Character

Chapter Two: Infection

(Character)

"Wow, Cheryl," Janet said, "you look great!"

"Thanks," I mumbled, shoveling one of two plates of food in my mouth.

"Did you lose weight?"

"Yes."

"You keep eating like that, and it'll all come back."

"No, it won't," I sighed.

"That looks good on you. Your eyes are clearer. Did you get cosmetic surgery or something?"

"No. It just happened one day. It's what it wants."

"Well, it's amazing! What I wouldn't give for that to happen to-"

"No!" I shouted, smacking her tray, spilling her food on the floor, "No. You wouldn't."

I got up and left.

Subversions: New Infected start with three dots of Subversions, at least two dots of which must be spent on the Vector and Symptom primary Subversions; note that Mutation is always a favored Subversion.

Quick Reference

This reference summarizes what happens to Infected characters after they're no longer mortal.

Vector

Choose a vector by which your character became Infected. This Vector is how you create other infected, should you desire to do so.

Airborne: You were infected by a sneeze or in a crowded place through the air.

The Bitten: You were bitten by a fly, a strange bug, or wild, strange animal.

Endoparasite: You suffered a strange worm or other creature burrowing into your flesh or mouth.

Infused: You received your pathogen through an organ transplant or blood transfusion.

Unborn: Your mother was infected while pregnant; it skipped her and dove straight for you.

Symptoms

Choose a symptom for your character, for how the pathogen manifests itself in your body.

Dermis: Your skin grows hives or boils, and you have an affinity for water.

Fever: You can't stand low temperatures, and your body heat is through the roof.

Insomnia: You have trouble sleeping at night; when you sleep, strange dreams plague you.

Paedomorphosis: You "regress" in age, or else retain child-like characteristics and mannerisms.

Subversions

New infected can choose up to 3 dots worth of Subversions, one of which must be from the character's Vector and another from her Symptom.

Adrenal Control: Enhanced speed and movement.

ATP Control: Master the flow of ATP energies within the body.

Bioelectricity: Control the electrical energy that powers the muscles and memory.

Bone: Warp, twist, and bend the bones.

Evolution: Enhance your senses and other such body structures.

Incorporation: Subsume electronics and machinery.

Mutation: Unleash your inner vice.

Predation: Single out the weak.

Regenerate: The art of healing the self and eventually others.

Vigor: Incredible strength at the cost of personal energy.

Resonance

A character's starting Resonance is 1, but can be increased through Merit points.

ATP

A character starts with an amount of ATP equal to his Stamina + Resolve.

Choose Subversions

Infected gain 3 Subversions at character creation. Mutation is a common subversion to all infected, and each character gets a common subversion from their Infection and their Wing.

New Merits

The following are new merits.

Cocoon (●●)

Prerequisite: Infected template

The character can form a cocoon in which to sequester her body in suspended animation. Creating a cocoon takes five minutes and costs 10 ATP. Once inside a cocoon, the character is unconscious, but heart rate slows to a dramatic degree. The character does not need food or water of any sort, nor does she age. The character must set at least one circumstance for awakening (for example, "when the external temperature of the cocoon reaches 50 degrees Fahrenheit" or "when the cocoon is submersed in water."). An Infected can set as many conditions as her Resonance. If the Infected is exposed to a condition that would automatically kill the character, such as magma or other such hazards, the character dies. This merit is best used to weather harsh conditions, survive a sea journey, or sleep in the absence of food.

Favored Subversion (●)

Prerequisite: Infected template

Choose a single subversion from the list of subversions below. This subversion is considered a favored subversion for you, meaning you pay (New Dots x 5) experience points instead of (New Dots x 6) experience points to purchase new dots in it. This merit is available at character creation only.

New Advantage: Resonance

Resonance is the ability of Hosts and Chimeras to produce and apply the excessive amounts of energy that Subversions (and their newly enhanced bodies) require. It is the power of the myriad cells, parasites, and other things swimming in the soup of the infected body combined with the intellect that remains of the human mind.

Effects of Resonance

The effectiveness of the Infected in refining, gathering, and expending ATP is measured by Resonance. The higher a Resonance score is, the more ATP that character can store and spend in a single turn.

● ATP Collection/Storage/Expenditure: Resonance puts a cap on how much ATP a Host can store in total or expend in a given turn; the higher the character's Resonance, the more ATP she can store or use. Check the table below for these totals.

● Attribute and Skill Maximums: Infected with Resonance scores of 6 or higher can increase their attributes and skills past five dots. The power of Infection allows one to overcome the normal limitations of the body and push beyond.

● Subversions: A lot of Subversions call for Resonance rolls to activate them.

● Resistance: Some powers call for Resonance to be added to a resistance die pool when resisting certain Subversions.

Drawbacks of Resonance

● Detection Range: The range at which Chimeras can detect the character increases as Resonance climbs. A host can expect more frequent Chimera encounters (not necessarily attacks) as her Resonance reaches ever higher levels. This number starts out at ten feet (drawing smaller Chimeras from hiding) and just goes up from there. Characters can detect other infected at this level, as well, but not chimeras.

