Pathfinder Shabti Culture Booklet

Students of the Layered Ascent.
>Expansionist Shabti transhumanists.
LN, NG, NE, CN, TN.
Spacefarers, augmented individuals and ghosts, these people are the most advanced culture on the world, and one of the most in the material plane. Piloting Shabti luxury bodies, this culture is one lead by untethered ghosts that have returned to the material world to rule an eternal empire unhindered by planar boundaries or mortality.

>FLUFF:

Art resource: https://imgur.com/a/3sAxqSL

Appearance:
	The people of this culture can be spotted by their clothes more easily than by race. Blowing garments of red, blue, white and gold, decorated with jewelry, and hints within their garments of the technologies they have to offer. Occasionally, aesthetic trappings of clothing conventions from the cultures of other planes will be seen, depending on where the individuals of this culture are encountered, or on the personal history of the individual. Little is unified in their forms beyond their clothes, due to the fact that this culture is known to take in scholars, adventurers and pioneers from all over, so long as they can prove their worth by finding the culture. Catfolk, Tieflings, Kobolds, Elves, any are welcome to enter and participate. Internally, however, a recurring race does appear in the form of the Shabti, otherwise called in this culture the Transformed Body. A Shabti is something of a living construct, manufactured from careful understanding of outsider physiology, luxury materials and metaphysical components. Originally meant to be a diversion for desperate souls attempting to avoid final judgement by the Shabti, imbued with a fragment of said soul, these Shabti are instead not the scapegoat but the objective and anchor of the people who operate in this culture, their freed souls returning to fuse with their corresponding Shabti after death to become a new being.
	Shabti at base will just look like a medium humanoid the color of whatever materials were used to make it, with faces resembling an idealized version of their creator and bound spirit, but individuals of this culture are scientists and engineers experimenting with the limits of form, so the features of these beings will rarely stay so simple. As the true form of the Shabti populace is actually a disembodied extraplanar spirit, the use of a Shabti in this culture is more akin to the use of important jewelry, a luxury display and sometimes a symbol of one's status. As members of this culture grow in power, it is common for them to manifest physically more of their growing spiritual form, taking on strange and truly unique attributes symbolic of their personal achievements. As the only limits to these are imagination, size and power, some of the more advanced members of the culture if encountered on their own may be mistaken for aberrations. Shabti are all manufactured at the same size due to the resource constraints of their production, so the resemblance to their original selves is only ever superficial, not practical, but to some races like Kobolds the change to a Shabti body can be an elevating experience beyond the inherent metaphysical implications.
	Often members of this culture who haven't transitioned into their Transformed Body will have cybernetics, or other technological gear. This culture has access to fairly elaborate technology and medicine, being as they are the forgers of spiritual beings and manipulators of extraplanar forces, and so it is not uncommon to see more advanced devices on their persons. Just as with cybernetics, other magical prosthetics are also present, and many people from this culture will have limbs or sensory organs replaced, either for need or want. People outside the boundaries of this culture but belonging to it will usually try to conceal these in diplomatic interactions, as they have been the subject of conflict in the past.

