Cicadas Update: #2

After some playtesting with ephemeran characters, especially in mixed games with gloamspun, it became apparent that for their short lives the ephemerans start too far behind the Path & Tale-carrying gloamspun and with their smaller motifs, and also grow at too slow a pace for what their average duration enables.

To address this, and to help align with some changing terminology around what was previously called "elemental magic" before being more generically referred to as "magic" with categories of "domains" and "lores" and the reference of magical abilities as "cantrips", there was room to do a small update to Cicadas to make the ephemerans burn brighter in their short lives and to align terminology.

So What Changed?

In short, here's the changes:

• Ephemeran motifs now have 2 abilities instead of 1. They still do not have weaknesses.
• The book now refers to the magical system using the updated terms. "Fae magic" or "Elemental magic" is now just "magic". The categories of magic are "lores" (such as Chrysalis and Quicksilver), which in turn belong in "domains" (such as Elements or Slumber), and magical abilities are called "cantrips" (to help distinguish them from a sorcerer's "spells"). This is consistent with the updated terminology in the core The Gloaming Diaries book.
• Ephemerans start with 2 cantrips each in 2 magical lores at character creation, up from 1 each in 2. This helps offset the absence of Paths and Tales in giving them more tools at the start of play.
• Ephemerans can purchase any cantrip as they advance (that they aren't restricted from) and do not need to complete an existing lore first, unlike fae.
• Ephemerans only pay 1 experience for cantrips instead of 2.

A few minor other alterations in the text have been made as well.

May your stories of the dreamkin now burn brighter!

Full Changelog

Changed

• Updated Front Matter text
• Character Creation: What Is Your Motif - Changed text for 2 motif abilities instead of 1.
• Character Creation: Choose Two Fae Magical Lores - renamed section to "Choose Starting Cantrips" and updated text to get 2 cantrips in 2 lores. Modified text to have better language overall.
• Character Creation: Added "Character Advancement" section.
• Quicksilver Magic - Changed text in this section to reflect the change to fae magic terminology.
• Chrysalis: Outside the Chrysalis - Added telepathic communication.
• Running Cicadas - Added "vulnerable to iron" to the list of fae traits they don't possess.