The Trilogy of Gog and Magog

First to be told is the legend of the beings named Gog and Magog.  Brothers of thought and kin to the gods, these two held great power over the Fifth after the Sundering.  They first resided in the shadowed corners of the Celestial Realms taking council from the other powers of the Dark.  At their bidding they hunted Merrith, the sister of Vivoria, and slew her with sword and hammer.  Gog took the goddess' face as a trophy and symbol of their defiance.  The lords of Light were deeply angered and cast them out and barred the Gates to the Celestial Realms to them.

Gog and Magog fled to the Fifth, and there they began to form legions who carry the taint of their violence which infects like a disease.  Their legions of fell creatures ruled over the land, tainting everything under their dominion.  Only the greatest cities survived the legion's advances and many were destroyed.  Atlantis, Ur and the elven city of Celebair became islands of light in a darkening night.

Vet- Auun, angered by such a light punishment for godslaying, sired a christos to a human woman of Ur.  This man grew to become an honoured warrior, for it was obvious to all to saw him that he was possessed by the strength of the gods.  Ikslander they named him, and armies grew under his lead.  Such was his strength of arms and skill with the tactics of war that he slew the Legions and chased them until they were cornered into a deep valley.  Ikslander fought the brothers and took the hammer and sword and broke them.  He then rent Magog's armour from his form and Mirrith's face, which had been fashioned into a three eyed mask, from Gog.  Using the last of his power he shut the mountains, locking Gog and Magog with their Legion until the end of the Earth.

Ikslandir went on to create an Empire and he ruled long.  The spoils of the battle he locked into chests of dwarven metal, and when he passed from the mortal world they were brought with him to burial.  The Altantians brought him to the Sacred Valley, where those touched by the lords of Light are put to rest, and entombed with the chalice spoken of old, his half-elven queen and the Everliving Rose.

At the end of the Earth a human will awaken him, and his treasure will be stolen.  When the Mask and Armour are worn will Gog and Magog awaken and begin to delve a way through the mountains.  Only with these tokens, and the waking of the brothers, can the Four be overthrown and the remnants of the world spared.  If the Four should be banished, for another aeon, the Everliving Rose may be planted and Eden grow anew.

Codex Psychosia - Travelling Through the Endless Night

+++translated from Derekest dialect (Shan, loc. Nightlands)+++

Long has it been, months of night.  An age in the hour past sunset, I walk through the soft places near Ten O'clock.  There is sand here, waves of shifting dunes that flow and ebb into infinity.

It is not cold, not is it warm, for there is no temperature here.  The wind barely touches ones face, smelling of nutmeg, and pulls the coat upon my back.  The pilgrim beside me swears the wind smells of chocolate.

It had been a month before I came to the Kradena, from isles populated by the peoples of Quiddity in all their chaotic splendour.  It has been almost a Earthly year since I returned to the islands.  I had forgotten I had been here, the memory obscured from my mind, until Uriel arrived.

The pilgrim joined my company early on, sensing my need to return to the waking world.  He would lead me along the path and teach me the secrets of passing through.  I would bring him with me, along my memory of Earth, and stand under a sun again.  This was our deal, for good or ill.

I caught a qwtyllc entering the Kradena and wove a cage of Thornalis root.  These I gave to the pilgrim, who would in turn give them to my friends.  By this connection I might forge a path through the barrier of the Dreaming.

The qwtyllc would be bled  upon a stone thirty paces beyond the Gate of the Gods.  I must try to be at the edge of Kradena by then, at a temple made of ivory.  By the direction of the pilgrim I crafted a dowsing rod from the last shrub in the sands which points ever further into the sands.

There are few stars here, and they change positions when the eye isn't focused on them.  Violet clouds drift across the sky, never with the wind.  Once during my travel I saw a herd of massive animals which reminded me of buffalo, but they sensed us on the horizon and fled.

I've aged a year, perhaps more, my hair has grown long, and my hands are callused.  Surprisingly, my staff has changed, it has absorbed some of the essence of Quiddity and there is a whole new scope of power I can channel.

I look forward to returning, and with the pilgrim's scrying stone I can view them from afar, but only briefly, time passes faster in the Dying Dominion.  I look forward to returning with the task set out before us.

Codex Psychosia - Awake

In accord with the prophesy dreamed,

Amid the warring factions and minds,

At Worldstar's point they gather.

They are fewer this time, than last.

Some lost, one fallen, one dreaming.

Relics they bring, from neverplaces.

Angel now fallen and cast out of Iyant,

The Shield of Oceans fused to his arm,

Stands where Ra dies an old man.

