The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ooc]Here's an updated version of my "Tenebrous" Dark Superheroes game.  I'm planning on running a one-shot of this over IRC, and may possibly run additional "episodes" if people have fun, much as I've done with some previous games.  In essence the game is set in a Gothic, modern/near-future setting, inspired by the worlds of Vertigo comics (especially Hellblazer, Sandman, and Lucifer), Spawn, Hellboy, Justice League Dark, Sin City, and Batman.[/ooc]

Shadows seem darker in the city of St. Lazarus, the nights pregnant with dread.  The city attracts the strange, the outcast, the unearthly.  Some point to a convergence of ley-lines at the city's grimy heart; others whisper of unwholesome rituals practiced by a certain indigenous tribe who once claimed the area as their own, a shunned people known for their vile appetites.  Still others make note of the mysterious caverns and ancient tunnels beneath the city, claiming that some ancient, slumbering thing dwells in the lightless depths, sending its nightmares up to the surface.  Whatever the case, the city has always been a magnet for the occult and the otherworldly.  Though the citizenry go about their business largely ignorant of the sinister creatures that lurk in the city's grimy gloom, even the most sceptical St. Lazarian develops a few superstitions.  As a result of the city's eldritch reputation, the federal government has established the headquarters of the D.P.I. – the Department of Preternatural Investigation – in St. Lazarus, an organization tasked with protecting the nation against occult threats at any cost.  The Sinistral Institute, a shadowy corporation dedicated to exploring (and profiting from) the unknown and unexplained, likewise base themselves out of St. Lazarus.  Other factions proliferate in the city as well: the Scions of Hyperborea, the Society of the Black Rose, the Ouroboros Coven, the Cult of Ishtar, the Order of the New Temple, the Ebon Lodge, and dozens more.

Of these myriad groups, one stands apart.  The Tenebrae, an ancient sect of magi and freethinkers, have long guarded the world from evil, but unlike other organizations pledged to defend the earth from otherworldly threats, the Tenebrae turn darkness against itself, fighting fire with fire.  A band of outcasts, half-breeds, and dissidents, the Tenebrae seek to understand the entities they oppose, to redeem those they can rather than mindlessly destroying.  Amongst their ranks they have counted warlocks and fallen angels and wraiths, cambions and mutants and cursed men.  From the Sepulchre, the warded underground warren beneath the city's cemetery, they monitor St. Lazarus for occult events and threats, sometimes incarcerating dangerous entities in warded holding cells, studying the creatures they subdue, ceaselessly training to better stand vigil against malevolent forces.

The following constitutes a roster of their most powerful talents:

Tenebrae Roster

[ic=Pareidolia]A computer expert, former hacktivist of the grey-hat persuasion, conspiracy theorist, and talented chaos witch, the Tenebrae operative known as Pareidolia (real name: Sabrina Cassidy) is unusual amongst the Tenebrae in possessing no inborn preternatural abilities – though gifted with a powerful intellect, all of her skills were acquired through study and dedication.  Pareidolia provides the Tenebrae with intelligence, technical assistance, and occult support.  She rarely leaves the confines of the Sepulchre, preferring to spend her time ensconced in a mass of cables, monitors, ritual candles, grimoires, laptops, devil-bowls, Thai food containers, jury-rigged gaming consoles inscribed with arcane sigils, partially disassembled clocks, coffee cups, scanners, stuffed animal corpses, wax cylinder machines, routers, ant farms, defaced   tarot cards, overflowing ashtrays, eldritch statuettes, paperback romance novels with the pages ripped out for divination purposes, antique phones, hand-annotated holy books, pornography, scratch-built robots, and other assorted bric-a-brac – and woe be to any who disrupt this perfect disarray or attempt to tidy her workspace!  She has a tendency for paranoia and intense agoraphobia, and possesses an anti-authoritarian streak a mile wide.  When she does head into the field she is cranky, rude, and skittish, but more than capable of doing her job.  Physically she is tall, lanky, and rather alarming in appearance, with a plethora of esoteric tattoos and hairstyles that seem to change with uncanny frequency.   Her familiar is a miniature pig named Toby II.

Even from within her cramped, messy domain, however, Pareidolia can assist the Tenebrae in the field, hacking into systems, gathering information, and relaying spells through screens, cellphones, and other digital outputs, communicating via headset.  As a chaos witch her particular area of expertise is probability manipulation and divination from apparently random information (incidentally, Pareidolia supplements the organization's funding through the proceeds of online poker, which she plays compulsively, losing just enough to avoid tipping anti-cheating software).  She can conjure synchronicity fields to enhance the good fortune of allies, or sling jinxes to produce improbable catastrophes.  By sampling random data she can glimpse strange patterns in the "code" of reality, glimmers of possible futures and likelihoods.

Pareidolia rarely speaks about her past.  Before she become one of the Tenebrae she was an anarchist of the techno-utopian persuasion, but her wanderings and digital escapades eventually led her deeper and deeper into the world of magick.  Her ventures culminated in an act of cyber-mischief inflicted on the Department of Preternatural Investigation, when she spawned an arcane sigil-meme she called her "Circe-Worm" in their secure server that temporarily turned most of the D.P.I.'s technical staff into random animals.  The Tenebrae, impressed with her abilities, offered her membership in their organization – and sanctuary from the vengeful D.P.I.  She has now become an indispensable member of the team's roster, especially given the tendency to archaism exhibited by many of the organization's senior members, more comfortable with old books than digital databases.

