The Builder tier

What a Builder reading means

Just over a third of all births land here, making this and the band below it the ordinary middle of the scale. The verses are the most practical in the set and the least ornamental — they describe a life where what stands was raised rather than received, and where the timeline is long. Early years read as unremarkable in almost every one of these ten, and the weight lands later, which is worth knowing in advance because it is the specific way this band is misread by the people in it: a slow start gets taken as evidence that nothing is coming. What these verses actually say is that the return is proportional to what went in, over a period long enough that the connection is hard to see from inside. That is a duller promise than the tiers above and a considerably more reliable one.

Karma Credits are one of the four readings Bond Level 2 unlocks. All four pillars are needed for a total, so this is a reading that does not exist at all until an hour, day and month of birth are known.

How common this band is

35.3% of all valid birth combinations land in the Builder band — counted by working through every one of the 259,200 possible pillar combinations rather than estimated. The five bands are equal in width and nothing like equal in population, so where a total sits on the scale says less than how many people sit there with it.

Counted across 60 year pillars × 12 lunar months × 30 lunar days × 12 birth hours.

The ten Builder verses

One verse for each coin total in the band, heaviest first. The verse is the reading rather than a decoration on it, so all ten are printed in full.

The bands either side

• Noble sits directly above at 732–859 Credits, held by 10.5% of births. A well-ordered fortune. Honor, learning, and prosperity walk the same road.
• Wanderer sits directly below at 451–577 Credits, held by 40.1% of births. A drifting path. Fortune arrives in patches; the second half carries more weight than the first.
• The four pillar tables show exactly what each part of a birth contributes, including which of the ninety-six birth years carries which year pillar.

Frequently asked

What does a Builder Karma Credit reading mean?

A self-made hall. What stands around you was raised by steady, honest work. Just over a third of all births land here, making this and the band below it the ordinary middle of the scale. The verses are the most practical in the set and the least ornamental — they describe a life where what stands was raised rather than received, and where the timeline is long. Early years read as unremarkable in almost every one of these ten, and the weight lands later, which is worth knowing in advance because it is the specific way this band is misread by the people in it: a slow start gets taken as evidence that nothing is coming. What these verses actually say is that the return is proportional to what went in, over a period long enough that the connection is hard to see from inside. That is a duller promise than the tiers above and a considerably more reliable one.

What credit range is the Builder tier?

592 to 718 Karma Credits, which is 42 to 51 coins on the older scale the reading is built from. 35.3% of all possible birth combinations land in this band — the five tiers are equal in width and nothing like equal in population.

How is a Karma Credit total worked out?

Four pillars, added: the year of birth, the lunar month, the lunar day and the hour. Each carries a weight, the sum is held inside the range the old verses interpret, and that total is rescaled so the traditional maximum reads as 1000 Credits. The weights are applied to a converted birth rather than a calendar date, which is why the board works the total out rather than leaving it to a lookup.

Which verses belong to the Builder tier?

Ten, one for each coin total in the band — from Captain of the Favorable Wind at 51 coins down to The Midlife Alchemist at 42. Every one is printed in full on this page, because the verse is the reading and a summary of it would be a different thing.