The following will not surprise too many people, I think.
Due to preparation for upcoming trip (end of Sept. to end of Oct.) and nanowrimo after it, as well as a desire to devote more time to writing, I will not be running games until December at the earliest. I have been too busy of late to devote enough time or energy to AC and running half-assed sessions is a disservice to the game and the players.
Apologies to all concerned.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
And AC is baaaack!
After the two-week hiatus, AC is up and running again. It's a nice, shiny Monday morning and telepaths are investigating odd schools while drug dealers prepare to try and move operations and the world carries on as 'normal'. The extent to which the world can remain like that is, of course, up for debate, even with new telepathic conspiracies in the making.*
FYI: The GM is now living in the same building as his brothers, so there may be odd pauses and such (as Chaos learned last night) when people insist on coming over to visit and such without due warning or filling out the proper risk assessment forms beforehand.
* That the telepathic conspiracy is having problems arranging for a simple MRI is, probably, just a giant double bluff on their part, unless it is a triple bluff.
FYI: The GM is now living in the same building as his brothers, so there may be odd pauses and such (as Chaos learned last night) when people insist on coming over to visit and such without due warning or filling out the proper risk assessment forms beforehand.
* That the telepathic conspiracy is having problems arranging for a simple MRI is, probably, just a giant double bluff on their part, unless it is a triple bluff.
Monday, July 25, 2011
BE & SM: What happens when one crosses D&D with BESM.
For the BESM D&D Game, some rules & assumptions:
RULES:
1) Shock Value will be used (see p. 158 in BESM book for details). Basically, you get hurt and you have a good chance of being out of it from the wound. Combat Techniques and/or a high soul can alleviate this, ditto with things like regeneration.
2) Critical Damage is being used. 12s will count as criticals in the sense of Something Awesome happens, 2s as a massive screw up.
3) If your PC ends up with attacks and abilities that require the use of the expanded rules chapter to function, make sure to remind me of that and them as needed.
4) I expect most PCs will make use of Restrictions and Defects. I am not setting a hard and fast limit on either. I do expect players to keep tracks of the concentration, energy cost and such of abilities themselves.
ASSUMPTIONS:
1) Most every PC will have increased shock value and/or regeneration. Humans, dwarves and such do not have the latter save from magical stuff and/or high 'levels'.
2) Mind shield and resistance can be had by anyone, human or monster, but barring run ins with magicians, clerics or other monsters shouldn't apply too often.
SETTING:
TShe game setting is intended to be the usual 'monsters come in from the cold' kind of story. The backstory IS grim, but probably not first-hand knowledge to the PCs and mostgly just stories told by old people of another era, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing at all in this era. Your PC concepts can be as serious or absurd as you wish, but the tone and style of the game will pretty much depend on what everyone makes and does.
RULES:
1) Shock Value will be used (see p. 158 in BESM book for details). Basically, you get hurt and you have a good chance of being out of it from the wound. Combat Techniques and/or a high soul can alleviate this, ditto with things like regeneration.
2) Critical Damage is being used. 12s will count as criticals in the sense of Something Awesome happens, 2s as a massive screw up.
3) If your PC ends up with attacks and abilities that require the use of the expanded rules chapter to function, make sure to remind me of that and them as needed.
4) I expect most PCs will make use of Restrictions and Defects. I am not setting a hard and fast limit on either. I do expect players to keep tracks of the concentration, energy cost and such of abilities themselves.
ASSUMPTIONS:
1) Most every PC will have increased shock value and/or regeneration. Humans, dwarves and such do not have the latter save from magical stuff and/or high 'levels'.
2) Mind shield and resistance can be had by anyone, human or monster, but barring run ins with magicians, clerics or other monsters shouldn't apply too often.
SETTING:
TShe game setting is intended to be the usual 'monsters come in from the cold' kind of story. The backstory IS grim, but probably not first-hand knowledge to the PCs and mostgly just stories told by old people of another era, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing at all in this era. Your PC concepts can be as serious or absurd as you wish, but the tone and style of the game will pretty much depend on what everyone makes and does.
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Besm D&D game idea
History
For much of its history, this was a D&D world like any other, a smorgasboard of ideas and concepts jumbled together. It is said that the world did make more 'sense', long ago, but there was a war involving dragons and elves that has long since passed into myth, even among dragons. The elves, who live longer, do not speak of it, but for a long, long time -- and even now, to an extent -- the elves and their kin are somewhat feared because racial memory runs deep. It was enough for the elves to be left alone for some time, even when the human kingdom of Osgiliath began to expand and the wizards and warriors devised new methods of making weapons that changed the face of the world.
(OOC: Basically think of an industrial revolution in terms of magic: magical devices are made on assembly lines, regular weapons as well and so forth. After two generations the alliance with the dwarves was struck and 7 generations ago both races ceased selling weapon and metals to anyone else.)
Within 10 measly human generations the entire face of the world has been changed. In the last three the monsters and other races have been domesticated, extinguished or driven into hiding in various dark corners of the world still inaccessible to the armies of man. That these grow fewer with each passing year goes without saying, and yet is still being said. (Can you tell I am writing this on little sleep? I can.)
6 generations, the elven empire in the western continent fell to the humans, as much due to their skill as to overconfidence and decadence of the elves. The humans made an exact replica of Osgiliath there stone by stone and razed the elven city and burned down the fabled trees and forests of the elves. Most of the elves died then, by their own hands. The few who remain are jesters in human courts, or hidden in the wilds of the world, and they have such long, long memories ...
This is not to say the world is entirely human: the dark wood and its like still exist, scattered but real, and the remnants of the mighty orcish armies that once terrified the world still remain in various steppes and plains. Only without weapons the orcs have descended into barbarism and are truly only a threat to each other in this new age. And the dwarves, of course, have the underworld to themselves: and how long this alliance with the humans last is the only deep fracture in the new world they have made.
Summary (as humans count generations, so about 30 years apart*)
10 generations ago: humans Industrialize, begin the march on the world. Osgiliath begins taking over neighbouring kingdoms.
8: Dwarf/human alliance. Metals in exchange for technology.
7: trade of weapons and metals by both races with other ones ends entirely. Arming ones enemies is, after all, unwise. War is essentially declared.
6: the elven kingdom falls, and many monsters flee into hiding, expecting a retaliation from the elves (or their allies) that never comes.
5-4: the mighty orchish armies fall apart without a steady supply of weapons.
3: the monsters have fled into various woods and dark places.
Now: most of the monsters have passed into human myth and legend, which is good for the monsters to a large extent. Only the rangers are liable to recall the precise truth about monsters.
(For humans, living over 60 years is rare, though more common now without monsters. This basically assumes that the entire timeline is about 500 years old, at best.)
* Humans live this long thanks to clerical healing.
Geography
The eastern continent: Home of the empires of man, initially. Now almost entirely settled and broken.
Western: original home of the elves, now mostly conquered; a light in the world gone out.
Northern: Barbarians and ice; mostly conquered by the dwarves more than humans, even above the surface. In exchange, much of the underworld beneath the two cities of Osgiliath are in human hands.
Southern: From whence came the orcs. This is the location of the dark wood and the point at which the campaign begins.
Setting Note
If you want to add stuff in the history about your race and stories about it, let me know and I'll add them to the file.
Campaign
While at first blush things might seem somehow hopeless, much of the human empire is conquered human kingdoms who don't always sit easily under the yoke of Osgiliath. While the empire has been frankly amazing in the arts of war, they have yet to produce civil leaders of equal caliber so local laws and customs can sometimes be odd and exploited by the PCs. As well, your status as 'mythical' begins can give you an edge, to say nothing of pushing human/dwarf relations hard, finding out what kind of plan the elves might have, re-arming the orcs or finding out what the wizards want etc.
The PCs
Given BESM and the anime genre, the PCs are basically made of awesome compared to most of the humans they'll run into. Oh, some have magic, and prayers, and weapons and spells, but the PCs have supernatural abilities beyond anything those small and jealous humans can manage and that shall be both your glory and your doom.
For much of its history, this was a D&D world like any other, a smorgasboard of ideas and concepts jumbled together. It is said that the world did make more 'sense', long ago, but there was a war involving dragons and elves that has long since passed into myth, even among dragons. The elves, who live longer, do not speak of it, but for a long, long time -- and even now, to an extent -- the elves and their kin are somewhat feared because racial memory runs deep. It was enough for the elves to be left alone for some time, even when the human kingdom of Osgiliath began to expand and the wizards and warriors devised new methods of making weapons that changed the face of the world.
(OOC: Basically think of an industrial revolution in terms of magic: magical devices are made on assembly lines, regular weapons as well and so forth. After two generations the alliance with the dwarves was struck and 7 generations ago both races ceased selling weapon and metals to anyone else.)
Within 10 measly human generations the entire face of the world has been changed. In the last three the monsters and other races have been domesticated, extinguished or driven into hiding in various dark corners of the world still inaccessible to the armies of man. That these grow fewer with each passing year goes without saying, and yet is still being said. (Can you tell I am writing this on little sleep? I can.)
6 generations, the elven empire in the western continent fell to the humans, as much due to their skill as to overconfidence and decadence of the elves. The humans made an exact replica of Osgiliath there stone by stone and razed the elven city and burned down the fabled trees and forests of the elves. Most of the elves died then, by their own hands. The few who remain are jesters in human courts, or hidden in the wilds of the world, and they have such long, long memories ...