Politics:
	Overall, the culture is an electoral democracy in which citizens vote on representatives to manage the vital roles of the culture. As each member involved is working towards the benefit of the civilization as a whole, representatives are strictly dedicated to their appointed tasks, and higher-level corruption is very rare. Most if not all individuals in political positions have already assumed the Transformed Body, and are very rarely in a position where they can be offered something they could not themselves attain. Dedication to an immaterial existence while maintaining material prosperity is the cornerstone the culture has been founded upon, and so focus to one's position in the pursuit of improving the quality of life in the culture is always a high priority. Those of the culture have little need of the physical, only want, and have little want for that which would make their proxy bodies less enjoyable to pilot, so through a mix of vanity and altruism health, happiness and culture-wide wealth are maintained over conventional ideas of petty personal gain.
	This is not to say the culture is completely free of crime or corruption, but this is far more present in those new to the culture or those who have yet to undergo the process of transitioning over to a Transformed Body, still dedicated to their worldly existence rather than the one beyond it they are to receive. Crime is dealt with in a simple series of strikes; break the law more than thrice and you are exiled. Death is something the culture is accustomed to curing, souls are fairly easy to track with the spear of the culture across the planes, and it was assumed they were going to get a new body eventually anyway, but murder is still considered a crime, in the same way vandalism is. Bodies are the property of the souls piloting them, and to damage one out of spite makes you and by extension the culture harboring you look bad. Much crimes are treated like this, not as explicitly morally reprehensible, but more as poor etiquette and a black mark on the culture its inhabitants are trying to make shine. Criminals are not treated as evils, but idiots, often berated or ridiculed for not being able to wait the short decade or two it would have taken for them to achieve the goals they attempted to cheat to succeed in.
	Citizenship is something easy to come by, you need only find one of their settlements and voice interest, at which point you will be educated in their ways through artificial memories and brought up to date on current projects and political events. They don't care your origin, they are more so interested in soul, your future, and how that future can help them. Some conflict does occur, due to the fact that much of one's physically inherent talents or abilities are lost in the transition to a Transformed Body. Little can be done about this in the culture's eyes, Shabti bodies are made, not born, and cannot be made smaller than a certain size due to their requirements to properly function, so in order to fully embrace moving forwards in this culture the sacrifice of your body and evrything attached to it in more than just a superficial way is one you are expected to make. If one would like to return some semblance of old functions to the body, they will need it augmented. This has led to something of a small class divide between the Transformed who are viewed as moving forwards, and those yet to be, viewed as unwilling to take the steps to improve their culture even more. Ultimately this divide is, similarly to those between Shabti bodies, mostly superficial, only coaxing some biases in citizens when it comes to elections.
	War is uncommon in the culture due to the nature of how it expands, very rarely branching far enough out on any one plane or world to brush borders with any other culture, but they do have two known enemies in the remnants of the Inevitables and Psychopomps. Both see the Transformation the culture undergoes and their expansion across the planes as a violation of vital cosmic orders both factions of outsiders act to preserve. Despite this, direct conflict is fairly minimal, the two outsider factions too few in numbers after the Aboleth conflict to attempt forwards assault against the culture which only seems to grow in power. When wartimes do come, the culture's power over their metaphysical bulk and mastery of artifice come to the front, with Golems, siege weapons, firearms and monstrous spiritual war-forms digging into enemy forces. Often, plane-hopping shenanigans are abused to dump massive threats in the middle of enemy forces while powerful ranged fire thins the edges of formations or remove high-priority targets. Resurrective and repairing magic is always active in the background of frontal assaults, and it is very rare for a skirmish with this culture to result in permanent casualties or lost resources on their side.

Alignments in this culture generally are most represented in any neutral.
Founded by skilled artificers, brought together by one who successfully used a shabti to avoid eternal judgement, then used his powers as a free astral spirit to reunite with the fragment in the shabti body. This process, called "The Transformation" (the successful shabti diversion and subsequent reuniting), is the central focus of the Students of the Layered Ascent. The Students believe that divinity can be achieved by forging a small portion of one's soul into a new immortal spiritual being designed from scratch, then combining with that being as an immortal unbound spiritual being yourself, forming a greater whole than the sum of their parts. The ultimate objective is to continue doing so repeatedly, and indefinitely, allowing them to ascend the metaphysical ladder towards some form of godhood. The culture is largely dominated by metaphysical scientific ambition and hedonistic pursuits, as their transformation has become infinitely easier with the absence of a god of judgement to hunt them. The shabti they use act as luxury bodies, idealized forms tailored by each individual to be the pinnacle of their mortal achievement. Artifice and enriching the glory of the empire with individualistic pursuits are the hot topic drives for the culture mostly, though very few would know it. This is because while the empire is deep and vast on its own, much of it is sprinkled throughout the planes and various worlds by complex portal networks, resulting in a multi-planar supercity that appears to be a small but advanced village to planar native onlookers. In the magical pursuits, one thing is certain: reincarnation is forbidden. Their view of life and the death they must face to transform as a ladder to be climbed, and reincarnation as willingly stepping backwards down that ladder rather than continuing to climb up it. If you die before your shabti body can be manufactured, you must attempt to survive as a lingering soul while you wait for one to be made in order to attempt to continue, and any attempt to pass on or return to the cyclical spiritual mechanism of wild nature will be met with being exiled from the culture, though you may never find out you have been in your new life or afterlife. Just as well, however, is that the culture is very open to new members and does not check the complete chronological metaphysical history of those it accepts, so former exiled members sometimes do end up finding their way back in. In addition to their shabti shenanigans, the students are also very familiar with the manufacturing of bioconstruct armors and other golem advancements, and it is not uncommon to see the general populace of their cities using these in hard labor. Access to the training required for all item creating/crafting feats can be found here, up to and including Technologist and those that require it. Despite being highly skilled in necromantic magics, these are never used to create undead servants, as the culture sees all undead forms beyond the spiriual to be repulsive and representative of the mortality they have shed, something "below" them. They are currently in something of a war with the remnants of Inevitable and Psychopomp-kind, but direct conflict is often avoided between the two sides.

