Amalthea is a steampunk world in which magic and technology both play important parts in the lives of its people, and frequently synergize and compete with each other as the dominant force in its societies and industries.
Compared to magic, technology in Amalthea is a relatively recent development. While Magitech first came into prominence in the Third Light and has existed for several centuries since, it is only with the decline of magic in the latter half of the Third Light that the world's brightest minds sought to research and develop entirely mundane technology.
Technology Level
The most industrialized places in Amalthea—the nations of Velthiria, Tolthar, Talandra, and especially Valdoro—have a level of technology comparable to the late 19th century, although with a magical flourish. Steam-powered sailing ships and trains, as well as airships held aloft by elemental magic or balloons, handle the transportation of goods and passengers in these regions. Urban trams are common, although private automobiles remain a luxury reserved for the rich, or adventuring gear used by eccentric tinkerers. Electrical lighting, photography, and radio have only just been invented in this world, competing with more conventional magical methods that perform similar tasks. Overall, urban life in these nations is inextricably linked to technology, although anything more advanced than what exists in the late 19th to early 20th century in real life is exceedingly rare, often requiring irreproducible magical phenomena to create.
The rest of the world falls behind, sometimes by a little, other times by a lot. For instance, the humans of Sudeja and the Kuma Marches, the wood elves and beastfolk of Luir Brennath, and the orcs of Okkurn live rustic, Medieval lifestyles. Meanwhile, the rapidly growing mercantilism of Marklund brings their tech level to roughly the mid to late 18th century, and nearby Narbovia sees some of this benefit, too. The lower technological level in most of Amalthea doesn't necessarily mean these places are primitive or deprived; in many such cultures, magic remains the dominant force in life, especially divine and primal magic, and provides for necessities not accessible through technology.
Tinker Traditions
Technology accessible to player characters, such as through the Technician class and the Tinker sphere, is often innovative beyond the average technological level of the rest of the world. These features represent unique or cutting-edge inventions that are difficult, if even possible, to mass produce. Nevertheless, even these genius inventions always fall into the following broad Tinker traditions: Alchemical, Clockwork, Electrical, Magitech, and Steampower.
You must take at least two Tinker drawbacks with each Tinker Tradition: a predetermined primary drawback, and a secondary drawback chosen from an optional list. Your primary drawback is mandatory, as it determines the type of your technology. You can always select additional drawbacks, including drawbacks from the other Tinker Traditions, gaining boons, and bonus gizmo limit as usual. You also gain bonus talents from these drawbacks, but you can't have more bonus talents from your Tinker tradition than you have talents spent in the Tinker sphere.
Alchemical
- Primary Drawback: Damage Vulnerability (Fire)
- Secondary Drawbacks: Energized Feedback (Acid), Explosive Instability (Acid), Mechanical Signs (smoke or fumes)
- Associated Skill: Craft (Alchemy)
Alchemical technology combines machinery with the older field of alchemy, harnessing the energy of potent chemical reactions to power mechanical parts. Alchemical batteries consist of containers of reactants which are fed into, and mixed inside a reaction chamber; the resulting volatile product is then fed through more tubes to power gears, cogs, and other mechanical components.
Clockwork
- Primary Drawback: Delicate
- Secondary Drawbacks: Double Major (Knowledge (Engineering)), Hands On, Hand Cranked
- Associated Skill: Craft (Mechanical)
Clockwork technology function on purely mechanical means, powered by springs and cogs using stored kinetic energy. This makes the internal mechanisms of clockwork technology slower, and they tend to be inefficient for heavier machinery. However, the lack of any unstable power sources makes them one of the safer forms of mundane technology to use.
Electrical
- Primary Drawback: Damage Vulnerability (Electricity)
- Secondary Drawbacks: Environmental Vulnerability (Water), Explosive Instability (Electricity), Mechanical Signs (electric sparks)
- Associated Skill: Craft (Mechanical)
The newest of Amalthea's technological traditions, electrical technology is powered by pre-charged batteries and capacitors. Electrical technology in Amalthea is nowhere as sleek as modern electronics: instead, they're controlled by clunky panels and levers connected to analog circuits through cumbersome wires, and sometimes covered in visibly discharging transformers barely contained in glass cases.