This is not to say the world is entirely human: the dark wood and its like still exist, scattered but real, and the remnants of the mighty orcish armies that once terrified the world still remain in various steppes and plains. Only without weapons the orcs have descended into barbarism and are truly only a threat to each other in this new age. And the dwarves, of course, have the underworld to themselves: and how long this alliance with the humans last is the only deep fracture in the new world they have made.
Summary (as humans count generations, so about 30 years apart*)
10 generations ago: humans Industrialize, begin the march on the world. Osgiliath begins taking over neighbouring kingdoms.
8: Dwarf/human alliance. Metals in exchange for technology.
7: trade of weapons and metals by both races with other ones ends entirely. Arming ones enemies is, after all, unwise. War is essentially declared.
6: the elven kingdom falls, and many monsters flee into hiding, expecting a retaliation from the elves (or their allies) that never comes.
5-4: the mighty orchish armies fall apart without a steady supply of weapons.
3: the monsters have fled into various woods and dark places.
Now: most of the monsters have passed into human myth and legend, which is good for the monsters to a large extent. Only the rangers are liable to recall the precise truth about monsters.
(For humans, living over 60 years is rare, though more common now without monsters. This basically assumes that the entire timeline is about 500 years old, at best.)
* Humans live this long thanks to clerical healing.
Geography
The eastern continent: Home of the empires of man, initially. Now almost entirely settled and broken.
Western: original home of the elves, now mostly conquered; a light in the world gone out.
Northern: Barbarians and ice; mostly conquered by the dwarves more than humans, even above the surface. In exchange, much of the underworld beneath the two cities of Osgiliath are in human hands.
Southern: From whence came the orcs. This is the location of the dark wood and the point at which the campaign begins.
Setting Note
If you want to add stuff in the history about your race and stories about it, let me know and I'll add them to the file.
Campaign
While at first blush things might seem somehow hopeless, much of the human empire is conquered human kingdoms who don't always sit easily under the yoke of Osgiliath. While the empire has been frankly amazing in the arts of war, they have yet to produce civil leaders of equal caliber so local laws and customs can sometimes be odd and exploited by the PCs. As well, your status as 'mythical' begins can give you an edge, to say nothing of pushing human/dwarf relations hard, finding out what kind of plan the elves might have, re-arming the orcs or finding out what the wizards want etc.
The PCs
Given BESM and the anime genre, the PCs are basically made of awesome compared to most of the humans they'll run into. Oh, some have magic, and prayers, and weapons and spells, but the PCs have supernatural abilities beyond anything those small and jealous humans can manage and that shall be both your glory and your doom.
Sunday, July 03, 2011
besm D&D Game: basics
Premise: Think lolad, except as monsters set in a D&Desque fantasy setting.
Themes: Survival, The Quest(tm, patent pending), the reservation system
System: BESM 3, 250 points. This game will use the heroic level benchmarks except skills are not necessary: only get what fits the character, if any.
Characters: Build something from the monsters manual in D&D, or even another source entirely. Players are encouraged to make up as detailed a culture as they want to make their 'monsters' as civilized as they wish. (Think of how the old world viewed the new for human attitudes regarding the Pcs.)
Setting: Your Ye Olde Fantasy Worlde. The world has never been named – though the humans are working on that – and used to be pretty generic and normal until the humans perfected hot air balloons and zeppellins and began to travel into lands they couldn't reach. The missionaries of the three-faced God and Goddess plunged into the wilds of the world and innovation after innovation strengthened the human nations until they had continent-wide empires stretching from sea to shining sea. In the past two hundred years the humans have advanced (and bred) ferociously to engulf other lands and progress has never seemed so sweet a mistress.
In their fabled towers, the mighty and awful wizards work magics that keep the empires growing, gathering apprentices to make fabled magical items a step at a time, saving time and energy and equipping the armies of man with weapons to slay even the greatest of monsters. Of these wizards, the most famous are Morinehtar (the darkness-slayer) who destroyed the last of the Great Wyrms with a single word of power and Romestamo the earth-helper, who forged the alliances with the dwarves that benefited both mighty races and cleansed the underworld of many old monsters.
And as above, so below for the dwarves have supplied metals and wondrous smithing to the humans in exchange for the fabled 'industry' of the magicians and applied that to making their own marvels; armed with human magics and their own weapons, they have conquered the lands under the earth as they own. Each mighty empire leaves the other alone, content for now to secure their own dominions.
Which brings up to the Dark Wood that winds through the Everglass Mountains. These were mined dry by the dwarven ancestors centuries past and were refuge for the last of the gnomes before the dwarves destroyed them all. Now they are one of the few blank spots on the map, a place of monsters and the wild that the armies and desires of man have yet to conquer. It is your home, for however long it lasts.
Notes on races:
Elves serve the humans, acting as messengers and court jesters and wonders as the pygmies on earth did for the courts of Europe. There are few of them left, and most believe they can wait out these empires and times and the world will again be theirs. (The extermination of the dark elves under the earth does not bother them, as those were not real elves.)
Gnomes: Extinct, thanks to the dwarves.
Halflings; Someone has to work the mines the humans have, after all. Most are considered just short humans and not a separate race at all.
Half-orc/whatevers: Very rare, all considered monsters.
Notes on classes:
Barbarians: Some exist, though the northern wastes are not very empty any longer. Most are considered scum by the empires and end up in the Dark Wood and places like it to test themselves against the last remnants of the world of their father's stories and the legends of their father's father's, despite knowing their may be none left for them to pass those stories onto. This does not stop them from wishing to hunt and destroy monsters, naturally.
Bards: Next? Seriously they're bards.
Clerics: The followers of the God and Goddess have spread far and wide. While they don't have political power in most lands, they have much popular support and gather many followers to try and 'cure' the monsters and make them human again, or yoke them to the will of humanity like they did the horses, wemics, centaurs and griffins. Unlike other classes, they would rather find a use for monsters than destroy them.
Druids: The druids are the only humans on the side of monsters, if at all, as much as they are on the side of the woods themselves. (Though the woods would be safer and nicer without all those monsters in them.) They tend to be rare and distrusted by all sides but are generally the only humans who will not attack monsters on sight.
Fighters: S.e. Knights are basically fighters in magical armour whose goal is to destroy monsters, and they are very, very good at it.
Monks: Warriors who often protect the clerics, monks are capable of taking down monsters without weapons at all and rely on the strength of the gods and the magic of their prayer to defend themselves. Some of them are not, always, horrible, and they tend to view the world differently from the clerics but are wise enough to keep their views to themselves.
Rangers: Big game hunters. They are often the most dangerous foe of the monster in the woods since they have studied the tracks, habitat and such of monsters.
Rogues: No one trust them. Obviously.
Sorcerer: Those who have made deals with monsters (and worse things) for power. They can be human or monster but serve masters and forced beyond the ken of others. Wizards tend to kill them on sight if given the chance, if only to tidy up the world a little bit.
Wizards: Mighty and scary magicians, often enough, who are the backbone of the human empires. They tend not to interfere directly in the empire and seek other things than mere temporal power.
Monsters:
The ones that exist will depend on the PCs and characters they make.
Themes: Survival, The Quest(tm, patent pending), the reservation system
System: BESM 3, 250 points. This game will use the heroic level benchmarks except skills are not necessary: only get what fits the character, if any.
Characters: Build something from the monsters manual in D&D, or even another source entirely. Players are encouraged to make up as detailed a culture as they want to make their 'monsters' as civilized as they wish. (Think of how the old world viewed the new for human attitudes regarding the Pcs.)
Setting: Your Ye Olde Fantasy Worlde. The world has never been named – though the humans are working on that – and used to be pretty generic and normal until the humans perfected hot air balloons and zeppellins and began to travel into lands they couldn't reach. The missionaries of the three-faced God and Goddess plunged into the wilds of the world and innovation after innovation strengthened the human nations until they had continent-wide empires stretching from sea to shining sea. In the past two hundred years the humans have advanced (and bred) ferociously to engulf other lands and progress has never seemed so sweet a mistress.
In their fabled towers, the mighty and awful wizards work magics that keep the empires growing, gathering apprentices to make fabled magical items a step at a time, saving time and energy and equipping the armies of man with weapons to slay even the greatest of monsters. Of these wizards, the most famous are Morinehtar (the darkness-slayer) who destroyed the last of the Great Wyrms with a single word of power and Romestamo the earth-helper, who forged the alliances with the dwarves that benefited both mighty races and cleansed the underworld of many old monsters.
And as above, so below for the dwarves have supplied metals and wondrous smithing to the humans in exchange for the fabled 'industry' of the magicians and applied that to making their own marvels; armed with human magics and their own weapons, they have conquered the lands under the earth as they own. Each mighty empire leaves the other alone, content for now to secure their own dominions.
Which brings up to the Dark Wood that winds through the Everglass Mountains. These were mined dry by the dwarven ancestors centuries past and were refuge for the last of the gnomes before the dwarves destroyed them all. Now they are one of the few blank spots on the map, a place of monsters and the wild that the armies and desires of man have yet to conquer. It is your home, for however long it lasts.
Notes on races:
Elves serve the humans, acting as messengers and court jesters and wonders as the pygmies on earth did for the courts of Europe. There are few of them left, and most believe they can wait out these empires and times and the world will again be theirs. (The extermination of the dark elves under the earth does not bother them, as those were not real elves.)
Gnomes: Extinct, thanks to the dwarves.
Halflings; Someone has to work the mines the humans have, after all. Most are considered just short humans and not a separate race at all.
Half-orc/whatevers: Very rare, all considered monsters.
