheritance will make different choices in situations where the Current is relevant.

Discharge Management

The Current requires ongoing management, not constant attention, but awareness. Ashori under significant stress or in emotionally extreme situations have to actively manage discharge. Players can treat this as purely background, or as a character-level detail that surfaces in high-stakes scenes. Either is valid. The point is that the Current is not dormant; it is always present.

Professional Friction

Ashori on the Terminal have a specific relationship to the way their lineage capacity is perceived professionally. This is worth working into backstory, an Ashori who joined an engineering unit because their Current was considered a professional qualification has a different starting point than one who joined despite that framing, or one who has been actively pushing back against it.

GM Notes

Current interactions with environment: Think about what in your setting has an interesting relationship to the Ashori's electrical capability. Powered systems, security fields, cybernetically enhanced enemies, electromagnetic environments, the Current creates interactions that other lineages don't have. Build scenes with electrically relevant elements more often when Ashori are in the party.

Arc Discharge in close combat: The perk has value precisely because it affects everything in Close range, including allies. In scenes where allies might be caught in the burst, players should be made aware before they activate it rather than after. The depletion cost should be narrated clearly so players feel the tradeoff in play.

Arc Theory in play: The tradition has three Expressions, Discharge (ranged and contact-range electrical output), Interface (system activation and overload via Touch), and Field (sustained EM field generation). The Body vs. Wit Governing Attribute choice shapes how all three Expressions manifest. See AX.GAT.08.06 for full mechanics. The key GM task with Ashori tradition users is keeping the fiction clear between biological perk use (always available, no Flux cost) and tradition use (subject to Flux). The two look similar from the outside; they feel different to the practitioner.

Quick Reference

Lineage Element	Value / Details
Health Modifier	0
Cultural Talent	Strike 1D (free; common Foci: Conductive Strike, Martial Arts, Intimidation)
Inherited Perk 1	The Current, unarmed discharge +1 energy damage; electrical resistance 3; touch-range system diagnostics
Inherited Perk 2	Arc Discharge, Close-range burst Body Save Th2 or Hindered; critical fail = Stunned; 1×/scene; Current functions Disadvantage until end of scene
Power Access	Arc Theory (Force, AX.GAT.08.06), Lineage-direct at 1D; Body or Wit governed (chosen at creation)
Cap Increases	Either Body or Wit may reach 6D (matches chosen Governing Attribute; choice is permanent)