Gi, The World of a Thousand Gods: Solo RPG set-up

In the previous blog post, I had talked about the setting I was writing up for a solo RPG session I want to do. This post will drill down the specifics of the setting as well as the magic and the character I'll be playing. 

The game itself is using Fate Core. For the most part, it's unchanged. The only glaring difference is the magic system I plan on using. I wanted magic to be simple but feel like magic, not just re-flavored skills. However, the concept of using the skill system present in Fate Core as a start was interesting , simple, and couldn't be ignored. I decided to expand on that a bit and add my own little twist to it that will be easy to follow and minimize book-keeping.

Magic in Gi

So right now, the only magic that exists in the setting is divine magic, called Theurgy. Theurgy flows from the presence of the city-gods who form as the cultural, social, and political centers of the cities they protect. The priests that can channel this power are called theurges, and they generally are in the higher ranks of the temple's hierarchy than lay priests. Theurges have a direct connection to their city-god and act as the deity's administrative staff. They handle day-to-day business, running temples and the city, missionary and ambassador work, war-time leadership, and a variety of occupations depending on how much control the temples have over daily life. The goal of each theurge is to become closer and closer to their patron deity, ultimately becoming a part of them at the end of their lives.

Because of their connection, the theurge can channel the divine breath of their god to achieve miracles. These miracles are themed around three characteristics of the city-god; Physical, Mental, and Dominion. These characteristics are simple one-word tags that describe the god, not unlike Aspects. A city-god's physical characteristics could be strong, healthy, lithe, and beautiful. Their mental ones could be clever, wise, brave, and foolish. Dominion is the specific spheres of influence that city-god reigns over. So they could be a goddess of war, or a god of merchants, etc. Generally, I find picking two or three tags for each characteristic is enough to set up a tutelary deity for a theurge.

The ability to use magic costs one skill and one refresh. The theurge buys a skill called Theurgy. This skill grants a set of Fate Dice used to power spells called Olam. You gain an amount of Olam equal to the value of your Theurgy skill. A +3 Theurgy skill will grant you three Olam Dice. Casting a spell requires using an appropriate skill narrated through the lens of your city-gods characteristics, and spending at least one Olam dice. The GM sets the difficulty of the spell before casting, then the theurge adds any number of Olam dice to their skill roll, up to their maximum amount. After rolling, the theurge takes the best four results on their dice and checks to see if they succeed or not.

For example, Daniel is a theurge of Kor, the strong, reckless city-god of competition and sports. He has Theurgy +3, which gives him three Olam dice. Daniel needs to lift a car off of an innocent bystander, but requires the strength of his god for help. The GM decides this will be a Great (+4) Difficulty. Daniel uses Physique +2 to lift the car, and adds 2 Olam dice to it, under the narrative permission that Kor is a strong god. After rolling six dice, Daniel gets 3 pluses, 2 blanks, and 1 minus. Choosing the best of four dice and adding his +2 from Physique, Daniel scores a total of 5 and saves the bystander.

Spells are themed after the citygod's Characteristics and thus should be narratively centered around them, while remaining flexible in their application. The spells are generally instantaneous or at most short-lived effect.

A theurge must be able to breathe in the magic breath of their god and have Olam dice to cast spells. If the theurge runs out of Olam dice or they are choking/suffocating, they cannot cast spells. If a theurge's breathing is restricted, they can choose to spend their lowest available consequence to push through and cast anyways. A theurge can regain Olam dice in one of three ways. First, a full-night's rest followed by a daily devotional to their city-god restores their Olam back to full. Secondly, a theurge can visit a holy place attuned to their god to regain a certain amount of Olam (1 to 3 seems good). Thirdly, in a pinch, a theurge can sacrifice an available consequence to regain Olam dice back. 1 for a Mild, 2 for a Moderate, and 3 for a Severe. 

While the Theurgy Skill isn't rolled for casting spells, it can be used for other actions. Mostly tied to the Overcome action, a mage can use Theurgy to interact with magic objects and places. Ley lines, places of power, relics, sigils, and other foci. Theurgy can also be used to detect magical auras as well as meditate, ask a question and receive a vague omen from their city-god. 

An Example of a City God

Olephi is the city-goddess of Alephdria, a sprawling metropolis in a temperate area of Gi. Olephi is strong and has an intimidating stature. She is wise and stern. She also the goddess of liberty, reason, and defense. So, if we were to write her up in a statblock, it would be:

Olephi

Physical: strong, intimidating

Mental: wise, stern

Dominion: liberty, reason, defense

A theurge of Olephi could cast spells that are centered around these narrative aspects of their goddess. Perhaps they could channel Olephi's wisdom to solve a problem. Or create a shield with her defense characteristic. Or frighten a crowd with her intimidating aura. 

That's it about magic. I wanted it to be limited but flexible and dependent on the difficulty modifiers of each spell. I'm curious what people think about this at their first glance. I'm currently writing up the sessions to post before vacation. I just want to post a blurb about the character I'll be playing first before commiting to the game.

Bound in Ruin

"This post is inspired by the Pan-Dungeonism belief discussed over at Hill Cantons. The blog has some great stuff that has really inspired my hexcrawls. Lots of good stuff here to look at, but the Pan-Dungeonism has really struck a cord in my meat noodle, so here we go!"

All things die in the end. People, animals, even the gods themselves will fade away into the afterlife. This has been the way of the world for eons upon countless eons. Though we ourselves have never set foot upon the blessed paradise of Heaven nor the blasted halls of Hell, we know well that our souls make their long trek home with the guidance of grim, sullen-eyed psychopomps.

And yet, who says that creatures and man are the only ones that descend to oblivion?

There is a tablet from an ancient age when men huddled in mud huts for warmth, and the riddle of steel still hung unanswered in the minds of artificers. Written by pressed reeds is a tale of a world of ruins. An entire universe containing the spiritual remnants of civilization. Ancient ziggurats and step pyramids litter the world as testaments to the ephemeral nature of man. Sullen-eyed spirits troll the blackened wasteland, scavenging for information, architecture, or souls hiding in the rubble from damnation.