Notes on classes:
Barbarians: Some exist, though the northern wastes are not very empty any longer. Most are considered scum by the empires and end up in the Dark Wood and places like it to test themselves against the last remnants of the world of their father's stories and the legends of their father's father's, despite knowing their may be none left for them to pass those stories onto. This does not stop them from wishing to hunt and destroy monsters, naturally.
Bards: Next? Seriously they're bards.
Clerics: The followers of the God and Goddess have spread far and wide. While they don't have political power in most lands, they have much popular support and gather many followers to try and 'cure' the monsters and make them human again, or yoke them to the will of humanity like they did the horses, wemics, centaurs and griffins. Unlike other classes, they would rather find a use for monsters than destroy them.
Druids: The druids are the only humans on the side of monsters, if at all, as much as they are on the side of the woods themselves. (Though the woods would be safer and nicer without all those monsters in them.) They tend to be rare and distrusted by all sides but are generally the only humans who will not attack monsters on sight.
Fighters: S.e. Knights are basically fighters in magical armour whose goal is to destroy monsters, and they are very, very good at it.
Monks: Warriors who often protect the clerics, monks are capable of taking down monsters without weapons at all and rely on the strength of the gods and the magic of their prayer to defend themselves. Some of them are not, always, horrible, and they tend to view the world differently from the clerics but are wise enough to keep their views to themselves.
Rangers: Big game hunters. They are often the most dangerous foe of the monster in the woods since they have studied the tracks, habitat and such of monsters.
Rogues: No one trust them. Obviously.
Sorcerer: Those who have made deals with monsters (and worse things) for power. They can be human or monster but serve masters and forced beyond the ken of others. Wizards tend to kill them on sight if given the chance, if only to tidy up the world a little bit.
Wizards: Mighty and scary magicians, often enough, who are the backbone of the human empires. They tend not to interfere directly in the empire and seek other things than mere temporal power.
Monsters:
The ones that exist will depend on the PCs and characters they make.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Aurora Consurgens: Campaign Nature
An adventure is an inconvenience properly consideredBased upon chats with players on the nature of the game, the following is put forth:
- Chesterton
1) This is a game with multiple players often busy at different times and able to play between 2-4 times a week for the most part.
2) The more players active in one channel, the more attention the GM gives it. (This is simply how things work out, for obvious reasons.)
3) Plots exist as connection points between multiple characters (PC and NPC) with combinations thereof eliciting varying results, which in turn get modified by Sparkie anyway. In general, one can assume that PCs are going to be more creative than NPCs.
4) Because of 3, problems can arise that cannot be solved by any one PC or NPC; this is pretty much the nature of games, really. PCs are fallible, and screw up, and are not Mary Sues to be able to solve any problem they make alone. (Also, more PCs involved in a situation means there are other people to blame if things go wrong. Which Sparkie assures me they will.)
As such, one can manage to survive just fine without friends or allies, but with them one can do a lot more. And, if played right, get all the rep. from the situation for yourself, or definitely gain in reputation from being involved in that at all. In other words, PCs need to be proactive in finding allies and friends -- as well as enemies, because one is judged on the caliber of enemy you have as much as anything else.
What this means for sessions is that it behooves players to link up and work together when as as they can; the various groups (the police, SAFE, R2-45, Disco) exist partially to support this. (Hell, it is pretty much the meta-game reason for safe: it exists to make the world a better place, and saying one doesn't want to pretty much defeats the purpose Of being a PC, and a hero of ones own story. Which isn't to say it's the only option; Teresa's a police officer, Temp is also part of Barry's group. Etc.) So, if players are on at the same time and in roughly the same time frame, finding reasons to meet and work together works better for their characters own goals and the game as a whole.
If they aren't, or the PC is busy on a specific plot deal, that's always fine and sometimes to be expected. But given the nature of the game, there are very few plots that will only affect one PC (for example, Mason's school has drawn in SAFE, the police, etc. as a mystery to be solved) and as such are seldom problems one PC can solve alone*. Which doesn't mean they can't try, but just because each PC has a hammer does not mean they are necessarily the right tool for the job, or to nail down a specific nail.
There is no shame in asking for help, as difficult as it might be for PCs to do that, to PCs or NPCs. And yes, this means players will need to chat during (and between) sessions and figure stuff out for how to connect together and share info. and so forth, but that's part of the fun too. If need be, we'll end up trying to set up a couple of specific set nights and have the rest be more loose, but I'd rather avoid that as much as we can at present.
* Or they can take a power-boosting drug! It's safe! Honest!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Aurora Consurgens: Alphas
On The Best and Brightest
Kim Li, for the MilInt Report.
Alphas are not something spoken of often in the world: that they exist is accepted in the secret worlds and societies that thrive under the common world, but few -- if any -- in depth studies exist on them, often because those who are in charge of institutions and have no desire to inquire too deeply into their own naturally. However, this deficiency is one that should be rectified in the coming years for Omegas coming to light is also guaranteed to expose alphas, a harsh glare that will compass the following anecdotal data:
1) Alphas account for at least 60% of the top .01% that control ov er 80% of the world's wealth; among this elite, the count less tha 30% of charitable donations. This should not be seen as a slight, but practical realization of the inherent problems of wealth distribution.
2)
Kim Li, for the MilInt Report.
Alphas are not something spoken of often in the world: that they exist is accepted in the secret worlds and societies that thrive under the common world, but few -- if any -- in depth studies exist on them, often because those who are in charge of institutions and have no desire to inquire too deeply into their own naturally. However, this deficiency is one that should be rectified in the coming years for Omegas coming to light is also guaranteed to expose alphas, a harsh glare that will compass the following anecdotal data:
1) Alphas account for at least 60% of the top .01% that control ov er 80% of the world's wealth; among this elite, the count less tha 30% of charitable donations. This should not be seen as a slight, but practical realization of the inherent problems of wealth distribution.
2)
Friday, June 17, 2011
AC: Sex and Eugenics
By Dr. Kim Li, special to Sexthulhu Magazine
Being an examination of the Old World and Omegas, with specific reference to the Guild
The history of Omegas in Europe is the history of a vast eugenics experiment. An omega may be defined as two things: an ability and a mutation, and the history of omega eugenics is often attempts to acquire abilities without mutations, but The Guild is unique in sometimes seeking to go the other way.
The history of it is murky at best, often being that of isolated and/or wealthy families who end up with an Omega among them who has a useful talent. The omega then bears of or produces as many offspring as possible, all of whom are kept close to their parent, shown the power and essentially told they will develop it as well. In a family of fliers, this leads to kids being tossed off of rooftops until they fly and so forth. Given the factor of proximity in creating omegas, this would prove a fascinating experiment in the willed nature of omega abilities if data existed about said families. However, propaganda and lies among Guild members makes this difficult to determine.
Despite this, general evidence seems to indicate that at least four generations of such breeding are necessary to achieve adequate result, which is an Omega ability inherited by the family and often weaker than that of other omegas. Curiously, the they breed for mutation rather than ability (for example, strength or toughness) the resulting mutation tends to be stronger but with more physical effects in the long run, which can lead to infertility of one kind or another.
Omega Fertility
Omega fertility is a complicated issue. Some omegas have so little control over their ability as to be virtually unable to engage in sexual acts (for example, a pyro on point of orgasm would burn a room). Or, for example, an Omega whose body produces acid could be unable to bear or produce a child. As well and some mutations render omegas unable to reproduce, such as phasing or invulnerability. Performance anxiety is an obvious problem if you sweat muccus or have a body even your own mother would not love, which further complicates matters. On the whole, however, omegas remain human enough to be able to reproduce with humans and also each other.
Assuming they are compilable, the children of two omegas do tend to end up being born with physical mutations, and conservatively over half the pregnancies do not make it to term. On the flip side, having both parents as omegas means the child is almost 100% likely to become one though not necessarily more powerful than any other.
Being an examination of the Old World and Omegas, with specific reference to the Guild
The history of Omegas in Europe is the history of a vast eugenics experiment. An omega may be defined as two things: an ability and a mutation, and the history of omega eugenics is often attempts to acquire abilities without mutations, but The Guild is unique in sometimes seeking to go the other way.
The history of it is murky at best, often being that of isolated and/or wealthy families who end up with an Omega among them who has a useful talent. The omega then bears of or produces as many offspring as possible, all of whom are kept close to their parent, shown the power and essentially told they will develop it as well. In a family of fliers, this leads to kids being tossed off of rooftops until they fly and so forth. Given the factor of proximity in creating omegas, this would prove a fascinating experiment in the willed nature of omega abilities if data existed about said families. However, propaganda and lies among Guild members makes this difficult to determine.
Despite this, general evidence seems to indicate that at least four generations of such breeding are necessary to achieve adequate result, which is an Omega ability inherited by the family and often weaker than that of other omegas. Curiously, the they breed for mutation rather than ability (for example, strength or toughness) the resulting mutation tends to be stronger but with more physical effects in the long run, which can lead to infertility of one kind or another.
Omega Fertility
Omega fertility is a complicated issue. Some omegas have so little control over their ability as to be virtually unable to engage in sexual acts (for example, a pyro on point of orgasm would burn a room). Or, for example, an Omega whose body produces acid could be unable to bear or produce a child. As well and some mutations render omegas unable to reproduce, such as phasing or invulnerability. Performance anxiety is an obvious problem if you sweat muccus or have a body even your own mother would not love, which further complicates matters. On the whole, however, omegas remain human enough to be able to reproduce with humans and also each other.
