What does it mean to be other? In a world of change and confusion, being other is both good and bad. It sets you apart from humans in a world where humans are already feeling ostracised from everything and everyone out there. Many humans have turned on their own, on the psychics (phoney and real) who quite likely would have been their only defence against the aliens, against the investigators of the paranormal for hiding what they knew from humankind (a very nice irony, that) and even against the scientists for misleading them and not knowing that Others lived among humans. In this rarefied atmosphere, Project-S treads carefully.
In the war against the Other, P-S is well aware that normal humans can't win. As a result, it is one of the projects side goals to unite all humans - normal and other - against the Other that threatens the world. Many others find a home and some degree of acceptance in P-S that they can't find anywhere else, a place to belong, and a goal worthy of their powers. The world most be protected against them, or it will be destroyed. Project-S believes that wholeheartedly. The humans with their fingers on the bombs likely do also.
| Aliens | ~ | Fairies | ~ | "Gods" | ~ | Vampires | ~ | Weres |
No one knows much about the alien race(s) that appeared in the sky 3 years ago. Accounts of their ships vary wildly, but the vessels themselves seem to be long, sinuous, and quite possibly alive as well. The aliens themselves seem to range from 3-6 feet tall, thought almost all of them are between 4-5 feet. They tend to be thin, pale beings with large black eyes and small mouths. Upon death, they tend to flare up and turn into some odd light and/or fog and the corpse vanishes.
What follows is certain suppositions about the enemy. None have been accurately verified.
Corpse: Alien corpses likely vanish due to their high energy levels. The taller the alien, the quicker damage separates their material and energy natures. While this makes it very difficult to get bodies to study, it also helps us determine how much damage can keep aliens from using their powers at all.
Powers: There seem to be two differing types of aliens. The shorter ones (4' tall) and the taller ones (5' tall). The shorter ones seem to display more "BF" powers, as field agents call them, while the taller ones use "MF" powers. The "body fucking" powers tend to rely on blows of pure force, hurling objects into agents, and even agents into objects on occasion. If cornered, they have been known to shatter bones, organs, weapons and cause enough random property damage "to make the comic books" as one agent said. The mind powers tend to be more along the lines of confusing people and wiping their memories out than anything else. These ones seem much more reluctant to harm and kill but using their powers to make you blind or strip you of any ability to kill others is arguably a lot worse.
Limitations: Bodily harm seems to weaken the aliens to a very powerful degree. Weapons that get stuck in their bodies may disrupt the flow of energy in them or the balance between matter/energy that makes them up. Regardless, their powers are much reduced after being struck in this manner.
Society: Nothing is known about the aliens in this sense. Where they are from, why they are here -- all early attempts at peaceful communication ended in failure, frustration or insanity. From what is theorised, their society is based on mental strength and dominance games of that nature rather than physical ones more common on earth. It is possible that our reliance on physical labour and the physical world has given the BFers an unprecedented status leap on this world that is undermining their society. Obviously, until communication can pass beyond thought images, this cannot be verified.
Purpose of the aliens: This is the big question, and the reason that we in P-S deal with the aliens brutally and without remorse. We don't know why they are here. It is coincidence that our "X-Files alien" looks a lot like they do? Have they abducted people over the ages? How long have they been on earth? Why did they show themselves? In the absence of certainties, we settle for our own answers. They are here to enslave us. We must fight back, even if it means setting children against their parents. There is a war to one, and we're the ones to win it.
Alien PCs: Ask Alcar about alien or half-alien player characters.
Game Mechanics: Again, Alcar has all the answer. Well, so you can think.
The living dead, vampires are old and powerful creatures, only recently brought to the light of day. Figuratively speaking, of course. Most vampires are old and powerful creatures, cunning and thinking in ways that beings subject to death seldom can. Vampires tend to make cautious friends and very, very dangerous enemies to have. Very little is known about truly old vampires. To vampires, that's any of them over 10,000; for our purposes its any vampire older than 400 years.
Corpse: Vampire corpses become truly dead. The body withers to bone or ash. If its bone, the bones burn just as easily as a vampire generally does, making clean up and charges of murder much less likely than when dealing with werefolk. (See Below for information on them.)
Powers: Vampires seem to be able to gain special powers from the blood of those they kill. Whatever they gain allows them to heal wounds faster than normal, confuse people and change their perceptions of time. Some vampires have even been reported to actually fly and summon animals and weres to serve their needs.
