Brands

All demons run into an inevitable pitfall along their Descent: no matter how carefully a Cover is maintained, it will never be enough without the support of the God Machine's Infrastructure. Whether by progression in their self-actualization or having their true natures discovered, demons will find their Covers glitching and failing. Pieces of their Symphonic nature bleed through, even when in their human forms. These effects are known as "brands".

Pactholders, despite being independently functioning humans, still function as a form of Cover for their resident Unchained. As such, they are equally susceptible to brands. Pactholders tend to have a wider variety of brands than the Unchained, as the true nature being revealed is a blend of both the pactholder and the demonic passenger.

CAUSES

Demons and pactholders gain brands in a variety of ways, the exact method of which tending to influence the effect's duration. In some cases, individuals claim that the manifestation of a brand "feels" different depending on the cause, though accounts vary wildly.

PRIMUM/RESONANCE

In order to create the increasingly fine connections to the universal principles that high Primum ratings require, a demon must rewrite parts of themself. These alterations, done outside the purview of the God Machine's design and maintenance, invariably create issues in the operating code of a demon's existence.

While pactholders do not experience a "true" Descent, they undergo a similar reformatting process as they connect with their passenger. As a pactholder and their demon reassess and rebuild their partnership, glitches in their bond manifest.

These brands, known as echoing brands, are tied to Primum itself, meaning that they are permanent unless that Primum is lost. Theoretically, it is possible to gauge someone's relative Primum on the number of echoing brands they have; demons gain their first echoing brand as they enter the second half of their Descent, their second as they enter the final stages, and their third as they reach their full self-actualization.

In practice, without constant and close monitoring, there is little identifiable difference between echoing and lingering brands. A demon that has been Compromised multiple times may look similar to one close to the end of their Descent. Of course, both individuals should be treated with due caution for their own reasons.

COMPROMISE

The most common brands arise from external prying. When a demon or pactholder risks Compromise, the God Machine probes at their metaphysical existence. This stress test can damage Cover and draw their true natures to the surface, causing brands to form - akin an immune response. In some cases, the amount of stress inflicted triggers the individual's internal Infrastructure to perform maladaptive repairs, causing those brands to last indefinitely.

Brands caused by Compromise can be transient or lingering - though an individual never knows which until they wait to see. Lucky demons are left with a transient brand, a sign that they had escaped the notice of the God Machine. The less fortunate must learn to live with lingering brands that further increase the chance of future Compromises.

Not all Compromise results in brands, however. In many cases, a Compromised demon gains no brand, but rather a significant amount of attention from the God Machine. Why?

Popular understanding among both laydemons and Symphonic theorists is that brands arise from the act of resisting the God Machine's attention. Consider the analogy: a person is caught by a bear trap. If the person stays where they are, they will inevitably meet the trapper. However, the person may instead attempt to flee, tearing their limb in the process. The wound is obvious and will surely lure pursuers to them again in the future, but they escape capture in this particular instance. The same principles apply to Compromised demons, though in practice Compromise is more nebulous than any simple analogy or complex essay any demon could write. Sometimes, a demon won't know they've been caught until their hunters have already converged upon them, never having the chance to choose to escape.

INTEGRITY

Resilience is key to a pactholder's survival. As Integrity is a representation of the strength of a human's soul and metaphysical self, any amount of weakening of a pactholder's Integrity causes their demonic half to briefly overwhelm them. When a pactholder loses Integrity as a result of a Breaking Point, they gain a transient brand.

Note: in-universe, there is no concept of "Integrity" - no one calls it that. However, people do understand the existence of a soul well enough to know that it can be hardy or weakened. The average mundane human isn't aware when their Integrity rises or falls. For the Symphonically inclined, pactholders (and even some stigmatics, in rare cases) claim to be able to feel "soul sickness" or "corruption". Of course, the manifestation of brands makes these instances more obvious - it's debatable whether an individual can truly feel changes to their soul, or if it's a reverse-psychosomatic effect.

MAGIC OVERFLOW

Pactholders face a unique challenge in the form of Magic Overflow. When this phenomenon is triggered, the brief blurring between the physical mundane and metaphysical Symphony causes a stutter in reality - a demon is not meant to exist in the same space as a human soul without the latter being subsumed. When this stutter subsides, a piece of the pactholder's true nature has overlapped with their human self in the form of a brand. Brands from the Magic Overflow itself are always transient, as the human's continued existence will eventually repair its place in reality.

