Demigod Companion is a handbook for players and Storyguides alike, with a ridiculous number of new options, abilities, and Titanspawn, among many other things, within its pages. Here’s a peek at its introduction and some further content:

Chapter One: Wonders and Worlds provides Dominion Boons for Demigod’s Pantheon Specific Purviews, new Boons, and a walkthrough of new strange places and Terra Incognitae for your characters to explore.

Chapter Two: Allies and Companions introduces optional rules for leveling up Creatures alongside their Demigod companions, provides Storyguiding advice for portraying Guides, and includes new Follower organizations and expanded rules for Cults and Covenants.

Chapter Three: Items of Power delves into expanded relic crafting rules. It also introduces relic forges and organizations and optional rules for crafting relics from materials gathered from titanspawn. Lastly, it includes new relics from across the pantheons.

Chapter Four: Titans and Titanspawn takes a deeper look at the Titans and Titanspawn introduced in Demigod, exploring their backgrounds, goals, and rivalries. Additionally, it offers ideas for Storyguides and players for games involving only one or two people and alternative methods of storytelling at your table using troupe play.   

Let’s have a look at some of the relic forges and organizations from Chapter Three:

Relic Forges and Organizations

This section introduces two new resources for Scions to seek out to help their relic crafting endeavors: relic forges and organizations.

Relic Forges

Relic forges are places throughout the World and in various Terra Incognitae that are home to legendary workshops. Within, divine artisans and their apprentices shape their most wondrous creations: weapons, armor, crystal goblets, jewelry, books, or countless other finely-wrought objects. Hephaestus’ anvil rings loud enough to wake the dead as the sword he’s crafting takes shape. In Ariadne’s studio, on the other hand, weavers talk softly or sing paeans as they sit at their looms. A jeweler’s shop tucked into a strip mall caters to Godly clients, setting storied gems into rings and crowns or fixing watches that tick away the moments of a mortal’s life.

Not everyone who works at a relic forge is a God. Some are Legendary creatures, Denizens of the World, or Titanspawn. Crafters include mortal priests and apprentices who’ve learned secret, nearly forgotten techniques. Mortals who owe a debt to the forge’s master shovel coal into the furnace to keep the fires hot or spin yarn from a fertility god’s flocks for the weavers’ looms.

Relic forges can appear anywhere a divine crafter decides to set up shop. While many of them are hidden away in Terra Incognitae or Otherworlds, to prevent just anyone from wandering in seeking the makers’ services, plenty are scattered throughout the World. One forge God totes his anvil around the ren faire circuit, spending his weekends throughout the summer and fall making fantasy blades for paying crowds. A popular crafting competition show features artisans competing for a year’s apprenticeship at one of Enki’s studios, which isn’t beneath Anu’s red stone dome but is instead somewhere in Ohio.

Still, many relic forges are in places that are either extremely hard for mortals to reach or are outright inhospitable to them, such as in the heart of a volcano or so deep below the sea that the pressure would kill most people. Gods bless their honored guests with the ability to withstand such brutal conditions, though plenty of clever Demigods looking to add to their own Legends have found ways to sneak in uninvited.

Relic Organizations

Relic organizations are societies whose members dedicate their lives not only to crafting relics, but also to retrieving items of power that are lost or broken when a Scion dies. Often, a God may send her agent to retrieve the relic, so she might gift it to another of her worthy children. However, some never claim their goods, and the organization’s members become the item’s caretakers, responsible for its safety and repair, and sometimes choosing a new Scion to pass the relic on to. While many trace their origins back to a particular God, these organizations are neither cults nor followers — they’re more dedicated to preserving relics and the tools and techniques needed for making them than they are loyal to any particular deity.