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 4, Puissance 8, Resilience 5, Resolve 5, Expertise 8

Powers:

Expert Hacker: Pareidolia recieves a +2 bonus on expertise checks relating to computers.  Pareidolia can relay her spells and powers through electronic devices such as cellphones or computer monitors by making a Difficulty 10 Puissance check.

Chaos Magick: Pareidolia is a skilled chaos witch and can cast a wide variety of spells.  Examples are given below, but do no constitute an exhaustive list: other effects are possible and encouraged, at Difficulties determined by the GM.

Jinx: Pareidolia can make a Puissance check opposed by an enemy's Resolve check.  If she beats the enemy's check, the enemy has been Jinxed and must reroll all successful checks once for one round.

Synchronicity Fields: Pareidolia can make a Puissance check of Difficulty 12 to improve the luck of her allies, allowing them to reroll any unsuccessful checks once for one round.  If Pareidolia is physically present, this applies to her as well.

Divination: by sorting through random data and succeeding at a Puissance check (Difficulty 10 for easy questions, 12 for difficult questions, and 14 for truly esoteric questions), Pareidolia can divine the answers to particular queries she asks or petition the universe for a "hint."

Weaknesses:

Agoraphobia: Pareidolia suffers a -1 penalty to all checks when in wide open spaces.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Mandrake]The being called Mandrake is a homunculus, an artificial creature born of black alchemy at the hands of the depraved magus known as the Chirurgeon.  Created during the sixteenth century, Mandrake was sculpted from tallow made from the flesh of murder victims mixed with the seed of hanged men, the blood of cambion children, and certain esoteric herbs.  The Chirgurgeon created Mandrake as a servant and familiar, assisting the Chirurgeon with his diabolic rituals, powerless to resist his commands.  Compelled by the Chirurgeon, Mandrake used its powers to entrap sacrificial victims for Chirurgeon's twisted experiments, subduing and sometimes killing them.  When the Tenebrae defeated the Chirurgeon during the recent Walpurgisnacht Incident or May Eve Massacre, however, they freed Mandrake from its creator's control.  The liberated creature, horrified by its own misdeeds and wracked with guilt, attempted to destroy itself.  It was the newly recruited Tenebrae operative Spriggan who convinced Mandrake to keep living , speaking of his own troubled past and the fresh start he'd found with the Tenebrae.  Though Mandrake remains tormented by its past actions, it now seeks redemption by fighting alongside the Tenebrae.

In its "natural" form, Mandrake resembles a roughly humanoid figure of indeterminate sex with inchoate features, sculpted from sallow wax.  It possesses the ability to change this shape as it pleases, altering its physical form to resemble virtually anyone it wishes and extruding unusual body parts such claws or horns if it chooses; generally while in public it assumes as ordinary-looking a form as possible, usually of random gender.  The homunculus can also split itself into other, smaller versions of itself which can later re-form into a single Mandrake, sharing all the memories of its constituent parts.  Mandrake never speaks, however, for the sound of its voice maims and often kills any who hears it, though some preternatural beings (and those suitably warded) are immune to this ability.  As such, the homunculus relies on writing and sign language to communicate, although the Tenebrae have recently fashioned it a voice modulator that allows it to speak without harming those around it, its voice coming out in a flat, computerized monotone.  Due to its amorphous form the homunculus is highly resilient to damage: bullets and blades pass harmlessly through its body, though it is vulnerable to fire.  Mandrake is prodigiously strong as well as tough, able to physically overpower most foes.  It is, however, highly vulnerable to spiritual possession, functioning as a kind of "empty shell" that incorporeal entities can enter; this occasionally makes it a liability on certain missions, though on such missions all team members are generally assigned talismans and other protective measures to help deter hostile spirits.

Several other groups in St. Lazarus have, on occasion, sought to capture Mandrake, including the Department of Preternatural Investigation, the Order of the New Temple, the Scions of Hyperborea, and, of course, the Chirurgeon himself.  Were the homunculus ever successfully captured by such a group, it is possible it could be bound to the will of a new master.  It is this Mandrake fears most of all – being compelled once again into the service of those on the side of darkness.

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 8, Puissance 6, Resilience 8, Resolve 4, Expertise 4

Powers:

Resilient: Mandrake ignores the first 2 points of damage from mundane weapons.

Maiming Voice: Mandrake can unleash its maiming voice, affecting everyone in earshot (immortal creatures, such as Hel, are unaffected).  It makes a Puissance check and all those who hear it make a Resolve check; those it beats suffer 1d6 damage.  Those unable to hear are unaffected, and those with protective earwear or wards may gain a bonus to resist the attack.

Fission: Mandrake can split itself into a number of smaller duplicates, each with half its current Physique and Resilience.  These duplicates can themselves split and so on, but each duplicate must have a minimum of 1 Physique and Resilience.

Shapeshifting: with a Difficulty 10 Puissance check Mandrake can assume a different semblance, even that of a specific person.  Enemies receive no save to see through the illusion, but Mandrake cannot speak with unleashing its maiming voice, so its façade can be challenging to maintain.  Mandrake can reshape its body to pass through narrow areas and the like with a Difficulty 8 Puissance check.

Weaknesses:

Fire Vulnerability: fire-based attacks ignore Mandrake's Resilient Power and deal double damage to it.