Assuming they are compilable, the children of two omegas do tend to end up being born with physical mutations, and conservatively over half the pregnancies do not make it to term. On the flip side, having both parents as omegas means the child is almost 100% likely to become one though not necessarily more powerful than any other.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Aurora Consurgens: Session 70 and plots
So, last session was #69 (and at least included a kiss between PCs to commemorate that). 70 sessions into the game, here are the plots as follows. A lot of this can be considered OOC knowledge.
Doctor D: Drugs to boost alphas and omegas that can sometimes kill them. The PCs have figured out that the drug comes from two people thus far; Gideon Barrie, an omega connected to the trinity nuclear test and Sam Smith, who was injected with Hurt's power and thus linked to the Prodigy Project. One of the labs is currently being spied on and the PCs are quite likely going to be able to kick the Doctor D people from the city, if nothing else, in the short term. Their overall motive in selling cheap drugs that can cause Incidents remains unknown.
Hades: A very powerful omega who can turn alphas into omegas. His blood can also weaken the abilities of weaker omegas; he has left the city, but does have his people (Leo and Rakasha) harassing the Doctor D people for reasons of his own. He seems motivated by causing more evil in the world, simple as that.
The Prodigy Project: A project begun in the 60s intended to making Omegas as weapons that would be indistinguishable from humans and/or have specific abilities the Project needed [Griffin is the only surviving result of that generation]. The second generation included Kami, Lexia, Meghan and Colleen along with the twins (Hurt and Hole). ~15 years ago it became illegal to experiment on omegas as the Project did, so it shut down and discarded the various results, perhaps sending the most promising to other countries where Dynamic Solutions Inc wouldn't have to deal with pesky regulations. The twins were were sent to an underground lab in the city and experimented on for a further 5 years until the police found out about it, got them out and have them as quasi-officers now.
Omega Rights: An ongoing battle to get proper rights for omegas. Barry, who apparently was damaged clashing with the Illuminati 5 years ago, is heavily involved in this in terms of wishing to inspire others but doesn't take too much of a hands-on approach barring his disastrous attempt to take Alan shopping in the mall. He desires for humans to be the best they can and seems baffled that so many have no desire to be that way.
The Red King: an old enemy of Barry's, who apparently died ~800 years ago but didn't die and has various cults around the world trying to bring him/her/it back. It -- or something like it -- tried to take over the superflow recently but the events with the shadow world and portals disrupted it.
The Eye: A telepathic google that exists in the 'superflow' that is the human unconsciousness. Was heavily damaged during the Illuminati war but at its peak was capable of allowing the illuminati to alter the memories of every human on earth at once.
The Illuminati: A telepathic conspiracy that is millenia -old, the Illuminati existed to hide the existence of omegas (whom they took to be angels and demons) from the world but the rise of scientific thought and infighting slowly damaged it and 5 years ago it seemingly fell apart entirely as those who wanted to rule the world fought those who did not; the surviving members (including Artie) seem content with trying to keep Omegas largely hidden as best they can.
Sutherland University: Mason's alma mater, this is a small arts university whose music whose art and music history teacher (Ignatius Hanrahan) is studying the creativity of the student body and had an arsenal of weapons in his office that included rocket launchers. The headmaster (one Arnold Lien) has apparently travelled to a lot of small art schools and the rates of suicide (and suicide by cop) after he leaves are high. Here, he is connected to a student (and incubus) named Craig and the school is rather mellow and pleasant and entirely devoid of worry over omegas or anger over other things.
Shadow-World The shadow-people have been connected to this world via the actions of Nattie and Kami and one of their own (Misha) apparently came here by accident and is spearheading the invasion. By trying to get windows and cars to hate each other. They used ot be human on their world and became pure shadows, taking over other worlds simply because they can and being full of amusement and arrogance, seeing this world as nothing important at all. But it has defied them ....
PCs chatting to family: Nattie has plans (before she died in the shadow world etc.) to get PCs and NPCs to reveal themselves to their families as part of SAFE helping others without seeming hypocritical about it. As she has been shaken up by the Shadowland experience, this is on hold for the moment though Malik and Temperance are both aware of the plans.
R2-45; The government agency that 'tags' Omegas for study; all the pcs have shut their tags off via one means or another, and this is likely not going to sit well, long term.
The band:Kami, Mason, Tommy, Jerry and Emily are in a band together! Damien is working as their roadie, Malik is becoming a fan ans Jerry wants the band to succeed. A nice, normal plot compared to other things.
GM note: Both the Doctor D and Sutherland University plot are expected to wrap up soonish, given the nature of the PCs in ferreting out information. Other plots have been seeded and new ones exist thanks to the existence of PCs in a world :) The goal for the game is to have several ongoing plots (which may or may not be related) tying in more than one PC so there is no overarching 'the game is over' plot for this game, but also so it can end when and if people want without too many loose ends left dangling.
Doctor D: Drugs to boost alphas and omegas that can sometimes kill them. The PCs have figured out that the drug comes from two people thus far; Gideon Barrie, an omega connected to the trinity nuclear test and Sam Smith, who was injected with Hurt's power and thus linked to the Prodigy Project. One of the labs is currently being spied on and the PCs are quite likely going to be able to kick the Doctor D people from the city, if nothing else, in the short term. Their overall motive in selling cheap drugs that can cause Incidents remains unknown.
Hades: A very powerful omega who can turn alphas into omegas. His blood can also weaken the abilities of weaker omegas; he has left the city, but does have his people (Leo and Rakasha) harassing the Doctor D people for reasons of his own. He seems motivated by causing more evil in the world, simple as that.
The Prodigy Project: A project begun in the 60s intended to making Omegas as weapons that would be indistinguishable from humans and/or have specific abilities the Project needed [Griffin is the only surviving result of that generation]. The second generation included Kami, Lexia, Meghan and Colleen along with the twins (Hurt and Hole). ~15 years ago it became illegal to experiment on omegas as the Project did, so it shut down and discarded the various results, perhaps sending the most promising to other countries where Dynamic Solutions Inc wouldn't have to deal with pesky regulations. The twins were were sent to an underground lab in the city and experimented on for a further 5 years until the police found out about it, got them out and have them as quasi-officers now.
Omega Rights: An ongoing battle to get proper rights for omegas. Barry, who apparently was damaged clashing with the Illuminati 5 years ago, is heavily involved in this in terms of wishing to inspire others but doesn't take too much of a hands-on approach barring his disastrous attempt to take Alan shopping in the mall. He desires for humans to be the best they can and seems baffled that so many have no desire to be that way.
The Red King: an old enemy of Barry's, who apparently died ~800 years ago but didn't die and has various cults around the world trying to bring him/her/it back. It -- or something like it -- tried to take over the superflow recently but the events with the shadow world and portals disrupted it.
The Eye: A telepathic google that exists in the 'superflow' that is the human unconsciousness. Was heavily damaged during the Illuminati war but at its peak was capable of allowing the illuminati to alter the memories of every human on earth at once.
The Illuminati: A telepathic conspiracy that is millenia -old, the Illuminati existed to hide the existence of omegas (whom they took to be angels and demons) from the world but the rise of scientific thought and infighting slowly damaged it and 5 years ago it seemingly fell apart entirely as those who wanted to rule the world fought those who did not; the surviving members (including Artie) seem content with trying to keep Omegas largely hidden as best they can.
Sutherland University: Mason's alma mater, this is a small arts university whose music whose art and music history teacher (Ignatius Hanrahan) is studying the creativity of the student body and had an arsenal of weapons in his office that included rocket launchers. The headmaster (one Arnold Lien) has apparently travelled to a lot of small art schools and the rates of suicide (and suicide by cop) after he leaves are high. Here, he is connected to a student (and incubus) named Craig and the school is rather mellow and pleasant and entirely devoid of worry over omegas or anger over other things.
Shadow-World The shadow-people have been connected to this world via the actions of Nattie and Kami and one of their own (Misha) apparently came here by accident and is spearheading the invasion. By trying to get windows and cars to hate each other. They used ot be human on their world and became pure shadows, taking over other worlds simply because they can and being full of amusement and arrogance, seeing this world as nothing important at all. But it has defied them ....
PCs chatting to family: Nattie has plans (before she died in the shadow world etc.) to get PCs and NPCs to reveal themselves to their families as part of SAFE helping others without seeming hypocritical about it. As she has been shaken up by the Shadowland experience, this is on hold for the moment though Malik and Temperance are both aware of the plans.
R2-45; The government agency that 'tags' Omegas for study; all the pcs have shut their tags off via one means or another, and this is likely not going to sit well, long term.
The band:Kami, Mason, Tommy, Jerry and Emily are in a band together! Damien is working as their roadie, Malik is becoming a fan ans Jerry wants the band to succeed. A nice, normal plot compared to other things.
GM note: Both the Doctor D and Sutherland University plot are expected to wrap up soonish, given the nature of the PCs in ferreting out information. Other plots have been seeded and new ones exist thanks to the existence of PCs in a world :) The goal for the game is to have several ongoing plots (which may or may not be related) tying in more than one PC so there is no overarching 'the game is over' plot for this game, but also so it can end when and if people want without too many loose ends left dangling.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Aurora Consurgens: hyding
On The Phenomenon of 'Hyde' among Omegas
Dr. Kim Li, special to the Fortean Times
Hyding, as it is known in the rarefied semi-academical world of Omega studies, refers to Omegas whose nature is often hidden from themselves as well as others. In some cases this is a defense mechanism to hide the Omegas nature or protect them from harm, in which case they seldom give away their nature in their 'normal' form. This tends to apply to Omegas whose humanoid 'other' appearance tends to resemble mythical monsters, so the extent to which the change is a psychic break in the mind over what said appearance seems to suggest is a large open question.