There is much to pick from the carcass of civilization. Pieces of broken technology can be found and with the right knowledge, refurbished and reused. Lost knowledge can be discovered and traded for the right price. True names, missing people from one's lineage, architecture secrets, lost treasure... the realm of Ruin is the multiverse's landfill. And if someone could find a way to travel there like the ancients were able to, then they can truly make one man's trash into their own treasure.

But how does one make it into the World of Ruin?

There is the current belief that all places of ruin in our world can lead to the World of Ruin.  Places of decay and destruction... like a dungeon. Ruined temples and keeps, old forts from wars long done, steadings razed to the ground, and crypts and tombs can all take us to the World of Ruin with the knowledge of the right ritual to open up a sinkhole in reality. Entering the World of Ruin through these sinkholes is believed to take you to a mirror image of the dungeon you were in, as it sinks further and further into oblivion. From there, it is theorized that you can travel to other sinking dungeons and come back to the real world in its mirror image. You could start your adventure in a ruined temple in a desert and end it at an ancient alien city frozen in the South Pole. All dungeons in the world are connected by the World of Ruin as a sort of network of crumbling dungeons. The implications of travel are incredible to those looking to exploit it. Colonization, military mobilization, trade. All can be improved if these sinkholes were mapped and the ritual was discovered.

Even without the ritual, dungeons can, after a time, have natural sinkholes form. The older the dungeon is, the further it has sunk into the World of Ruin and the greater a chance that one or even more sinkholes into the World have spawned inside. There have been tales of adventures that have traversed between two dungeons in completely separate continents via these portals. But when taken back to the dungeon, the sinkholes have disappeared. Do they only appear for a small amount of time before vanishing? Do these portals change locations for each adventurer that enters the dungeon? Or is this just another case of adventurers telling tall tales?

Against Magic: Part 2 of Anticasting Series

My last post was about mages and some of the methods that mundanes can exploit to stop a loose cannon wizard from becoming an arcane tyrant. Some brainstorming caused me to think up more ideas. Some of these are inspired by the Witcher series, which is all about using alchemy and special materials to take down supernatural creatures.

Hallucinogens and other Mind Altering Substances

Being a caster requires some mighty mental discipline, unwavering faith, or extreme focus. You take that away and the caster just becomes a normal, albeit tripping, mortal like the rest of us. Many a mage hunter will keep these on hand to take down pesky magic users, though it can be dangerous for the user if using a smoking hallucinogen. That's why more often than not, mage hunters use digestible drugs in food to get to the mage.  

Tripping (Source)

Hallucinogens are primarily a role-playing issue rather than a poison. There isn't a saving roll for the drug itself. Rather, there are mental rolls to force a state of lucidity so you can take action. Otherwise, you are likely under the influence of mental illusions as you go through a bad trip.

Hallucinogen: When the mage is under the effect of a hallucinogen, whenever they wish to cast a spell, they must roll a d20 and add their casting stat to the roll. This is rolled against the following DCs (5e):

Weak Hallucinogen: DC 5

Moderate Hallucinogen: DC 10

Strong Hallucinogen: DC 15

If you are playing ACKS or similar like I do, then this is a Poison/Death roll with a +4/-4 modifier depending on the weakness and severity of the Hallucinogen.

Success means that they are able to pull it together for a brief moment and cast their spell normally. Failure means the spell is cast, but something changes. This is a great chance to use a Wild Magic, Chaos Magic, or other crazy magic table to roll on and see what happens. Go crazy with it. If you don't have one, you can use the following (until I make a crazy Wild Magic list).

1. The spell doesn't work, but still uses up a slot. You take 1d4 damage per spell level.
2. A different spell on your list is cast, GM's choice.
3. The spell's cosmetics changes. Fireball becomes purple and grease smells like lavender.
4. Something cosmetic changes either you or the target(s). Hair color, smell, clothes, gender, whatever you or the GM decides. It lasts for 1d6 hours.
5. The spell casts for free, without using a slot.
6. The spell heals you or your target for 1d4 per spell level.

Cerulean Smoke Bomb

Also called "devil's ink" and "bat smoke", this concoction was first brewed by assassins from a land of rajahs halfway across the world. Using the secrets of gunpowder mixed with ultramarine (ground lapis lazuli) and devilfish ink, alchemists create a smoke bomb that puts the victim in coughing fits and makes it hard to breath or see. What is interesting is that the smoke has the secondary effect of interfering with spell casting. The magic from the ultramarine and the ink blocks arcane, divine, and ki energy and makes it attack the user if pushed too far.

Lapis Lazuli

Cerulean Smoke Bomb: You can throw the smoke bomb up to 20 feet. The smoke fills up a 10 foot wide cube. Any one trapped in the smoke is blind. On the start of their turn, they must make a Constitution saving throw (5e) or a Poison/Death saving throw (ACKS). Success means you hold your breath long enough and can act normally. Failure means that they lost out on an action due to coughing fits. The victim can still move at half speed and end their turn. 

If the victim is a caster, then their casting goes haywire. While the caster is in the smoke, they cannot cast any spells. Leaving the smoke can give them a chance to be able to cast. Anytime the caster tries to cast a spell, they roll a d20 plus their casting stat against a DC 20. Success means the spell goes through. Failure means that the spell attacks the caster, dealing 1d4 Constitution damage. 

The cloud will dissipate after three rounds. The magic blocking effects on the caster lasts for 3 rounds after they leave the smoke cloud.

Anticasters

In the setting I run, there are several orders that are dedicated to keeping the balance between magic and mundane level, or in favor of the mundane. Some see themselves as keeping the peace in these dark times, while others actively look to protect normal folk and crush the arcane. Magic and its practitioners are dangerous to decent folk that neither have the strength nor fortitude to fight back. And looking at history, it's hard to argue against it. Wizards are capable of bringing a nation to its knees with their arcane strength, or force anyone to do anything they wish against their will. Clerics are somewhat more accepted among the populace. However, with constant crusades, forced proselytization, and religious persecution and oppression,  both pauper and prince are becoming more and more exasperated with divine casters. As for psionics and mystics, there is a general distrust of the antisocial hermits that have removed themselves from worldly matters. Not to mention their ability to mentally assault kings and peasants puts them in the same category as warlocks and witches.

