Editing Narcissus (section)

===Hexadactyls, helot client state===

The Hexadactyls are one of the helot cultures of Narcissus, notorious for having extra fingers and toes. Not every one of them has six fingers and six toes, but enough that being born with only five is considered bad luck for a child. Hexadactyls are obsessed with unusual divinatory practices – including chiromancy (divination by studying lines on the palm), onychomancy (divination by studying reflections off fingernails), and odder methods. Most Hexadactyls adopt superstitious taboos based on these divinatory analyses. They are regarded as odd but innocuous by Narcissus, since they have rarely risen in revolt. There was even a brief period wherein onychomancy became a popular pastime among Narcissus dilettantes, although the fad quickly died out.

One of the reasons that Narcissus does not regard the Hexadactyls as threats is that they train with no traditional weapons, as other helot cultures do. This is because they have a secret, unarmed martial art which has been passed down from generation to generation. Most Hexadactyls know some Cheiration, but devoted students of the art – the “Twelve-Finger Masters” – are deadly unarmed combatants, capable of the Palm Block, Spear Finger, and Blade Hand maneuvers. During the Helot Revolts they were as effective as any armed combatants, but the tales of their martial prowess were later scoffed at as hyperbole, and so the Hexadactyls escaped the harsh reprisals that more heavily armed revolutionaries suffered.

Occupations: Helot, Farmer, Herder, Palmist, Weaver, Twelve-Finger Master
Suggested Skills: Animal Handling, Brawling, Farming, Fortune-Telling, Cheiration (martial art, DX/Hard)
Social Background: Cultural Familiarity (1 pt., Narcissus), Dactyllic (native language), Glossa (accented language)
Suggested Quirks: Habits (divinations), Vow (taboos), Distinctive Features (extra digits)
Sample Contact Groups: Twelve-Finger Sensei 
Suggested Advantages (for Twelve-Finger Masters): Unusual Background (power blow, pressure points, finger lock, 5 pts)
Rumor: “The lands of the Hexadactyls are currently being ravaged by a sabertooth half-blind with cataracts that has become a maneater Ordinarily the white-eyed maneater would be hunted down and slain, but it was discovered to be a six-fingered cat itself, and is now considered to be an omen by the Hexadactyls. As its depredations continue, Narcissus has arranged for it to be hunted down – but the Twelve-Finger Masters have surreptitiously arranged for these hunts to fail.” 

-- by Kakita Kojiro