Transhumans: Point of No Return

"Think before you decide, I tell you! Do you want to be left as you are, or do you want your eyes and your soul to be blasted by a sight that would stagger the devil himself?"

Knowledge and power do not come without a price, especially in the realm of horror. When one steps upon the path to power it is not long before the realization strikes that the person on that path is not the same person who took the first steps. Sometimes the point of no return is obvious and comes as a flash of insight. At other times it is only in retrospect and solemn reflection that one can see that there's little connection between the humanity of youth and the creature of the present. Transhumans do not have souls in the way that normal people do.

Transhumans have the easiest time convincing themselves that they are still the person that they used to be - still a mortal human with all the accompanying impetus and fragility. This is not actually true, and the sheer plausibility of that kind of self delusion leads many into a constant rollercoaster of false hopes and crushing disappointments. On some level normal people can sense it, and vague misgivings surround all dealings between a Transhuman and mortal men. The moment the character attains their power they have become something more than a man, but they have also become something less, and it is this truth that all Transhumans must confront.

Transhumans suffer aggravated damage from Iron weapons, the very human achievement that propels them beyond their biological origins also turns on them with cruel finality. Most Transhumans are dominated by Master Passion Despair.

The Reborn: Second Chances and Second Guesses

"Put your helmet on. I wouldn't want to scar your pretty face. Again."

Reincarnation totally happens in After Sundown. Not to everyone, not even to most people. But to some people. For whatever reason, only Luminaries can access past lives, and even then past lives only become accessible when they are exposed to great stress in the presence of magic. Why this happens or what the consequences of this are is a matter of intense debate amongst the supernatural communities. It is possible that only Luminaries have past lives, or even that Luminaries are Luminary because they have lived before.

How many lives a particular Reborn remembers is quite variable. Sometimes it is as few as one, while other Reborn remember snippets of dozens. It is undeniably true that the chances of a particular Reborn running into specific people they knew in a past life (either other Reborn or immortals who happened to be alive back then) are extremely high. Past lovers and rivals both are very likely to be encountered by a Reborn during their new life, leading as many to repeat their old mistakes as to fix their previous errors.

There are prophetic maps available that plot the likely eruptions of new Reborn, and there are more than a few supernatural creatures and organizations of supernatural creatures that take an active interest in such matters. The Makhzen and Marduk Society traditionally find the Reborn to be natural members and go to great lengths to recruit them. Reborn are interesting in that they can be successfully identified with prophetic writings and comparisons to ancient statues and paintings long before they actually develop any powers.

A Reborn has an Orphic power source and a Lunar power schedule.

The First Reborn?

It is apparently true that no Reborn is ever born (much less awakened) during the lifetime of one of their past lives. Furthermore, all past lives are truly in the past, and there are no future incarnations remembered by any Reborn. So it stands to reason that at the earliest, the first Reborn had to have been born a couple generations after the first human. The earliest Reborn who is specifically listed in the secret histories is Krishna: a mighty Tamil warrior who lived around 670 BCE and who had at least one previous life as a sage.

Reborn Starting Powers

Core Discipline: Celerity

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

Basic Powers

  • Supernatural Senses (Basic Discernment)
  • Summon Spirit (Basic Necromancy)
  • Attract (Basic Magnetism)
  • Shadow Casting (Basic Play of Shadows)

Advanced Powers

  • Shifting Sands (Celerity / Magnetism Devotion)
  • Psychometry (Advanced Discernment)

Distinctive Flaw: Distinctive Appearance

Story Inspiration: She, The Mummy

The Fallen: Rising from the Ashes

"There is only one thing worse in the world than to be talked about. And that is to not be talked about."

Those luminaries whose souls are scoured out to beyond the possibility of recognition by the harsh infernos of Limbo are left ageless shells, they are The Fallen. Sometimes a man can become so by coming into possession of some demonic trinket that slowly or calamitously steals away their existence. But more commonly this is the result of a child being stolen away into the Dark Reflection by mirror goblins to toil away in the edifices of the dark king. These changelings usually are worked to death, and never see home. But sometimes a luminary child will grow hard and strong, and bitter like long steeped tea. And they will someday find way to escape their soot covered prison and return triumphantly to their parents, to be clasped again by loving hands and to walk again amongst mothers and friends. But this is perhaps the cruelest aspect of fairy captivity, for the children so taken are not long sought after for powerful magics are wrought to remove the Fallen from the thoughts of those who care for them. It is an alienating experience for those lucky enough to escape servitude back to the mortal world - while the family they remember like as not still exists, it is rare indeed that this family has any familiarity with them in return.

The Fallen do not have magic power of their own, but their bodies have become attuned to the ghastly magic of the Dark Reflection, and they can charge themselves up by exposing themselves to more Infernal energies. The Ritual to regain Power Points requires exposure to something from Limbo. Those who were transformed by an Infernal artifact are well advised to keep their hands firmly upon it. Those who escape the demonic realm usually carry something with them to recharge themselves with, though of course simply returning to the Dark Reflection is always an option.

