Creation-Ruling Mandate

The Creation-Ruling Mandate models what happens when organizations pursue multi-interval projects: building wealth, spreading ideology, waging economic war, resisting sabotage, or reshaping their identity. Mechanically, organizations take Leadership Actions—extended rolls with an interval, a base difficulty, and a cumulative difficulty— to generate the momentum needed to change the world at scale.

Organizations are defined by three elements: Policy (why the group exists and what it will/won’t do), Structure (how it relates to other groups and who can act for it), and Assets (what it can actually bring to bear). Those Assets generate Capital, the fuel invested into Leadership Actions—much like committed motes power Charms.

• Policy — The organization’s guiding purpose and boundaries, expressed as its Motivation and supporting Intimacies.
• Structure — The organization’s connections (independent vs. parent/subsidiary/partner), plus the internal delegation that determines who has authority to issue orders and undertake actions in its name.
• Assets — The group’s usable resources, rated in five categories: Size, Influence, Competence, Reach, Wealth. These ratings determine what the organization can attempt, how fast it can act, and how much Capital it can field.

1. Decide which Leadership Action is being taken.
2. Determine authority and whether the organization’s Assets can support the attempt.
3. Assign the dice pool (Attribute + Ability) that fits the approach.
4. Commit Capital (at least the action’s base difficulty, usually).
5. Planning — The first interval is preparation; one successful roll is required to “get moving.”
6. Intervals — Roll at each interval’s end; accumulate threshold successes toward cumulative difficulty.
7. Outcome — When cumulative successes are met, succeed (if Capital stays committed) or fail (if it doesn’t).

Dice Pools

Unless an action specifies otherwise, a leader chooses Charisma, Manipulation, or Intelligence depending on leadership style: Charisma (inspiration and sincerity), Manipulation (guile and leverage), Intelligence (planning and delegation). Actions most often pair with Bureaucracy, Socialize, or War. Rolls occur at the end of intervals.

Determining Difficulty and Capital Cost

Each action has a base difficulty (per-interval difficulty) and a cumulative difficulty (total threshold successes needed across intervals). The base difficulty is also the action’s minimum Capital requirement: if the organization can’t keep at least that much committed through completion, the project can fail even after the cumulative successes are achieved.

Interval

Actions list default intervals (week, month, etc.). The Storyteller adjusts intervals when the project’s fiction demands it. Very large organizations may be forced into longer minimum intervals due to Size.

Beginnings, Success, Failure

Every Leadership Action begins with a planning period (the first interval). One successful roll is required to begin real work; threshold successes on that roll do not count toward cumulative difficulty. After that, each interval roll adds threshold successes to the cumulative total.

• Success: Cumulative difficulty is met and enough Capital remains committed.
• Failure by underfunding: Cumulative difficulty is met, but Capital is insufficient—half invested Capital is recovered (round down), the rest is lost.
• Botch: Catastrophic failure—project fails automatically and all invested Capital is lost.

Complications

Context matters. Strong positioning often reduces base/cumulative difficulty, while sabotage, social fallout, or disasters can raise effective costs or impose penalties.

Authority to Act

Only those with recognized authority can issue Leadership Actions. Acting through proxies or forged authority can work, but tends to impose internal friction unless circumstances strongly support it.

Automatic Failure

Some actions are impossible due to lack of authority, insufficient Assets, acting outside Reach, insufficient Capital to maintain commitment, or story events invalidating the project.

Bonuses, Penalties, Complications

• Stunts/advantages: Often reduce difficulty rather than add dice.
• Slave labor: Can reduce costs but lowers functional Competence for many tasks.
• Underfunding: Falling below required Capital imposes penalties equal to the shortfall.
• Disasters: Can increase required Capital cost; over-committing is a hedge.

Asset Actions

Grow Asset

Used to secure new resources, expand operations, improve training, build contacts, or stabilize revenue. If intended to raise an Asset rating, it can only increase by one dot at a time, and the desired new value is added into the cumulative difficulty.

• Dice Pool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Intelligence + Bureaucracy/Socialize/War)
• Difficulty: 3 (simple), 4 (elaborate), 5 (ambitious)
• Cumulative Difficulty: (3 + [Size + Reach] − Competence) + (desired new Asset rating, if raising)
• Interval: 1 month

Wealth increases represent stable markets/revenue, not one-off deals.

Attack Asset

Targets one Asset of a rival organization; success drops the targeted Asset by one dot.

• Dice Pool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Intelligence + Bureaucracy/Socialize/War)
• Difficulty: Target organization’s Competence
• Cumulative Difficulty: ([Size + Reach + targeted Asset rating] − Competence)
• Interval: 1 month

Cannibalize Asset

Burns long-term strength for immediate fuel: sacrifice one dot from a non-Special Asset to generate temporary Capital that must be immediately committed or is lost.

• Dice Pool: (Charisma/Manipulation + Bureaucracy)
• Difficulty: 1
• Cumulative Difficulty: (3 + [Size + Reach] − Competence)
• Interval: (Size + Reach) days
• Effect: Lose 1 dot of an Asset; gain temporary Capital equal to (old rating × 2), usable only on current projects.

Reallocate Asset

Restructure internally or relocate Reach. Used to “reinvent” the organization or shift its footprint.