The most focused of the transformation follow this path, and in fact the original engineers behind the transformation of the layered ascension were these. Dedicated to testing the outward limits of what one could become and where one could go as an unbound spirit piloting an immortal body, the ruling emperor was and is one of these, as are most adventurers from this culture, but few others who act as proactive members of society are. These are the pioneers in the culture, treading other nations, worlds, and planes of existence as the witches and mediums knit their empire together in their wake. You will often see some of the most physically powerful members of the culture in this class, able to assume immense forms of incredible might while still able to toy with elaborate and powerful dimensional magics, great pride is taken by those that follow this path in the beings they become. Just as well, summoners are the experts when it comes to planar knowledge and navigation, and often act as shepherds to those undergoing the transformation to ensure reunition to their shabti bodies.

Magical and spiritual authorities. The doctors, scientists, philosophers and otherwise hard casters of the culture, the witches here are more interested in the metaphysical architecture of the the system. Some are focused on the transformation, while others are more focused on reinforcing their culture's extra-planar infrastructure, all are dedicated to the magical pursuits the transformation provides. Most capable of the widest array of spells, the witches, shamans and oracles of this culture are used to augment the directed efforts of the summoners, mediums and spiritualists. That said, just as often they are powerhouses in their own scientific and philisophical pursuits, and more often than not it is their efforts that produce the cutting edge technologies of the culture. It is thanks to the witches that much of the populace have the shabti bodies they need to undergo their transformations. While witches see the transformation as an augmentation and only progress to "godhood" in a figurative sense, oracles believe the transformation to be literal ascension to  early godhood, or otherwise the awakening of a divine spark. Shamans, operating somewhere between the naturalistic and scientific angle of witches, while not disregarding the spiritual aspects entirely of oracles, usually see it as the first steps to a literal ascension but not explicitly one itself.

Civilization authorities, historians and political figures. These are the social workers of the culture, less focused on the transformation and more focused on maintaining the civilization that facilitates it. Though weaker in physical or magical potential than the other two, the Mediums and Spiritualists of the culture are more highly adaptable in ability, and in being less focused have given them the slack the culture needed to develop the maintainers of their politics, economy and religion. Mediums/Spiritualists are the faces of those transformed most often seen by the untransformed, working in their cities with their people and making sure their mortal companions are still living healthy and ambitious lives. Most untransformed will that succeed in the transformation become one of these two, as the easiest paths towards resuming possession of their fractured whole, and otherwise not specialized in spiritual arcane architecture or the mechanics behind a soul's planar-travel abilities. Manifesting the least physical change as they grow in power, these members are often the most attached to their mortal lives, something that is reflected in their actions as transformed.

>CRUNCH

The transformation:
The process of undergoing the transformation has become much less difficult in the current times, but is still not a guaranteed success. It requires that an individual with their soul bound to an unoccupied shabti body die, have their bodiless soul avoid apprehension by psychopomps and return from the astral plane to the central material plane to repossess the soul grown from their donated fragment. The manufacturing of a shabti body operates under the same requirements as creating a homunculi, clone, or any other medium undead/construct, albeit at an additional gold cost of 500 per character level (or an equivalent amount of gems) of those undergoing the process, regardless of method, and to be completed requires the Haunt Scavenger feat. The average time of the process to successfully see the departure and return for the soul in question is a week, but this is dependent on the skill of the transformation overseer as elaborated later. When a character undertakes the transformation, they are essentially creating a new character from scratch, and must replace at least one of their current class levels with a level in one of the above listed archetype-modified classes, as well as change their race to shabti. Characters who undergo the process are permitted to retain their unmodified ability score distribution, any gear they possess, and any traits or feats they have that they still qualify for, but generally this process modifies a character so thoroughly that a new character sheet is needed. One who is managing the process must have access to spells of both conjuration and necromancy schools and pass a dc10 UMD check to begin the process, followed by a dc20 spellcraft check to manipulate the soul such that it is returned and rebound intact. One could in theory do this process to one's self, but very few without significant knowledge of the astral plane (dc30 planes check instead of spellcraft as normal) have ever done so intact. Those undergoing the process on a failed spellcraft/planes check do not automatically fail to complete the transformation, but instead are subject to the difference between the roll and dc in permanent negative levels that cannot be removed by a shabti's inherent abilities and must be dealt with through traditional means such as restoration spells, in addition to an the time the process requires to complete increasing by an equal number of days. One who is reduced to below their HD in negative levels this way they are assumed to have been lost to astral phenomena or have been caught by a psychopomp. Similarly, the difference between the successful check and the dc reduce the time the process requires by a number of days equal to the difference, to a minimum of 0 days (instantly after the UMD initiation). The dcs of the spellcraft/planes checks can be reduced by 1 times the spell level of the highest level necromancy, conjuration (calling) or conjuration (summoning) spell in those managing the process (of their choice if multiple tie), but the spell slot, material components required and/or spell-like ability use for this spell must be consumed 7 times (once per day of the base process) to gain this benefit, though this number of times is also subject to the reduction from successful spellcraft/planes checks to a minimum of 1 time.

