Animates: Last of their Kind

Once upon a time, there was... 'A king!' my little readers will say right away. No, children, you are wrong. Once upon a time there was a piece of wood...

Animates are different from the other types of supernaturals because they are not born as a human only to later achieve supernatural powers, but are instead created fully formed and fully grown with their powers already intrinsic to them. An Animate awakens for the first time already an outcast, already both more and less than a human. Animates are almost always rejected by humanity because regardless of how much they try, they are not humans. Every Animate is not only the first of its kind, it is also the last of its kind, every Animate creation event is unique and Animates tragically find that even other created life is intrinsically distinct from them, different from humanity in ways which likewise reveal a difference that is just as unbridgeable.

Animates are capable of being Extras and Luminaries just as normal humans are. In general, a mad scientist's masterwork is a Luminary Animate (the kind that might be a player character), and a batch of killer robots is probably a bunch of Animate Spawn. Which means that yes, those Animates who actually have peers don't even care because they are just background characters and mooks in their own story.

All Animates use a Ritual Power Schedule. Their false life leaves them vulnerable to things that were once alive. Though they never were born and never died, they still suffer aggravated damage from wooden weapons as if they were undead. In most cases, Animates are dominated by Master Passion: Loneliness, a condition not unrelated to the fact that each Animate is literally without peers. They have more difficulty making emotional connections then virtually any other creature, and pine for the loss.

Special Note on Terminology

It is important to note that Frankenstein is the name of the creator, and not the name of the creature. The creature's name was Adam. Similarly, in technical Greek an Android refers only to a male human analog, while a female human analog would be called a Gynoid (seriously). However it is also important to note that most of the people you talk to about this issue don't know this and don't care. Like Jello, Frankenstein is a brand name of such overwhelming market dominance that the stitched corpse creations of other mad scientists are called Frankensteins (rather than calling them gelatin desserts or reanimated homunculi or whatever). Similarly, if you use the word Gynoid in every day conversation people will assume you are talking about some sort of sexually transmitted condition. Honestly, it is better that common terminology is used rather than historically correct terminology in this instance.

Frankensteins: The Creature

"My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine."

Frankensteins are crafted to be literally new living things. They are essentially people, albeit designed rather than evolved. Unfortunately, the creators of these new creatures almost never take to their assumed role as parent, because the Frankenstein is never truly a baby and never truly a human. Propelled into existence with a grown human's size and facilities, they nonetheless suffer from having missed the opportunities to be juvenile. Like a man who has been inducted as a child soldier or a woman married at first blood, a Frankenstein's life will always have deeply painful emotional issues. They will always be childlike in some aspects of their existence, even if they live to be hundreds of years old.

Each Frankenstein is created out of human flesh in some way. Sometimes it is as simple as cobbling together body parts and then harnessing lightning or mystic power to bring it to life. Sometimes they are grown in tanks like the Hank and Dean. And in yet other methods of creation they are crafted in some other medium such as wood or stone and then transformed into human flesh. Regardless of the creation methodology, a Frankenstein is close enough to human in appearance to pass for one.

Like all Animates, Frankensteins need power. For most Frankensteins, this is electrical power, though there are examples that recharged by standing under waterfalls or exposing themselves to tidal forces. The days of making Pinocchios that have to be tossed into the sea or Osirians who need to camp in rivers to recharge are largely over, and almost all Frankensteins made in the last hundred and fifty years operate on the more exciting and portable system of electricity.

A Frankenstein has an Orphic power source and a Ritual power schedule.

Frankenstein Starting Powers

Core Discipline: Celerity

• Nimble Feet (Basic Celerity)
• Quickness (Basic Celerity)

Basic Powers

• Vigor (Basic Clout)
• Repel (Basic Magnetism)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Supernatural Senses (Basic Discernment)

Advanced Powers

• Devastation (Advanced Clout)
• Quicken Sight (Advanced Celerity)

Distinctive Flaw: Conspicuous Consumption

Story Inspiration: Frankenstein, Pinocchio, Edward Scissorhands, Subject Two, Herbert West: Reanimator

Golems: The Servitor

"Did I request thee, Maker from my clay
To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?"