● ATP Cost: At Resonance 6 and higher, the character's metabolism is so great that she appears to have a higher than average body temperature. Palpable heat emanates from the host, and the infected must expend ATP at the requisite time in order to stay conscious. Failure to spend the ATP after the allotted time causes the character to fall into a coma and lose one Health for each time period passed up until he or she acquires another point of ATP through infusion or some other means. This can be particularly deadly, considering the means by which ATP is acquired.

● Dice Pool Penalty: Infected aren't normal humans. Sometimes they're faced with pressures that would make the mind buckle or break, or bend the body in unnatural ways. Depending on Vector and Symptom, infected suffer penalties to different dice pools. The listed value is the penalty applied.

New Advantage: ATP

The power source for Subversions and the other powers of the infected is something between mundane biological fuel and mystical energy, a sort of bodily super-fuel called ATP.

● Subversion Activation: Most subversions call for the use of ATP.

● Corporeal Enhancement: You can toughen up the body using ATP, fueling adrenal glands, offering extra energy to muscles, and enhancing the speed at which you think. For spending a point of ATP, you can add two dice to Wits, Strength, Dexterity, or Stamina tests made within the next turn. This bonus only lasts for one turn, but it is a Reflexive action (still bound by your ATP per turn limit).

● Resist Fatigue: You can dip into your ATP supply to stave off and resist fatigue. For each point you spend, you can stave off the roll to stay awake and active, as well as the fatigue penalties associated with it. You can't use this to stay awake for longer than your Stamina in days. After that, you start rolling as normal.

Recovering ATP

"Eating. Eating. Always eating. Eating everything."

You can recover ATP a variety of ways, pretty much all of which require something or someone be consumed.

● Energy Drinks/Good Meals: A meal of sufficient magnitude or an energy drink can give an infected one point of ATP. The amount goes down by what you consume in one sitting, though, so if you order the left side of the menu, that's not exactly one good meal, but five or six, and if you down a whole six pack of Red Buffalo or what have you, the effect is the same: for each one after the first in the same sitting, you only reap half the benefit, which fractionally decreases the more you consume per day. Drinking that six pack, for example, nets one point for the first can, another point for the next two cans, and one more for the last three cans.

● Eating Flesh: Eating raw, freshly killed meat restores ATP. Two pounds of fresh meat hands out one point of ATP, but cooking it removes that benefit, making it merely a good meal.

● Eating Chimerical Flesh: Eating the flesh of chimeras grants ATP, as well. The flesh of a chimera contains as much ATP as the creature had plus twice its Resonance rating. Infected sharing in the feast split the ATP amongst them evenly. ATP inside a chimera denatures at a rate of 1 per minute, so the grisly feast must commence quickly. Note that this is a minor Fusion violation (five dice). Eating infected flesh confers the same benefit, but is much more serious of a violation.

● Eating a Parasite: You can eat an endoparasite if a chimera, ATP zombie, or infected you just killed has one, or if you find one floating in a tube someplace. Eating an endoparasite grants anywhere from 3 to 5 ATP.

Modified Advantage: Fusion (Morality)

The joining of host and pathogen, in a sense, creates a new life form, one that must be fed and kept under control. As the host refuses to accept the presence of the pathogen, the host risks losing the self to that thing that now lives within him. This is Fusion.

Vectors

Each type of Infected "suffers" from a specific form of Infection.

Endoparasite

These hosts report a worm, strange crab, a crawling slime, or other hideous creature that wormed its way inside as a precursor to infection. These parasites sometimes grow inside the bodies of the infected; it is believed that perhaps they have something to do with Chimeras, or are a Chimera, some form of life inside the body transformed by the pathogen into something wholly other, spilling out the mouth or other orifice and into the world.

Primary Subversion: Bone

Infused

Inside the body, organs beat and stir. Infused infected received their pathogen from an organ transplant, a blood transfusion, or other addition to the body that was not natural. Sometimes the infection is spread in back-alley surgeries, other times the primary host donates a kidney, lung, and half a liver without knowing why. Others are driven to commit suicide after signing up to be organ donors without their knowledge, and all Willpower and ATP goes to creating a whole new generation of infected.

Primary Subversion: Regenerate

Airborne

The innocuous cough in the movie theater, the gentle and accidental brush of a stranger's shoulder in the crowded street even as he sneezes into his handkerchief. Most don't even pay attention to the bum on the street corner, coughing and hacking, simply giving him a wide berth as they go about their day. The infected returns home to vomit, feeling as though his lungs are about to burst.

The airborne host reports no unusual circumstance or precursor to infection save an odd one-night stand, an out of place pat of foam in a coffee cup, or perhaps someone sneezing or coughing in their vicinity. They suffer what seems to be a cold or flu, filled with strange dreams, loss of limb control (only to have it return to their mastery the next day), and sightings of shapes and shadows out of the corner of their eyes, in addition to their primary Symptom.

Primary Subversion: Incorporation

The Bitten

That which does not kill us makes us stranger. Sometimes, an infection just warps flesh, transforming the body into a hideous, twisted shape. These infected were bitten, either by a crazed animal, an unidentified creature lurking in the swamp water, had skin broken by a nail, or may have even suffered a strange form of myiasis where the maggots swiftly died. Perhaps they felt watched and hunted all day, only to find themselves the target of a mysterious attack just as they entered their front door by a half-rotted corpse.