Possession Vulnerability: Mandrake has -2 to Resolve checks to resist possession attacks.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Cruor]Cruor was born Caleb Gore, a surname which proved grotesquely apt considering his unique and often gruesome abilities.  Along with his twin sister Cassandra – now the villainous Lady Leech, who serves the Koroviev Crime Family – he has the power of haemokinesis: the ability to manipulate blood.  By concentrating intensely, Cruor can cause blood to rapidly thin or coagulate, boil, freeze, or reshape itself; using his own blood he can fashion weapons (frequently whips, hardened blades, throwing-stars, or clubs) and make-shift scab-armour.  These powers allow him to rapidly heal almost any wound he or one of his allies suffers, and he can also expunge blood-born poisons and diseases.  If large amounts of blood are available, he can evaporate it rapidly into a sanguineous mist.  By drinking blood he can also identify the way in which it was spilled in a form of limited retrocognition, and he can smell blood (and thus any living being with blood) from a considerable distance, though not with perfect accuracy.  Cruor's bone marrow can produce blood at an accelerated rate, helping to fuel his powers.  While most occult charms and talismans fail to ward against haemokinesis, certain specially design apotropaic tattoos do block Cruor's powers.

Caleb and Cassandra had a troubled childhood.  The child of Donna Gore, a prostitute who worked the mean streets of St. Lazarus in the crime-ridden district known as the Midden, they grew up in junkyards and back-alleys, surrounded by violence and poverty.  While the ultimate source of their powers is unknown, some have theorized that biochemical waste products present in the Midden's water supply – possibly from the Sinistral Institute – affected Donna while she was pregnant; others point to the plethora of odd, frequently ancient and sometimes eldritch artefacts that periodically turn up in the landfills at the edge of the Midden, suggesting that Donna's proximity to one of these occult objects may have affected her still-developing children.  Whatever the origin of their abilities, the twins soon discovered that their haemokinesis put them a cut above most of St. Lazarus' street toughs and muggers.  They became members of the street gang known as the Lacerators, a rough-and-tumble band of switchblade-wielding youths who roamed the Midden and other impoverished districts of St. Lazarus causing trouble and engaging in a wide variety of criminal activities.  It was during this time that both Caleb and Cassandra became addicted to the street drug known as Ichor – an arcane substance of mysterious origins which may have further amplified their powers.  Though Caleb has kicked the addiction since becoming one of the Tenebrae he has relapsed twice, and the drug remains a constant temptation.

Cruor's induction into the Tenebrae began when the twins were captured by the vigilante known as Revenant – being himself bloodless he proved immune to most of their abilities.  Both preterhumans were delivered into the custody of the SLPD; while languishing in jail they were approached by Tenebrae associates who offered the siblings a place on the team.  The twins both accepted, but Cassandra soon chafed at the restrictions the Tenebrae placed upon her.  The twins, previously close, grew further and further apart.  Cruor developed feelings for fellow Tenebrae operative Lamia and began spending less time with his sister.  Eventually the two quarrelled, leading Cassandra to leave the Tenebrae; she was recruited by the Koroviev Crime Family shortly afterwards.

A pale, gangly man with dark auburn hair, Cruor bears numerous scars – while he can heal most injuries, wounds closed through haemokinesis still develop scar tissue.  When not on missions with the Tenebrae he usually wears loose, concealing clothing to disguise these disfigurements.  When in the field, however, he typically doffs such clothing in favour of a loose tank-top or sleeveless vest, giving him access to his arms.  He carries a range of knives in his belt which he uses to open his blood vessels as required; he is also proficient with these knives in close-quarters fighting, both as melee and throwing weapons, courtesy of his days on the streets.  Streetwise and desensitized to violence, his toughened outer exterior and sometimes thuggish posturing obscures a compassion for the weak and helpless.

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 6, Puissance 8, Resilience 6, Resolve 5, Expertise 5

Powers:

Haemokinesis: Cruor can manipulate blood in a variety of ways.  Boiling or freezing an enemy's blood requires a Puissance check opposed by a Resilience check, dealing 1d8 damage if successful.  With a Difficulty 10 Puissance check he can fashion blood into weapons that deal 1d3 damage (requiring a Physique check to use, as with other weapons) or into armour that provides 1 point of damage absorption. If no blood is readily available, he can use a knife or other weapon to shed sufficient blood to use his powers, dealing 1 Resilience damage while doing so.  With a Difficulty 12 Puissance check he can drink blood to determine the manner in which it was spilled, and with a Difficulty 11 check he can heal an ally for 1d4 Resilience.

Healing Factor: Cruor regains 4 Resilience per round.

Weaknesses:

Apotropaic Tattoos: enemies tattooed with the correct symbols are immune to Cruor's blood-freezing, coagulating, or boiling powers, though they still take damage from weapons made of blood.

Ichor Addiction: though Cruor has kicked his Ichor dependecy he still struggles with his addiction.  He receives a -2 bonus on Resolve or Resilience checks related to Ichor.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Hel]In ages past, Hel was the goddess of death, decay, and slaughter, queen of the Norse underworld and ruler over a realm of the dishonoured dead.  Now, centuries later, her powers greatly depleted from lack of worship, Hel has dwindled into a shadow of her former self, but she still possesses abilities beyond those of any mere mortal.  Appearing as a blond, statuesque woman of Scandinavian descent and brooding beauty, Hel's semblance occasionally flickers (just for a moment – so quickly one can never be sure of one's eyes) to reveal a different form: a blue-black corpse, horribly decayed, maggot-eaten and mottled from the depredations of frost, bones protruding from her necrotic skin.   Flesh creeps in her presence, animals bark or shy away when she is near, and she can scribe killing runes that slay any mortal who look on them, though this latter power drains some of her remaining divine puissance.  She can also call those who died dishonourable deaths to serve her, reanimating their corpses into obedient draugar.  Immune to all mortal disease and impervious to ageing, Hel lingers in the mortal world, her realm of Niflheim having long since been annexed by demon-kind in their rapacious conquest of the afterlives.