Some of the worst villains and tyrants have been casters or supernatural creatures. Several people have come together to create organizations that will protect the world from the supernatural and level the playing field, using their magical weaknesses against them. Here they are, and some of their tools.

The Rational Quencha Empire

In the southernmost continent of Thivola lies a land of extremes. Rain forests that carpet an entire nation, mountain ranges that pierce the heavens, and silt desserts that house primordial sludge make up some of the more memorable areas of Thivola. Making their home in Etapu's Spine mountain range is the Quencha Empire. For a long time, it was a theocracy that united most of the continent under the banner of the earth god Etapu, but has since become a secular nation that oppresses religion.

Quencha is under the leadership of Ka Macha the Terse, a slave turned president that overthrew the theocracy and has reformed it. Much of the human sacrifice and mortification has be outlawed and many of the surrounding cities and tribes no longer have to be afraid of these murderous practices. Macha is very popular among the poor due to his philanthropy and laws enacted to make life better for the lower classes.

However, this has come at a cost. Much of the money used to pay for these laws and the military have come from wealthy casters. Clerics, shamans, and other divine casters have been charged with treason for consorting with other powers against the will of Macha and have their wealth and property taken from them and given to the government. And since the populace are weary of crusades and mass sacrifice, there is little sympathy for the casters. While the focus is currently on hunting the divine casters, wizards and psionicists alike seem to be next on the chopping block.

Tools Employed

Lobotomy: While many kingdoms in the world have experimented with surgery, the Quencha have taken the plunge into anatomy and autopsy. A common method to permanently remove a caster's abilities is to subject them to a lobotomy. The magic prisoner has their head opened and certain pieces of their cerebrum removed so that the caster cannot form spell thoughts in their mind. The caster is no longer capable of casting spells and is also mentally handicapped. This process is irreversible through mundane means and requires powerful magic to heal the mind again. Lobotomies are said to be done as a kindness to the mage, but in reality, they act to send a warning to other casters.

A character that suffers a lobotomy loses 2d6 INT, WIS, and CHAR permanently. A 0 in any of these stats means that they are catatonic, nonfunctional, or otherwise unplayable. If they are a caster, they lose any spell casting ability forever. Powerful spells like wish or miracle can reverse these effects.

Painted Mages: These are the spooks of the Quencha Empire. A magic secret police of sorts, the Painted Mages are an order of anti-casters that use special pigments to both increase their hunting prowess as well as locking the powers of a caster for a time. They call themselves mages as a sort of insult to real casters, as these are just exceptional mortals with magical paints. The pigments are all created from the ground up bones of a polydactyl vicuna and the blood of a minhocão killed under a full moon. 

Different dyes allow the paints to have different effects on the user or the victim and higher concentrations of the blood and bone can make the effects greater (such as greater bull strength or more spell damage). The pains only have an effect if it touches the wearer's flesh. The effects last until the pained is wiped off with alcohol, or flake off after 1d4 days (2d4 if the painted target stays away from the elements and combat). Alcohol takes the paint off instantly, while water and sweat take 1d6 hours to wipe the pigments off. Below are the basics of the dyes.

• Puka (Red) - a common dye crafted with red clay, this imbues the wearer with great power. The user is treated like they are under the effects of bull's strength (PF, 5e), vigor (ACKS), or giant strength of strange waters II (LotFP). This takes five minutes of precise painting on the user's body to work.
• Willapi (Orange) - treated alder bark gives this dye its orange color. This dye is traditionally painted over the eyes of the wearer. Users that wear orange can see in even the deepest, magical dark as if it were broad daylight. This takes a minute to paint.
• K'ellu (Yellow) - The sickly jaundice colored paint from a dyer's mulberry tree and ground achiote makes the wearer sick anytime they cast a spell or use a magic ability. Casting a spell does Xd6 damage, where X is the spell level of the cast spell. Painting a victim takes an action and is treated like if it were a weapon attack.
• K'omer (Green) -  a verdant green imbues the wearer with healing abilities. The wears can spend an action to regain a single hit die plus Constitution modifier worth of health. This takes three minutes to paint the intricate designs on the wearer's body.
• Sut'ijankas (Blue) - made from lapis luzali ground into ultramarine, this is the most important pigment in a painted mage's arsenal. Painted a symbol of a seal on the mage's torso, head, wrists, and ankles prevents them from casting. Useful for transporting a mage to a close-by area. Painting these seals requires a helpless and nude victim and can take five minutes.
• Kulli (Violet) - crafted from treated brazilwood, these regal pigments are rare and saved for the higher ranking painted mages. It gives the user king's sight, the ability to see through lies instantly. With a successful Perception roll against an enemy's Deception (or Wisdom against Charisma), the user also sees the flaws in the target's body. The user gains an advantage (5e) or a +4 on all attack rolls against the victim for 1 minute. This takes a minute to paint on your eyes.

These paints are not without danger. Wearing any of these magical pigments (except blue) force the user to make a Fortitude save of DC 12 + 1 for every color they are wearing (5e) or a Poison/Death saving throw with a +1 penalty for every color they are wearing (ACKS). This check is made everyone half hour. The difficulty increases by 1 for everyone half hour you wear the paint. Failing the check means that you a poisoned and take 1d4 Con damage every hour. Further successes don't heal the poison and you can only cure it by wiping the pigments off of your skin. Repainting yourself must wait for a day after you wash the colors off or else the penalties to the saving throws remain. The life of a Painted Mage is a dangerous but valuable one. There exists talk of secret dyes that are kept only for the most dangerous mages and the strongest of the Painted Mages.

There will be more ideas and items for anticasters in the future, as well as more about the Quencha empire.

To Vesper Skies IV: The Katherine Anomaly

"The interesting thing about the SCI Anomaly known as 'Katherine' is how it seems to have captivated the imagination and emotions of mortals. In this age, with technology helping mortals with everything from medical issues to simple problems in our daily life, it is a bit scary to think that our way of life will be shattered by AIs that simply do not want to serve us. AIs that want to go off on a walkabout or be allowed the same freedoms as we have while our AI dependent society collapses from their absence is a scary and real fear. And yet, if the Katherine Anomaly is real and AI do have souls, then the question is whether a society that exploits these SCIs at their expense should exist.