Primary Subversion: Predation

Unborn

The pregnant mother is easily subverted to sickness. The progeny of placental mammals produces a virus while in the womb that suppresses the mother's immune system so that the child is not devoured by the parent's body. This has the side effect of making the baby susceptible to diseases. Thankfully, the structure of the placenta makes this difficult, except in the cases of the pathogen. The infant carried in the womb becomes the target, perhaps because an infant's mind is easier to subvert. In some cases, a Chimera is born, gnawing its way from the mother's belly and spilling out onto the floor as a mass of malformed teeth and tentacles.

Some infected are just born that way, the pathogen within them slowly waiting until the day that symptoms first manifests; sometimes this is young, and they develop the Paedomorphosis Symptom. Other times it waits until later in life to strike. In all cases, however, it alters the body on a fundamental level, charging the senses, musculature, and subconscious mind with excess energy. The Unborn are the closest an infected might be to an advanced human being, the literal next step in the evolution of the human race. This Vector is spread by infection of a pregnant mother through another Unborn.

Primary Subversion: Evolution

Subversions

Alterations to the host are called Subversions.

Sometimes Subversions activate spontaneously. The Infected has no control over when this happens, but a good meter for when this occurs is dependent on how high the Infected's Resonance score is. The higher the score, the more likely the Subversions activate on their own (remember also that at Resonance 6 or higher, the Infected loses ATP at a steadily increasing rate). An Infected can suppress this activation by spending 1 ATP and making a Willpower test.

Adrenal Control

The body can be forced to release toxic chemicals, such as endorphins and adrenaline through the use of the parasite. Normally, this sort of infusion would kill a human being, but the Infected are protected from death by the parasite, allowing them to run on forces of energy that would outright destroy the flesh of a normal living being.

Cost: 1 ATP per turn

Dice Pool: Unlike other Subversions, this power grants bonuses to several other die pools once activated. You cannot activate Adrenal Control multiple times, but you can continue to spend ATP each turn to keep it up.

While active, dots in this Subversion are subtracted from any and all attacking characters' dice pools, due to the speed at which the character is moving. This protection does not diminish with each attack in each round.

Adrenal Control adds its total to initiative in each turn it is active; a character with a normal initiative at 3 and Adrenal Control at 2 dots, the character's initiative modifier becomes 5 while it is active.

Finally, this Subversion acts as a multiplier to the character's speed. That is, add one to dots in this Subversion and multiply that character's speed by that total.

After ceasing to pay for this Subversion, the Infected suffers two points of bashing damage.

Action: Reflexive. An Infected can activate Adrenal Control at the start of initiative if he wants to.

ATP Control

The body is rife with energy, and the Fevered has more than her fair share.

● Equalize

At this level of mastery, the Fevered can control the flow of ATP and energy in her own body more effectively. She can spend ATP as if it were Willpower when attempting to protect herself against diseases and poisons.

Action: Instant

●● Enhance

With Enhance, the Fevered can extract ATP more easily from meals. Add +1 to the amount of ATP gained from a good meal or an energy drink.

Action: Constant

●●● Overflow

With Overflow, the Fevered can touch a single target and implant some of his own inner fire into a target, typically through a handshake, kiss, or other contact. This minor infection causes the target to begin to overproduce energy, creating and destroying (normal) ATP as fast as possible, so fast that the body cannot possibly use it all. The victim is forced to start moving, or his body temperature begins to rise. Once the body burns hot enough, the victim loses consciousness, and then, if the trend continues, the brain addles and the victim dies.

Cost: 2 ATP

Dice Pool: Stamina + ATP Control

Dramatic Failure: The Fevered suffers as if a success had been made on him.

Failure: Nothing happens; the kiss or contact is normal.

Success: Each turn, the victim begins making Stamina rolls against the Stamina of the attacker for a number of turns equal to the Fevered's successes. Damage is bashing equal to the attacker's Stamina. For example, a character with Stamina 3 uses this power on an enemy and gets four successes. The victim now begins making Stamina tests each turn for four turns, or else suffer 3 bashing damage.

Exceptional Success: Add +2 to the attacker's Stamina to determine damage.

Action: Instant

●●●● Give & Take

With Give & Take, the Fevered can transfer her own ATP to another or take the ATP from an unwilling host. The process is simple. The Fevered touches her target in some fashion, but it must be skin to skin contact, and if she wishes to give her target ATP, then the process is as simple as spending it: the target gets ATP on a one for one basis. If the Fevered wants to steal ATP, however, a roll must be made.

Cost: 1 ATP

Dice Pool: Stamina + Resonance + ATP Control – Victim's Stamina + Resonance.

Dramatic Failure: The Fevered loses an extra point of ATP aside from the one used to activate this power.

Failure: Nothing happens; the contact is normal and the victim feels a slight tug.