The Arbutan Staff begins the helix' bend,

At polar north where dragons hunt,

Where the gate to Noctus is unlocked.

By portent or design, irony or humour,

The cursed Corpus Occuli stands at East,

Borne by nightmare crossed with flesh.

The jewels of life taken from death's shore,

Closes the helix, completing the cycle,

By the hand of faery, may they return.

Doomed to fail, as all things are by fate,

For at the center one who is awake speaks,

And he has died unable to speak the words.

Codex Psychosia - Corpus Occuli

Dead eyes, the Corpus Occuli.

Like many places otherwhere,

Few struggle against many.

At the Worldstar's jagged point,

Where power shatters land.

Unlight stirs He Who Slumbers

Under where reality is torn.

The Awakened, as yet to be,

Venture to man's foul wounding,

And the second seal of John's writ

Shall be broken without thunder.

He Who Slumbers wakes enraged,

Uriel, incomplete and wrathful.

Before the storm of divine fury

One shall fall, and his kin avenge.

Divine form, now lifeless and dead,

Shall be folded inwards, first wings,

Then legs, arms, and lastly his head.

The shard, so sealed, seen as an eye,

Shall complete the means to waken.

Codex Psychosia - Visitation

Late one evening, as I sipped from a warm cup sitting in my evening chair,

A scratch, or knocking.  Like branches and claws upon my back door.

Long crimson drapes guarded the glass, from all observation,

So I listened to the sound, sceptical of its origins and purpose.

The sounds did not abate, but moved outside in my yard.  Circling.

At each window in turn, and louder each time, wild and persistent.

My cup had grown cold, and still I sat and listened.

I imagined what kind of aberrant beast it could be, species of terror.

At the back door, a second time, it stopped and I waited...

Silence hung in the air like a heavy damp cloth, and I waited.

In complete silence I stood, and crossed my sitting room to the door,

The curtain pulled aside ever so slightly, I gazed outside holding my breath.

 The landing outside held no great dragon, but a terrifying chimarae.

A creature of the size of a hound, with a crimson coat of shining fur.

Like a hare, with great ears and rear legs, and shining black eyes,

Great horns, like twisted oak branches, grew from its head.

It regarded me indifferently, devouring a portion of my wicker chair,

Torn pieces of it were scattered across the balcony, the remnants.

As I watched, it took notice of me and slowly got onto all fours.

One large foot rapped the patio once, and the glass door shattered.

I leaped back, falling onto my chair and spilling my table and drink,

The creature entered the room in a flash of red to stand in front of me.

Cold intelligence gleamed in his eyes, as he assessed my startled self.

Then he greeted me, using the dead tongue of the Annukai.

He called me a scribe and lauded me for my previous works of fiction,

Appraising my bookshelves, stacks of manuscript and curiosities.

He bid me to take comfort, and to take up the pen and paper of my trade,

To drink my hot tea and sit back in my chair and listen to his tales.

His manner was that of a nobleman of bygone era, filled with wisdom,

So I did as he bid, and wrote for him, of the things the hare said.

He asked to be called Zoloft, and I gave him my name in return,

And he began his story, with the end of a world greater than mine.

 

He came from Yzederrodex, once the greatest of all cities, home of a god.

The capital of the First, of a scale and grandeur impossible to record.

The One God resided here and it was the centre of the Dominions,

The shining twin of Ra'lygh thought to be immortal and impervious.

But the clock of Armageddon struck noon for the great city,

And a son was to return to the father and bring death and annihilation.

He told of this world, next in turn for that terrible clock, of our end.

He spoke of beauty like the glorious, and hidden, Shield of Oceans,

Origins of terrible fetishes like the Corpus Occulli, the zombie's eye,

Of the shaded paths to Anhkor, and the sunken city of Dagon.

Each of the clock's symbols I wrote into the growing tome, each ending.

Mapped the sacred design of the nexus grid and sites of the ancients,

From Khufu's Tomb to the lost cities, I wrote what the hare told me.

Into the early morning he spoke of myth, artifice and the gods who watch.

 

And as pages were filled, and the story passed from Aramaic to Greek,

Into Sylvan, Draconic, Atalantean, and those I do not have name for,

I felt my self slip away like pages in a breeze and I start to worry.

Each page wrote itself faster, each tale more intriguing than the last.

Less I could remember, my memory slipping into the void faster,

The Codex forms hundreds of pages, each a slice of the scribe who writes,

Each a maddened mystery, the Rapture, the secrets of the apocalypse.

He tells the scribe of the fall of the Great Veil, when magic returns

The scribe shudders as the hare describes the rupture of society.

