Gear

Alchemy Kit

Cost: 10 Koku Rarity: 1-9 Qualities: Vary   This kit is only available as a whole item when in the Sapphid Caliphate, though individual components may be bought for slightly more elsewhere in the world. Used by the Araphists in their practice of medicine and other sciences, alchemical kits contain both mundane and rare items, such as charcoal and gold dust, that can be combined to perform special rituals that can heal and improve (if only temporarily) living creatures’ bodies.  

Chandu

Cost: 4 Bu per dose Rairty: 6 Qualities: Forbidden (Except in a medical context)   Opium prepared for smoking is known as Chandu. It is boiled and strained. then cooled into a crystalline block and wrapped in a dry leaf. To smoke Chandu requires a number of tools, and a special pipe made from a non-reactive material, often ceramic or jade. Because Opium heightens one's tactile sensations, opium pipes are made with interesting ridged textures for the imbiber to fixate on as they achieve their high. Preparing Chandu requires deft hands and skill, as the drug must be heated until the resin softens, shaped into a pellet, then dropped with tweezers into the pipe bowl. Opium dens tend to employ servants to do this for patrons, but travellers using Opium alone must learn how to do this themselves. Opium makes users espescially light sensitive, so Chandu is smoked in the dark. Contrary to popular belief, Chandu does not eliminate pain, but simply alters the user's perception so that the pain is bearable, or the user no longer cares. Chandu is legal is WuXing, but it's recreational use is frowned upon in polite society. A person who uses opium infrequently may not become addicted, and such a user can cease use for months on end without suffering withdrawal. However, with enough use, addiction takes hold, and the user can barely function without a dose. Although opium is important in WuXing medicine, without proper care, it can just as easily destroy a patient as help heal them.  

Climbing Kit

Cost: 2 Bu Rarity: 3 Qualities: Mundane   Many nobles do a not-insignificant amount of climbing, so choose to have a climbing kit as part of their gear. It typically includes a few coils of rope, a small hammer, an iron chisel, powdered chalk, and a handful of spikes, pitons, or other climbing ephemera. in addition, some climbers purchase special spiked bands that slip over their hands and feet for extra grip, at the cost of an additonal 2 Bu.  

Cooking Kit

Cost: 2 Koku Rarity: 2 Qualities: Mundane   May contain chefs’ knives (not suitable as weapons) with sharpening rod, bamboo skewers, a grinder and pestle, cooking chopsticks, bowls, strainers, a bamboo mat, and a ladle. Some kits may come with seasonings and preservatives, like miso or soy paste, vinegar, and dried kelp. Especially valuable kits may include a vial of pressed oil. The kit is usually carried in a container that doubles as cookware, such as a round wok or a square cast-iron pot with a drop lid.

Dice Kit

Cost: 6 Zeni Rarity: 2 Qualities: Concealable, Mundane   Gambling, especially dice games, are a common pastime of travellers. One of the most popular, Fortunes and Winds, uses a special set of dice with unique faces. Impromptu gambling tends to spring up when strangers meet, but due to lack of trust, most participants bring their own dicesets. Loaded dice are among the most popular wares purchased by charlatans and are perfectly legal to own — though one should take care not to be caught with them at a gambling session.  

Engineer's Kit

Cost: 3 Bu Rarity: 3 Qaulities: Mundane   These kits provide an architect, civil engineer, siege engineer, or builder with a set of basic tools for surveying and building. These tool kits typically include measuring and surveying tools, rolls of parchment for making plans, various drafting implements, and an assortment of carpenters and masons tool.  

Fishing Kit

Cost: 1 Koku Rarity: 3 Qualities: Mundane   May contain fishing line, glass floaters, small nets, miso paste (for curing), and wrapping paper in a small basket. Some fishing kits also include charchoal ink and rice paper, which are used to make an impression of the caught fish to serve as proof of one's catch.  

Mason's Kit

Cost: 2 Koku Rarity: 5 Qualities: Mundane   May contain an assortment of chisels (not suitable as weapons), chalk, hammers (not suitable as weapons), and measuring implements. Most WuXing masonry is dry stone, meaning there is no mortar binding the stones together, and they instead rely on interlocking friction to remain intact. Even so, some kits may include the ingredients for mortar, and those that do also include a trowel.  

Poppy Tea

Cost: 6 Bu per cup Rarity: 7 Qualities: Forbidden (Except in a medical context)   The cheapest form of cosumbale Opium, Poppy Tea is a herbal infusion of poppy straw and dried poppy pods. The dried pods contain both seeds and an opium paste, which give the resulting tea it's narcotic effect. While the tea has many medicinal purposes, it is primarily used to achieve an opium high and to dull pain sensations. It was banned by Imperial Decree two centuries ago.  

Sapper's Kit

Cost: 1 Bu Rarity: 3 Qualities: Mundane   A sapper's kit contains the basic tools to help sappers and miners in their work. It typically includes a small shovel, small pickaxe, flint and steel, a bucket a small amount of pitch or resin, a coil of rope or chain, and an assortment of other building tools associated with mining or demolition.  