Created strong of body and unending in endurance, the Golem is made to do tasks that humans don't want to. Often these jobs are demeaning or dangerous, and it is no surprise that Golems rarely want to do the things that are asked of them. Golems appear crude and ogrish, having been initially created for physical functionality rather than social niceties. Generally a Golem is as capable of making human emotional connections and decisions as anyone, but their distinctly non-human, even non-living appearance makes that difficult.

Crafted as a servile, almost machine-like creature, Golems fade into the background as much as the most discrete of servants. No one notices a tool that is not in use or a man far beneath them in social status, and a Golem is both. Each Golem is empowered by mystic words and dreams, and it is these that the Golem "is". The body one sees (if one sees it at all) is truly inanimate and irrelevant material that is given life by the mystic runes that represent the Golem. While a Golem may grow accustomed to its shell, the fact is that they can be transferred to a new body of clay or wood without particular harm (although the transfer process usually takes most of a day).

The Golem is powered by the meaning of the words, and they recharge themselves by repeating and emphasizing them over and over again like Tibetan monks. It is not unusual to find a Golem recharging itself by writing and rewriting phrases on a chalk board like Bart Simpson or intoning a mystic song again and again.

A Golem has an Astral power source and a Ritual power schedule.

Golem Starting Powers

Core Discipline: Veil

• Hide From Notice (Basic Veil)
• Mask of a Thousand Faces (Basic Veil)

Basic Powers

• Fire Walking (Basic Walk of Flame)
• Vigor (Basic Clout)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Summon Spirit (Basic Necromancy)

Advanced Powers

• Devastation (Advanced Clout)
• Lost and Found (Advanced Veil)

Distinctive Flaw: Either Anachronism or Naive

Story Inspiration: Rabbi Loew, R.U.R., Short Circuit, Talos

Androids: The Lover

"How fully functional are you?"

Androids are made of hard and constructed material rather than the softness of flesh, and they are coldly perfect to behold. Whether man or woman, an android is beautiful beyond what normal humans are capable of. Unfortunately, the metallic perfection of their exterior belies a digital corsity that makes interpersonal relationships unsatisfactory. The emotions of an Android, though strongly felt, are simply too extreme and simple for others to relate to. The love of an Android is as off-putting as the hatred to a normal, nuanced individual. Androids do not, on initial inspection look anything other than human. However there is something distinctly "not right" about them which will creep out any normal human who interacts with them socially for long. They are beyond autistic, their emotions are simply ones and zeros.

Androids can be made of circuitry, gears, or simply polished marble. The key is that at the end of the procedure they are crafted to look more human than a human could possibly be. The insides of an Android actually matter a fair amount for purposes of what they do to recharge themselves. An Android filled with gears needs to patiently wind themselves up (conservation of energy be damned), while an Android made of circuits and wires needs to plug themselves into a wall. Whichever it is, an Android recharging breaks the illusion of a perfect human, as the act of opening themselves to work on their clearly inorganic insides pushes them into the uncanny valley until they close themselves up again.

An Android has an Infernal power source and a Ritual power schedule.

Android Starting Powers

Core Discipline: Clout

• Vigor (Basic Clout)
• Clinging (Basic Clout)

Basic Powers

• Light of Ennui (Basic Descent of Entropy)
• Attract (Basic Magnetism)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Howling Winds (Basic Chasing the Storm)

Advanced Powers

• Devastation (Advanced Clout)
• Contradiction (Advanced Descent of Entropy)

Distinctive Flaw: Doomed Romance

Story Inspiration: Pygmalion, Metropolis, R.U.R., Weird Science, Ifurita, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?