The scribe wrote of the Great War, and of the long death of Earth.

He soothed his nerves with words of the rebirth of the Fifth, of survival.

But the scribe was not disturbed, nor agitated, by the hare's tales,

Not a single piece of self was left and the dream began to fade to grey.

The Codex Psychosia was upon the scribe's desk, bathed in the light of Ra.

And the scribe sat unable to think, or to do, or to be, clear as glass.

The tome would travel with fate, or it could be consigned to flame,

It is Pandora's shadow, knows of Lilith's Kiss, and steals life.

Pain and Suffering

An invisible, serrated shard of glass piercing the flesh.  Mind numbing agony which emanates through the body.  That incessant ache which permeates everything and clouds the senses.

I find that pain isn't represented very well, or at all most times.  For instance, if someone were to suffer from a blow from a truck the pain would be debilitating.  Even if said person were to then be magically healed, the pain might continue to linger unless directly addressed.  A victim suffering from damage should be suffering penalties, and the greater the damage...

Pain

For every ten points a victim suffers damage to their wound pool, in a single attack, the victim gains one Pain.  Pain is healed with rest (like pools and other modifiers).  Every point of Pain gives -1 to all rolls (except during lunacy rolls add Pain).  All undead and golems are immune to pain.

Threshold (Sage Lore - Stm)

Add the Threshold modifier to Pain, a victim can never receive a positive modifier this way.  (Eg: A victim with 2 Pain and Threshold +4 would have no negative or positive penalty due to Pain.)

Shock
When a victim's Pain penalty equals their Stm, they go into shock.  When in shock, a victim is limited to one check or move and may not use mana or prayer pool.

Using Power and Pain

Soothing Touch (Water, Healing) - DoS removes Pain from target.

Transference (Telepathy, War, Air, Summoning) - DoS removes Pain from target which the caster receives.  (War could then be used to make a pool to hit, transferring the Pain to the target.)

Skills and Pain

The skill torture should be noted, due to being able to give things pain points (equal to the DoS).  The intended target should be immobilized to use this as a check and no damage is done.  Torture could also be stacked with a damage roll, which would double the amount of Pain received from the attack.

Aid can be used to reduce pain, temporarily.  An aid check will negate Pain at one per DoS, which will go down at one every round.

A non-lethal called shot could also be used to double the Pain from an attack.

Tormentor (Priest Source)

A person might chose to specialize in producing and spreading pain to harness the dark energies it produces.  A tormentor does this by hurting themselves and others and then using it as a weapon against their foes.

Starting Level: +1 Threshold, 1 knowledge point, 3 weapon uses.

Level Advancement: +1 Threshold, 2 weapon uses.

Using Pool:  A tormentor can use an amount of prayer equal to the amount of Pain near them, including themselves, up to five times their Threshold modifier.

-Scathe: Pool to hit, attack DoS equals Pain received by target.

-Transfer: Threshold DoS equals amount of Pain to be transferred from one target to another willing target.

-Override: Caster may ignore one Pain modifier for each 5 prayer used.

-Incite: Pool to hit, attack DoS adds to an immediate lunacy roll.

-Agonize: Target loses an amount of wounds equal to Threshold DoS, to a maximum of their Pain.

Other Sources and Pain

Any source which gives a modifier to MS would instead gain a modifier to Threshold.

Soul Streamer

Soul Streamer (Priest Source)

There is a persistent cycle of life and death, an ebb and flow, an energy that is constant and immense. Soul Streamers have learned to tap in to this energy and use their bodies as a conduit with which to alter the flow. Every person is different, thus every soul streamer will have learned different uses for this power. There is a chorus, created in the stream, by the multitudes of ending and beginning lives; because of this, soul streamers slowly lose their minds... their individuality slowed stripped away.

Starting Level: 3 knowledge points, d10+Chr prayer, +1 Madness.

Level Advancement: +2 knowledge points, +d10 prayer, +1 Madness.

Disciplines: The victim must choose three Disciplines: lunacy, resist, healing, scry, undeath or dominance.

Codex Psychosia - Heretic's Requiem

The sand of old Aegypt smells of spice and gold.

Above, the stars dance the same dance with the moon.

I see a river of people, a city's flood, refugees.

Camels, oxen, tuskers, horses and many others.

Each burdened with all they can carry,

Carving a new path through dust and rock.

To Thebes!  To the Old Gods! They shout.

The Pharaoh is dead, long live the Pharaoh!

With blade, and star, and child they came.

To the house of Aten they brought death,

The judgement of the glorious hand of Horus.