Such organizations include a blacksmith’s society that dates back thousands of years, their first forges lit by a volcano God’s fires. An online community of fiber artists shares patterns and tutorials inspired by Xochiquetzal, Athena, Dayisun, Umai Khatun, Mokosh, and other weaving gods; members travel to conferences to give talks on ancient techniques and modern trends, and take commissions from Scions looking for a quality piece. New groups form as well — a collection of deifan makers who started out selling mundane copies of their favorite Scions’ relics moved into making the real things when a Demigod noticed the quality of their work and got involved.

Organizations range from open to secretive and can be hyper-local or World-spanning. Some welcome into their fold anyone curious about the history or creation of relics, while others only accept those who’ve dedicated themselves to years of study or produced masterworks on their own. While the groups aren’t necessarily led by Scions or Legendary creatures, they frequently welcome them at least as associate members. After all, a group of mortals with a warehouse full of magical trinkets tends to need some help protecting their goods.

Not all of these groups seek relics for study or sale. We-Stor-It provides secure facilities for keeping precious relics safe, whether it’s for a priest awaiting the go-ahead to bestow a Birthright upon a newly Visited Scion, or for the Gods themselves as they wait for someone to pick up their Mantle. The company has existed for a century in different iterations. Its board has ensured the transfer of older relics through name changes and moves, including a silver bridle intended for a Pendragon.

Creating Relic Forges and Organizations

When creating relic forges and organizations for your game, consider the following:

• Where is it located? Is the forge somewhere in the World or tucked away in a Terra Incognita? Does the organization have offices in a major city, or do members meet in the basement of the town library?
• How does a Scion access it? Are there hidden entrances or rituals that open the way? Can anyone stroll in or make an appointment? Does the group advertise itself or prefer to operate in secret?
• Who founded it? Does a weaving God teach lessons at her loom? Did a society of dvergar buy part of an old ironworks building and restore it? Are the founders still around, or are they long gone, whether they’re dead or moved on to other ventures?
• As an optional feature, choose a Purview or title that serves as a specialty or theme. A relic forge with the Sky Purview might work on items dedicated to flight. A glassblower’s guild calling themselves “The Unbreakable Cups” produces tableware that, when used by people seeking to make an alliance or swear an oath, strengthens those promises.
• Choose a Drive that all members possess. If an individual SGC is a part of the group or a maker at the forge, they automatically receive this as one of their Drives. It might be anything from “I will make items of the highest quality” to “I will protect the secret techniques my predecessors discovered.”

Membership Perks

Whether a Scion seeks out a relic forge to craft her own epic weapon or enlists the services of a relic organization, these entities operate independently. The Scion might have to impress a forge’s foreman or perform a favor in order to gain access to it, and may find her invitation revoked if she brings trouble along in her wake or hogs the anvil. It’s worth staying in their good graces — working at a forge or gaining the aid of an organization grants the Scion bonuses to crafting projects.

Even with their independence, both forges and organizations can become Fatebound as a Scion spends time with them and entangles herself in their affairs. For more on Fatebinding locations and groups, see Scion: Demigod, pp. 146-149.

Crafting in a relic forge or enlisting an organization’s help grants the Scion one of the following benefits:

• The relic gains an additional motif echoing the forge’s Purview or organization’s title for free.
• The relic gains a unique Knack in keeping with the forge’s or organization’s theme.
• Halve an interval’s duration without introducing a Complication.
• Halve the rating of a Flaw incurred from a crafting interval that takes place at the forge.
• Gain a specialty in a subject of your choice from the knowledge the organization imparted.

New Path: Relic Organization

The character is immersed in a relic organization, able to draw upon her colleagues’ knowledge and her own years of training under experts’ watchful eyes. Perhaps she grew up among an ancient society of makers, learning not only their most complicated techniques, but also the histories behind them. Or maybe her passion for her craft led her to discover a community of like-minded creators, who she can always go to for troubleshooting and support.

This can function as either an Origin or a Role Path.

Connections: Fellow makers, Demigod of the Forge, Materials supplier

Path Skills: Academics, Athletics, Culture, Firearms, Occult, Science, Technology