Following her exile from the underworld, Hel took to wandering the lands of the living, even adopting a "civilian" identity as Dr. Helene Larsen, a forensic anthropologist and later the administrator of a large body farm.  It was here that she was approached by Tenebrae, which had discovered her true identity – Hel functions as a nexus for the uncanny, attracting spirits and weird happenings, and an array of related investigations eventually led the Tenebrae to her door.  Though initially reluctant to accept a position in the organization, the opportunity to dissect some truly strange creatures – extradimensional abominations, spliced hybrids, otherworldly beasts, mutant horrors, etcetera – proved too tempting for the former goddess to pass up.  She now works as the official forensics officer of the Tenebrae while also accompanying other operatives on field assignments requiring her particular skill-set.  Able to tell the time of death and cause of death of any organism with a quick glance (or failing that, a quick taste), Hel can also revive the deceased to interrogate them, providing their deaths were dishonourable.  Her ability to reanimate cadavers helped the team escape from more than one tough situation, or at least hold out until reinforcements arrived.  Calling her draugar servants "zombies," however, earns one a disparaging look.

With an extremely professional outlook, Hel is actually one of the better-adjusted agents on the Tenebrae roster.  Cold, aloof, and dispassionate, she prefers to be called Dr. Larsen, or failing that Helene – reminders of her past role as a major player in the Norse pantheon make her sad and annoyed.  She finds the code-names of other operatives (Cruor, Spriggan, Pareidolia, Miasma etc) "juvenile and ridiculous" and generally refers to her team-mates by their "real" names (Agent Gore, Agent Goodfellow, Agent Cassidy, Agent Finch...).

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 5, Puissance 8, Resilience 5, Resolve 6, Expertise 6

Powers:

Immortality: Hel is invulnerable to ageing effects or other effects that deal directly with mortality.  Spells and powers that only affect mortals have no effect on Hel.

Necromancy: With a Diffiuclty 10 Puissance check, Hel can touch a dead body and so raise anyone who died a dishonourable death from the dead, transforming them into a draugr that retains the Physique and Resilience it had in life (returning to maximum Resilience) but with Puissance 0 and Resolve 2.  Draugr are undead and thus are immune to poisons, toxins, disease, mortality-related attacks, and mind-influencing effects.  She can also revive a dishonourably dead foe to briefly interrogate them with a Difficulty 11 Puissance check (draugr do not normally communicate).  While interrogating the dead she must maintain her concentration, but once raised draugr can act until destroyed, taking directions only from Hel.

Death Rune: Hel can take one minute to scribe a Death Rune, which requires a Difficulty 12 Puissance check to successfully activate.  Once activated, the Rune becomes deadly to any mortal who looks upon it, requiring an instant Difficulty 10 Resolve check to avoid instant death.  The Rune requires a new check every round it remains in clear sight, but those who save gain +4 on further checks against it.  While the Rune is active, Hel's Puissance is lowered by 1 point; while she can scribe multiple Runes, each one continues to drain her of Puissance.  She can psychically deactivate a Death Rune at any time.

Preternatural Forensic Skills: Hel receives a +4 bonus on any Expertise checks related to forensic science. With a quick glance and a Difficulty 10 Puissance check she can instantly determine the cause of death of any dead organism and other details related to their death (how long they've been dead, whether they've been moved, etc).

Weaknesses:

Symbols of the Æsir: symbols of the Æsir, such as a Mjolnir medallion or a tattoo of one of Odin's ravens, grant an enemy +2 to all saves and checks during their interactions with Hel or her minions.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Spriggan]For the first thirteen years of his life, Rupert Goodfellow believed himself an ordinary child, albeit an unlucky one.  Apparently born to a pair of junkie parents in the labyrinthine slums of St. Lazarus, Rupert was soon placed in foster care and spent his childhood in and out of a slew of homes, rarely staying in one spot for more than a few months – in every instance, foster parents declared themselves unable to care for him, describing him as "disturbed," though none could provide any substantive examples of abnormal behaviour.  Fellow children likewise found him off-putting for reasons they could not articulate.  It was in a high school science class while growing pea plants that Rupert's abilities first manifested.  While other students' plants were paltry things, Rupert's grew to triple the size of an ordinary member of its species, and the peas it produced proved to possess intense psychotropic properties.  Other incidents quickly followed: a high-school bully who mercilessly tormented Rupert hung himself without warning from an oak tree, the verbally abusive physical education teacher was committed to Belladonna Sanatorium after being found babbling in Gaelic and painting the walls and floor of the gymnasium with Celtic knots, female students (and some of the female faculty) started violently fighting one another over Rupert's affections, and the dead ivy covering the walls of his current foster home's walls inexplicably revived and began spreading at a preternatural rate.