Limitations: Vampires can only heal silver very slowly and suffer powerful damage from holy symbols and water. As of very recently, vampires exposed to the sun die (again?). Older vampires seem to just feel uncomfortable but who did this and why is a mystery.
Society: Vampire's tend to blend into human society very well so little is known of their own one, or if they even have one.
Purpose of the vamps: World domination? Turning humans into cattle? Survival? No one overall goal for vampires has been discovered and they tend to be too individualistic and territorial in nature to work together properly on any goal. However, vampires can see things in the long term .. they think of plans in terms of centuries, not years or decades, so stopping a vampire's plots tends to be very difficult.
Vampire PCs: Yeah, right. Seriously a vamp with P-S has to be a new vampires (no more than 100 years dead). Also, vamps have the chip in them, but gain no special skill advantage. However the chip works, its benefit doesn't seem able to work for undead as well as living beings.
Game Mechanics:
Stats: Body 30-75; Speed 40-80; Mind 30-70, Soul 20-50
Wound Points: Vamps gain +20 to their wound point total from just before they became a vampire. This is the result of their having died.
Benefits: All vampires gain the Get Back Up skill at 10%, or a +5% bonus to it if they have it.
As undead beings, vampires have no passions to draw upon to flip rolls or a true obsession any longer. However, since their need to survive is so strong, vampires can flip their initiative rolls during combat.
All vamps must drink blood to survive, though their are rumours of some who drink souls instead. A vampire burns off (spends) 1 minor charge each day to remain "alive". Failure to spend it means that the vampire feels out of sorts and edgy. After a week like this, a vampire will drop into a coma and wither away to a husk without dying!
Charges
A vampire gains a minor charge by draining 1 pint of blood from someone (a human has 8, a were 10). This deals 2d10 damage.
Significant charges are gained by drinking someone dry and killing them. They must be in the grip of a powerful emotion (often love or fear) as it is drained also.
Major charges are gained by draining someone special dry. An adept with a major charge (or lots of lesser ones), an alien, a very famous human or a powerful were can count as major charges.
A vampire cannot gain a significant or major charge if they have over 10 charges total already, as they are too "full" to hold the charge. There is no limit on minor ones.
Minor "spells"
Healthy Corpse 1 charge
The vampire heals 10 damage. If they have damage currently, that is healed before new damage is. If they have silver damage, this effect heals 1 silver damage each time it is used.
Damn, I'm Good Looking 2 charges
Unless the subject makes a successful Mind check, the vampire's words and body language charms them into obeying its will for 1 round. This acts much like hypnotism, but vampires have been known to make the person believe "The vamp is over there!" so the subject shoots their friends by mistake. Vampires can also see into someone's mind partially instead.
You Blinked 2 charges +1 per subject affected
This allows the vampire to act for 1 round while everyone else is "frozen" in time. It is perhaps one of their most powerful abilities.
Aura of the Damned 3 charges
The vampires aura flows off of it in a cold wave, doing punching damage to anyone within a 10' radius of the creature.
Sit, Fido. Stay. Good doggy. 4 charges
This power allows a vampire to summon a specific animal that is linked to them. It works on normal animals as well as weres, but weres can make a Soul check to resist the call. 2 to 20 animals are summoned by it.
Significant "spells"
Will of the Dead 1 charge
The vampire heals 2d10 * 2 damage as if it were firearms damage.
Strength of the Dead 1 charges
The vampires fists do firearm damage for the next 2 rounds. This is possibly their nastiest significant power.
Whim of the Master 2 charges
This power works like Damn, I'm Good Looking except it requires a Soul roll to resist and lasts 5 rounds.
Power of the Grave 3 charges
The vampires aura does firearms damage to anyone in a 10' radius.
Death Is No Master 4 charges
This allows a vampire to defy the laws of the world. During the next ten minutes, the vampire can fly, break bonds, stop mental controls and become immune to magics used against them.
Major "spells"
A vampire could make someone their slave forever, turn someone into a vampire etc.
According to legends, weres have been around for a long time. They seem to be humans with the ability to become animals and half-animals at will. Little else is known about them since they tend to be very insular, good at uncovering spies and rarely let them live -- or leave the corpses behind. Most weres are a lot tougher than normal humans but also less stable psychologically, which gives agents a minor advantage over them.
Corpse: The corpse of weres reverts to their human form after death in almost all incidents, provided enough of it is left to shift back. This can make an agents job a lot more difficult since you didn't kill a mad beast, but the neighbour next door. If the body is hurt enough and in enough pieces, it forms into the animal rather than the human form but that's not always the case and local authorities take a dim enough view of murder without having the body blown up over a two block radius.