• Dice Pool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Intelligence + Bureaucracy/Socialize)
• Difficulty: 3 (simple) or 5 (long-distance/complex)
• Cumulative Difficulty:
  • Reassign: (3 + [Size + Reach] − Competence)
  • Move: (3 + [Reach × 2] − Competence)
• Interval: 1 month

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Project Actions

Halt Project

Stops a Leadership Action early; success reclaims all invested Capital.

• Dice Pool: (Charisma/Manipulation + Bureaucracy/Socialize/War)
• Difficulty: 2
• Cumulative Difficulty: ([Capital invested in the project + Size] − Competence)
• Interval: 1 week

Attack Project

Sabotages a specific ongoing Leadership Action another organization is attempting.

• Dice Pool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Intelligence + Bureaucracy/Socialize/War)
• Difficulty: Target organization’s Competence
• Cumulative Difficulty: ([Size + Reach] − Competence)
• Interval: 1 month
• Effect: Increases the targeted project’s Capital requirement by the attacker’s Competence.

Contest Project

Obstructs a rival’s action; applies ongoing penalties rather than destroying it outright.

• Dice Pool: (Charisma/Manipulation + Bureaucracy/Socialize/War)
• Difficulty: One less than the contested action (minimum 1)
• Cumulative Difficulty: None
• Interval: Same as the contested project
• Effect: Threshold successes apply as an external penalty to the target’s interval roll(s).

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Capital Actions

Replenish Capital

Restores Capital lost to failed/botched projects or other shocks (cannot exceed max from current Assets).

• Dice Pool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Intelligence + Bureaucracy)
• Difficulty: 1–5 (equal to the amount of Capital you want to restore)
• Cumulative Difficulty: (3 + [Size + Reach] − Competence)
• Interval: 1 month

Transfer Capital

Lends your organization’s Capital to another; persists until halted.

• Dice Pool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Intelligence + Bureaucracy)
• Difficulty: 1
• Cumulative Difficulty: None
• Interval: (6 − Competence) weeks (planning interval)
• Effect:
  • To partners/parents/subsidiaries: 1-for-1 transfer.
  • To unaffiliated groups: recipient gains 1 Capital per 2 Capital invested.

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Organizational Actions

Protect Organization

Establishes defenses that make sabotage harder; persists until halted.

• Dice Pool: (Charisma/Manipulation/Intelligence + Bureaucracy/Socialize/War)
• Difficulty: 1
• Cumulative Difficulty: None
• Interval: ([Size + Reach] − Competence) weeks (planning interval)
• Effect: For each 3 Capital invested, Attack Asset and Attack Project actions suffer a −1 external penalty (where relevant).

Shift Policy/Structure

Reshapes Policy or Structure; leader declares one specific goal at start.

• Dice Pool:
  • Policy: (Charisma/Manipulation + Socialize)
  • Structure: (Intelligence + Bureaucracy)
• Difficulty: 3 (minor), 4 (moderate), 5 (significant)
• Cumulative Difficulty: (Size + Reach)
• Interval: 1 week

Typical goals include: adding/altering/removing Intimacies; changing Motivation; absorbing/spawning subsidiaries; integrating a consenting organization as a subsidiary; severing ties; and reassigning chain-of-command roles.

Policy

Policy is what the organization is and what it won’t compromise on. It’s built from: Motivation and Intimacies. Actions aligned with Policy tend to go smoother; actions that contradict it can face internal opposition or penalties.

Motivation

Motivation answers “Why does this organization exist?” and provides stable direction; changing it is disruptive.

Intimacies

Intimacies define what the organization loves, fears, hates, reveres, or is devoted to—and what creates backlash when threatened.

Structure

Structure is the network/hierarchy: independent, nested, subsidiaries, partners—and who has authority to act.

Subsidiaries, Parents and Partners

Model at the story-relevant scale; parent/partner links enable support (like transfers), but ignore “exploit micro-groups.”

Chain of Command

Authority can be formal or informal; acting through proxies can work but carries friction and risk.

Templates and Notable Members

Most members are abstract; leaders and story-relevant figures get full stats.

Assets define what the organization can accomplish and determine its maximum Capital.

Size

Manpower/membership scale; large groups marshal more people but are slower to steer.

Influence

Social weight/political pull: legitimacy, intimidation, alliances, reputation, and status.

Competence

Efficiency/training/coordination; also a major defense against interference.

Reach

Operational footprint; projects outside Reach may be impossible without expanding or leveraging intermediaries.

Wealth

Material resources/logistics/infrastructure and the ability to sustain expensive undertakings.

Special Assets

Unique story-driving resources (sites, monopolies, elite cadres, divine contracts, etc.) that enable/forbid projects.

Using Assets

Nature matters as much as rating—common-sense applicability can permit or forbid actions regardless of dots.

Capital is the organization’s spendable/committable fuel, generated by Assets and invested into Leadership Actions. It represents mobilizable resources: money, manpower allocation, political favors, logistical slack, and institutional focus.

Committed Capital

Capital may be held in reserve or committed to ongoing projects. Committed Capital stays tied up until the project ends (success, failure, or being halted). Some effects generate temporary Capital that must be immediately committed.

Gaining and Losing Capital

Capital fluctuates with success and catastrophe. Failed/botched projects can drain it; losing Asset dots can force immediate loss. Replenish Capital restores lost capacity up to the maximum allowed by current Assets.