The Fortune Deck is sort of like a Tarot deck; it has upright and reversed meanings for cards and the like. The Deck is important for three things: first, picking three cards out of it is the end of the character generation process, and the bit that I haven't explained to anyone, because it's a bitch. Second: character development has to do with these cards, in a somewhat sidelong way. Third: if there's a situation that needs to be resolved and I don't feel like making an arbitrary decision about the competence of the characters or their success level, I'll draw a card and narrate on the basis of what's there.

First, character generation. Characters each have a Virtue, a Fault, and a Fate, each of which is represented by a card. Your Virtue can be a personal trait, a magical gift, an aspect of fortune; in any case, it's something that your character is particularly good at in some way. Likewise, a Fault can be a trait, a curse, or just a persistent streak of bad luck. These are, in significant part, characterisation tools.

Your Fate is essentially your major plot hook: what is your character's immediate personal challenge at this point in time? If you imagine your character going through stages of life, what satori or revelation would indicate having completed this stage and being ready for the next? A Fate card is neither upright nor reversed: you don't know whether it'll be a good resolution or a bad resolution until you get there.

For an example of Virtue/Fault/Fate, see the end of the example character I made up a while back, or the brief explanation of how it interacts in the city of Everway, presuming I get that written.

In play: I will draw cards not often, but occasionally, if I find it appropriate. If I draw your character's Virtue to arbitrate an answer to one of your actions, that indicates an extraordinary success; if I draw your character's Fault, that indicates a particularly unfortunate result. If I draw your character's Fate, that brings about a confrontation between character and that character's inner growth question, and we'll see how that turns out in practice.

The cards themselves:

Card	Upright Meaning	Reversed Meaning
Autumn	Plenty	Want
The Cockatrice	Corruption	Recovery
The Creator	Nurture	Abandonment
Death	Change	Stasis
The Defender	Safety	Peril
The Soldier	Duty	Blind Obedience
The Lion	The Body Prevails	Weakness
Drowning in Armour	Protective Measures turn Dangerous	True Prudence
The Eagle	The Mind Prevails	Thoughtlessness
Fearing Shadows	Unnecessary Fear	Recognising Safety
Fertility	Growth	Decline
The Fish	The Soul Prevails	Shallowness
The Phoenix	Rebirth	Destruction
Nature	Life Energy	Energy Sapped
Spring	New Growth	Stagnation
The Satyr	Indulgence	Moderation
The Priestess	Understanding Mysteries	Impracticality
Summer	Energy	Exhaustion
Inspiration	Creativity	Lack of Imagination
The Fool	Freedom	Lack of Connection
The Peasant	Simple Strength	Lack of Vision
Sowing Stones	Fruitless Labor	Ceasing Fruitless Labor
The King	Authority	Tyrrany
Trickery	Deceit	Subterfuge Revealed
The Hermit	Wisdom	Isolation
Striking the Dragon's Tail	Underestimating the Challenge	Recognising the Larger Problem
The Smith	Productivity	Evil Effort
The Unicorn	Purity	Temptation
Overlooking the Diamond	Failing to See Opportunity	Recognising Opportunity
Winter	Maturity	Inexperience
War	Great Effort	Wasted Effort
Knowledge	Truth	Falsehood
The Gryphon	Valor	Cowardice
The Dragon	Cunning	Blind Fury
Law	Order	Treachery
The Usurper	--	--