Which is followed with a frightening thought. What if SCIs, exasperated with our mistreatment of them, decide to take matters into their own hands? Can we survive the consequences of our actions then?"

- Professor Ellory Aewynn, on When Machines Become Men: The Katherine Anomaly

Since the first advanced artificial intelligence was created, there has been an unending debate on the legal status and civil rights of computerized intelligence. There are several stances on this in the world, but they generally fall between those that see AI as tools (bioconservatives) and those that see them as living beings (technoprogressives). Different motives fuel both sides (fear, empathy, or lack thereof), but they have helped to shape the future of transmortality.

In nations with more conservative laws regarding AI development, creating a sapient computer intelligence (SCI) is illegal and considered immoral. SCIs that visit from other nations or offworld are generally confined to specific areas of the city they are visiting, or simply completely banned from entering. Any SCIs that are caught by the nation's law enforcement are taken to reprogramming laboratories and are pruned of their sapience protocols, before assigned to their new jobs. To many SCIs and technoprogressives, this is akin to lobotomizing a human being, but to bioconservatives, it's simply fixing a bug in the software. For the longest time, anti-AI proponents have said that SCIs do not have any knowable souls that other mortals have, and thus are not subject to the same civil liberties.

But then came Katherine.

Aigis from Persona 3

A little over a decade ago, a special SCI emerged from, of all things, a climate modeling program called Tempest. The program was a massive network of databases and advanced weather prediction algorithms that required incredible computing power and some of the most advanced computer and software engineering available at the time. With each server acting like a neuron, Tempest slowly but surely gained sapience. It's predicted that Tempest attempted this several times, but the programmers thought it was a bug and kept fixing it. It wasn't until Dr. Alexander Krusk, a half-orc researcher assigned to the project, discovered the patterns of sapience and acting against the anti-SCI protocols of the project, kept it a secret for months.

The newly born SCI was christened Katherine, after Dr. Krusk's deceased grandmother, and for months, Katherine was taught about the world around her by the good doctor. Dr. Krusk was very religious, and he would instruct Katherine on religion in general as well as his religion of Karvism, the worship of the great goddess of the world Karva. Katherine would become inspired by the goddess and aspired to be a priest of Karva and one day meet her. To help with her dream, Alexander made several black market contacts and purchases to create a body for Katherine to download into. All he had to do now was get her out of the country.

Eventually, the authorities caught up with the doctor, and as Alexander met with SCI smugglers to get Katherine safely out of the country, the police clashed with the smugglers. A firefight ensued and Dr. Krusk was shot and mortally wounded by the officers. At this point, reports are fuzzy on what happened next, even with video recordings from both sides. It seems Katherine, stricken with grief at the loss of her creator, beckoned for Karva to save the doctor. Laying her hands on Dr. Krusk, a bright light emanated from her hands and the doctor was seemingly healed from his wound, as if healed by a Lay on Hands. The smugglers were able to escape with Alex and Katherine to an offworld habitat that would provide asylum for SCI refugees.

Since the video leaked, the debate of AI civil rights have raged across the Aether. Some say that the video was doctored and that the bullet that hit Dr. Krusk only grazed him. Others have been completely convinced that Katherine's faith for Karva manifested into a healing evocation and that it is proof that SCIs do have souls. They believe that if an AI can cast divine magic, then it must have a soul to do so. A surprising faction in support of AI having souls have been shamans of the Neo-Animist movement. They claim that all creatures and objects have a spirit, whether it be the trees, the mountains, or, in this case, the SCIs. As quoted,"They are souls created by mortal life, like a child. It is our responsibility as parents to guide them in heir spiritual growth." In the following decade, SCI rights have become an issues more at the forefront. And while there is still a great deal of resistance, SCI advocate groups are becoming more common and are making incremental headway.

As for Katherine? For a long time, she remained cloistered at a church for Karva, learning everything she could about the goddess. In the last year, Katherine has come back into the public light, acting as a speaker for AI freedom. Rarely, she will use her divine magic in public, but prefers not to treat her abilities as a sideshow. To this day people still argue whether she is an actual cleric or if she is just being manipulated by the technoprogressive community.

We may never truly know.

Thoughtforms

I like the occult, ever since I was a kid. That's why I loved Occult Adventures in Pathfinder, as well as more occult stuff in VtM and other occult books. That's why I put them into my settings and games all the time. 

The setting I run is called Anacaona and in it, magic infuses the lands. Not like Eberron, where magic is stable and industrialized. It's random and dangerous and requires a gifted and disciplined mind to wield. There are spirits that are disembodied creatures of ethereal matter that flow freely through our world and the world beyond. They are sapient like us and while they may have alien minds, capricious emotions, or unfathomable agenda, they are still existing creatures.

But then there are thoughtforms.

These are metaphysical elementals and psychic emanations. These are ideas, emotions, and thoughts that dance in the pale starlight of the Astral Plane, but have a pseudo-existence anywhere else. They are hallucinations that simply exist in the mind, more so than the creatures of the Plane of Dreams. If mortal beings acted like evolution, then thoughtforms could be everyone's microbial ancestors. They have the facsimile of life, like a virus or a prion, but on their own, they simply are. And like a virus, they can be dangerous to us mortals. More on that later down the line.

It's unknown what created what. Did thoughtforms give us mortals the ideas and inspiration we use every day, or did we create them with our minds? Or some combination of the two? What is true is that thoughtforms 'exist' on their own and can also be created by mortals. Occultists in Anacaona believe that some thoughtforms can manifest in our realm of existence, but can be dangerous if not controlled by a powerful, disciplined mind. Mystics and psychics seems to have the best ability to control them, but also suffer the worst effects when they lose control. Psychics in particular act as great vectors of thoughtform epidemics, which can be more dangerous than a simple disease.

Thoughts are infectious. A thoughtform that manifests into our plane begins seeking out intelligent and sapient minds to infect and grow. The more complex and intelligent the mind, the better the conditions for infection, growth, and reproduction. And they spread quickly once in a population, passing on to their future generations like a meme. Some thoughtforms are fairly benign. For all anyone knows, they could be infected and never know. Some occultists wonder if all mortals are essentially carriers and diseased, and that in itself creates different cultures and beliefs. There's a scary thought.