Powers: Weres tend to project an unsettling aura as well as healing really, really fast. They are also stronger than humans. Weres have a strong sense of smell and can communicate well with animals. Other than that, weres can blend into human society with surprising ease as long as its not a full moon and they hide their aura well. Some weres are reputed to have special magics or powerful abilities, but this is just speculation. Were Rabbits who come back from the dead are likely Alice in Wonderland inspired delusions.
Limitations: Silver is fatal to weres and acts as a poison to them. Along with a strong desire (especially in younger weres) to change during a full moon. Other than that, there is no known weaknesses for weres. Most of them can even heal fatal diseases and there are stories of weres healing decapitation if the head is re attached quickly enough. While this is likely a myth, no agent should count a were down until its shot full of holes like a mad dog.
Society: Were society seems to be very pack-oriented and often set up like animal packs with the leader being the toughest and meanest of the lot. Weres tend to be very loyal and always repay debts. Some P-S operatives report that were society seems to be a combination of animal instinctive trust and human reason. As an amalgamation, it is like wolves becoming dogs. In fact, most werewolves often seem more dog than wolf in how they react to people and things. A were who is more animal than person is one who has lost control of the "beast," as weres call it. Even they hunt those rogues down.
Purpose of the were: No one knows. We don't know why were exist but since there is little evidence of pack collusion, one can assume that were society is too fragmented to have an overall purpose. While most were respect the environment, few packs commit eco-terrorism or kill loggers and people wearing fur coats on sight.
Werefolk PCs: As PCs, weres have some unusual benefits and limits. A were PC can't be over 30 and must have the implant if they work for Project S. They gain its benefit of a knowledge skill as well.
Game Mechanics:
Stats: Body 30-85; Speed 30-80; Mind 30-55, Soul 30-65
Wound Points: No modifier. Were's heal 3 - 5 wound points each round normally. (3 for older weres, 5 for younger ones.) Silver damage heals at 1 a round as long as the bullet/blade isn't still in the were. Each round a silver bullet or such is in a were, it deals one damage to them. So a were with 5 silver bullets in her won't be healing supernaturally at all. A were hit with a club and stabbed with a silver dagger would heal 1 damage from the dagger and 4 of the club each round until healed.
Benefits: A were gains a Smell skill equal to their starting Soul that allows them to detect direct lies often, peoples scents and track and recognise others by their smell.
A were's aura can scare humans away and makes people feel uneasy. Older weres, more experienced with the beast in them, can refuse to change during a full moon and even control an involuntary change during sex or other powerful emotions as well as the accompanying burst of aura. Also, all weres can communicate with animals of their form in ANY shape and be understood.
Charges
Weres gain charges due to the phase of the moon as well as protecting life from derath. Saving someones life nts a minor charge, as do all phases of the moon except a full moon. Full moons net a signifigant charge, rare blue moons a major charge and saving someones life in a very dangerous situation could net a signifigant or major one as well.
Were Random magick is control, often of their own power.
Minor "spells"
Aura of the Beast 1 charge
The weres aura flows out of them like a warm, electric wind. Humans find it spooky and unless they make a successful Soul check they get scared.
Lord of Life 1 charge
The were hears 2d10 damage as if it was punching damage
Eyes of the Beast 2 charges
The were's eyes change, showing the cold, dangerous thing inside them. Even vampires can get unnerved by this sight. People seeing it must make a mind check at -20 or be frightened.
Resist Change 3 charges
The were can resist changing close to the full moon due to the smell of blood etc.
Defender of Life 4 charges
The weres fists do firearm damage this round against their foes.
Signifigant "spells"
Howl of the Wild 1 charge
The were can call other weres to aid him or her as well as give them warnings.
Strength of Life 2 charges
The were heals 2d10 damage as if it was firearms damage.
Aura of Power 2 charges
The weres aura lashes out and does firearm damage to all creatures in a 20' radius.
Circle of Life 4 charges
All damage dealt in the next round is turned back on whoever does it.
9th Life 5 charges
The were can raise a person they were trying to protect (and failed) from the dead.
Major "spells"
The were can give themself an additional were shape, raise the dead etc..
Weres pay for their magic in with their own life. Each spell used reduces their life expectancy by a certain amount. Minor charges can take up to a week off their life, Siginifgant ones a year and major ones up to a decade. Note that since weres generally use their power to help others, it is possible to restore this lost life energy with major charges.
Wandering between two worlds, one dead,
The other powerless to be born.