The very fact that a Fallen's magic powers do not come back without exposure to more of the evil magic that caused their condition in the first place has led some to speculate that if they were to simply avoid Infernal power long enough that they would regain their human lives. If anyone has succeeded in that, there are no reliable records of it. This is in a sense unsurprising, in that there are very few reliable records of Fallen. Not only are Fallen simply unmemorable to Extras, but even documents pertaining to them just "get lost". And it isn't merely that their rental contracts get accidentally thrown out, though that does happen. Fallen find copies of old yearbooks that simply don't contain any pictures of them.

A Fallen has an Infernal power source and a Ritual power schedule.

The First Fallen?

The King with Three Shadows has only been kidnapping mortal children since "the project" began in the 6th century CE. While the Troll Kingdoms had human slaves a thousand years before that, that practice ended when they were banished to Limbo, and human slaves in the mortal world did not become Fallen. The earliest Fallen in the secret histories is a Central African Queen of the 3rd century BCE who went by "She Who Shall Not Be Named" - likely because the process of becoming Fallen had stripped her of her original name. Supposedly she had a sacred flame that granted immortality. What happened to the Queen, her kingdom, or the presumably Limbo-powered flame is a matter of speculation even amongst those who know the secret histories. The last contact with any of them came with a trading expedition from Egypt in 476 CE.

Fallen Starting Powers

Core Discipline: Magnetism

  • Attract (Basic Magnetism)
  • Repel (Basic Magnetism)

Basic Powers

  • Deny the Gauntlet (Basic Progress of Glass)
  • Mask of a Thousand Faces (Basic Veil)
  • Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
  • Learn the Heart's Pain (Basic Names of the Blasphemies)

Advanced Powers

  • Dismissal (Advanced Magnetism)
  • Desire Reflection (Veil / Magnetism Devotion)

Distinctive Flaw: Wither Minor or Feared By Children

Story Inspiration: The Picture of Dorian Gray, She, Rip Van Winkle

The Icarids: Children of Daedalus

"There are things man was not meant to know. It is interesting that we repeatedly seek to know as much about these as possible."

Humanity’s greatest survival trait, indeed the one which has ensured our ascent to power, is a willingness and ability to improve upon our environment - the closest environment being our own flesh and bones. The desire to gain greater abilities overwhelms all else sometimes; even personal ethics, self-preservation, and basic sanity. Man is first and foremost a tool using creature, but when he treats himself as a tool, is he still a man?

The Icarids are born when a Luminary is subject to the (nominally successful) experiments of scientists and practitioners of medicine to improve the human form beyond what it already has - and usually this Luminary is both subject and creator of the experiment. They rarely have any familiarity or experience with the supernatural beforehand, and simply stumble through the veil of normality by "accident". The transformational event bestows efficiency and power on the human form and mind that brings it beyond mortal limitations, including impressive strength and will - at the cost of sanity and self.

The drugs or procedures done to bring an Icarid to the point they now are aren't just unwise - they're lethal. If you did that to an Extra they'd just die. It is in no small part the strength of the Luminary's dreams that force them onward through certain death and into power and madness. The ritual to regain Power Points involves continuing to do more of the same to themselves. What's better than a lethal dose of mercury-based super serum? More mercury-based super serum. It is not at all weird for an Icarid who has been at it for a while to bleed clear liquid, sand, or even tiny grubs.

An Icarid has an Astral power source and a Ritual power schedule.

The First Icarid?

According to the secret histories, the first identified Icharids were the natural philosopher Daedalus and his son Icarus. They stumbled upon a humoral treatment based on goose bile and hot wax that would allow them to transcend human limitations in approximately 630 BCE. Icarus improved upon the treatment considerably and attained the aptitude of Flight. Icarus' experiments ended in tragedy when he flew over the ocean and a sudden rainstorm left him powerless. When he plunged into the sea, the pitiless waves crashed his nearly mortal body against the unforgiving cliffs until he was dead. In his grief, Daedalus named the process in honor of his son, but he still followed the Tradition of Misdirection, and reported the events somewhat differently to the humans of his time.

Icarid Starting Powers

Core Discipline: Veil

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

Basic Powers

  • Supernatural Senses (Basic Discernment)
  • Curse of Failure (Basic Trail of Tears)
  • Clinging (Basic Clout)
  • Revive the Flesh (Basic Fortitude)

Advanced Powers

  • Dark Night of the Soul (Advanced Trail of Tears)
  • Hide in Plain Sight (Advanced Veil)

Distinctive Flaw: Prideful

Story Inspiration: The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Norman Osbourne, Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, Bane, Icarus

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