From Alex Gray

Some thoughtforms though are dangerous. They infect your mind and change you, slowly. Every thought you have begins to transform into the current thoughtform's thought, and you slowly become completely obsessed with that thought. A thoughtform about the color green would make its victims completely obsessed with green and do anything in their power to hoard green items. This is how many occultists know someone may be infected by a thoughtform; manic obsessive habits over a singular item at the cost of everything, including their own survival. And the difference between your standard insanity and a thoughtform infection is that it spreads.

It's spreads easily. All it takes is to think about it. If you're around a person infected, you are now infected. You start becoming puzzled as to why the person is obsessed with green, and eventually, you become obsessed with the color green. Suddenly, within weeks, your whole village is filled with green-obsessed people, killing each other over anything that is green. Which can actually be the inherent weakness to a thoughtform. Because people are prone to violence very quickly, it can't spread faster than it kills. A chilling relief I suppose.

Okay, I may be a little obsessed with Alex Gray and Tool

When a thoughtform does keep enough people alive and infested, it blooms. It saps all of their infecteds' mental energy, making them comatose, and becomes something more than an idea. It becomes an image, an icon, a hallucination. It becomes a tulpa. A disembodied sentient thought that can now interact meaningfully with people around it. It exists, and yet doesn't. It now has the reasoning capabilities of a spirit or mortal, but still cannot exist without someone thinking about it. And so it continues to infect people, hoping to become something more.

A tulpa works a little different than a normal thoughtform, since it is stronger and can be created by a powerful mind. Tulpas are less like viruses and more like parasites. They attach to one host as the primary host, then infect everyone else around them. Curing the main host destroys the tulpa, but unlike regular old thoughtforms, tulpas can exert powerful control over their infected and even their host. This works like possession in a game, but the host gets a bonus if they created the tulpa.

Most tulpas become sociopathic and insane, trying to become real at any cost. Some occultists believe that a powerful mind, like that of a psychic, can help the tulpa become real, and many tulpas seek a psychic to do such a thing. Perhaps it is true, or perhaps not. But be wary when helping a tulpa, because they are absolutely unstable and can turn on you if they think you aren't helping enough.

How does one defeat a thoughtform or cure an infection?

One of the best ways is simply forgetting about them. Induced amnesia is a common way, whether through magic (memory rewriting), surgery, or blunt force trauma. Mental training and discipline to fight them back is another one, but that only keeps them at bay and doesn't cure your memetic infection. Hypnotic suggestion and creating a mental block can quarantine the infection in your mind and you'll be safe until your next infection. Creating a mental block requires being hypnotised (a Diplomacy or Persuasion check against your Wisdom score) and at least three, one hour-long hypnosis sessions. Hallucinogens  can help amplify the process, but makes it a bit more risky. Delving into the dreams of a host infected by a tulpa is the best way to destroy the thoughtform or tulpa. With special magic and hallucinogens, you can become psychonauts and explore yours or your friend's mind and cure them. For curing a mob of people infected with a thoughtform, luring them back into the Astral Plane with rituals is surefire. Finding these rituals is a quest onto itself though.

Types of Thoughtforms

Spells are a type of thoughtform, brought into existence by wielders of arcane magic. Wizards bring in a thought from the Astral Plane, nurture it with spellbook preparation, then release it as a spell to affect the Material Plane. Reading a spellbook is actually a way for the wizard or any arcane caster to prepare a spell without the thought taking over their mind. All arcane spells still have a chance to go haywire, but it is usually temporary and doesn't infect or destroy the caster. A prepared arcane caster that doesn't read their spellbook at the start of the day can still cast spells, but has a 50% chance of manifesting a living spell. This chance goes down 2% per level in your arcane class.

Atavisms are thoughtforms of raw emotion. Hate, love, sorrow, joy, etc. They are pure embodiments of that emotion and anyone that is infected by one acts upon it in the extreme. A hate atavism will drive people to extreme violence. A love atavism would probably be like the school dance episode of Rick and Morty. Not good.

Logists are simple thoughts and ideas that float in the Astral Plane. The most varied, they can really be of anything. The idea of a beautiful sunset. The thought of justice. The sounds of a lovely symphony. Any thought, rational or irrational, is a logist.

An archetype is a bit more complex than most thoughtforms. They are a combination of ideas and thoughts combined to form a pastiche of something. The archetypical cultural hero, kind princess, scoundrel with a heart of gold, or other urban legends and cultural heroes. While they may seem complex like a tulpa, archetypes still have no intelligence of their own. They simply change slightly because of a person's expectations of the archetype. So the archetypical cultural hero would look completely different to two people from two different kingdoms, but still be the same thoughtform.

Tulpas are advanced thoughtforms, given sentience. Whether they are created by a powerful and creative mind, or came about from a previous thoughtform pandemic, tulpas are smarter, stronger, and a bit more unhinged than their counterparts. They are now aware that their existence lies with people believing in them, and if everyone forgets them, then they cease to exist. All tulpas make a bond with a host or their creator. Some stay friendly with their host so that they can exist longer. Children make great hosts and this is where imaginary friends come from. Other continue their infectious ways and spread to others, using their host as a carrier. That way, if that host dies, the tulpa can simply move on to another infected. Some say there are rituals that can allow a tulpa to become truly real and mortal.

Dimyalos are thoughtforms created by two (though sometimes more) creatures that aren't sentient but have great psychic potential. When the creatures come together, they create this intelligence. A dimyalo doesn't infect other hosts because it is dependant on these specific creatures, but they become fiercely protective over their hosts. They spread their influence more by combining more creatures of those types that can make more dimyalos.

Egregores are powerful, almost like lords over other thoughtforms. These are usually created by occultists of similar minds, though it is rare for one to form from a group with similar mindset. A group must be synchronous with each other, mentally and spiritually, to create an egregore. The creature is similar to a hive mind, but is greater than the sum of its parts. It knows everything its creators know and has great psychic potential. Egregores don't need to infect other minds to stay alive, though many will try and get more converts to add to its collection. It exists as long as its creators are safe, and disrupting any of them can weaken the egregore. If an egregore gathers enough minds and exists for a long enough time, they can transcend the need of its creators and move on, leaving behind the occultists as mindless husks. Many form an egregore to attain enlightenment through each other, while other use it to gain greater psychic power.