However, Magic Overflow places strain on the pactholder's Integrity. Unlike with Breaking Points, when a pactholder would lose Integrity due to Magic Overflow, they can instead forcefully divert the Symphonic pressure outwards. Doing so, however, causes a lingering brand, as they scar the very concept of their "self" as reality knows them beyond what they can repair.

AETHERIC RADIATION

On occasion, brands can be caused by severe external Symphonic phenomena. Failed Installations, destroyed gadgets, Shatterings, and more all cause massive aetheric radiation that clings to demons and pactholders, leaving them with transient or lingering brands as it sinks in.

DURATION

Not all brands are created equal. As referenced in the section above, brands can last for varying durations, depending on their sources. Many demons and pactholders generalize them into permanent and transient brands for clear and simple communication.

PERMANENT

In actuality, no brand is truly "permanent", but they earn their name as they never disappear simply by waiting them out. Permanent brands cover two types: echoing, gained from rising Primum/Resonance, and lingering, gained from severe instances of Compromise, Magic Overflow, or even aetheric radiation.

Despite both being permanent, they have their differences. Lingering brands can be treated at restoration Facilities, where the God Machine's designs can be co-opted to repair a demon's internal Infrastructure. Unfortunately, there are no other known ways to treat lingering brands, making such Facilities deeply coveted by the Fallen Symphonic population.

On the other hand, echoing brands can only ever be removed by reducing Primum/Resonance (or, in a pactholder's case, nullifying their contract - equivalent to losing their Resonance entirely). This is not unexpected - echoing brands come from a demon evolving beyond the scope that the God Machine had designed for them to integrate with reality, meaning that no borrowing of the God Machine's work could ever fix these unique glitches.

TRANSIENT

A lucky demon or pactholder will only ever deal in transient brands, outside of any echoing brands they gain in their Descent. Of course, there's no way to account for accidents or sabotage, but the most competent - and thus most likely to survive - demons can go for years while only picking up temporarily glitches.

As their name implies, transient brands last for a short duration and disappear naturally with time, correlating directly with the individual's relative power. On average, transient brands last for [Primum/Resonance] days, give or take a few hours at most.

In addition, transient brands rarely simply switch from "on" to "off", instead fading gradually. A changed hair color may gradually revert over the last hour, a compulsion may feel less painful, and so on. Naturally, this is a welcome sign - as an individual never knows if a brand is transient until it disappears. Individuals should take care not to be lulled into acting carelessly however - even while fading, brands are noticeable enough to cause complications, and a fading brand can be just as hard to explain as one suddenly manifesting.

TYPE & SEVERITY

Brands are classified based on type and severity.

Type describes how the brand manifests, from physical alterations, behavioral compulsions, or strange effects in the nearby environment. An individual may find that they tend to manifest certain types more often than others. Some demons theorize that these tendencies are a reflection on the individual's true self - others say that it's not that deep.

Severity describes how intense a brand is. The more severe a brand, the more likely it'll be noticed - and in a game of espionage, any amount of notice is undesirable. Brands of higher severity may come about in dramatic fashion in a single fell swoop. In just as many cases, brands have their severity upgraded as the individual repeats the same actions that resulted in them to begin with - a demon who casts the same Cadenza multiple times should not be surprised to find their initially minor brand becoming unmanageable.

MARKS

Affects the physical form, causing a change in appearance or body chemistry.

SEVERITY

Minor: Easily concealed physical markings, minor changes in diet or physique

Slight hair color changes, such as the addition of highlights or a colored streak
Small mundane markings or tattoos that can be covered straightforwardly
Giving off different smells like perfume, such as flowers, or more industrial scents like gasoline

Major: Visible changes, inconvenient alterations to body chemistry

More outlandish body modifications, such as sharpened teeth or tipped ears
Changes in voice
Total hair or eye-color change, such as turning black and elongating, or one's eyes showing unnatural qualities like gears or stars

Catastrophic: Obviously supernatural, impossible to hide or explain phenomena away

Sprouting new, nonfunctional limbs or appendages, such as tendrils, tails, animal ears, or vestigial wings
Shifts in skin tone, either on its own or caused by changes in blood color
Animated or glowing tattoos and markings that cannot be easily concealed

TELLS

Bad habits and involuntary mental behaviors that are visible and potentially disconcerting.