Magitech
- Primary Drawback: Mana Engineering
- Secondary Drawbacks: Double Major (Spellcraft), Incomplete Understanding, Living Gizmo
- Associated Skill: Craft (Mechanical)
Magitech is the oldest form of technology in Amalthea, as mana was the first source of energy Amalthean inventors looked to for powering their machinery, and is typically favored by old money mages for its visual elegance. Most magitech is arcane in nature, as the scientific rigor of arcane magic synergizes naturally with technology. Magitech created by divine or occult mages, meanwhile, often contain confounding mechanisms that are ill understood, as their source of inspiration comes from somewhere beyond their own minds. Occasionally, a primal or divine mage power their magitech devices with possessing spirits, creating living gizmos.
Steampower
- Primary Drawback: Damage Vulnerability (Cold)
- Secondary Drawbacks: Environmental Vulnerability (Cold Temperature), Explosive Instability (Fire), Mechanical Signs (steam, exhaust, and and engine noises)
- Associated Skill: Craft (Mechanical)
Steampower technology contains combustion engines that burn flammable fuel to generate mechanical propulsion, and is the most common form of transportation technology found in Amalthea's industrialized nations. Steampowered technology is bulky and unsubtle, as hydraulic mechanisms and burning fuel emit loud noises and belch out steam and smoke.
Automation Cores
Just like with magic, technology in Amalthea can't create sapient life with souls. As a result, the concept of "artificial intelligence" doesn't exist in the Amalthea setting. Instead, automation cores replace AI as the means by which machines operate autonomously. Automation cores are crafted out of intricate clockworks, arcane inscriptions, or analog electrical circuits, and don't possess the capacity for sentience, let alone sapience. As a result, even though they may have an intelligence score, that score can never exceed 2.
Automation cores follow similar rules to AI in the Tinker Sphere, with the following changes:
Construction
Automation cores other than those with the Drone and Bestial classifications can only be crafted if you have the Advanced Computation talent. Once crafted, an automation core is a permanent companion.
Statistics and Advancement
Ability Score Increases: Just like a character or monster, an automation core gains a permanent +1 bonus to an ability score of their choice for every 4 Hit Dice possessed. You can never increase an automation core's intelligence score.
Archivist(classification)
The Archivist option, available to vanilla AIs, can't be crafted as an automation core.
Guardian (classification)
Ability Scores: Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 12;
Practitioner Modifier: Wis;
Skill Points per Hit Die: 4 (reduced to 1 due to Int)
Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str)
Guardian cores gain the following additional ability:
Defensive Procedure (Ex): The guardian core receives ranks in Acrobatics, Intimidate, Perception, and Sense Motive equal to its hit die.
Mage (classification)
Ability Scores: Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 14;
Practitioner Modifier: Wis or Cha;
Skill Points per Hit Die: 4 (reduced to 1 due to Int)
Class Skills: Diplomacy (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Use Magic Device (Cha)
[I]Caster level: Mage cores are Mid-Casters, rather than High-Casters, in their specialized sphere.
Mage cores gain the following additional ability:
Magical Procedure: The mage core receives ranks in Spellcraft and Use Magic Device equal to its hit die. It adds its practitioner modifier, instead of its Intelligence modifier, to Spellcraft checks.
Pilot (classification)
Ability Scores: Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 12;
Practitioner Modifier: Wis;
Skill Points per Hit Die: 4 (reduced to 1 due to Int)
Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Fly (Dex), Perception (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str)
Pilot cores gain the following additional ability:
Piloting Procedure (Ex): The pilot core receives ranks in Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, and Swim equal to its hit die.
Socialite (classification)
Ability Scores: Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 14;
Practitioner Modifier: Cha;
Skill Points per Hit Die: 4 (reduced to 1 due to Int)
Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis)
Socialite cores gain the following additional ability:
Social Procedure (Ex): The socialite core receives ranks in Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Perform equal to its hit die.
Soldier (classification)
Ability Scores: Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 14;
Practitioner Modifier: Charisma;
Skill Ranks per HD: 4 (reduced to 1 due to Int)
Class Skills: Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), Ride (Dex), Swim (Str)
Soldier cores gain the following additional ability:
Warrior Procedure (Ex): The soldier core receives ranks in Climb, Intimidate, Perception, and Swim equal to its hit die.
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