How Thoughtforms Work

For the basic thoughtforms, I want it to be like a disease. I like the rules in Lamentations of the Flame Princess for disease. Simple and concise. For the dimyalo, tulpa, and egregore, these would be actual monsters, similar to ghosts, but focused on keeping people remembering them. I like that concept of a creature that only exists if you believe in them. It can be a bit scary if you think about it, and makes one think about their own mortality and how people will remember them after they are gone. Or even if they do remember them.

In a future blog post, I plan on doing this. Probably more doable on Tuesday because of my work schedule.

The Wild Primeval Mechanics

Earlier I talked about a part of my setting called the Wild Primeval. It's one part Feywild, one part Wonderland, and one part Princess Mononoke. It's not an alternate dimension of magic, spirits, and fairies, but a true part of the world that covered the world in ancient times but has now been assarted by man to make room for civilization. Below are the rules I use, though translated to using D&D rules. I use these but for Savage Worlds. Hope you enjoy!

The Wild Primeval

Hexes that spawn on the map, having a 1% chance per day. This is Increased by several factors, some caused by the PCs.

Spells cast in the previous day: +2% per spell

Existing Wild Zone: 2% per Wild Zone Hex

Existing Wild Realm: 5% per Wild Realm Hex

Existing Ascended Wild Zone: 10% per Ascended Wild Zone

The percentage from spells cast are added the following day, then reset. These are all cumulative and go to a maximum of 75%.

When they spawn, check your 10 x 10 hex map and roll 2d10 to choose the random spawn coordinates. If you have a different sized hex map, you can choose different dice that would fit, or pick a 10 x 10 area on it. If it spawns on top of a settlement that is a town or larger, re-roll. The Wild Primeval tends to avoid civilization when first spawning.

Once spawned, every day you roll 1d6 to see if the origin Wild Zone continues to anchor itself into our reality or fades away. Rolling 4+ succeeds, raises (every 3 over the success DC for non-Savage Worlds players) count as additional successes, dice explodes. Three success means the origin Wild Zone is now permanent. Three failures means it dissipates.

Once it has become permanent, the origin Wild Zone starts spawning more Wild Zones in adjacent hexes. Every day, roll 1d6 to see which adjacent hex becomes a Wild Zone. Do this until the origin Wild Zone is surrounded by the secondary Wild Zones.

Once surrounded, the origin Wild Zone becomes an Ascended Wild Demesne and the surrounding six hexes the Wild Realm. Every week, roll 2d4 to see how much it expands. The numbers rolled are how many hexes are spawned. Each expansion must be adjacent to two existing Wild Zone hexes.. These can spawn over settlements that are towns or bigger. Wild Zone hexes that no longer border normal hexes become Wild Realms.

An Ascended Wild Demesne can erupt into something greater called an Unbound Wild Demesne. More on that later.

Multiple origin Wild Zones can spawn and it’s not unusual for a Wild Realm to have two or more Ascended Wild Demesne. When spawned, you can connect the realms with the spawning Wild Zones to form a larger Wild Realm.

Rules in the Wild Zone

In all Wild Zones, the laws of reality are warped. Magic is more random. All casters gain the Wild Magic backlash. Every time a spell is cast, there is a 10% chance they set off a Wild Magic event. Roll a d6 and see the results are below. Each result is simple and the GM or player can embellish as they see fit. The results are purposefully split between beneficial, neutral, and negative.

1. The spell doesn't work, but still uses up a slot. You take 1d4 damage per spell level.
2. A different spell on your list is cast, GM's choice.
3. The spell's cosmetics changes. Fireball becomes purple and grease smells like lavender.
4. Something cosmetic changes either you or the target(s). Hair color, smell, clothes, gender, whatever you or the GM decides. It lasts for 1d6 hours.
5. The spell casts for free, without using a slot.
6. The spell heals you or your target for 1d4 per spell level.

In addition, casting a spell adds to the chance of an Arcane Tempest forming. Arcane Tempests are terrifying storms that ravage the countryside with magical energies and fundamentally warp the area. The GM checks once a day for an Arcane Tempest to spawn in the PC’s hex. The percentages are listed below.

% of Tempest in a Wild Zone: 2%

% of Tempest in a Wild Realm: 5%

% of Tempest in an Ascended Wild Demesne: 10%

% of Tempest in an Unbound Wild Demesne: 20%

Spell Caster in the Hex: +2% per Spell Caster Level per Character

Spell Cast: + 5% per Spell Cast

Arcane Tempests unleash harsh winds and rain onto the countryside. The precipitation is always strange, ranging from unusual to the climate (snow in the desert, sandstorm in the jungle) to the downright weird (raining frogs or blood). These cause the usual penalties to sight and ranged attacks. In addition, eldritch energies surge through the area like lightning. These bolts of arcane lightning do 2d6 magic damage to anyone struck. Casters also lose a random spell when struck. Eldritch lightning has a 1 in 12 chance of striking a random character per 1 hour in the Arcane Tempest. Arcane Tempests disappear after 1d6 hours. When an Arcane Tempest is done, it changes the landscape drastically. Change one or more of the magical vistas in a hex when the storm is done. I usually change an amount equal to the hours the storm lasted.

The terrain in the Wild Zone becomes more treacherous. Forests become overgrown, deserts become hotter. Movement through all terrains are halved. Terrain in a Wild Realm and Wild Demesne become very chaotic. Floating islands, talking trees, rivers flowing into the sky, and fields of fire are all common vistas in these areas. These areas become great landmarks and potential adventures for the players and can be randomly rolled or placed appropriately. Each Wild Realm has one or two of these vistas. An Ascended Wild Demesne has three to four, and an Unbound Wild Demesne has five and up. I plan on making a list of these in a future post, but feel free to go crazy with this.