SEVERITY

Minor: Small physical tics, easily explicable to witnesses

Compulsions to fidget with specific small objects
Gravitating towards or away from heat or light sources
Arranging certain colors or objects in specific positions or patterns, such as aligning them for symmetry or into a particular sequence

Major: Defining mannerisms in speech or posture, more difficult to explain, possible to exploit

Repeating certain actions a specific amount of times before being able to continue
Specific changes in routine, such as getting up or going to bed at certain points in a day
Changes in one's walk, such as having to skip steps after an amount, or walking en pointe

Catastrophic: Obvious, extreme eccentricities the character cannot help but follow

Inability to partake in certain senses, such as being unable to talk, look at certain things, eat normal sustenance, or even blink
Socially unacceptable behavior, along the lines of compulsions to bite or hurt people that fit some specific criteria, or refusing to go indoors
Extreme discomfort over innocuous actions, like being looked at

EMANATIONS

Brands that are projected into the surrounding environment.

SEVERITY

Minor: Small, subtle shifts in reality, not easily traceable to the pactholder

Unobtrusive changes in temperature or light, such as getting colder or warmer, or lights flickering
Altered behavior of specific nearby flora and fauna, though not enough to be concerning
Lingering footprints or fingerprints

Major: Obvious but not necessarily supernatural alterations to reality

Changes to the natural environment, such as plants dying or water boiling or evaporating
Causing certain items to break or activate when nearby, not unlike glass cracking or appliances turning on
Sounds being amplified, dampened, or altered entirely within the vicinity

Catastrophic: Actual changes in the fundamental physics of reality that obviously follow the pactholder

Sudden unexplainable phenomena, such as things spontaneously catching on fire, or electronic screens glitching out in the vicinity
Objects animating, like paintings blinking or having moving scenes, or sculptures moving as if they were animatronics
Footsteps echoing unrealistically, or producing sounds obviously unfitting for the material being tread upon

ROLLING FOR BRANDS

In many cases where a character would gain a brand, the severity is determined by a roll.

If the severity is not otherwise assigned directly, the player rolls [Resonance], with a -2 penalty if the brand is lingering. Unlike most rolls, Failures cannot be downgraded, nor can Willpower be spent on the roll. Success indicates more severe brands - stronger demons and pactholders are more likely to manifest brands.

RESULTS

Note: Magic Overflow assigns specific brand severities depending on Success/Failure, regardless of Dramatic Failure or Exceptional Success.

Dramatic Failure: No brand manifests; +2 modifier to the character's next brand roll
Failure: Manifest a Minor brand
Success: Manifest a Major brand
Exceptional Success: Manifest a Catastrophic brand; -2 modifier to the character's next brand roll

DESIGNING BRANDS

All brands are unique to their demon/pactholder - almost anything is possible.

Players should keep a list of sample brands to provide to Storytellers. This list will act both as a fallback for the Storyteller to quickly and easily assign brands during a game, and as a starting point for the Storyteller to create more brands in line with the character's themes.

GUIDELINES

Brands express the character's nature and show the evolution of them from being a servant of the God Machine to be a personalized individual. They should be themed around a character's personality, concept, and goals.
Brands are not inherently bad/harmful conditions, and they should never deliberately cripple a character's capacity or cause injury. A brand might manifest false wounds, but they shouldn't cause serious mechanical side-effects. On the flip side, brands should not be inherently beneficial either - a brand causing cat-like eyes should not give the character night vision.
Brands tend to be relevant to the event that caused them or to the current situation. For example, a character casting Disintegrate might find metal items around them rusting lightly, or have their fingers creak mechanically, or feel compelled to break fragile objects.
Brands should endanger a character's anonymity in some way. Brands that fail to endanger Cover, or are unlikely to become a risk in the current setting, should be changed or not used. For example, if the character is currently in an sterile underground laboratory, a brand that causes all plant life to wither should not be applied.
Brands tend to repeat. If a character has previously manifested a certain brand, they are likely to get it again.
- - Brands are not necessarily predictable - which is to say, casting a certain Cadenza does not guarantee that every cast of that Cadenza will earn the same brand. However, if a character gains a brand then repeats the exact same action, the existing brand is likely to upgrade, "repeating" as well. This is a guideline, not a rule.

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