Simultaneously excited and terrified by the bizarre occurrences he seemed to be unconsciously causing, Rupert began learning to harness his powers, making his will a reality.  He found he could make himself so inconspicuous that teachers simply wouldn't notice if he got up in the middle of class and wandered out of the school, that he could make people on the street see things that weren't there simply by picturing them in his mind, and also – strangely – that the touch of iron in metal-working class burnt him as if it were white-hot.  It was at this point that the government operatives working for the Department of Preternatural Investigation took an interest in him.  Posing as social workers, D.P.I. agents plucked Rupert from his foster home and placed him in their custody.  After performing DNA tests they were able to confirm their theory – Rupert wasn't human.  In fact, he was a changeling, a fey child left in the mortal world by Unseelie Sídhe.  Though now fully mortal – having eaten human food and lived amongst humans for his entire life – Rupert nonetheless possessed powers derived from his fey blood, a heritage traceable back to the infamous hobgoblin Puck.  While D.P.I. scientists began preparing a serious of experiments to perform on him, Rupert planned his escape from their facility.  Using the full range of his abilities he slipped out of the D.P.I. base.

Realizing that he couldn't return to school or his previous life, Rupert struck out on his own, becoming a con man of exceptional ability, stealing fortunes on a weekly basis and burning through them just as fast, flickering through dozens of aliases, always staying one step ahead of the D.P.I. agents – and, later, hunters seeking to rid the world of fey, and previous marks he'd robbed.  The Tenebrae finally caught up with him a few years ago after rescuing him from the clutches of the Order of the New Temple, a splinter-sect of the Society of the Black Rose.  Though uninterested in glory or fighting evil, Rupert was convinced to hear the Tenebrae out when they promised they could tell him more about the nature of his powers and heritage while protecting him from the long list of individuals and organizations that want him dead.  As he learned more about his abilities and about the Tenebrae, Rupert found some of his cynicism and studied amorality beginning to ebb.  Finding a real family for perhaps the first time, Rupert has now become a full member of the Tenebrae, accepting the code-name Spriggan and joining the rest of the team in their efforts to fight fire with fire.

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 6, Puissance 8, Resilience 5, Resolve 4, Expertise 7

Powers:

Unseelie Magick: Spriggan is an Unseelie fey and can tap into his Otherworldly heritage to cast a wide variety of spells.  Examples are given below, but do not constitute an exhaustive list: other effects are possible and encouraged, at Difficulties determined by the GM.

Glamers: by making a Puissance check opposed by a Resolve check by those he is trying to deceive, Spriggan can create glamers – illusions that modify an existing object or person.  He cannot simply produce an illusion out of whole cloth, but can disguise objects or people in a variety of ways (by making himself or someone else look like a different individual, for example).  The GM may impose penalties for particularly large or ambitious glamers.  Glamers only remain active while Spriggan is present: the moment he moves out of sight of them, they begin to slowly dissolve, eventually dissipating entirely.

Emotional Manipulation: by making a Puissance check opposed by an enemy's Resolve check, Spriggan can manipulate the emotions of targets, inciting lust, rage, confusion, or similar effects.

Temporary Invisibility: Spriggan can make himself so inconspicuous as to seem invisible.  To do so he makes a Puissance check opposed by the Resolve checks of those who might see him.  If he beats observers, he remains invisible in their presence provided he does not interact directly with them.  This effect lasts for up to one minute before another check is required.

Plant-growth and Animation: With a Difficulty 10 Puissance check, Spriggan can cause plants to grow rapidly.  With a DC 12 check he can animate them to help restrain, entangle, or harm enemies.  The GM determines plant statistics, but most plants have a Physique score of 4, a Resilience of 3, 0 Resolve or Puissance, and can deal 1d2 damage (as plants, of course, they're immune to mind-influencing effects and the like).

Weaknesses:

Cold Iron: weapons made from elemental iron deal +2 damage against Spriggan.  Anyone wearing cold iron on their person (a horseshoe talisman, for example) gains +4 on all Resilience or Resolve checks against Spriggan's powers.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Miasma]Until she encountered the being known as Sepsis, Octavia Finch was a normal but gifted woman.  While pursuing a promising career in anatomical pathology she routinely volunteered in community outreach programs, spending many of her nights tending to the sick in the fetid depths of the Midden, including the refuse-clotted tunnels of its undercity, a crazed mishmash of storm drains, abandoned subway stations, bricked-over streets, and natural caverns.  While administering to the needy in this maze-like warren she became lost, somehow unable to retrace her steps and escape the maddening labyrinth of subterranean passages; little did she know that she had already been ensnared in Sepsis' grasp.  It seemed the elemental creature of animate filth – an unclean intelligence thought by some to be the result of alchemical runoff, by others to be a primordial spirit only recently awakened – had taken a dislike to Octavia's activities: by helping to cure the sick and alleviate the suffering of those who dwelt in the entity's troglodytic domain, she posed a threat to its feculent rule, and so the being had decided to corrupt her – not merely to kill her but to transform her into one of its avatars, like Pyrexia, Verminous, and Tzaraath.  Trapping her in the putrescent heart of its domain, Sepsis filled her lungs with its noxious vapours, infecting her with its vile putridity.  But before the elemental could complete its horrific ritual and make Octavia its pestilential slave, a vessel for its will, a Tenebrae patrol intervened, happening on the rite in the nick of time, likely due to one of Pareidolia's synchronicity fields.

