We hope you are enjoying our series of Alternate Icons for 13th Age. If you haven’t yet, read the previous entries in the series: the Usurper, Deposed Heir, Fleshcrafter, Herald, Wandering Spirit Guild Mistress, the Mother, and the Tinkerer. Returning to the cities, we introduce the Beggar Queen, the equal and opposite of the Shadow Prince.

The Beggar Queen rules over those forgotten by the wealthy and the population at large. Beggars living on the streets are shunned by society, hurried along by law enforcement, ignored by the common folk, kicked and spat upon by the arrogant, and blamed for every social ill by politicians. They have become use such treatment, but when the truly horrific happens, the one calling herself the Beggar Queen is the only one they have to turn to. The “Patron of the Undeserving” as she calls herself stands up to those that would steal from them, hunt them for sport, and take their children away.

Quote

“You may think you are better than us, but we will all equally be worm food someday. If you don’t want that day to come sooner, you had better not cross us.”

Frequent Location

The Catacombs, Beneath the former Imperial capital of Skybound City, are the catacombs where the dead are buried. Among those chiseled out beds in the rock where bodies can be laid to rest, the poor and homeless sleep. In the forgotten grand internment chamber beneath the city center is where the Beggar Queen holds court. With her crown of twisted wire and her royal robe of ill-tanned hides, she sits upon a throne of junk giving solutions to any problems the forgotten folk have.

Common Knowledge

Most of society only hears of the Beggar Queen when there is a riot of poor people, fighting for enough food to live and fair wages when they can find work. Such disruptions to daily life in the city make people resentful and hate her cause.

The Icon and Adventurers

The Beggar Queen never parts with money when she can and as such never “hires” adventurers. However, she does point adventurers to where they can find some riches when depriving those riches of someone will serve her aims. Her aims typically involve revenge upon those that cheat and steal from homeless folk. To adventurers she trusts, she will ask them to steal children back from those that have “adopted” children from parents deemed unable to provide them a proper home.

Allies

Being homeless herself, the Beggar Queen trusts no one and has no allies among the other icons. However, she will work with any of them when it suits her needs and lines her pockets. When either the Usurper or the Deposed Heir need information on the other’s side, the Beggar Queen makes inquiries. When the Fleshcrafter needs body parts dug up from holy ground, the Beggar Queen finds volunteers. The Tinkerer has heard that someone is using his gadgets in ways to harm people, the Beggar Queen knows someone who was there.

Enemies

While she is willing to work with almost any icon, that doesn’t mean that the others will publicly acknowledge her and her people’s contributions. The Usurper is ready to denounce the Beggar Queen as a spy for the Deposed Heir. The Fleshcrafter publicly makes jokes about how it would be fitting to turn the Beggar Queen into one of his animated golems. The Deposed Heir refers to her as evidence of the Usurper’s weakness, allowing her to keep operating and disrupting life for the common person. The Beggar Queen makes them each pay for their actions, frequently by requiring higher prices for her assistance.

The one icon that the Beggar Queen almost never works with is the Guild Mistress. Because beggars are frequently unskilled, they are never hired by the Guild Mistress or any of her people. Those that do hire them are kicked out of the guild when knowledge of such actions become public. For whatever reason, such actions always become public. The Beggar Queen wants to find out who is making such knowledge public since work for the Guild tend to pay better, if below what a full guild member would have to be paid.

History

No one really knows where the Beggar Queen emerged from. Some say she was a noblewoman that is believed to have been killed by the Usurper’s troops. Others say she was a seamstress that was cursed by the Mother and was sent away by her husband. There are rumors that she is just angry at the world and is trying to win the loyalty of every homeless before she has them take over. A few say her child was taken from her, and accidentally caused the child’s death while trying to steal the child back. No matter what the real story is, she takes on those that abuse her people, like a mother caring for her child.

The Reason to Fear

Those loyal to the Beggar Queen can emerge anywhere at any time, enacting whatever vengeance she deems necessary.