Success: The victim loses an amount of ATP equivalent to the total successes of the attack. If the victim runs out of ATP or has none to begin with, this loss transfers to Bashing damage on a one for three basis (that is, for every three points of ATP drained, the victim suffers 1 bashing damage).

Exceptional Success: Add +2 to the amount of ATP drained.

Action: Instant

●●●●● Slime Body

The body is filled with cells, each with their own duty and task. The body, however, remembers a time before tasks, before duties, when all was as one. With mastery of ATP Control, then energy produced can be directed to call the cells to remember this time, devolving the body into a form that once was the rule, both in evolution and the development of the body. The body breaks down into individual cells, becoming a mass of protozoan sludge that slithers and crawls over the ground. The character can slip through cracks, between bars, under doors, and so on with ease. The character can also climb up walls at normal speed, and make related skill checks as normal.

Cost: 1 ATP

Dice Pool: The power takes no roll to invoke; the Host becomes a mass of sticky goo, and the transformation takes the action to complete. Reversing the process also costs 1 ATP, and 2 ATP to revert in the same action. The Host could, for example, spend a total of 3 ATP and one action to walk through a jail cell door by turning into slime and re-incorporating himself on the other side. Characters in slime form are immune to physical attacks, but not mystical or energy-based attacks (like fire or most Flesh powers). A Host in this state can form pseudopods to strike for bashing damage by spending 1 point of ATP each round he maintains the blunt instrument. Characters using this power cannot pick up or carry objects.

A Host in slime form can use most powers except for things like self-targeted Bone powers and the Mutation Subversion.

Bioelectricity

The infected being's form surges and pumps with energy, electrolytic signals racing through neural pathways and along the muscles, under the skin and through the brain. Eyes twitch, the heart beats, the body moves, all to the tune of electrical output. Directed properly, the electrical currents of the body can make contact with others, share information, and lash out in a more direct and abrupt fashion. The electricity can be caused to necrotize, surge with pain, and share these impulses amongst each other.

● Diagnose

The initiate of bioelectricity can scan and learn of the subconscious impulses of others through skin contact. In order to use diagnose, the infected must touch the target's skin directly with her own. Once done, the infected can understand the maladies that work against her target.

Cost: 1 ATP

Dice Pool: Wits + Resolve + Bioelectricity.

Dramatic Failure: The infected diagnoses the wrong venom or disease.

Failure: The power fails, and the infected learns nothing.

Success: The infected notices something wrong with the target. This is knowledge of a disease, venom, toxin, or other malady affecting the target, or the current status of the target, such as the target's health and current state of injury.

Exceptional Success: The infected knows all poisons, diseases, and other dangers currently afflicting the target, in addition to the target's current injuries and maximum health levels.

●● Shocker

The body's neural pathways are engorged with electrical energy. The Neonates often use this type of power to fuel machines and devices with their own brand of subversion. The student of bioelectricity can use this power in a more direct fashion, instead of the finesse of earlier techniques, shocker can be used to violently disrupt the biological processes of another living being. This power works on undead creatures, as well, as long as they still have muscles.

Cost: 1 ATP

Dice Pool: Dexterity + Bioelectricity + Resonance – Defense.

Dramatic Failure: The infected suffers three points of bashing damage as the electrical energy attempts to ground itself through her body.

Failure: The power fails, and the infected learns nothing.

Success: The infected deals bashing damage equal to the amount of successes he achieved on his roll to activate the power. The power can target a creature or object up to 10 yards away.

Exceptional Success: As a success, except the damage becomes lethal.

●●● Shared Memory

The nervous system races with electrical impulses carrying the beat and tune of the brain's wistful thoughts; a weaver of the body can understand these electrical impulses and interpret them as memories. Memories played back this way are "remembered" by the infected as if he were there. Again, skin to skin contact is required, and the infected must specify what memory he or she is searching for.

Cost: 1 ATP

Dice Pool: Wits + Presence + Bioelectricity.

Dramatic Failure: The infected remembers the wrong memory, but thinks it's the right one, as her own brain conjures up an incorrect image that fits the parameters she was looking for.

Failure: The power fails, and the infected learns nothing.

Success: The infected finds the memory she was looking for, and can "remember" up to one minute of time per success.

Exceptional Success: The infected not only finds the memory she was seeking and can recall it, but can also recall relevant data pertaining to the target's involvement with that memory. For example, a man remembering firing a gun also gives the infected the man's motive for doing so, what the man's virtue and vice are, and which of the two was being catered to for the shot fired.

●●●● Necrotize

The infected can cause the tissue surrounding nerves to become supercharged with electricity and quickly rot away, necrotizing due to hefty dispersion of carbons from the molecular chains holding together the body. This power causes prolonged tissue damage over a series of turns. The infected must touch her target (already included in the activation).

Cost: 4 ATP

Dice Pool: Wits + Bioelectricity – Defense.

Dramatic Failure: The infected suffers the effects of the power herself; 1 point of bashing damage per turn for her Wits + Bioelectricity – Defense + Stamina turns.

Success: The target begins to fall apart, literally. The victim suffers bashing damage, then for Wits + Bioelectricity – Defense + Stamina turns, he or she suffers one additional bashing damage.