Though rescued from the clutches of Sepsis, Octavia was not unchanged by her experience.  She found that she exuded an aura of decay, a pestiferous pall that taints everything she approaches.  When she is near milk curdles, water stagnates, wood rots, plants wither, and decomposition hastens (for this reason Hel has banned her from the Sepulchre's morgue – even when wearing her suit).  Living people who simply draw near her find themselves febrile, spluttering with sudden congestion, breaking out in hives.  Her slightest touch proves even more dangerous, instantly passing on any number of preternaturally fast-acting diseases – often lethal and always disfiguring, tumours and sores spreading from the slightest brush of her fingertips.  Horrified by her own abilities, Octavia was eventually convinced to join the Tenebrae, who equipped her with a specially made suit to keep her from harming those around her.  Taking up the code-name Miasma, Octavia eventually learned to control her powers, discovering that she could generate poisonous fumes in her lungs, exhaling toxic clouds of vapour, and that she was herself immune to all forms of toxin or sickness.

Physically, Miasma looks like a normal, attractive woman of mixed Asian and European descent, albeit with a very slightly greenish pallor and eyes and nails tinted sallow greenish-yellow.  Because of the deleterious effect of her powers on those around her she almost always wears her custom-made suit, a black, body-hugging garment with a transparent visor and a specialized breathing-mask and filtration system, allowing Miasma to exhale toxic vapour as desired (to use her touch of disease she can remove one of her gloves).  While wearing this suit her abilities are suppressed, allowing her to serve as the Tenebrae's doctor, though due to his haemokinesis Cruor serves as a field medic more often than she does.  She removes her suit only in her quarantined, air-tight chambers within the Sepulchre.  Though she has learned to deal with her condition she still grapples with the frustrations that come with it – for one thing, her condition means that she is utterly unable to return to her prior life.  Following her arrival she was quickly befriended by Lamia, no stranger to feeling a monster who hurts everything she touches.

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 4, Puissance 7, Resilience 7, Resolve 5, Expertise 7

Powers:

Aura of Decay: If Miasma is not wearing her suit of it has been breached, all organic creatures nearby (within about 50 ft.) have their Resilience lowered by 1, sickening severely.  Even with her suit on, plants around Miasma wither and die.  If  anything preternatural is affecting the plants, Miasma must make a Puissance check of a Difficulty set by the GM (or, potentially, an opposed roll where appropriate) to sustain the aura of decay.

Touch of Disease: Miasma can make a Physique check to touch an enemy, opposed by their Resilience.  If she succeeds she transfers a fast-acting disease to the target that deals 1 damage per round to the target until they die.  Only magickal intervention or immediate medical attention can halt or reverse the disease's course.

Poisonous Breath: Miasma can breathe a poisonous fume that fills a wide area in front of her at a range of fifteen feet.  Those in the area of effect must make a Resilience check opposed by Miasma's Puissance check or take 1d3 damage to their Physique and Resilience.  Those with gas-masks or other protective gear may gain bonuses or immunity to this effect.

Immunities: Miasma is immune to all diseases and poisons.

Trained Physician: Miasma is a trained physician and has a +2 bonus on any Expertise checks relating to medicine.

Weaknesses:

Hazardous: If Miasma takes damage from a weapon that punctures her suit, her Aura of Decay cannot be suppressed.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Night Terror]A creation of the Sinistral Institute, the Tenebrae known as Night Terror was originally the result of Project Mara, a series of experiments designed to produce a new breed of spy and assassin.  Using genetic material recovered from bound Incubi and captured Hags – including the infamous creature Black Annis – the Sinistral scientists sought to synthesize a retrovirus code-named the "Oneiros Virus" allowing their subjects to produce lethal psychic projections or eidolons of themselves, similar to the phenomena known as astral projection; they primarily used street people captured from the Midden and inmates from Belladonna Sanatorium as prototypes.  James Faust, a man being treated at Belladonna for a variety of extreme parasomnias (including a homicidal, somnambulant killing-spree described by the media as the "Sleepwalker Killings"), was their first real success.  James had suffered from night terrors and other sleeping disorders since the mysterious joint-suicide of his parents; while an exceptionally gentle man while awake, while asleep he was tormented by images of violence and brutality, acts of sadistic cruelty which he sometimes replicated while slumbering.  The Sinistral researchers correctly surmised that the imbalance of chemicals present in his brain would enhance his psionic capabilities, and so Night Terror was born.  The Institute's experiments gave James the ability to project a wraith-like version of himself into the physical world, a shadowy apparition able to slip through walls or doors, infiltrating even the most high-security facilities, invisible while keeping to darkened areas.  Through most-hypnotic suggestion, drugs, and psionic conditioning, James was forced to carry out a number of experiments on other subjects while slumbering in a sensory-deprivation tank, eventually learning to temporarily possess such subjects, slipping inside their minds.  While his astral-self remained unable to interact with the physical world directly, it could do so while possessing a host, even causing the host to commit suicide – though such an action would, inevitably, sever the astral tether connecting James to his double, a phantasmal umbilicus linking his two selves.  Whenever James awoke from an experiment he would remember the events of his "dream" only dimly, if at all, and believed the Institute was conducting trials to help treat his sleeping disorders.

Despite their precautions, however, the Sinistral Institute failed to account for the strength of Night Terror's will while projecting his astral shadow; once again the repressed, aggressive side of James' personality came bubbling to the surface, turning on his experimenters.  After possessing one of his captors his shade savagely killed the other researchers and the guards keeping watch on the facility.  When James awoke he found a roomful of corpses and a letter, penned by his astral double with the aid of its host body, explaining what the Institute scientists had been doing.  Bewildered and horrified, James escaped the facility.  He was nearly captured by the Institute's agents, but fortunately the Tenebrae managed to intervene, bringing James to the safety of the Sepulchre.  Since then Night Terror has become one of the Tenebrae himself, though he spends virtually of his time in the Sepulchre, sending out his astral double from the safety of the subterranean hideout, ensconced in another sensory-deprivation tank.