Great AmonRa and dark Shemzu concurred.

The Heretic-King flayed bare with wrath.

But the deluge grasped me like the jaws of Set

And carried me further to the Great City.

Scarabs and locusts made of brass,

Each with insides of spinning brass gears,

The Swarm of Ra, shepherding the throng.

To dust, his soul is devoured by brass claws.

The Heretic's name and spirit obliterated.

Let them hear the names Ta brought here.

Favoured of Ra, Jesyble lost to flame.

Mosa-nalendi, the graceful star,

Banished, cursed, damned, Ickthuas.

Bezis, the lost swan of the Nile,

Grog'Nak D'More Goliathi Kai'Kee.

And Mateuw from the shore of Quiddity.

To Thebes! To the Old Gods! We shout.

Codex Psychosia - Rubies of Vitae

To set them well, to right old ways,

To seek the well, to bring new ways.

Rubies fall from knuckles

Flayed with holy gold.

The noblewoman's path leads

From the soiled bilge waters

Pooling at her bedsheets

Poisoning her blossoms.

Rubies flayed from knuckles

Fall from holy gold.

The Eye of Ra has never seen

The path of crushed bone,

Which lead to Anubis' garden

Where grow nothing but stone.

Rubies fall from knuckles

Flayed by holy gold.

A setting, a chalice, defaced

By unrelenting Mahees

With unliving chaperones

Here meets the Neverplace.

Rubies flayed from knuckles

Fall from holy gold.

MADNESS!!!

Madness

When a victim is confronted by something which does not comply to rational thought they are touched by madness. The decent into insanity can be gradual or swift, or it may be forced upon by spells and curses.

Madness Rating (MR)

Places and entities that are naturally dementing have a Madness Rating (MR). A negative App would apply towards the MR (-2 App would add +2 to the entity's MR), and being immortal also adds +1 MR.

Sanity vs Madness

A madness war is provoked the first time the victim encounters any of the following:

-Something with a MR.

-An immortal being (if mortal).

-Going below -10 wounds.

-Something with a negative App.

-Inter-dominion travel.

-Entering Quiddity, Heaven or Hell.

A madness war is based on the victim's Int. Add one for each sage lore the victim has points in. If the victim has any Madness Points, subtract them from the total. This is the victim's Sanity total.

Int +#SL -Mad +d10 =Sanity

Madness Points

Madness is aquired when a victim fails to resist a madness war. The victim recieves one Madness for every five points they did not resist. Use Madness as a modifier to the victim's MS and against K.O.

Insanity

Once a victim has Madness they will begin to exhibit signs of instability. Whenever a victim with Madness rolls a natural one to attack, or a natural ten on a check, they must roll Insanity in addition to any other effects. The victim rolls one dice and adds any Madness points, then consultes the chart below. Effects will last for an amount of rounds equal to victim's Madness.

Roll Effect Modifiers

1-9 Stable (everything is fine, for now) None

10-14 Paranoid (They are watching) -5 to soak

15-19 Hallucinations (not again...) -5 Per

20-24 The Shakes (twitching fear) -5 Dex, Str

25-29 Visions (it's happening again!) -5 Dex, Man

30-34 Mania (can't take it anymore...) Attacks closest

target.

35-39 Portents (They are speaking to me) +5 to dodge and

MS.

40-44 Neurotic (gibbering looney) +5 auto blast pool

to hit.

45-49 Permament Condition Roll again, effect is

pernament.

Multiple Insanity

If a victim is under the influence of an Insanity, they add +5 to the Insanity roll for each effect.

Ѝ All victims in the Nightlands begin with one Madness.

The next post will be about racial mods and sources dealing with madness....MADNESS!!!!

Specialists

Mages can take multiple talents depending upon their mage source, but not all do. Some prefer to stick to a single talent which can make them more powerful but less versatile. Also, many have noticed the lack of the 'feeding' abilities in the new book, this was intentional as such abilities come at a price. Specialists gain the feed ability (if there is one for their talent), or it can be purchased as an other power. Specialists also gain additional abilities and cost reductions depending on their specialization. Becoming a specialist is an additional cost when purchasing a mage level (much like selecting an additional talent).

A mage who specializes in a single talent will become far more skilled with their power. Mastering a single talent is far easier, as is gaining immunities to it. Some specialists have access to abilities exclusive to them.

Becoming a Specialist: A victim may spend an additional 5 xp when purchasing a mage level to become a specialist. The victim's mage source is not altered in any way, simply note that the victim is a specialist.