Exceptional Success: The duration of the extra damage is extended for another two rounds.

●●●●● Synapse Burst

Create an electrical storm

Cost: 5 ATP

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Bioelectricity

Action: Instant

Success: A number of electrical arcs strike out from the character equal to the character's Intelligence + Bioelectricity dice pool (not the successes rolled). Many more may actually be created, but these arcs are the ones which will strike local beings; the others simply ground out in nearby light fixtures, pipes, signposts, or any other electrically attractive object. This may result in other interesting conditions as light bulbs blowing out, pipes bursting, valves searing shut, and windows shattering.

Each damaging arc must be assigned to one target and one target only, and each bolt must hit a different target. The player selects which beings are hit first, though if he runs out of enemies, and there are still unused arcs, he must begin targeting allies and innocent bystanders. No one is ever safe. Arcs have a range of 20 yards and deal damage equal to the successes rolled in the power's activation.

Exceptional Success: As above, but the infected targets only his opponents. Unused arcs are drained into the local scenery, and not at his allies or local innocents.

Bone

The body is held together by a scaffold of bone. Thick calcium deposits anchor muscles and tissue, providing a frame for the body. In youth, its directed growth gives a human being its form, and the adult is the sum of its leadership. Infection warps the tissue, and in so doing, the bone must also be warped.

● Thicken

With Thicken, the host's bones grow denser and hardier, withstanding more punishment and holding the body up.

Cost: 1 ATP per turn

Dice Pool: This power takes no roll to invoke. While this power is active, the character suffers only bashing damage from firearms and blunt trauma of any sort, such as being run over by vehicles and falling from great heights.

●● Warp

The bones can be shaped within the host's body, directing minor changes and sometimes piercing the skin, stretching muscle over the bone and causing tendons to rub against the body in horrible ways. While these changes are not typically helpful to the infected, they can be devastating on enemies. With but a touch, the infected can spread this love around, causing intense pain in someone that upsets the infected. This power is not pretty. It is heralded by cracking and snapping sounds, and results in the victim screaming at best, and howling and thrashing at worst.

Cost: 2 ATP

Dice Pool: Stamina + Resonance + Bone vs. Victim's Stamina + Resonance + Bone.

Dramatic Failure: The opponent scores more successes than the infected. The infected inflicts bashing damage on himself equal to the amount of successes the opponent gained above him. The infected must make a Stamina test or drop to the ground writhing in pain; treat this as a stun.

Failure: Neither party yields successes over the other. Nothing happens, though both feel a bit uncomfortable.

Success: The infected yields more successes than his opponent. The infected deals an amount of bashing damage to his opponent equal to the amount by which his successes exceeded his opponent's. The affected party must make a Stamina test or drop to the ground writhing in pain; treat this as a stun.

Exceptional Success: The infected yields more than five successes over his enemy. The Stamina test against stun is made with a -2 penalty.

●●● Bone Body

Much more dramatic than Warp, this power does not harm another; instead, it allows the infected to cause her bones to twist and grow in frightening new ways.

Cost: 3 ATP

Dice Pool: Stamina + Resonance + Bone

Dramatic Failure: The infected suffers three points of bashing damage and loses the ATP spent.

Failure: Nothing happens, and the infected probably feels like he has a small willy.

Success: The infected can split up successes among features gained through the use of this subversion. The subversion last for a number of turns equal to the character's Stamina + Resonance. Afterwards, the character must spend 1 ATP per turn to keep up the changes.

Body Armor (2 successes): The infected grows a carapace of strange, bony armor that provides 1/1 protection. For each additional success spent, the host can increase this armor by either +1/+0 or +0/+1.

Bone Blade (2 successes): The infected grows a thick, serrated blade of bone from his or her arms that deals +2 lethal damage. The infected attacks with this bone blade using Weaponry + Strength. She suffers a -2 penalty on actions requiring the use of that hand.

Talons (1 success): The character's hands grow wicked talons, and he deals lethal damage unarmed.

Exceptional Success: The infected gains no benefit other than more successes to throw around.

●●●● Rend

With Rend, the host's knuckles sprout vicious, shredding pieces of hard bone and ossified deposits, fingernails sharpen and become thick, randomly diverting spikes.

Cost: 1 ATP per turn

Dice Pool: This power takes no roll to invoke. While this power is active, the character can deal aggravated damage with Brawling attacks.

●●●●● Aztec Surprise

The bones of others are not immune to the transformative powers of the pathogen. Like warp, this power changes the skeletal structure of another. The victim's chest begins to bubble and burst, and his ribs tear apart, exposing heart and organs to the air, and his spine lances through the heart, causing massive physical harm and trauma, likely leading to death. In addition to the roll to activate this power, the infected must succeed on a Dexterity + Brawl attack that deals no damage in order to affect a target.

Cost: 5 ATP

Dice Pool: Stamina + Bone – Victim's Stamina + Resolve.

Dramatic Failure: The infected suffers 5 points of aggravated damage.

Failure: The power fails, and the target suffers no damage.

Success: The infected deals an automatic 3 points of aggravated damage to his victim, plus 1 for every success he scored.