With the help of the Tenebrae he has learned to explore and refine his powers further, even gaining the ability to recall some of his experiences while sleeping and curbing the hyper-aggressive tendencies of his slumbering mind.  He spends most of his waking hours reading and meditating, but has developed something of an unlikely attraction for Pareidolia – though extremely mild-mannered, neat, and somewhat sheepish he finds her haphazard, brash approach to life appealing in a way he cannot fully explain.  His closest friend in the organization, however, is probably Mandrake, with whom he feels great sympathy (after all, both were forced to perform hideous acts against their will).

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 5, Puissance 8, Resilience 5, Resolve 6, Expertise 6

Powers:

Astral Projection: Night Terror can produce an astral double with a Puissance check of Difficulty 10.  This double initially manifests beside his body, which remains stationary while he is projecting.  The double is shadowy and near-invisible, noticeable only by those with heightened senses.  It can move through solid walls and even fly with a Difficulty 12 Puissance check.  It cannot interact directly with the physical world or be damaged by physical means.  An astral tether keeps it connected to Night Terror's body, which again can only be seen by those with preternatural senses.  Some spells and Powers do function against the astral double, so long as they call for a Resolve check and not a Resilience check.

Possession: while astrally projecting, Night Terror can attempt to Possess enemies, making a Puissance check opposed by their Resolve.  If he succeeds, he enters the body of the enemy, gaining their Physique and Resilience.  He can also utilize their Powers at their original Puissance, but has a -2 penalty to Puissance checks when using someone else's Powers.   Night Terror can Possess a body indefinitely, but his host can make a check every hour to usurp his control.  If another entity capable of Possession contests control of the body, Night Terror makes a Resolve check to defend.

Weaknesses:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: In situations that remind Night Terror of his time in the Sinistral Institute he suffers -4 to Resolve checks.

Astral Tether: If the body Night Terror is Possessing is killed, he is immediately returned to his own body.  He can attempt to slip his astral double out of the body before it actually dies, but this requires a Resolve check with a Difficulty equal 5 plus the damage of the killing blow.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Abyzou]"Abby" to her team-mates, the demoness Abyzou has several forms, the most common being an enfant terrible culled from the Japanese horror movies the entity loves with an all-consuming passion: scraggly black pigtails, pinafore dress, an obscene giggle, and sunken, flashing eyes.  Other common guises include what Abby refers to as her "jail-bait" form, resembling an older version of her schoolgirl-semblance done up in Gothic makeup.  In her true form she resembles a clawed succubus with writhing, black tendrils for hair.  A demonic mischief-maker and trickster who thinks of mortals only as playthings (or snacks), delighting in violent and usually gory pranks, Abyzou was taken captive and bound through occult rituals after the Tenebrae thwarted an attempt by the forces of Hell to gain access to the Tree of Life.  She now serves the organization unwillingly, having bargained six years, six months, and six days of service to the Tenebrae in exchange for her eventually freedom – though she takes every opportunity to try and circumvent the spirit of this agreement or commute her "sentence."

Abyzou's powers draw on the demoness' ability to project images and words into the minds of other beings.  In addition to simply communicating with team-mates telepathically – a useful ability in conditions when standard communication devices are inoperable or unavailable – Abyzou can fill the brains of her victims with abominable visions, sometimes of horrors so extreme that the afflicted individual is driven hopelessly mad.  She cannot read thoughts or mentally dominate or possess other beings, but she can implant suggestions.  She can also psychically manipulate objects, either simply moving them telekinetically or warping them subtly: she might alter a light-bulb so that it burns red, twist a mirror to reflect a rotting corpse, transform water into blood, change the song on a radio so that the singer encourages the listener to perform depraved, sadistic acts, or cause a portrait to alter its expression.  Finally, Abyzou can unhinge her jaws and swallow victims whole, though this ability is taxing and gives her heart-burn.  After devouring an individual, Abyzou absorbs all of their memories.

Something of an imp, Abyzou has a cruel sense of humour and is a source of both amusement and constant annoyance for Tenebrae staff.  So long as she is provided a steady stream of horror movies, comic books, and gruesome snacks (sheep's eyeballs, rotting cow's livers, fried baluts, KFC Double Downs, etc), Abyzou causes minimal trouble.  If the market was out of offal and Blood Feast II: All You Can Eat – or whatever esoteric film Abby wanted to see that day – was unavailable, however, Abyzou gets bored.  Inevitably, little things start to go awry at this point.  Files of data and official memos suddenly proliferate with horrifically obscene adjectives.  Desk photographs of family members appear decapitated.  Ringtones change to piercing human screams.  The endings of the novels in the staff lounge change so that all of the characters brutally murder one another.  To punish such transgressions, members of the staff have begun carrying around small water pistols filled with holy water; when they see Abby on the prowl, looking for mischief, they spray the demoness as one would a misbehaving cat scratching the furniture.  The only Tenebrae agent to take a shining to Abyzou is Pareidolia, who seems to sense in the demoness something of a kindred spirit, though the two have something of a love/hate relationship.  Abby also adopts an extremely obsequious, sycophantic attitude around Endgame, referring to the reformed-Antichrist as "Your Unholiness," "Your Beastliness," and "Lord Endbringer."

