Leylines & the Aether

Leylines

The Awakening happened when the Aether's ley lines ruptured and wild energy from the outer planes began seeping into the world, leaving thin spots where the veil is weak. Leylines are a defining feature of the world, not a rare oddity: any hex can have one, and a leyline can be the source of strange weather, mutated creatures, otherworldly adversaries and story hooks.

Strength & Reach

Leyline Strength is a property of a hex, from 0 (no leyline) to 3. A source of Strength S has that Strength in its own hex and radiates outward, losing 1 per hex of distance: a hex d hexes away has effective Strength S − d (never below 0). A Strength 1 leyline affects only its own hex. A hex's effective Strength is also its Aether Radiation rating (R1–R3).

• Overlaps: where a hex is in reach of more than one leyline, use the highest effective Strength; don't add them.
• Hidden number: the party never sees the number; the GM tracks it. Players learn of a leyline only through its telegraphs (below).
• Compasses only work where the magnetic field is uniform (without one, Sense Direction and navigation take a −2 item penalty). A leyline hex breaks that, so a compass is unreliable there.
• Temporary leylines: when an Aether-touched sky happens in a hex with no leyline, one opens there: roll a d6 for its Strength (1–3 Strength 1, 4–5 Strength 2, 6 Strength 3). It lasts 1d4 days, then closes. Aether Weather 8 (a tear in the sky) sets Strength 3 directly instead.

What a Leyline Does

• Danger: at effective Strength 2 or higher, the Danger Value is +1 for the Encounter Roll, and encounters there are Aether-touched (see Encounters).
• Weather: a leyline widens the Sky die's Aether-touched range (below).
• Aether radiation: the hex's Radiation rating equals its effective Strength. The exposure schedule follows the usual radiation rules (R1 no immediate threat; R2 a Fortitude save at DC 10 each week of exposure; R3 DC 15 each day), but a failure rolls on the Aether Exposure table instead of causing Radiation Sickness. Aether Weather 4 (coloured rain) is a second way onto that table.
• Channeling: casting in a hex with effective Strength imposes Disadvantage on the Channeling check equal to that Strength, so Wild Surges come more often. Nothing else about the spell changes (DC, Strain, damage, crits). This stacks with Aether Weather's severity bump: a Strength 3 leyline in an Aether storm means Disadvantage 3 on the check and a surge one tier worse when it lands.
• Navigation: any wayfinding check in the hex (the entry Skill Challenge, Reading a Hex, or any other Survival check to find the way) takes Disadvantage equal to the effective Strength. No DC change.
• Sensory Tell: every hex with effective Strength 1+ (source or reach) always carries a Sensory Tell from the d8 list, narrated as part of the hex with no check. A trail of tells leads toward the stronger hex.
• Aether Hook: every such hex also rolls 1d6 on the Aether Hook table in the column for its effective Strength. The tell says something's wrong; the hook says where to go to follow it.

Reading the Aether

Works only in the hex the party is in, and only if its effective Strength is above 0; it senses what is actually present, so it doesn't reach hexes that are merely visible. It uses the same rungs as Reading a Hex, with Mysticism instead of Survival and the Hex Level as the scene level. Questions are free-form and answered truthfully, but must be about the Aether and its effect here ("How strong is it?" "Which way is it strongest?" "Is it safe to rest here?" "What happens if I channel here?").

Telegraphs

Leylines announce themselves: the Foretelling die's "something wrong" result, the Sensory Tell, the Aether Hook, Reading a Hex questions, Reading the Aether, a Farmer's "Of the Land" feature noticing weather wrong for the season, and a misbehaving compass.

Aether-Touched Sky

The sky is Aether-touched on a natural 20 with no leyline present, on 19–20 at Strength 1, 18–20 at Strength 2 and 17–20 at Strength 3 (the hex where the party starts the day; the GM decides if they move into a stronger one). At Strength 3 the Severe and Extreme results (17–19) therefore always become Aether-touched: any storm near a Strength 3 leyline is an Aether storm.

When it happens, the GM rolls a d8 on the Aether Weather table as a follow-up (not a seventh axis; it can be rolled with the other six if a leyline is already known to be near). The Aether result replaces only the Sky entry; Temperature, Wind, Timing, Foretelling and Tomorrow still apply. While an Aether Weather result is active in a hex, any failed Channeling check there has its Wild Surge severity treated as one tier higher (Minor becomes Moderate, Moderate becomes Major).

Aether Exposure

A character who fails a save against Aether radiation (R2 weekly at DC 10, R3 daily at DC 15) or against Colored Rain (DC 10 + effective Leyline Strength) rolls a d20 on the Aether Exposure table. On a critical failure of that save, move one band down the table (a Flare becomes Aether Sickness, and so on).

Aether Flare (d10)

A temporary wild-magic quirk that lasts until your next Long Rest.

Aether Sickness is an affliction in the Afflictions compendium (Environmental). Mutations come from the Genetic Talents (d100) and Genetic Drawbacks (3d6) tables in Character Creation; a temporary one fades after 1d4 weeks.