Originally posted by Daigotsu Max
Hi all! I finally received my basic compendium, and I'm currently in the process of reading it (again, as I did a long time ago!)

However, I have two questions:

Originally posted by Daigotsu Max
- What is the difference between a Zoic and a jenu? While janah seems pretty clear as being any of the people, Zoic and jenu confuse me as they both seem to indicate the animal templates...

Zoic comes from the greek word "zoikos" (which means "animal" and refers to different animal types). It's another word for Janah, but as far as I know not used in the game world per se but only by us "onlookers".

Jenu means race, as in "Sealion, Meerkat,..." or in a broader sense "Paksin, Sarpah,..." (see Basic Compendium Page 315, in the glossary).

Originally posted by Daigotsu Max- Is it possible to raise skills over the characteristic level at character creation?

I'm not sure I read a rule like that, I think it is very well possible to have them higher, though I personally discourage too specialized characters, since there's not much to DO with such a character as a GM. Some versatility is good.

Zoics are what the animal people are called by us, the designers, in the rules. It's a game term, like Action Dice or Skill Roll. Zoic is easier and less cumbersome to write than "Anthropomorphic Animals."

Janah is what all the Zoics in Dardunah call themselves. It means "the people" (and similar to how we use "human" to describe ourselves).

Jenu is a world term (meaning it's used by the characters in the game) and means "race." Like Sherbie pointed out, it's used to indicate a Zoic's specific animal type (such as a lion, or wolf, or parrot). So if your character was ever asked in-game by an NPC, "What kind of jenu was he?" he'd be asking for the animal type.

You can raise Skills past your Characteristic Link Ranking but it's expensive (and only if the GM says it's okay).

Hope that helps.

-Aaron