Waking up one day with a face only a drunk mother could love and tentacles for legs is, undoubtedly, hard to deal with. Waking up covered in fur and looking like a B-movie werewolf is an entirely differently class of strange and in its own way harder to deal with since the actual resemblance to myths tends to be superficial at best. (For example, no Omega whose appearance could be equated to a werewolf has been bothered by silver or the moon unless rigorously conditioned to believe they should be harmed by such things.) This also applies to Omegas who look like classical gods, demons, angels and so forth: at some level the person isn't able to cope with that and creates a new personality that is the Omega, or at least holds certain aspects of it. That this can be dangerous goes without saying.
The other side are Omegas whose nature is at odds with their personality, or at least their understanding of it. Combative abilities for a pacifist, for example, fit in with this problem. In these cases, the Omegas seem to split their abilities between their normal self and the Other, and most seem to be easily found out as Omegas regardless of appearance in their normal 'self' form. This suggests that a fear of one's own potential is impliclict in this ind of Omega, and hence abilities that are generally destructive or damaging by nature.
Whether the Omega will recall the change -- or what they do when changed -- is likely dependant on psychological factors, which can be mitgated by showing the Omega video of them changing, for example, or pictures of the changed form.
(will finish later)
Dr. Kim Li, special to the Fortean Times
Hyding, as it is known in the rarefied semi-academical world of Omega studies, refers to Omegas whose nature is often hidden from themselves as well as others. In some cases this is a defense mechanism to hide the Omegas nature or protect them from harm, in which case they seldom give away their nature in their 'normal' form. This tends to apply to Omegas whose humanoid 'other' appearance tends to resemble mythical monsters, so the extent to which the change is a psychic break in the mind over what said appearance seems to suggest is a large open question.
Waking up one day with a face only a drunk mother could love and tentacles for legs is, undoubtedly, hard to deal with. Waking up covered in fur and looking like a B-movie werewolf is an entirely differently class of strange and in its own way harder to deal with since the actual resemblance to myths tends to be superficial at best. (For example, no Omega whose appearance could be equated to a werewolf has been bothered by silver or the moon unless rigorously conditioned to believe they should be harmed by such things.) This also applies to Omegas who look like classical gods, demons, angels and so forth: at some level the person isn't able to cope with that and creates a new personality that is the Omega, or at least holds certain aspects of it. That this can be dangerous goes without saying.
The other side are Omegas whose nature is at odds with their personality, or at least their understanding of it. Combative abilities for a pacifist, for example, fit in with this problem. In these cases, the Omegas seem to split their abilities between their normal self and the Other, and most seem to be easily found out as Omegas regardless of appearance in their normal 'self' form. This suggests that a fear of one's own potential is impliclict in this ind of Omega, and hence abilities that are generally destructive or damaging by nature.
Whether the Omega will recall the change -- or what they do when changed -- is likely dependant on psychological factors, which can be mitgated by showing the Omega video of them changing, for example, or pictures of the changed form.
(will finish later)
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Summer is the Season for War
I'm a little weary of the random four-hour sagas lately; the individual PC adventures, while interesting, wears thin on everyone involved I'm sure. They're fun, don't get me wrong, but enough of anything can fatigue even the most subtle of tastes. Our games have taken the scheduling and complexity of most marriage-based bedding.
To that end, I'm thinking about touching something we haven't in a long time. A good old-fashioned D&D war game. The premise, style, and so forth is simple: go forth, kill things, get treasure and experience. Intriguing plots, silly themes, and NPC casts warranting expositions are all things I want to shelf for this run, if it runs. Alcar probably won't like it at all, but some of you others might.
Combat will be grid-based and different from the typical setup in that I won't make it as one-person-at-a-time. That is because people are kind of slow, and I will not run more than two sessions of this thing if I have to sit through a 45-minute kobold beatdown.
Our availabilities are all still somewhat odd. The tried and true method of everyone sitting down for an hour or two would be good, but I honestly am hesitant to commit to anything. I prefer more asynchronous methods these days unless we can all hit up a regular schedule, and to that end, I'm not sure what the best way to do this would be. I don't like regular schedules, but I like having everyone around the same table. I don't know how to get the egg without the chicken!
If there's interest, toss me a line sometime. Not here, though. I hardly ever check here.
To that end, I'm thinking about touching something we haven't in a long time. A good old-fashioned D&D war game. The premise, style, and so forth is simple: go forth, kill things, get treasure and experience. Intriguing plots, silly themes, and NPC casts warranting expositions are all things I want to shelf for this run, if it runs. Alcar probably won't like it at all, but some of you others might.
Combat will be grid-based and different from the typical setup in that I won't make it as one-person-at-a-time. That is because people are kind of slow, and I will not run more than two sessions of this thing if I have to sit through a 45-minute kobold beatdown.
Our availabilities are all still somewhat odd. The tried and true method of everyone sitting down for an hour or two would be good, but I honestly am hesitant to commit to anything. I prefer more asynchronous methods these days unless we can all hit up a regular schedule, and to that end, I'm not sure what the best way to do this would be. I don't like regular schedules, but I like having everyone around the same table. I don't know how to get the egg without the chicken!
If there's interest, toss me a line sometime. Not here, though. I hardly ever check here.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Aurora Consurgens: NPC Notes
NPC NOTES (For Players)
(Very minor characters, like Mac and crew or Beau, aren’t included in this. Listing is by first name.)
Aaron Dupree: Omega who created the Incident via clones of himself and ODing on drugs.
Andrea: Sullivan’s r2-45 boss, who makes shields and is apparently a stuffed bear. The reasons behind this have not been released, but Sullivan is scared of her.
Archie Rocco: The Best Roommate Ever. He migh be a bit slow on the uptake and lose himself in the muse, but nothing seems to faze him at all for long, including becoming an Omega.
Arnold Lien: Headmaster of Sutherland University.
Artie Fleetwood: Illuminati member, telepath currently containing the Eye inside him. Not having a fun time at all.
Alan Moore: An omega who smells horribly and makes flowers. Currently setting up a flower shop and often used to solve problems by PCs and NPCs. Has only tried to kill himself three times thus far.
Allison: Tempie’s friend, currently trying to deal with ‘weird stuff is real’ as best she can and re-thinking her ideas of how the world works.
Barry: Apparently Old. Also terrible and scary to some NPCs; little is known about him save he was damaged in the mind five years ago and is pro-Omega rights, believing if people are the best humanity can be then everything will work out just fine.
Basil Manning: Omega with fire powers and quills who is trying to adapt to his new status, helped by friends and his parents.
Beckett Holmes: Omega with stone skin and shields; currently working with S.A.F.E but very, very keen to stop the people whose drugs killed his brother.
Breaker: Special Branch police officer who blasts stuff; has scars that Fiona covers.
Bradley Johnson: Omega police officer who often deals with warming people to keep careful; seems able to switch places with civilians who spot a crime.
Becka: Alpha and friend to Tempie, who has shown her real self to them and been rebuffed for the sheer sociopathic overtones common enough to alphas. To what extent it was her doing devil’s advocate is thus far unknown.
Bert Manning: Alpha mad scientist working with the police; often builds steampunk style tech.
Blake Brensen: An alpha-omega on the run who apparently creates memes and is believed to be the pope.
Calrion de Flores: Omega acrobat who is new to the city and feeling his way about it; has yet to encounter Alan, thankfully.
Chester Fields: Teresa’s best friend.
Chris: Skinhead who joined the Circle of Humanity support group in the belief it would be like concentration camps. Has an elderly couple (Bruce and Wanda) agreeing with him.
Claire: Former Black Circle member, murdered after her attempt to trick Mason into joining it failed utterly.
Craig Ensley: Omega as Mason’s school who is an incubus and breaks stuff; unaffected by the effect on the school, he is currently starving due to a lack of real emotions and made some very odd agreements with the headmaster about his scholarship (which seemed to involve sleeping with him).
Damien: Omega kid who looks weird and vanishing stuff; apparently has no moral qualms at all with killing at the tender age of 15 but is also a horrible, horrible liar. Is involved in the Black Chamber, S.A.F.E. and Barry’s group and sometimes gets a bit stressed out over being over-extended.
Diego Perez: Omega anarchist who spraypaints things and teleports; currently evading the police rather handily.
Doctor D: Codename for the person who makes the omega-boosting drugs.
Emily Parker: An omega who seems human, she was raised by a very religious mother and has difficulty seeing the weirder Omegas as NOT demons; she’d have made an excellent Choir member in another life and is still trying to process her own beliefs with the wider world, since she has no desire to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Eye, the: Illuminati supercomputer that exists in the superflow that is the jungian consciousness. Currently suffering from a blue screen of death.
Fiona Baskin: Police officer who can make illusions and often tries to diffuse situations without violence; often partnered with Breaker, who she also attempts to diffuse.
Griffin Dumont: Black Chamber member who can speak to and harm the dead, among other abilities. Very creepy guy who is apparently now Damien’s minder since Griffin killed their last one.
Hades: Self-titled omega who is seen as a giant threat; can turn alphas into omegas and feed on evil, though he left the city shortly after a confrontation with Kami et al, leaving his peole to carry out his will. (It has been claimed that he has no desire for the police to toss the Twins at him)
Hole and Hurt: Twin omegas who were part of the same project as Kami. They are quite powerful, one being akin to a black hole, the other entropy, share senses and don’t like being too far from each other. The police often use them, out of necessity, to deal with major threats.
