Iron, Flax, & Bone

Iron for the sword and hoe,
Flax for crops and string of bow,
Bone to bend and break in woe. 

These three things are true: iron, flax, and bone are you.

- Mahar Abrera Mangahas

Iron, Flax, & Bone is a Pentolan hack on Grasswatch Games' excellent little pamphlet roleplaying game, AKSRS. 

Iron, Flax, and Bone are the three characterstics Pentolans themselves use to describe innate qualities about each other:

In Pentola, iron is both rare and precious as it has apparent metamagical and demon-abjuring properties; any magic effects are more potent when iron is incorporated in the application and demons of all sorts shy away from iron as it ignores their abilities and defenses. Iron represents a character’s force of will, presence, and metaphysical aptitude.

Flax is a crop which represents so much of human ingenuity - one of the earliest and most widespread crops domesticated, flax supplies the Pentolans with food, oil, cloth, paper, and paint; it represents ingenuity, industry, trade, craft, and knowledge to the Pentolans. Flax represents a character’s mental prowess and training, including their knowledge and intuition.

Pentolans are not strangers to danger or hard work and associate bone with both, priding themselves on their physical daring and the use of their bodies to accomplish their tasks, though they are ever mindful of their own ultimate fragility. Bone represents a character’s physical prowess and training, including their strength, agility, hand-eye coordination, etc.

The rules in this zini are a lightweight alternative to the core Pentola rules, giving you a very lightweight take on playing in the setting.

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