While many fear that the homeless will form an army under the Beggar Queen, they are terrified of the very real army being formed und the Witch King. This unholy commander of evil forces is the equal and opposite of the Orc Warlord. Read about him next month when we detail this icon at the JBE Blog.

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All year long we are releasing alternate icons for 13th Age. Read previous entries in the series: the Usurper, Deposed Heir, Fleshcrafter, Herald, Wandering Spirit Guild Mistress, and the Mother. This month we delve into one of the racial powers of the world as we talk about the Tinkerer, the equal and opposite of the Dwarf King.

The Tinkerer is the champion of science and technology. With his natural gnomish curiosity, he wants to understand the world around him without getting involved in all this magic stuff. Since anyone can do science if they apply themselves, the Tinkerer calls it the magic for everyone.

Quote

“I have a new gadget! Let’s go try it out!”

Frequent Location

Laboratory of Wonders, this sprawling structure constantly has gears turning, wheels spinning, and colors changing. The one thing that most people are struck by when the approach is the enormous onion-shaped done with a stick pointing at the sky. The Tinkerer calls it a “Lenscope,” describing it as a way to view the stars in the sky. Each room in the Laboratory of Wonders is filled with different curiosities. Some have bubbling beakers. Others have flames shooting out of nozzles. Inside another room, every object within is colored red; only those either painted red or who’s skin tone is naturally of a red hue are permitted inside. Supposedly there is a spinning needle within the red room. If you remove a red object from the red room and take it out into the world, the needle will point it at the missing box and it will create an image of the missing item.

Common Knowledge

The Tinkerer loves to create new items and gadgets. He will travel the world looking for inspiration for new gadgets. Anyone seeking knowledge will find a friend in the Tinkerer.

The Icon and Adventurers

Young adventurers are frequently sent to investigate rumors of some new gadget or device and bring it back for the Tinkerer. Older, more experienced adventurers will be sent to get back some items that someone is abusing. Whenever a field digger is being used to destroy people’s homes or a portable ranged campfire maker is being used to burn people at the stake, the Tinkerer will hire adventurers to take that bit of technology away from them since they have proven to not use it responsibly.

Allies

The Tinkerer does not have allies per se, but he does have other icons that he gets along with will help out because they use his technology responsibly. The Tinkerer gets along best with the Guild Mistress. She takes the Tinkerer’s inventions far and wide, giving him the resources to continue his work unabated. The Usurper, after a few misunderstandings, has agreed to only use the Tinkerer’s non-magical items only for their intended purpose.

Enemies

Much like the Tinkerer does not have allies, he also lacks enemies. There are only those that the Tinkerer does not get along with for one reason or another. The Herald and the Wandering Spirit have no use for such mundane items and consider the Tinkerer beneath their notice. The Tinkerer considers the Fleshcrafter’s golems to be an abhorrent use of such knowledge, preferring automata that help people, not suppress them. The Deposed Heir’s focus on regaining power has let those that follow him to use the Tinkerer’s devices irresponsibly. The two are currently not speaking over the incident.

History

Through a combination of hard work and more than a little good luck, the Tinkerer experimented on everything he could get his tiny hands upon and learned all he could. He started with a single field, wanting to understand why the land was no longer producing food. Where the locals saw only a curse, the Tinkerer saw a problem that needed to be solved. When he discovered that the animals were eating rotten food and their manure was poisoning the crops, he became famous. From there he took his intelligence and used it to help others throughout the world.

The Reason to Fear

It is said that the Tinkerer possesses enough gadgets and gizmos to take over the whole Realm if the Tinkerer so choose. No one wants to make the Tinkerer mad enough to look beyond the Laboratory of Wonders and intervene in the problems of the world.

One person that would love to get their hands on the Tinkerer’s items is the Beggar Queen, the equal and opposite of the Shadow Prince. Read about her next month when we detail this icon at the JBE Blog.

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