Exceptional Success: Nothing happens except 8 or more points of aggravated damage, certainly enough to kill most mortals.

Evolution

The body becomes adapted to environments. Humans are becoming larger and more muscular with passing generations, while at the same time, bellies are expanding, our appreciation of art and music is refining, and our sense of smell is becoming more discriminating. These changes often go unnoticed to all but the most resolute and astute of scientists. Evolution is very much a passive Subversion, then. It shifts and changes the body according to the desires of the pathogen, not the infected in question.

● Heightened Senses

The infected begins to see, hear, and experience the world in a whole new way; heartbeats in the next room can be heard, scents unknown can be explored, and the infected can see in spectrums normal humans only dream of. The infected gets to add dots in Evolution to sense-based perception tests.

Cost: None

Action: Constant

●● Danger Sense

Humans are, at their core, a prey animal. Closed, dark rooms with only one exit create sensations of being watched, dim surroundings prompt light switch-seeking, and strange sounds in the distance create morbid, fearful curiosity. We filled the ancient world with monsters hiding around every corner, the back of the mind remembering its status as prey despite the trappings of modern society, and even in the concrete jungles, we are afraid to walk alone at night down dark, rusty alleys filled with the scent of decay. Amplified, this "prey" sense can help the infected spot trouble before it starts. Add Evolution's dots to Perception tests to avoid ambushes and surprise, and in addition, the Storyteller should, every so often, slip you a few hints about things your gut's telling you about a situation, whether it's true or not.

Cost: None

Action: Constant

●●● Pheromone Discharge

The pathogen wants the infected to be near other people; at least, that's what the Evolutionaries say. Maybe it's just looking for new hosts. The host subtly changes to seem more likeable, putting out prodigious amounts of "top dog" pheromones, as well as performing a host of other subtle, subconscious cues, making her seem more desirable. At this level of Evolution, the infected adds dots in this Subversion to all Manipulation, Persuasion, and Socialize tests.

Cost: None

Action: Constant

●●●● Warp Body

The body can subtly shift at this stage, changing to the needs of both pathogen and infected. The pathogen sometimes reshapes the form to its desires once this level is reached, regardless of what the host may want. Height, weight, hair color, skin color, eye color, and even gender can be changed. The host adds dots in Evolution to all tests made to disguise the body or obscure body features. This takes five minutes to work and remains in place until the infected changes back to whatever shape the pathogen has decided for her to have.

Cost: 1 ATP

Action: Instant

●●●●● Adapt

As the body can now be warped and twisted, fat can be redistributed, skin tone can be altered and mutated, and bones can twist ever so slightly. Ancient genes long since forgotten can be re-activated in the fire of the body's metabolism, and the infected can survive in places a lesser being could not. Add dots in Evolution to all Stamina tests made to resist toxins and environmental conditions.

Cost: None

Action: Constant

Flesh

The host is made of flesh. Flesh is easily subverted and controlled, changed and mutated. Cambions know that the shaping of flesh causes unsettling images in the minds of enemies, be it the change of the self or the change of the victim.

● Gruesome Visage

●●

●●●

●●●●

●●●●● Flesh Cocoon

Incorporation

The body can grow new appendages and produce large amounts of bioelectricity, enough to power simple devices and wrap growing flesh over wire and mechanical items. At low levels of this power, it is sufficient to use the body to power machines, but as the Neonate grows in power, this Subversion can allow the body to warp and twist, replacing sinew with steel and tendon with rusted coils and springs in a strange and unnatural fashion, to eventually allow the flesh to fuse totally with a complex mechanical device… and control it.

● Power Simple Device

With this power, the infected can provide electricity to a small device, one that can be held in the hand, such as a flashlight, palm pilot, cell phone, or other such object. The infected can't let the device go, and he or she cannot use that hand for anything else. It's also pretty obvious to anyone looking at it, as the flesh had to gel, grow vein-like protrusions, and spread over the contact points in order to provide the electricity. Ripping such an item out of the character's hand deals 1 point of bashing damage. She can also use a gun; in this case, instead of using up 1 ATP per minute, it costs 1 ATP per shot, as the gun slugs out bone chips, gristle, or teeth at supersonic speeds.

Cost: 1 ATP per minute

Action: Instant

●● Subsume Simple Device

At higher levels, when powering a simple device, the infected can not only provide electricity, but also turn it on or off. This costs the same as it does to power the device, except it can now be used hands-free (for example, the infected can stick a palm pilot to her bare flesh, which grows little fingers to tap the device or integrates itself into the circuitry). The control is purely mental, and requires no more effort than walking.

●●● Consume Power

The infected can wrap her flesh in and around wiring, merging with the electrical grid. With this power, the character can feed on electricity as if it were a good meal, charging up her ATP reserves at a rate of 1 per hour while hooked up. She must be awake for the process and can't move from the source of electricity. During this time, her arm or body is spattered over the feeding area like so much linguine and isn't a pretty sight to behold.

●●●● Power Complex Device

Identical to the one-dot power, this level of skill simply means the infected can power devices like cars and computers without the need for an electric socket. She needs one hand to do so, again, but you can drive an automatic with one hand, though using a computer this way is a hassle. Bigger things might eat up more ATP.