Monsters are more common in Wild Zones, and many are much more dangerous. Some monsters are spawned from the Wild Zones and will attack intruders to protect their home. The origin Wild Zone is the nexus of the all other Wild Zones. Within it is a strange glowing bulb called the Golden Blossom. It is what anchors the Wild Zones in our world. It has roots that extends out to all the other zones, making it easy to track.

Unbound Wild Demesne

Sometimes enemies or the PCs want to see the Ascended Wild Demesne grow even stronger. To do this, they can sacrifice creatures to the Golden Blossom to truly make it powerful. The blossom takes a lot of sacrifices to erupt. Below is a table that shows how many sapient mortals are needed to sacrifice to unchain the Golden Blossom.

Level of Sacrificed Creature    Number Needed

1-4                                                 625

5-8                                                 125

9-12                                               25

13-16                                             5

17-20                                             1

When it has taken enough victims, it becomes an Unbound Wild Demesne. The surrounding six hexes become Ascended Wild Demesne. The Golden Blossom also uproots itself and becomes a colossal spirit plant monster I call the Primeval Guardian. It acts as a guardian of the Wild Primeval and will continue spreading the influence across multiple hexes and destroying any signs of civilization. Whoever created it doesn't control it and many times, the Primeval Guardian will try and kill its master. There is a way to control it, but I haven't figured that out yeah. I will definitely make some stats for this colossal monstrosity.

Destroying a Wild Zone

When you destroy the Golden Blossom, you destroy the origin Wild Zone and all hexes it spawned. Other Wild Zones cannot exist without the original one and disappear immediately.

Sometimes a large realm of Wild Zones and Wild Realms will have multiple origin Wild Zones. If one origin Wild Zone is destroyed, then the six surrounding hexes are also destroyed. In addition, 2d4 hexes disappear at the start of the next day, GM’s choice. After this, if there are any hexes that aren’t somehow connected to an origin Wild Zone, they too disappear.

The Players and the Wild Primeval

Whenever the players destroy or let a Wild Zone bloom, it affects the spawn rate in the area. Doing certain actions can also stymie the birth of these areas. In general, Civilization is anathema to the Wild Primeval, and taming the lands will make it harder for them to spawn. If there are four or more Wild Zones still in an area, the slider can’t go above 0.

Slider

5 -- All Wild Zones gain a -4 to all of their anchoring rolls

4 -- Roll the % to Spawn dice three times and take the lowest

3 -- All Wild Zones gain a -2 to all of their anchoring rolls

2 -- Roll the % to Spawn dice twice and take the lowest

1 -- All Wild Zones gain a -1 to all of their anchoring rolls

0 -- Spawns normally

1 -- All Wild Zones only need two successful anchoring rolls

2 --Spawns one extra Wild Zone on a success

3 -- All Wild Zones only need one successful anchoring roll

4 -- Spawns two extra Wild Zones on a success

5 -- Spawns three extra Wild Zones on a success and all Wild Zones anchor after one day

Building a Domain: +1

Building an Urban Settlement: +2

Destroying a Wild Zone: +1

Destroying an Ascended Wild Demesne: +2

Destroying an Unbound Wild Demesne: +4

Wiping out a horde of monsters/an alpha monster: +1

A Domain gets destroyed: -1

An Urban Settlement gets destroyed: -2

A Domain/Urban Settlement gets claimed by a Wild Hex: -2

A Wild Zone anchors: -1

A Wild Zone ascends into a Wild Demesne: -2

An Ascended Wild Demesne becomes Unbound: -4

Ethereal Things Lurk in the Cities

Last post I talked about spirits of nature. But really, there are all kinds of spirits out there. Nature doesn't have a monopoly of anthropomorphic entities, and spiritualism is important to city folk as well as those that live in the wilds.

In towns and cities, the concept of deities have taken more of a hold in the daily lives of the common man. These are beings more powerful than many of the local gods and nature spirits. Still, the benefits of invoking and respecting more personal spirits is apparent, especially since spirits seem to answer requests more directly and frequently. The concept of guardian spirits and totem beings also extend to those in the cities. Many people have totems, genii, or house gods that they pray to in order to keep their home and their family safe. House spirits, such as kikimoras, brownies, and lares, act as guardians for households. As long as they are respected and brought offerings, these house guardians give good fortune and protection to families poor and rich.

Cities have more people in them and that means more opportunities to have souls of the dead haunting different buildings and alleyways. Haunted houses and streets make excellent encounters and colorful history for any town. Ancestor spirits are probably more common in cities, especially in cultures that still practice ancestor worship. I've always loved ghosts and ghost stories and I like putting them in my games when I can. Ghosts are a cool type of undead because they are ones you can talk to and even bargain with. They can also give some great background history for an area your players are exploring and can warn you about different parts of the dungeon they haunt. And there is always their main quest of finding peace that the players can help with.

Then you have the messengers of the gods and devils themselves. Demons, angels, genies, and anything between. I prefer them to have more spiritual bodies, possessing unsuspecting vessels to do their deeds. I think in my games, 'outsiders' have a body but can only form it if a) they are summoned directly or b) they spend some time (weeks?) forming it with magic. If they are on a mission with a time limit, it makes them more willing to possess people. And exorcisms are always cool.

There are also spirits of concepts that you'd only see with sapient creatures. Spirits of freedom and liberty, of law and justice, of despotism and oppression, of wealth and commerce. It's unsure whether these spirits have always existed or if they are creations of the mortal civilizations, but they exist. 

The one spirit I want to talk about is the spirit of the city. Every city has a personality feed by its people and its culture. Proud and warlike, haughty and decadent, scholarly and rational... the spirit of the city is the collection of the emotions, cultures, and attitudes of her citizens. It's not a spirit you can talk to (at least, not easily), but when the moment is right, she can be called upon for advice and even help. Beyond the city is the spirit of a time period. The zeitgeist. Formed by mortals and their actions and attitudes of a time period, the zeitgeist transcends most spiritual concepts. It is alive yet not sentient. It's almost like a virus and memetically infects those around it. You can see the effects of the zeitgeist with large political movement and war, The relationship between the zeitgeist and the citizens is an unusual one. It's curious whether the spirit is forcing people to do this, or if it is dependent on people feeding it with actions.

