Rantine Gear

 

A quick followup to this post, with some gear specific to the Third City. 

• Glass Knives. Frightening weapons that leave really nasty internal injuries, mostly used by hoodlums and street toughs to intimidate people. The hardwood club and glass knife are associated with the Rantine Mob, and with the bad ends of those they choose to move against. A glass knife is a light weapon that damage you as well as your target if you critically miss with it, regardless of proficiencies. If you crit with it, you instead break the blade off in the wound - thereafter the target will take d6 damage per turn that they move or take an action, until they spend a whole turn fishing the shard out of themselves, which also deals d6 damage. If you are a Rantine native, or have Fighter or Bravo templates, you can attempt to break the blade without a crit, which is a normal attack at -4. 
• Fang Prosthesis. A steel (or, if you are poor, a ceramic or even wooden) denture that replaces the teeth completely. They are fastened to the bone of the jaw, and hollowed and shaped to facilitate the draining of blood from a bite, down into the throat. If you have someone helpless, or if they are a willing participant, you can drink their blood like a vampire. If you were desperate, you could use them as extremely awkward weapons of last resort (as improvised piercing). There are some models that incorporate ingenious little injectors, and which can be loaded with poisons and other surprises. By far the item on this list most strongly associated with Rantine, and especially with its hereditary nobility. 
• Rocket Weaponry. It is the military artillery of the White City that forms the cutting edge of rocketry in the currently age, but the Rantines invented the art, and their weaponsmiths and artificers are still among the best in the world. Rantine rockets burn red, and fly in straight arcs, as opposed to the Imperial models (burn white, corkscrew). A rocket weapon is a pistol or musket which rolls to hit with disadvantage (and is slow moving enough to facilitate active interdiction or evasion by something with sufficiently quick reflexes), but which damages everything within 15 feet of the target if it hits. Even on a miss, half of those in the AOE will take half damage. On a critical miss for those without proficiency (Rantine natives, White Citizens, and Fighters have this by default), you centre the shot on yourself. Each individual shot costs about as much as a whole pistol or musket. 
• Rantine Spice. A thick, acrid, bright red spice mix that comes pre-mixed in pungent oil. Rantines put it on everything, and complain loudly about the flavourlessness of foreign food. Southerners joke that it is made from the poisons that accrete in the boiling sea. A very strong and difficult-to-acquire taste, but beloved by those who grok it. A small pot of Spice (1/3 INV) can be used to extend up to 20 rations, such that they count double, and last twice as long before spoiling, if spoilage is an issue. It will also sell for good money in the White City, and very good money in the Barony or the steppe. Rantine street toughs are known to snort back pellets of this stuff such that it coats the back of their throats - a practice largely intolerable to even the most die-hard southern aficionados. If you can pick up this trick, and do it without gagging or coughing (CON save at minimum), you have an easy in with Rantine hoodlums and Juggers. 
• Rantine Lace. This is what any Rantine of means will be dressed in day-to-day, and is the chief export of the Third City in the current day. Worn properly, a garment of Rantine Lace covers the whole of the body save the face. It features elaborate ruffs, sleeves, and corsetry, and is often subtly tailored to accentuate the classical Rantine height, slimness, and elongation. A bonnet or head-piece will cover the hair and build out the head, such that the tooth prosthetics and enormous eyes are most of what you see. In peacetime the ancient Rantine wore white lace, and in wartime they wore red - the wearing of red lace is currently illegal. Wearing the whole ensemble might get you some funny looks in the south by those who know what it is, but the individual pieces are highly fashionable and sought after. The Old Capital in particular was known to have an insatiable appetite for Rantine lace. 
• Treated Timber Proofing. They use various chemical treatments to build boats and barges capable of traversing their sea without damage. Essentially this treatment makes a piece of wood, paper, leather, etc, acid proof, at enormous expense. Proofing must be refreshed every five years or so. 

Vampire Hunter D. Yes, Rantines look like vampire-classic.

Bloodborne