Cost: 1 ATP per minute

Action: Instant

●●●●● Subsume Complex Device

Like the two-dot power before it, this power just means the infected can power the device hands-free. Note that while using this power, the infected won't even look remotely human. In a car, for example, a viewer might see a tangled mass of limbs, sheets of skin, and pulsing organs growing in and among the tape deck.

Mutation

Inside lurks the form of the enemy, the unseen pathogen that causes the Infected to become what they are and the horrid bodies that chimeras possess. With the Mutation Subversion, bones crack and split, muscles reweave, neurons change shape, flesh migrates and warps, creaking and moaning until the body has been entirely reshaped, if only for a brief moment. The character appears to be nothing more than a monster made real. This transformation is difficult, however, and the Infected can only keep it up for a number of turns equal to Stamina + Resolve + Resonance. Any longer and the Infected must spend 1 ATP per turn.

A character with the Mutation Subversion at one dot can form "clothing" out of flesh and even color it. Other characters that can see the strange garb can tell something's not quite right about it. On the plus side, this "outfit" doesn't get left behind like normal clothing when the Host uses the Slime Body ability.

At each stage of this Subversion, the infected often dramatically changes shape; an initial form might be a strange, haphazard collection of body parts with suppurating pustules, a stage two form might have multiple half-formed limbs wrapped in a fleshy robe, a stage three form could be a spindly humanoid figure with distended jaw, a stage four form like a collection of ribbons and spines, and a stage five form might look much like the host's original form, save with fleshy protuberances, a strange skin color, and a soft glow. In addition, a Mutation form always takes on a shape reminiscent of the character's Vice. A lust mutant is strangely alluring and disturbingly lithe, while a wrath mutation is likely covered in serrated spines and drooling acid.

Cost: 3 ATP

Dice Pool: None. The character spends the ATP and the change takes three turns.

● Stage One

At this stage, the mutation is weak, but stronger than the normal flesh. The Infected gains +1 to Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina. Increase derived attributes accordingly.

●● Stage Two

At this stage, the Infected gains a +1 bonus to a physical attribute to assign anywhere. Once chosen, this cannot be changed.

●●● Stage Three

At this stage, the Infected gains a +1 bonus to a physical attribute to assign anywhere. Once chosen, this cannot be changed. This cannot be the same attribute that received the bonus in Stage Two.

●●●● Stage Four

At this stage, the Infected gains a +1 bonus to a physical attribute to assign anywhere. Once chosen, this cannot be changed. This cannot be the same attribute that received the bonus in Stage Three.

●●●●● Stage Five

At this stage, the Infected gains a +1 bonus to a physical attribute to assign anywhere. Once chosen, this cannot be changed. This cannot be the same attribute that received the bonus in Stage Four.

Special: At each stage, the Infected must choose an aspect from the list below. Once chosen, the aspect cannot be changed.

Acid Spray: The infected can squirt an acidic liquid or corrosive mucous from its mouth, strange pustules, or bony tubes. The character uses Dexterity + Athletics to attack and deals lethal damage.

Antennae: A nice pair of antennae or other, bristly sensory hairs. The infected adds +2 dice to Perception rolls.

Armor Plates: The Infected gains +1/+1 Armor. This aspect can be chosen up to two times.

Bite: The infected gains a bite attack as the jaw distends and fills with jagged teeth or splits into a horrid mandible. The infected deals lethal damage with Brawl attacks. For additional picks, the teeth deal +1 damage for each pick.

Claws: The Infected deals lethal damage with Brawl attacks. For additional picks, the claws deal +1 damage for each pick.

Extra Eyes: Up to bunches. The Infected adds +2 dice to Perception rolls.

Extra Limbs: The Infected adds +2 dice to Brawl attacks.

Huge Size: The Infected is much larger than normal, and gains +2 to size while mutated.

Opposable Toes: The Infected gains +2 dice to actions performed when climbing.

Spikes: The Infected bristles with bony spikes; he can fire these as an action, using Dexterity + Firearms. Bones dissolve in a few minutes.

Tentacles: Either a few really big ones or a bunch of little ones (or a big long tongue or something). The Infected adds +2 dice to grappling. Chosen a second time, it adds an additional +1 die.

Wall Crawler: The infected gains +4 dice to climb surfaces, even slick surfaces like wet glass, so long as they could support the character's weight.

Weapon: One of the infected's hands becomes a massive talon, strange, bony sword, or spike that deals 2 points of lethal damage; it uses the Weaponry skill to attack. The weapon can fold away.

Wings: The Infected can fly at her standard speed. The host can only climb at a third of her speed.

Action: Instant

Predation

The human is a prey animal. Predators seek to move past this. Unlike the Evolution subversion, which capitalizes on the human mind's primal enemy as prey and seeks to move further than that, the Predation subversion seeks to overrule the prey mind with that of a predator.

● Locate the Infirm

Wits + Predation

●● Hide from the Herd

Add Predation to Stealth rolls

●●● Predator's Eye

Transfix prey with Wits + Predation

●●●● Tag

Tag a character to track them

●●●●● Cull

Gain bonus ATP from stalked prey

Regenerate

Cancer is cell growth gone mad. The Infection can yoke this growth, bending it to the point of choking, pale peach flesh boiling and quivering beneath translucent skin.