- Matthew Arnold
Project-S consider the fey to be a strange human mutation for the most part, or perhaps a cross between human and alien from long ago. The truth tends to be far more complex that is suspected, which is the general way of things. The creation myth the fey hold as true is largely what happened. The fey don’t think they abandoned the war between life and death with the vampires, but otherwise they have it right. Essentially magic given form, the Fey have changed over time as the race in accession on earth has changed. Currently, over 90% of the Fey are human, even those from the Summerland the Fey made with their glamour and once lived in.
The current state of the Fey is one of flux and turmoil. Their own creation (a being of magic named Lilith) returned to their land and brought death to it, making all of their kind mortal again. Cast back into earth, they have spent the last five years trying desperately to adopt to the world and the iron that humans have embraced so readily. Many of the mortal fey have adapted. Most of the immortal ones have died, often by their own hands. The old caste systems are breaking down and the seelie and unseelie courts being sundered from within. Many fairies think their time in the world is finally ending.
Fey PCs: As PCs, Fey’s have some unusual benefits and limits, particularly their Glamour..
Stats: Body 30-60; Speed 30-70; Mind 30-70, Soul 30-80
Wound Points: Same as humans. Fey take double damage from iron, but otherwise heal wounds at a human race for the most part.
Game Mechanics:
All Fey must have the Glamour soul skill. However, they can only get it up to a certain percentage based on their fey blood. An immortal fey (one of the residents of the Summerland who, even in this world, cannot die of poison, age or disease) can get the Glamour up to 95%. A mortal fey, the produce of a fey and human pairing, can get up to 80% in glamour. One of the iron-born, second or third generation (or more) mortal fey can only get up to 50% in Glamour, thought some have been reputed to reach 70%.
Glamour: This skill is the source of all the Fey myths. It is the single most powerful magic known and allows Fey to warp reality and fantasy, making the real unreal and bringing dreams to life. While its use is physically tiring, it remains the most potent magic in the world.
| 1%-50%: | This is first order glamour. Illusions to affect one or two senses in a large group, or simple disguise spells on oneself can be done with these magics. Generally, simple changing of others emotions can be worked and up to 10 people affected by this magic. Some magical people with a high enough Soul stat can see through such glamour. |
| 11%-70%: | Second order glamour is strong. Not even gods can see through it often enough and it allows full sensory immersion illusions powerful enough to stop someone's heart from fear. Glamour this strong can effect Large crowds but can be sensed as magic to those not being affected by it. Profligate uses of it have led to stories of "sleepers" arriving by night and killing the Fey. |
| 70% +: | At the third order level of glamour, illusion can be made real. People can be killed by their own dreams, a dreamed lover made real for a time and other powerful magics. Many famed artifacts (such as Dagda's cauldron) were made this way and few fey willing use this power, preferring to make more powerful second order illusions rather than change reality. |
God-like beings exist in the world (mostly because they did in the lords of life and death game; don’t expect to meet any). While they are below the real powers in the universe, they tend to be powerful beings in their own right. In game terms, each god has a soul skill called, simply, God. With this skill they can make the effect or 4 minor, 1 significant and 1 minor or 1 major ability happen, as per magick spells. Simple, right? Never fear, it gets more complicated.
When such beings die, they pass on their power (or a portion of it) to a chosen successor. This person becomes the god with all the God’s skill in their stat minus 10%. The now former god is immune to any god powers and many gods, making a lot of enemies, have chosen to retire in this manner. Most gods have avatars (beings who channel the gods will by worshipping her, him or it) and if a god is unlucky, an avatar can replace them.
Also, gods MUST adhere to the limits of their powers. A god of jealousy can never truly love, a god of anger never be kind (except perhaps as a ruse). Gods can lose their own power if they fail to follow its strictures. belief does have some nice advantages to it, on the other hand. A god can use belief in themself, calling it to them and using that power to do things they normally could not. For example, a god of storms could unleash a storm in peoples minds with belief, while she normally would be unable to.
God PCs: Yeah, right. Dream on.
Stats: Gods have normal human stats. (Or vampire, alien, were - whatever they are.)
Wound Points: Gods die. Everything that lives dies, everything that exists ceases to exist. That being said, gods DO have Hard To Kill at 30% and can survive wounds that would take down or cripple lesser beings, often surviving due to pure ego.
Game Mechanics:
Classified. Besides the God stat above, all gods can “Divine Presence” equal to half their current God soul skill. Everything else about them is GM knowledge only.
Special Note: Whether these beings are actually gods, another form of evolution or specialised adepts is up to each GM.
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