Familiars:
It is assumed any familiars a member of this culture gains are physical manifestations of their unbound soul, and thus either have the Figment or Soulbound familiar archetypes even if they would not otherwise qualify for them.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/familiar/familiar-archetypes/figment-familiar-archetype/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/familiar/familiar-archetypes/soulbound-familiar/

Adepts/Aristocrats/Commoners/Experts/Warriors:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/npc-classes/adept/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/npc-classes/aristocrat/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/npc-classes/commoner/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/npc-classes/expert/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/npc-classes/warrior/
Untransformed members of this culture must use one of these classes.

Barbarian:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/archetypes/paizo-barbarian-archetypes/geminate-invoker-barbarian-archetype/

Mediums/Psychics/Spiritualists:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/occult-adventures/occult-classes/medium/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/occult-adventures/occult-classes/medium/archetypes/paizo-llc-medium-archetypes/reanimated-medium-medium-archetype/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/occult-adventures/occult-classes/psychic
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/occult-adventures/occult-classes/psychic/archetypes/paizo-llc-psychic-archetypes/mutation-mind-psychic-archetype/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/occult-adventures/occult-classes/psychic/psychic-disciplines/psychic-disciplines-paizo-inc/spirit-channeler/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/occult-adventures/occult-classes/spiritualist/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/occult-adventures/occult-classes/spiritualist/archetypes/paizo-llc-spiritualist-archetypes/exciter-spiritualist-archetype/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/occult-adventures/occult-classes/spiritualist/archetypes/paizo-llc-spiritualist-archetypes/ectoplasmatist-spiritualist-archetype/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/occult-adventures/occult-classes/spiritualist/archetypes/paizo-llc-spiritualist-archetypes/fractured-mind-spiritualist-archetype/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/occult-adventures/occult-classes/spiritualist/archetypes/paizo-llc-spiritualist-archetypes/haunted-spiritualist-archetype/
Mediums in this culture can use any kind of spirit including legendary spirits.
Psychics in this culture must select spirits from the same selection as shamans of this culture.
Spiritualists in this culture can use any emotional foci. In addition, they must be a Fractured Mind Spiritualist combined with one of the three other archetypes.

Arcanist/Magus/Sorcerers/Summoners/Witches:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist/archetypes/paizo-arcanist-archetypes/blood-arcanist/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/magus/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/magus/archetypes/paizo-magus-archetypes/eldritch-scion/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/magus/archetypes/paizo-magus-archetypes/nature-bonded-magus-magus-archetype/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner/archetypes/paizo-summoner-archetypes/synthesist
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/archetypes/paizo-witch-archetypes/beast-bonded/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/archetypes/paizo-witch-archetypes/invoker-witch-archetype/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/archetypes/paizo-witch-archetypes/medium-witch-archetype
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/archetypes/paizo-witch-archetypes/synergist-witch-archetype
Blood Arcanists of this culture must choose the Possessed Bloodline.
Eldritch Scion Maguses of this culture must choose the Possessed Bloodline.
Sorcerers of this culture must choose the Possessed Bloodline.
Witches in this culture assume the Ancestors, Death, Occult and Spirits patrons. In addition, they can assume the Empath, Touched By The Outer Gods and Shadowbound special patrons. In addition, they must be a Medium Witch combined with one of the three other archetypes.

Hunters/Oracles/Shamans:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/hunter/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/hunter/archetypes/paizo-hunter-archetypes/totem-bonded-hunter-archetype
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/archetypes/paizo-oracle-archetypes/possessed-oracle
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/shaman/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/shaman/archetypes/paizo-shaman-archetypes/possessed-shaman
Hunters in this culture must select either the Elemental+Deathtouched, Aberrant, or Totem Guide companion archetypes.
Shamans in this culture assume the Ancestors, Battle, Life, Lore, Slums and Stone spirits.
Oracles in this culture assume the Ancestor, Battle, Bones, Dark Tapestry, Life, Lore, Metal, Occult, Outer Rifts, Shadow, Solar, Spellscar, Stone, Streets, Succor and Time mysteries.

Prestige:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/a-b/arcane-savant/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/apg/horizon-walker/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/core-rulebook/mystic-theurge/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/n-r/planes-walker/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/s-z/technomancer/