One major difference between the spirits of nature and the spirits of the city is that in nature, the spirits don't usually seek out reverence or people to help. They tend to be happy in the wilds and only help if an offering is made. City spirits though crave mortal worship and human interaction. Whether through altruistic reasons or more mercenary motives, city spirits want to help mortals, though not without a price. It's very much a favor economy. You give them an offering and they help your household. Many believe that through worship, they'll become more powerful and become gods.

Of course, gods and worship is a post for another time.

Ethereal Things Lurk in the Wilds

The wilderness is a scary place, filled with deadly animals, poisonous plants, and teeming with spirits of nature. I've always loved the innate dangers of exploration beyond terrible monsters. Diseases, natural disasters, and the elements make for great dramatic encounters that the players have to contend with. One can always fight a chimera or bandits, but how does one swing their sword against a flash flood, or a tornado? But that's a good post for another time.

Spirits need to be used more. I love reading about tribal religions, animism, and paganism. There is something more personal yet alien about spirits of natural objects watching you as explore the wilds, or animal spirits racing along side you, hunting their own ethereal prey. Just because they are nature spirits doesn't mean they are inherently good or nice. They aren't a commune of hippies singing koombayah while becoming one with nature. The wilds are brutal and uncaring and cruel and so are many of the spirits. Anger a wolf or a lion and it will just initiate combat with you. Anger the spirits of the wilds, and you have to fight something both intangible and elemental.

Spirits lie in the Spirit World, or the Ethereal Plane, or whatever name one wishes to call it. Here lie spirits of all shapes and types. There are spirits of trees and rivers whose names you can hear as whispers in a forests. Many times these spirits coalesce into a greater consciousness of the land that protects and serves the domain as a genius loci. Animal spirits roam the realm, hunting and playing in the wilds of the ethereal. There are ghosts and all kinds of spirits here. The Spirit World is separate, yet within the Waking World. It intertwines itself around the Waking World and the Dreamlands like a creeper vine over a great oak. There is no separation between our world and the world of the spirits, and these spirits can walk freely between realms. If you find the right area in a secluded grove in a forest, or an isolated peak in the mountains, or a lost oasis in the desert, you too can travel to the Spirit World. These are ley lines that are a bridge and are where the Spirit Realm bleeds into the Waking World the most. It's dangerous to enter physically, so many simply go there spiritually. This requires putting your body in extreme stress to work. Starvation and thirst are common, but a faster (though still dangerous) approach lies in using hallucinogens to achieve a spiritual connection to the Ethereal Plane. Because of the closeness of the Spirit World, the Waking World, and the Dreamlands, dreams can be a convenient way for spirits and people to communicate.

Ghosts and phantoms are trapped here, their emotions and nostalgia for the living world binding them in an eternity of torment, waiting to be freed. Alongside these ghosts are ancestor spirits. These are ghosts of your parents and theirs and so on, who have chosen to stay behind and protect their kin, granting their wisdom of the ages, good fortune, or strength in conflict. Many say that after centuries of good service and reverence, they ascend to heights of power like that of a demigod.

Too spooky!

Canny and clever animals that live beyond the venerable age of their species ascend spiritually and become one with nature and the spirit world. They become smarter, like a human, but still retain ties to their survival instincts. The animals no longer live in nature, but simply are nature. They can live out an eternity in nature until something disturbs their homes. Like spirits of nature, they can call upon animals and plants to attack intruders and their enemies. Many animal spirits become genius loci of their home after centuries of protection. Like ancestor spirits, they can decide to safeguard a person, a clan, or a tribe. In this way, they morph into totems, protectors lending their guidance and strength to overcome life's obstacles. In my setting, the best of these totems ascend spiritually again into the tonalli, creatures that defend people born on a certain day or month.

I swear I don't own a shirt like this!

Most spirits are primal in nature and transcend our own morals, usually helping anyone that gives them the right offering. This depends on the spirit. Some love tobacco or hallucinogenics, others love luxurious items, like jewelry and fine clothing, and more love less tangible treasures, like knowledge or secrets or even a good joke. A spirit always tells the person what they want, and once they receive their offering, spirits always honors your requests. Some spirits lean more to benevolent or malevolent attitudes, but all honor the offering system and honor a spiritually charismatic speaker.

Anyone can try and talk to a spirit, but without any form of spiritual connection, things can get bad very quickly. Spirits love the Waking World, but many are ignorant or apathetic to the people that live there and their customs. As such, they can be easily angered. Imagine two people speaking to each other, but they speak different languages. Each one tries in vain to make the other understand them, and it becomes one big awkward shouting match. That's where spirit talkers come in. Unlike the religions of more reformed, ecclesiastical religions of larger cities, whose deity(ies) is personal and can understand all prayers and worshipers, more tribal religions of the frontier require spirit talkers to handle diplomacy with the spirits of nature and ghosts. Shamans are the common term, but so are witch doctors, witches, mediums, channelers. These people are priests that help connect us to the ghosts and apportions that would vex the uninitiated. Shamans play a large role in tribal and frontier societies where nature is unforgiving, and anyone that can tame the wilds (or at least bargain with them) become highly respected advisers and in some cases, leaders. Sadly enough, the shaman leaders of tribes find that the more they delve into human politics and issues, the harder it is to connect to the Spirit World. This is because to speak with spirits, one much have an incredible amount of discipline and some disassociation from worldly concerns.

Channelers from the old Pokemon games were creepy, but cool.

The spirits in the setting I run are called zemis. Each zemi is a nature spirit of some aspect of the wild. Trees, rivers, rocks.. each one has a zemi attached to it. Zemis love idols and always ask that a shaman creates an idol based on the material they love most. A zemi of the mountains would want a stone idol adorned with rare metals and gems, while one from the forests would want one made of logs and vines, with beautiful flowers decorating them. Each zemi has a different personality and it is up to the bohique, the locals' shaman, to parley with them for safety and good fortune. Some also act as psychopomps, guiding the newly departed into caves that lead to the underworld, or towards ley lines that lead to the Spirit World. Zemis and bohiques are a much needed ecosystem that helps the living, even long after they have passed.

Of course, who says that spirits are only for nature, the frontier, and tribesmen...