Ignatius Hanrahan: Professor at Mason’s university who is unaffected by the weird aura of the place and doesn’t much care for Omegas.
Ivan Koshchey: Illuminati member who worked on the Prodigy Project. Not a nice person at all.
James Forsythe: Tempie’s father, who has years of experience in the world and in literature to somewhat prepare him for the reality of the world. He seems to be taking his daughters changes and new friends in stride thus far.
Jane Ceil: Alpha with special branch who deals with keeping the other members in line and looking after the twins when no one else is free.
Jerry Welker: The kind of Omega whose ability suits him. He’s terrible private, which makes being friends with a telepath difficult. (Also says as few words as possible, except when the GM forgets this. He gets less absurd in this regard when discussing music or drunk.) At present, he’s expressed no real stake in Omega issues and prefers a normal life.
Jillian Connor: New Omega who can fly and zap energy; has been recruited into S.A.F.E. by Mason and may have a thing for him.
Kaegan Maher: 11 year old omega with power over insects and leaping talents; wants to be a Superhero and convince PCs to be the same. Tends to break down when arrested or fighting a ‘villain’ who is actually a hero as the world has then gone off the superhero comic vision in his head.
Kelly Fisher: Omega who looks like a grey alien; she can heal, works in movies and takes great delight in teasing others.
Kirk Watson: Mayor’s aide who deals with all Omega stuff in the city. Seems to have whats best for everyone in mind, though his office is often less useful in implementing this.
Kim Li: Works for S.A.F.E. and can see genetic code; seems interested in Omegas primarily from a research perspective.
Lambert Duchall: Choir Omega member who, along with his sister Simone, tried to kill Basil. They were driven away but, unlike his sister, his zeal appears to have bee untouched by Tempie.
Lance Christensen: Alpha police officer not allowed into Special Branch because of his rather violent solutions to the problem of omegas.
Leo Dowell: Alpha turned Omega who works for Hades. Very, very sure of his skills and often gets in over his head with problems. Despite being a complete bastard, he is willing to work with PCs for goals that benefit him. Easily offended when someone insults his, ah, clothing.
Mabel McGuire: Police forenics expert who can see through bones etc. Seems quietly efficient.
Marcus Wampler: Omega with power over his ipod who apparently sees a division between omegas who can pass for human and those who cannot. Has yet to replace hearing aids with the ipod since he has no idea if he’d randomly stop being an omega or not. Is also terribly girlshy.
Misha: Shadow-alien from an alternate world who is currently living in Teresa’s shadow and preparing for plans to lead the invasion of this world. Really.
Nattie St. Germain: Best-friend and roommate to Kami. Currently leading the S.A.F.E. field team and coping rather well with being an Omega. Seems determined to Make A Difference, which is slowly but surely pulling the two of them apart.
Nicky (Nicholas) Christmas: an omega who volunteers at the local homeless shelter; has yet to actually appear in the game. (Given the length of this list, is that a surprise?)
Probably crazy: See Quentin.
Quentin Witherspoon: An omega tied to the oceans, he’s an Oceans Rights activist who is probably insane and definitely crazy.
Rakasha (aka Jaladhi Dev) Omega who looks rather nasty and works for Hades.
Ralph Compton: Internet investigative reporter with very little skill for it. He is, however, willing to jump off the deep end into the weird.
Raymond Terril: An alpha whose observational skills allow im to bill himself as a psychic; used by the police.
Roland Drake: Omega at a starbucks with unconscious super-charismatic powers.
Ronald McGee: Waffle House cook whose specials sometimes do odd things to people.
Ryan Mitchell: Apparently a lucky police officer with only one arm, so how losing an arm is lucky is anyone’s guess. Often makes sure the twins don’t do anything too horribly and adjusts situations in the favour of the police.
Sally Jenkins: Ally of Barry’s with many eyes whose primary talent seems to involve not being around whenever PCs are.
Samson Hardcastle: Alpha, former ace whose hardcore stance on Omegas has been changed by Mason. Possibly a free agent for hire now.
Sebastian: Good friend to Tempie who wants to become more than friends, to a level even he was unaware of. Currently very embarrassed about this.
Shamanic Elder Porpoises: Fish who taught Quentin to speak to fish and so forth. (See Quetin and ‘probably crazy’ for details.)
Shelby Smythe: Omega who can make people see nightmares; forced to work for Hades in return for drugs to help his sister but seems okay now.
Shen: An alpha’s alpha from another universe, trapped in this one and working for r2-45. Apparently immune to all omega powers and seriously creepy.
Sinjin Smythe: telepath and telekinetic who recently awakened; has been gifted with nanites so his powers don’t burn his body out too fast as his ALS has apparently not gone away so much as been semi-countered by TK powers.
Sullivan Willoughby: R2-45 splice who is involved with tagging omegas and apparently trying to get Kami to join their organization. Poorly. There is some evidence that this is intentional.
Tanya Richiusa: Unknowing omega who turns a pro-human support group with the aim of making humans and omegas get along; has recently been horrified to have skinheads join it.
Thelma Bates: Kindly healer with many cats. Looks after Omega strays and her own granddaughter and is very much neutral in all respects.
Toby Sykes: A security guard who lost his job to Omegas. Pro-humanity, but not to the point of skinheads.
Tommy Nash: The laziest Alpha ever. Give how fast he picks up this and his tendency to provide rather, well, blunt solutions to problems, this is probably for the best.
Trent Windle: Friend of Malik’s who is trying to adapt to being an omega, how odd other omegas are and that Malik isn’t the person he thought he was. With limited success.
Trevor: Claiming to be a clone of himself (and the internet, sometimes), Trevor has a talent with machines -- and information -- that makes him useful and valuable, if one can put up with his relentlessly cheerful and geeky personality. Has issues with Barry’s ideas of ‘Rights right now’ and such and has claimed SA.F.E. exists partially to stop him from becoming Evil.
Twins: See Hurt and Hole.
Vince: The useless band manager who wants to Make It Big. So far his lack of success has been his only notable feature, though he has pushed for the band to be Distinctive.
Vincent Gorsky: Hospital doctor and vampire from another world who, along with his daughter, claims to be trying just to get by in this one. Now owes Trevor a favour; goals and motives remain unknown.
Wendy Tiede: Human heading up the police Special Branch; competent and willing to think outside the box.
(Very minor characters, like Mac and crew or Beau, aren’t included in this. Listing is by first name.)
Aaron Dupree: Omega who created the Incident via clones of himself and ODing on drugs.
Andrea: Sullivan’s r2-45 boss, who makes shields and is apparently a stuffed bear. The reasons behind this have not been released, but Sullivan is scared of her.
Archie Rocco: The Best Roommate Ever. He migh be a bit slow on the uptake and lose himself in the muse, but nothing seems to faze him at all for long, including becoming an Omega.
Arnold Lien: Headmaster of Sutherland University.
Artie Fleetwood: Illuminati member, telepath currently containing the Eye inside him. Not having a fun time at all.
Alan Moore: An omega who smells horribly and makes flowers. Currently setting up a flower shop and often used to solve problems by PCs and NPCs. Has only tried to kill himself three times thus far.
Allison: Tempie’s friend, currently trying to deal with ‘weird stuff is real’ as best she can and re-thinking her ideas of how the world works.
Barry: Apparently Old. Also terrible and scary to some NPCs; little is known about him save he was damaged in the mind five years ago and is pro-Omega rights, believing if people are the best humanity can be then everything will work out just fine.
Basil Manning: Omega with fire powers and quills who is trying to adapt to his new status, helped by friends and his parents.
Beckett Holmes: Omega with stone skin and shields; currently working with S.A.F.E but very, very keen to stop the people whose drugs killed his brother.
Breaker: Special Branch police officer who blasts stuff; has scars that Fiona covers.
Bradley Johnson: Omega police officer who often deals with warming people to keep careful; seems able to switch places with civilians who spot a crime.
Becka: Alpha and friend to Tempie, who has shown her real self to them and been rebuffed for the sheer sociopathic overtones common enough to alphas. To what extent it was her doing devil’s advocate is thus far unknown.
Bert Manning: Alpha mad scientist working with the police; often builds steampunk style tech.
Blake Brensen: An alpha-omega on the run who apparently creates memes and is believed to be the pope.
Calrion de Flores: Omega acrobat who is new to the city and feeling his way about it; has yet to encounter Alan, thankfully.
Chester Fields: Teresa’s best friend.
Chris: Skinhead who joined the Circle of Humanity support group in the belief it would be like concentration camps. Has an elderly couple (Bruce and Wanda) agreeing with him.
Claire: Former Black Circle member, murdered after her attempt to trick Mason into joining it failed utterly.
Craig Ensley: Omega as Mason’s school who is an incubus and breaks stuff; unaffected by the effect on the school, he is currently starving due to a lack of real emotions and made some very odd agreements with the headmaster about his scholarship (which seemed to involve sleeping with him).
Damien: Omega kid who looks weird and vanishing stuff; apparently has no moral qualms at all with killing at the tender age of 15 but is also a horrible, horrible liar. Is involved in the Black Chamber, S.A.F.E. and Barry’s group and sometimes gets a bit stressed out over being over-extended.
Diego Perez: Omega anarchist who spraypaints things and teleports; currently evading the police rather handily.
Doctor D: Codename for the person who makes the omega-boosting drugs.