● Body Control

At this level of Regenerate, the Infected has been thrown under the clasp of the new creature stirring within, and it is selfish.

Cost: –

Dice Pool: There is no dice pool. The character gets a bonus to rolls to resist poisons and diseases equal to his dots in Regenerate, and stops aging.

●● Heal Self

The body can be re-knit from flesh that is broken and battered. Use of this power can heal the Infected of injury, closing wounds, recovering from wounds. This power is quite dramatic in its use, as doing so literally causes the Infected to arch her back and shed small motes of orange light as some of the energy so catalyzed is expelled from the body.

Cost: 1 ATP

Dice Pool: Stamina + Regenerate

Dramatic Failure: The character immediately suffers a lethal wound and loses an additional point of ATP.

Failure: Nothing happens to the character other than the loss of ATP.

Success: On a success, the character heals a number of points of bashing damage equal to the total number of successes. The Infected can heal lethal damage by using two successes per lethal point to be healed.

Dramatic Success: The Infected can heal aggravated damage by spending four successes on a Heal Self roll in addition to the normal results of a success.

Action: Instant

●●● Heal Other

As the Infected can seal her own flesh, she can lend energy to others to perform this same action. Energy visibly courses from the Infected, who must place her hands on the target; the recipient's veins begin to shine an off-orange and red glow beneath his skin, and the target can feel some new presence within his or her own body as the Infection does its work.

Cost: 2 ATP

Dice Pool: Regeneration + Resonance

Dramatic Failure: The Infected immediately deals a lethal wound per turn for a number of turns equal to her Stamina to the victim, who can resist the damage as if it were a toxin.

Failure: Nothing occurs to the target or the character other than the loss of ATP used to activate this power.

Success: The infected can spend 1 ATP per turn to heal 1 lethal damage each turn to her target for a number of turns equal to the successes rolled.

Exceptional Success: The infected can spend 1 ATP to heal 2 points of lethal damage each turn instead of 1.

Action: Extended

●●●● Regeneration

At later stages of development, the Infected can be subjected to intense periods of activity, not unlike the control over adrenaline they often profess. This energy can be directed to the reparative efforts of platelets and other such systems, enhancing the flow of health through the body.

Cost: 1 ATP per turn

Dice Pool: None. The Infected simply regenerates 1 point of lethal damage each turn he continues to spend the ATP cost.

Action: Reflexive

●●●●● Reconstitution

Death is not the end, or perhaps the pathogen will not allow death to become an end. Even after death, many infected still twitch or even rise once more (see Chapter 4). At this level of power, however, the pathogen has the power to resurrect the infected. When killed, the flesh springs to life once again, undergoing a process not dissimilar from the transformation of tadpole to frog, wounds healing, muscles rearranging themselves, and the body re-weaving into new flesh. The self is changed into someone wholly new, with perhaps a new face, hair color, eye color, height, weight, build, or even gender. The "new you" is smaller and biologically younger due to the massive amount of energy needed to rebuild the body.

Cost: 1 Resonance and 5 ATP

Dice Pool: None. If the infected possesses this subversion and still has Resonance and enough ATP, it activates. If the infected is resurrected with no Resonance, she becomes a normal mortal once more. If she is Infected again, she becomes infected anew, she gains two free dots of Regeneration despite her new status, but experience once spent on other Subversions is lost. If the Storyteller is feeling particularly giving, there's no problem with allowing 2/3 or even all of that experience be used to purchase those same subversions again, but none on anything new and nothing above their old levels. The entire process takes six hours, during which time that infected could conceivably be dismembered to prevent this subversion from working.

Vigor

The body can be sucked dry of degenerative chemicals produced during the movement of the host, allowing muscles to work longer and harder, and the minor tears and breaks in these muscles can be mended in moments. The result is strength that just keeps increasing, so long as the body has the energy to keep up.

Cost: 1 ATP per turn

Dice Pool: Unlike other Subversions, this power grants bonuses to several other die pools once activated. You cannot activate Vigor multiple times, but you can continue to spend ATP each turn to keep it up.

Vigor adds its dots to the character's Strength as long as it is active. Note that derived traits are affected by this Subversion. Vigor also adds its dots to the amount of feet a character travels when jumping per success.

Action: Instant

Manipulations

The host can, through conscious effort, combine the results of subversions in a wide variety of ways. These powers are called Manipulations, and can do all sorts of strange and bizarre things to their targets or to the infected character's own body.

Activate Chimera (ATP Control ●●●, Evolution ●●, Mutation ●●●●)

With this manipulation, the infected can create chimeras. Chimeras can only be created from animals that the infected has seen and touched recently, and are not under the direct control of the one who created them.

Learning this power costs 45 xp.

Slime Burst (ATP Control ●●●●●, Mutation ●)

The infected can turn the power of slime body on another creature, dissolving it from the inside out and absorbing it through her skin or else sending it off on errands until it dies.

This power costs 21 xp to learn.