Shikomizue

Cost: 2 Koku Rarity: 7 Qualities: Forbidden, Subtle   Favoured by those who wish to conceal the fact they are armed, the shikomizue is a special sword mount that is indistinguishable from a wooden cane, walking stick, musical instrument, or other such mundane item. What appears to be a harmless everday object is actually a sheath for ablade or chain. This allows the carrier to avoid suspicion while bringing their weapon into places where they are not normally allowed, such as tea houses, temples, or even courts. Weapins of this nature a considered violations of The Code's tenets of Courtesy, Righteousness, and Honour, as such many nobles view them as only suitable for honourless dogs. A person using a Shikomizue selects one sword or chain weapon they own to custom fit to it. This weapin gains the Concealable and Subtle traits while sheathed in the Shikomizue.  

Smithy's Kit

Cost: 3 Bu Rarity: 3 Qualities: Cumbersome, Mundane   This kit is large and less portable than most craftsmen's kits. It includes a variety of metalworking tools for weapon or armour making depending on the user's specialty, a small anvil, a portable forge, a crucible, an numerous hammers, tongs, pliers, and other blacksmithing tools.

• A smithy's kit has a Silhouette of 1

 

Spyglass

Cost: 2-10 Koku (depending on size) Rarity: 5-7 (depending on size) Qualities: Cumbersome (for larger varieties)   Spyglasses are wonderous devices brought to WuXing by foreign traders and mercenaries. At their most basic, they are long brass tubes full of polished glass lenses. Some are heavy enough to require a tripod for use, and some are small and collapsible for easy storage. No matter their size, all spyglasses do the same thing - make things that are far away, easier to see.

• A common spyglass allows users to see small items with great clarity up to range 5, whereas larger examples can allow this out to range 6, and smaller versions are only effctive up to range 4. What a spyglass can and cannot see is ultimately up to the GM's discretion

Tailor's Kit

Cost: 3 Koku Rarity: 5 Qualities: Mundane   May contain patches of linen or homespun cotton, hemp thread, sewing needles, and dye tablets. Some kits include cleaning powder, a smll seam ripper, and a collapsible bamboo dying rod.  

Tate

Cost: 3 Bu Rarity: 3 Qualities: Cumbersome   Tate are type of large, semi-portable protection used by warriors in the field. They are extremely simple affairs consisting of a few wooden planks nailed together and painted or engraved with a Kingdom's livery. They are carried into battle and set up by propping a support plank behind them at an angle. Once set, the Tate provides cover for archers, crossbow wielders, and other warriors who need respite from flying arrows and debris. A single tate provides cover for one individual.

• A charcter can set up a Tate as a support action. Once set, the TN of all Attack action checks to attack a target behind the Tate using projectiles is increased by 2.

 

Thievery Kit

Cost: 2 Koku Rairty: 6 Qualities: Concealable, Forbidden, Subtle   Thieves are reviled in WuXing, and anyone caught theiving suffers harsh punishment. In recent years, a common sentence is to boil thieves alove in a public display to deter others. So called 'thievery kits' are forbidden ny Imperial Law. Scuh kis contain implements associated with burglary, like thin-picks for lifting bars on gates and doors, grappling hooks for climbing, and padded sandals. Sticks of melting wax are also included, as acommon burglary deterrent is to seal a door with wax to tell if it has been opened. Lockpicks are less common, as Lock-Smithing is an uncommon skill, and usually only the richest nobles can afford locks. AA thievery kit is designed to be concealable and overlooked, often masquerading as a different object altogether.  

Travel Rations

Cost: 1-3 Bu Rarity: 1 Qualities: Mundane   In a land so vast, it is no small wonder that the people of WuXing have developed significant food-preservation techniques to facilitate lengthy travels. Most travel foods are prepared so as to be easily stored and carried, as well as to last for long periods without spoiling. The typical traveling ration is a portion of uncooked husked rice, dried or pickled vegetables, and a small portion of a flavoring agent, such as dried seaweed or bonito flakes. Wealthy travelers may spring for a small paper container of sanshō, ground berries of the prickly ash plant that lend a peppery, minty, slightly acidic flavor to foods. Other common traveling foods include onigiri ,or rice balls, which are commonly carried in bamboo sheaths by travelers for a quick meal. Onigiri are made of cooked sticky rice wrapped around a plum or fish filling and hand molded into a circular shape. Vinegared rice, used in sushi, is a common pre-serving element for fish. Indeed, sushi began as a preserving technique in which thin layers of fish were sandwiched between two layers of sushi rice, the vinegar acting as a pickling agent. Fish is also smoked or dried and then packaged into small boxes with misopaste (fermented soybean paste), which also acts as a preservative. Sometimes seaweed or soy sprouts are ground and mixed with barley and salt to make hishio, a thick paste used to pickle vegetables or fish for travel. The paste is scraped off, and the pickled food is eaten alone or in stews. Adding water to the hishio paste results in soy sauce, which serves as a salty condiment. Aged and “brewed” soy is prized, but it is usually only affordable for richer courts .Beans are an especially important travel food, as they are relatively lightweight when dried and last for long periods of time, but plump up into hearty, morale-restoring stews when cooked. Black and greenbeans are the most common, as are soybeans, broadbeans, and sweet adzuki beans. In some regions, ropes used to secure goods are made from edible fibrous tuber stalks that are “dried” with miso. These ropes are completely edible and can be chopped and boiled when necessary.  

Weaver's Kit

Cost: 1 Koku Rairty: 3 Qualities: Mundane   May contain weaving hooks, framing reeds, dyes, inks, and bamboo laquer. Some kit's also include shaving knives or other implements to help shave bamboo strips or cut straw.