The Threadbound

[shootingwomprats]

The Threadbound
Type: Force Tradition
Era(s): AnyCommon Titles: Threadcutter, Needle, Seer, Weaver
Symbol: A silver thread looped around a stylized vibroblade or crescent

"The Force weaves the Pattern. We do not question who must die—we only cut the thread."

Philosophy
The Threadbound believe the Force weaves all destinies into an invisible Pattern. When the Pattern becomes knotted or tangled, specific lives must end to restore balance. Their doctrine is neither light nor dark, but fatalistic. They see themselves not as killers, but as instruments of the Force’s will, executing fated individuals whose continued existence endangers the stability of the galactic weave.

Threadbound assassins do not seek power, justice, or vengeance. Their actions are guided by visions, interpreted from symbolic meditations. Once the Pattern has shown a death, they carry it out—without hesitation or doubt.

Structure
The Threadbound are not a formal order, but a mystical lineage. Their structure is based on function, vision, and symbolic role, not hierarchy. Few ever encounter a full cell—most members operate in isolation, guided by visions and whispers passed through encrypted channels or shared symbolic rituals.

Initiation
To become Threadbound, an aspirant must undergo the Rite of Suspension—a silent vigil spent bound in ritual silk wraps and suspended from the floor, usually in darkness and total sensory deprivation. The silk threads, woven from rare fibers and prepared with meditative oils, are sensitive to the Force, vibrating faintly in resonance with the surrounding Pattern.

The initiate must remain still, often for days, until the threads vibrate with meaning—a vision, a shape, or a symbolic sensation. This is interpreted as the Force offering a glimpse of the Pattern.

Those who endure this experience and survive without going mad are sometimes rewarded with a first vision: a fraying thread, a collapsing knot, or the face of someone whose death would restore balance. Only then are they recognized as Threadbound.

Roles
The Threadbound do not use military or religious ranks. Instead, members assume symbolic roles within the Pattern itself:

Needles: Assassins and field operatives. Execute the will of the Pattern without attachment.
Seers: Interpreters of visions. Often initiate new members or guide the timing of strikes.
Spinners: Collect and maintain death records, maintain thread-maps, and study galactic events to locate ripple points.
Weavers: The rare visionaries who understand how threads intertwine across generations. Often semi-mythic. They do not lead—they observe.

These roles are fluid. One may be a Needle for a time, then become a Seer if granted the vision. Members are bound not by authority, but by shared interpretation of the Pattern.

The Loom is Metaphor
While outsiders speak of a “Hidden Loom,” the Threadbound reject literal interpretations. The Loom is symbolic—it represents the convergence of life threads, not a physical device. True insight comes not from spinning threads, but feeling the Force's resonance through the suspended silks, meditative pattern rituals, and silence.

Some Threadbound do maintain sanctified spaces—dim, suspended chambers lined with hanging silks and sensory amplifiers. These are not temples, but tools—meditation chambers for feeling the weave of life.

Force Skill Restrictions
Threadbound may learn any standard Control, Sense, or Alter powers, but their core tradition focuses on assassination, stealth, and prophetic insight.

They cannot build or use lightsabers—doing so is considered a violation of their doctrine. They prefer natural or disguised weapons (e.g., vibroblades, needles, thrown discs).

Force Powers
Threadbound PCs begin with access to the three tradition-specific powers listed below. New powers may be discovered through:

Interpreting visions (GM-triggered plot points)
Visiting lost monasteries or cryptic scrolls
Dream-quests guided by a Weaver

Thread Sense
Sense Difficulty: Heroic+ (or set by GM based on narrative significance)
Time to Use: Several hours to days—even weeks or months—of intermittent meditation
Note: This power grants symbolic insight into deaths fated to restore or maintain balance. Visions may unfold gradually, with incomplete images or sensations arriving across extended periods.
Effect: Through prolonged and repeated meditation, the Force-user receives metaphorical visions—such as unraveling thread, collapsing faces, or intersecting strands—signaling that a specific death may be necessary to prevent catastrophe or restore equilibrium. These visions are cryptic and require interpretation. Misreading the Pattern is possible. The GM determines when and how clear or accurate the insights become.

Curved Flight
Alter Difficulty: Moderate, modified by curve complexity:

Simple lateral curve (slight bend): +5
Wide arc (45° or more): +10
Multiple bends or arcing around cover: +15 or more (GM’s discretion)
Ricochet-based curved shot: +10

Effect: The Force-user bends the trajectory of a thrown weapon or blaster bolt in flight, allowing it to strike targets from unexpected angles. This grants a +2D bonus to aimed or called shots, helping overcome the increased difficulty for targeting small objects or precise body parts. In some cases, the attack may bypass standard cover penalties (GM’s decision). This power does not create homing projectiles—it relies on micro-movements and real-time alterations to produce improbable arcs.
Note: Target must be visible or correctly guessed.

Life Silencing
Control Difficulty: Moderate
Sense Difficulty: Moderate
his power may be kept “up.”
Effect: The Force-user quiets their presence in the Force and their physical body—suppressing breath, heartbeat, emotional signature, and life energy. While active, they become undetectable to most lifeform scanners and Force Sense powers. Grants a +2D bonus to sneak and resists detection by both technological means and Force abilities. While the power is kept “up,” it counts as an ongoing action for multiple-action penalties.

Roleplaying Notes
Threadbound PCs should have a code of fatalistic ethics—they do not kill for emotion or politics. They act only when the Pattern reveals.

Dark Side Points: Killing "unmarked" targets, acting in anger, or rejecting a fated death may grant DSPs. Following the Pattern alone does not.

Threadbound Needle (typical)
Dexterity 3D+1
Blaster 4D+1, brawling parry 4D+1, dodge 4D+2, firearms 4D+2, melee combat 5D, melee parry 4D+2, running 4D+1, thrown weapons 4D+1
Knowledge 2D+2
Cultures 4D, lntimidation 4D+1, languages 4D, survival 4D tactics 4D
Mechanical 2D
Repuslorlift operation 4D+2
Perception 3D
Hide 4D, investigation 4D+1, search 4D, sneak 5D
Strength 2D+2
Brawling 4D, climbing/jumping 3D+1, stamina 4D
Technical 2D
First aid 3D+2, security 3D

Special Abilities:
Force Skills: Control 3D, Sense 3D, Alter 2D+2
Control: Life silencing
Alter: Curved flight

Move: 10
Force Points: 2
Dark Side Points: 2
Character Points: 10

Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), Silkshroud robes (adaptive fiber-weave robes that dampen thermal signature and muffle sound; grant +1D to sneak in low-light or urban terrain), curved vibroblade (STR+2D), encrypted commbead.

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_________________
Don Diestler
Host, Shooting Womp Rats
The D6 Podcast
http://d6holocron.com/shootingwomprats
@swd6podcast, Twitter

[Forceally]

This is a personal creation, right? There's no Force tradition with this name listed in any SW material, right?

[shootingwomprats]

[Forceally]

It was so convincing to be real.

[shootingwomprats]