Emily Parker: An omega who seems human, she was raised by a very religious mother and has difficulty seeing the weirder Omegas as NOT demons; she’d have made an excellent Choir member in another life and is still trying to process her own beliefs with the wider world, since she has no desire to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Eye, the: Illuminati supercomputer that exists in the superflow that is the jungian consciousness. Currently suffering from a blue screen of death.
Fiona Baskin: Police officer who can make illusions and often tries to diffuse situations without violence; often partnered with Breaker, who she also attempts to diffuse.
Griffin Dumont: Black Chamber member who can speak to and harm the dead, among other abilities. Very creepy guy who is apparently now Damien’s minder since Griffin killed their last one.
Hades: Self-titled omega who is seen as a giant threat; can turn alphas into omegas and feed on evil, though he left the city shortly after a confrontation with Kami et al, leaving his peole to carry out his will. (It has been claimed that he has no desire for the police to toss the Twins at him)
Hole and Hurt: Twin omegas who were part of the same project as Kami. They are quite powerful, one being akin to a black hole, the other entropy, share senses and don’t like being too far from each other. The police often use them, out of necessity, to deal with major threats.
Ignatius Hanrahan: Professor at Mason’s university who is unaffected by the weird aura of the place and doesn’t much care for Omegas.
Ivan Koshchey: Illuminati member who worked on the Prodigy Project. Not a nice person at all.
James Forsythe: Tempie’s father, who has years of experience in the world and in literature to somewhat prepare him for the reality of the world. He seems to be taking his daughters changes and new friends in stride thus far.
Jane Ceil: Alpha with special branch who deals with keeping the other members in line and looking after the twins when no one else is free.
Jerry Welker: The kind of Omega whose ability suits him. He’s terrible private, which makes being friends with a telepath difficult. (Also says as few words as possible, except when the GM forgets this. He gets less absurd in this regard when discussing music or drunk.) At present, he’s expressed no real stake in Omega issues and prefers a normal life.
Jillian Connor: New Omega who can fly and zap energy; has been recruited into S.A.F.E. by Mason and may have a thing for him.
Kaegan Maher: 11 year old omega with power over insects and leaping talents; wants to be a Superhero and convince PCs to be the same. Tends to break down when arrested or fighting a ‘villain’ who is actually a hero as the world has then gone off the superhero comic vision in his head.
Kelly Fisher: Omega who looks like a grey alien; she can heal, works in movies and takes great delight in teasing others.
Kirk Watson: Mayor’s aide who deals with all Omega stuff in the city. Seems to have whats best for everyone in mind, though his office is often less useful in implementing this.
Kim Li: Works for S.A.F.E. and can see genetic code; seems interested in Omegas primarily from a research perspective.
Lambert Duchall: Choir Omega member who, along with his sister Simone, tried to kill Basil. They were driven away but, unlike his sister, his zeal appears to have bee untouched by Tempie.
Lance Christensen: Alpha police officer not allowed into Special Branch because of his rather violent solutions to the problem of omegas.
Leo Dowell: Alpha turned Omega who works for Hades. Very, very sure of his skills and often gets in over his head with problems. Despite being a complete bastard, he is willing to work with PCs for goals that benefit him. Easily offended when someone insults his, ah, clothing.
Mabel McGuire: Police forenics expert who can see through bones etc. Seems quietly efficient.
Marcus Wampler: Omega with power over his ipod who apparently sees a division between omegas who can pass for human and those who cannot. Has yet to replace hearing aids with the ipod since he has no idea if he’d randomly stop being an omega or not. Is also terribly girlshy.
Misha: Shadow-alien from an alternate world who is currently living in Teresa’s shadow and preparing for plans to lead the invasion of this world. Really.
Nattie St. Germain: Best-friend and roommate to Kami. Currently leading the S.A.F.E. field team and coping rather well with being an Omega. Seems determined to Make A Difference, which is slowly but surely pulling the two of them apart.
Nicky (Nicholas) Christmas: an omega who volunteers at the local homeless shelter; has yet to actually appear in the game. (Given the length of this list, is that a surprise?)
Probably crazy: See Quentin.
Quentin Witherspoon: An omega tied to the oceans, he’s an Oceans Rights activist who is probably insane and definitely crazy.
Rakasha (aka Jaladhi Dev) Omega who looks rather nasty and works for Hades.
Ralph Compton: Internet investigative reporter with very little skill for it. He is, however, willing to jump off the deep end into the weird.
Raymond Terril: An alpha whose observational skills allow im to bill himself as a psychic; used by the police.
Roland Drake: Omega at a starbucks with unconscious super-charismatic powers.
Ronald McGee: Waffle House cook whose specials sometimes do odd things to people.
Ryan Mitchell: Apparently a lucky police officer with only one arm, so how losing an arm is lucky is anyone’s guess. Often makes sure the twins don’t do anything too horribly and adjusts situations in the favour of the police.
Sally Jenkins: Ally of Barry’s with many eyes whose primary talent seems to involve not being around whenever PCs are.
Samson Hardcastle: Alpha, former ace whose hardcore stance on Omegas has been changed by Mason. Possibly a free agent for hire now.
Sebastian: Good friend to Tempie who wants to become more than friends, to a level even he was unaware of. Currently very embarrassed about this.
Shamanic Elder Porpoises: Fish who taught Quentin to speak to fish and so forth. (See Quetin and ‘probably crazy’ for details.)
Shelby Smythe: Omega who can make people see nightmares; forced to work for Hades in return for drugs to help his sister but seems okay now.
Shen: An alpha’s alpha from another universe, trapped in this one and working for r2-45. Apparently immune to all omega powers and seriously creepy.
Sinjin Smythe: telepath and telekinetic who recently awakened; has been gifted with nanites so his powers don’t burn his body out too fast as his ALS has apparently not gone away so much as been semi-countered by TK powers.
Sullivan Willoughby: R2-45 splice who is involved with tagging omegas and apparently trying to get Kami to join their organization. Poorly. There is some evidence that this is intentional.
Tanya Richiusa: Unknowing omega who turns a pro-human support group with the aim of making humans and omegas get along; has recently been horrified to have skinheads join it.
Thelma Bates: Kindly healer with many cats. Looks after Omega strays and her own granddaughter and is very much neutral in all respects.
Toby Sykes: A security guard who lost his job to Omegas. Pro-humanity, but not to the point of skinheads.
Tommy Nash: The laziest Alpha ever. Give how fast he picks up this and his tendency to provide rather, well, blunt solutions to problems, this is probably for the best.
Trent Windle: Friend of Malik’s who is trying to adapt to being an omega, how odd other omegas are and that Malik isn’t the person he thought he was. With limited success.
Trevor: Claiming to be a clone of himself (and the internet, sometimes), Trevor has a talent with machines -- and information -- that makes him useful and valuable, if one can put up with his relentlessly cheerful and geeky personality. Has issues with Barry’s ideas of ‘Rights right now’ and such and has claimed SA.F.E. exists partially to stop him from becoming Evil.
Twins: See Hurt and Hole.
Vince: The useless band manager who wants to Make It Big. So far his lack of success has been his only notable feature, though he has pushed for the band to be Distinctive.
Vincent Gorsky: Hospital doctor and vampire from another world who, along with his daughter, claims to be trying just to get by in this one. Now owes Trevor a favour; goals and motives remain unknown.
Wendy Tiede: Human heading up the police Special Branch; competent and willing to think outside the box.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Aurora Consurgens: SAFEty First!
S.A.F.E.
SAFE stands for Safeguarding Against Future Exploitation. Broadly, the first mandate is to protect humans from being exploited by Omegas. The second is to educate humans about Omegas and so protect them from humans as well. Imagine if you woke up one day with the ability to walk through walls at will and see-through skin. Your family is poor, your dad just got laid off from work and now everyone stares at you with no clue what to make of you. neighbours whisper about demons or freaks or the justice of God and you have nothing to say against it, having no clue what happened to you. Further, there is a bank six blocks away and you know that slipping into the cells to nab safety deposit boxes would be a piece of cake. You might not want to, not at first, but your dad can’t get a new job and you blame yourself, Then the neighbours lose some money kept in a jar, and they decide you took it.
From there, the end of the story writes itself: crime, suicide, or running away. SAFE wants to permit Omegas to start over, make different stories, find better paths and uses for their talents when we can. The police will arrest, detain and possibly kill Omegas. Our job is to fight them if we must, but after to offer choices, to try and understand and offer up options. To that end, our field team is deployed to stop threats and problems the police are not equipped to and other members exist to defuse situations before they reach the point of intervention, or to find Omegas and educate them about themselves before they make the wrong choices.
Everyone screws up. But we believe people deserve second chances, and even third chances: SAFE even hires Omegas (with rather good wages offered) if their talents and personality fit the group, help them to find jobs and plans to work with other kind of outreach groups to prevent disasters before they happen. Make no mistake about it: An Omega can be a natural disaster if pushed too far by the world, and by word we mean people:
* If people think you are a criminal, it’s a hard thing to keep fighting against that and not eventually give into expectations.
* If people name someone a monster, they can help to create a monster.
* If the world seems to hate you, it’s terribly difficult to not internalize some of that hate.