Benefits: Mastery (see 'Other Powers – Book of Tools') costs 2 points less and the stat costs are removed. Additional benefits are based upon talent;

Restrictions: A specialist may only have access to a single talent and no further talents may be purchased. A victim cannot become a specialist if they have access to more than one talent.

Air – Elemental Immunity (air)* costs 3 less, add aeromancy modifier to Fl Dex (augmented), Feed (air)#.

Earth – Elemental Immunity (earth)* costs 3 less, add geomancy modifier to soak and Stm checks, Feed (earth)#.

Fire – Elemental Immunity (fire)* costs 3 less, add mage level to MS, Feed (fire)#.

Water – Elemental Immunity (water)* costs 4 less, Waterbreath* costs 5 less, add mage level to one check or war per day, Feed (water)#.

Aether – Elemental Immunity (aether)* costs 3 less, Regenerate (mutation) costs 4 less, K.O. (hand to hand), Feed (aether)#.

Death – Soul Thief* costs 2 less, Hard to Kill* costs 2 less, add necromancy modifier to all regular damage, Feed (death)#.

Famine – Mind Over Body costs 2 less, Hard to Kill* costs 2 less, Magical Resistance* costs 2 less, any attack made by the victim has a K.O. modifier equal to the victim's cryomancy modifier.

Pestilence – Victim's App is negatively modified by their mage level, add cadramancy modifier to all disease and narcotic based rolls (in favor of the disease or narcotic), Appetite Magic and Faith* each cost 2 less, Feed (pestilence)#.

War – Discord* costs 3 less (and may be taken regardless of race), Gaze of Petrification* costs 3 less, Mind Over Body* costs 2 less, add psychomancy modifier to Chr (augmented), Feed (war)#.

Chronomancy – Add mage level to initiative, one reroll per day (per mage level).

Divination – Add scry modifier to dodge and Per (augmented), add mage level to MS.

Dream – Add mage level to K.O. checks, Magical Resistance* and Countercaster* costs 2 less, Feed (dream)#.

Illusion – Add mage level to stealth and App (augmented), Gaze of Petrification* costs 3 less.

Summoning - Add mage level to command, Animal Friendship* costs 2 less, Teleportation#.

*These refer to abilities from 'Other Powers – The Book of Tools' in the Zero Terminus.

#These refer to abilities from 'Other Powers – The Book of Tools' in the Survival Guide.

Feed Cost: 6

The victim has learned to feed upon the energies that they practice. A victim may replenish pool whenever the reuirements are met but cannot excede maximum pool. A victim must select which talent they feed from, which they have access to.

All – Casting (1 mana for each use of power that uses a like mana source).

Air – During high winds (d10 mana per round).

Earth – During eathquakes (d10x10).

Fire -Near flame (1 mana per round), near large fire (d10 mana per round).

Water – In open waters (1 per round).

Aether – Electric fields (equal to Str of field or d10 per round).

Death – Near death (mana replenished equal to CL of dying).

Pestilence – Near disease (1 mana per round, per infected).

War – Disputes (1 mana per round), conflict (d10 mana per round).

Dream – Near sleepers (1 mana per round, per sleeper).

Until next round...>

The Monk and the Dervish

nWo is the kind of game that grows continuously. Even as I polish up the Zero Terminus book, new things are created and another book is already planned (a "survival guide"). A couple of these are two new warrior sources; the monk and the dervish.

Monk

Specializing in unarmed combat, a monk can use their strength to cause severe wounds and breaks. Often learned in martial arts, they can become a strong asset in hand to hand combat. Many temple caretakers are trained as monks in addition to their responsibilities to the clergy.

Starting Level:
1 knowledge point, 2 weapon use points, +d10 wounds, +1* (unarmed).

Level Advancement:
1 weapon use point, +d10 wounds, +1* (unarmed).

Dervish

The dancing, weaving, fluid motions of a dervish are easily identifiable and rightly feared. This style of fighting builds up momentum and uses it to make attacks and dodge others. Once in motion, a dervish becomes an increasingly difficult opponent.

Starting Level:
1 knowledge point, +d10 wounds.

Level Advancement:
+d10 wounds.

Benefit:
For each round the victim has been in hand to hand combat add the victim's warrior level to hit and dodge. This bonus only applies in hand to hand combat and will decrease by the victim's warrior level each round not in hand to hand combat.

These sources are allowed in all settings, and have some interesting possibilities. Either of these sources would benefit from the combat discipline or death talent for more hitting power. The monk's bonus can be added to natural weapons (like claws), or think about a dervish with a shimmer....

Until next round, +1 Int.