But you wouldn’t? Or never would? Perhaps not. But we are not assuming Omegas are going to be saints, or that they should be judged by higher moral standards than anyone else through no fault of their own. If we can educate Omegas about their nature, the world about Omegas, and stop the few bad apples among us from tainting the rest, then the world will be safer for everyone. It isn’t an easy job, and it won’t ever be an easy calling, b ut no one ever made the world a better place without striving to make people better people. And the only way to make a better person is to educate away ignorance and fear.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Aurora Consurgens: The Doctor Is In
The official file: Little is known about the individuals collectively known as Doctor D, save that they operate out of various floating labs and supply enhancing drugs to various people, all entirely ilegal. Distribution is entirely word-of-mouth and the cost of the hits is often less than five dollars, and can be bartered down further with trade. Given the cost to make the drug, one either assumes a strange villainous philanthropy ('Everyone deserves drugs, so I will bankrupt myself giving it to them') or some other, darker motives involving possibly psychological dependency, but the latter doesn't hold out as repeated users report no increase in fees.
Proposed solution: Pass onto SB.
The Special Branch File: The D Drug (street names for it are many and varied) are a series of drugs that boost both Alphas and Omegas in terns of actual abilities. They seem to be derived from blood samples from at least one Omega, possibly two, and have a very short shelf life. The drug proper seems to be sent directly to the labs, where it is synthesized into injectable form (pills have been reported but not yet seen). The injectable version must be used within 2 hours of being made or becomes inert and useless, which goes a small way to explaining the cheap price.
The labs used tend to be underground and there are at least 2 active in the city at any one time, moving at least weekly. Given at least five staff and distribution costs of the raw material, precisely how and why this is really being funded remains a mystery. Several samples are held in the Basement in suspension but obviously testing them is not a viable proposition.
Noted effects from users include a high, which is only to be expected with an increase in abilities. Weaker Omegas seem to become much more powerful than already strong ones, which increases the danger of loss of control and power. Thus far, the fatality ratio seems to be around 10%, with users in an agitated state more likely to OD on the drugs. (Curiously, more alphas OD than Omegas, but that may be because Omegas physiologies differ greatly.)
All 'staff' of the Doctor D labs encountered have telepathic suicide codes in them and are unable to divulge useful data. As the vast majority tend to have needle marks, it's quite possible that many of them were users at some point before being recruited in. All camera footage of the Doctor D delivery people have shown the same person, suggesting an Omega, plastic surgery or a cloning procedure. A telepath is obviously involved at some level and rumoured invisible soldiers exist to protect the product as well.
Addendum: Clearly, whoever set this up has no desire to be caught and has set up the system to hide as best they can. Alpha experimentation on Omegas seems the most likely source, based on evidence of previous experiments on Omegas, and a captive/blackmailed telepath is possible, though unlikely.
The drugs do seem to work only on alphas and omegas and are also marketed to them: meaning that until they begin destabilizing the human world, resources to deal with the issue will likely be limited.
Proposed solution: When Mitchell next stumbles on a cell, get the twins their asap and remove it with extreme prejudice. Do this five or six times and the distributors are likely to end up leaving the city alone.
Note: Two labs removed thus far; no change noted in Doctor D plans as yet.
[Magin note: Hole has expressed, via Hurt, a dislike of continuing this plan unless no people are harmed. Who the hell proposed this anyway? - Jane]
Proposed solution: Pass onto SB.
The Special Branch File: The D Drug (street names for it are many and varied) are a series of drugs that boost both Alphas and Omegas in terns of actual abilities. They seem to be derived from blood samples from at least one Omega, possibly two, and have a very short shelf life. The drug proper seems to be sent directly to the labs, where it is synthesized into injectable form (pills have been reported but not yet seen). The injectable version must be used within 2 hours of being made or becomes inert and useless, which goes a small way to explaining the cheap price.
The labs used tend to be underground and there are at least 2 active in the city at any one time, moving at least weekly. Given at least five staff and distribution costs of the raw material, precisely how and why this is really being funded remains a mystery. Several samples are held in the Basement in suspension but obviously testing them is not a viable proposition.
Noted effects from users include a high, which is only to be expected with an increase in abilities. Weaker Omegas seem to become much more powerful than already strong ones, which increases the danger of loss of control and power. Thus far, the fatality ratio seems to be around 10%, with users in an agitated state more likely to OD on the drugs. (Curiously, more alphas OD than Omegas, but that may be because Omegas physiologies differ greatly.)
All 'staff' of the Doctor D labs encountered have telepathic suicide codes in them and are unable to divulge useful data. As the vast majority tend to have needle marks, it's quite possible that many of them were users at some point before being recruited in. All camera footage of the Doctor D delivery people have shown the same person, suggesting an Omega, plastic surgery or a cloning procedure. A telepath is obviously involved at some level and rumoured invisible soldiers exist to protect the product as well.
Addendum: Clearly, whoever set this up has no desire to be caught and has set up the system to hide as best they can. Alpha experimentation on Omegas seems the most likely source, based on evidence of previous experiments on Omegas, and a captive/blackmailed telepath is possible, though unlikely.
The drugs do seem to work only on alphas and omegas and are also marketed to them: meaning that until they begin destabilizing the human world, resources to deal with the issue will likely be limited.
Proposed solution: When Mitchell next stumbles on a cell, get the twins their asap and remove it with extreme prejudice. Do this five or six times and the distributors are likely to end up leaving the city alone.
Note: Two labs removed thus far; no change noted in Doctor D plans as yet.
[Magin note: Hole has expressed, via Hurt, a dislike of continuing this plan unless no people are harmed. Who the hell proposed this anyway? - Jane]
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
On Magic
Clay
Magic is just another one of the ills that are a pox on the world. Eating away at the status quo for some purported gain, or if nothing else, for the sake of its own existence, the only difference between magic and any of the plagues is that we haven't seen proof that it can propagate itself. The day that gets out, we'll probably see the last few reminders of civilization go right out the window... if the window's still even there.
At the core, magic is about cheating the system. It goes around conventions, making big, sweeping changes that are passed off as subtleties when they only are from the conventional perspective. Take a look at the larger, bigger pictures, though, and magic frequently winds up being a flashy, expensive, complicated way of convincing yourself you've taken a shortcut. By the time the final balance is calculated, though, the price... well, magic is weird by the very nature of the stuff, and the price of playing with fire is, inevitably, getting burned.
People who explain magic only help to spread the disease of easy hopes, of hope without respect for losses that have already been suffered and losses which may occur. Magic is the perfect expression of human avarice, but that doesn't stop people from deceiving themselves just like we've been doing with other, more conventional profits for years. Magic doesn't belong in this world, but that doesn't stop it from working.
Greg
For a bit, math people tried to work out a grand unified theory of everything. One equation, force, or energy that created the entire universe. These never panned out, and always uncovered some missing component like a ransacked jigsaw puzzle. The reason for this explains what magic is, how it works, and why Two forces animate this world. They are truth and irony. All that exists comes from some combination of these two forces...
Existence itself, what conventionally is, that's the truth of the matter as the saying goes. Simple or complex, it conforms to expectations and is everything we suspect it to be. Irony, on the other hand, is everything we imagine it to be... it isn't even really a tangible force so much as an energy, which is no matter... in both senses, if you're not paying attention to it.
Irony has a power of suggestion or negation. It's a very definite thing by definition, but in existence, is more malleable and even relative. We can use irony to bridge all the gaps truth presents.
Trafficking in the art is something like being a comedian, if magic is something like laughter. A joke is like a spell. There's lead-ins, punchlines, and there's always the hope that it'll be understood when you finish. Humor and irony are some of the largest insulators against the terrors of truth, and living a life of magic is about deciding to stare at the abyss and laugh when it stares back... and if you're lucky, it'll get the joke.
Lyn
Magic? Why is it that no one ever seems to ask about the important things first? Magic on its own, magic without the feelings, without the heart, it's like a house without any doors. There's just a shabby attempt at a purpose.
I haven't touched it in a long time, but when I first took up magic, it was only after knowing why I should use it, knowing how it would be used, and knowing that it was something I was meant to do. At least for a time. The ritual associated with it is a little surprising for someone who only knows about its power; it's strange to think that so many different outcomes come from the same general motions, words, and outfits.
We take up magic in order to rid the world of tragic malignancy. By filling our hearts with love and our souls with purpose, we can glow with a glory that once created worlds. The light and shadow we cast as a result is what magic is, and the challenge is to make sure you do not cast more shadows than you enlighten. Or, some would say, to be ready to glow brighter when that happens.
A lot of things can't tolerate magic, because of the impurity in the world. We can't help it that out of sin came knowledge, and out of knowledge came a lot of things that aren't necessarily sinful or bad... but the light can remember their heritage, and when we glow too brightly, it finds something to do if our purpose and desires aren't enough to keep it occupied.
Sophie
Once upon a time, stuff was pretty normal. You could guess how life would go. Heck, you could probably even make a bit of money betting on it. Destiny doesn't bother itself with being understandable, I guess, and so magic enters into whatever exists and sends it off in new, confusing directions.
Magic is the current that flows through the world, the stuff change, progress, all those words that kind of describe the fact that the universe is alive, gets made by. Without magic, nothing really has any real animation to it. Of course, with magic - and with too much magic - things just plain fly off the handle.
Magic can twist the present with little parlor tricks as easily as it can twist your actual existence. There's a moment that happens when you actually first realize that things aren't right and you're not sure if they're stable, where you kind of stop believing in everything, abandon all your principles, and invest every shred of will into scraping along whatever the world's inside of to try to cling to reality and existence. If you emerge, you'll emerge having flexed a muscle that most people never know exists. And if you did if well enough, you realize that maybe, just maybe... you could flex it again. By working on that one muscle, building its capacity and endurance, you can hone a certain strength. It almost makes everything else acceptable. For whatever's left in the gap, there's always a good drink.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)