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 7, Puissance 8, Resilience 7, Resolve 5, Expertise 3

Powers:

Reality-Warping: Abyzou can warp reality or her personal appearance in a variety of minor ways.  Such warping carries a variable Difficulty – usually Difficulty 10 for basic alterations (like shifting her own shape), 12 for more advanced changes (like altering the contents of an entire book to be nothing but blasphemous obscenities), and 14 for major changes (like turning a lake into blood).

Telepathy: Abyzou can communicate telepathically with any being with a brain in 100 ft.

Telekinesis: Abyzou can make a Puissance check to lift and manipulate objects at a distance – Difficulty 10 for light objects (like a key or a gun), 12 for bulky objects (like a body), and 14 for very heavy objects (like a car).

Thoughtography: Abyzou can make a Puissance check against opposed by an enemy's Resolve check to project maddening images into their mind.  If the target fails, it takes 1d4 damage to its Resolve.

Devour: Abyzou can make a Puissance check opposed by an enemy's Resilience check.  If she succeeds and the enemy is of normal human size, she devours them whole, killing them instantly.  She absorbs all of their memories.  However, she becomes lethargic afterwards and suffers a -2 penalty to checks of all kinds for 1 hour after devouring someone (she can only use this power once every hour).

Weaknesses:

Holy Water: The touch of blessed water deals 1d2 damage to Abyzou.  Full immersion deals 1d6 damage per round.  Weapons dipped in holy water deal an addition +1 damage against Abyzou.

Holy Symbols and Phrases: Enemies reciting holy phrases or wearing holy symbols receive a +4 bonus to Resolve checks against Abyzou's Powers.[/spoiler][/ic]

Roster Continued

[ic=Evil Eye]Formerly one of the Department of Preternatural Investigation's top agents, Warren Chapel had a long and successful career as a U.S. Army Ranger and Delta Force Operator, followed by a stint as a member of S.H.R.O.U.D. (Special Hazard Response, Occult Undercover Division) before the D.P.I. recruited him.  A superb sniper and saboteur, he was selected for a special project in which his left eye was removed and replaced with an eye plucked from the head of a captured Gorgon.  The implantation was a success and so Warren became Evil Eye, capable of instantly ossifying the organic tissues with a glance.  With the aid of a long-range scope, this allowed him to deal death at an immense distance, although it also necessitated his constant use of sunglasses in the field, or a specially warded contact lens when not on a mission.  Using his ability and his well-honed skills as an assassin and infiltrator he assisted the Department in tracking down and eliminating dozens of demons, warlocks, psionicists, rogue preterhumans, extradimensional creatures, and other entities (though his eye has no effect on non-organic beings, such as ghosts, or those with the appropriate talismans); D.P.I. magi were even able to mystically restore several life-forms ossified by his gaze in order to study them further.

Though a staunch patriot and devotedly loyal agent, Warren gradually became disillusioned with the methods and goals of the D.P.I.  Things came to a head during the Millennium Diabolicide when the D.P.I. attempted to purge St. Lazarus of all demonic life-forms, including humans with demonic ancestry.  After refusing to dispose of a half-succubus child Evil Eye was temporarily suspended pending further investigation and likely disciplinary action.  Disgusted by the actions of his superiors, Evil Eye went rogue.  When he failed to attend his disciplinary hearing the D.P.I. sent out a team of agents to bring the AWOL agent back, led by fellow enhanced agent Devil Dog, but Evil Eye managed to evade them despite his former comrade-in-arms' heightened tracking abilities.  While the D.P.I. agents continued their search Evil Eye contacted the Tenebrae himself (a feat few have ever managed) and offered them his services.

Evil Eye is a tall, powerfully built man of African American descent, with several prominent scars from knives and bullet-wounds and a series of pentacle tattoos on his arms signifying his "occult kills."  His Gorgon-eye is bloodshot and discoloured, with a crimson, faintly luminous iris.  Though one of the few members of the Tenebrae at all close with Hel – who seems to admire his consummate professionalism – he is still distrusted by some of his team-mates, especially Spriggan and Pareidolia, who suspects him of being a D.P.I. mole sent to keep tabs on the Tenebrae (she also resents the fact he managed to circumvent her anonymity wards and get a message into the Sepulchre).  Apart from being a top-notch assassin and espionage agent Evil Eye also picked up a few arcane tricks during his time at S.H.R.O.U.D. and the D.P.I., and is capable of dispelling a variety of charms and glamers, magically enhancing his stealth capabilities, and performing similarly minor occult feats.  His weapon of choice is a highly customized M40A5 bolt-action sniper rifle (loaded with blessed, silver, or warded bullets as required).  He uses his Gorgon eye only reluctantly, but is highly adept with it when required, able to dispatch a roomful of men with a glance.

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 6, Puissance 5, Resilience 6, Resolve 6, Expertise 7

Powers:

Ossifying Gaze: Evil Eye can make a Puissance check opposed by an enemy's Resilience check.  On a success, he deals 1d8 damage to the enemy.  If the damage dealt is equal to or greater than the enemy's current Resilience, the enemy has been ossified permanently (this effect can be dispelled).

Expert Sniper: Evil Eye uses his Expertise to hit with sniper rifles and gains +2 on such checks to hit when using sniper rifles.

Expert Infiltrator: Evil Eye gains +2 on Expertise checks pertaining to stealth, infiltration, and sabotage.

Expert Martial Artist: Evil Eye uses his Expertise to hit in hand-to-hand combat and deals 1d4 damage with an unarmed strike instead of the standard 1 damage.

Minor Magus: Evil Eye can make a Puissance check to attempt to dispel existing spell effects (Difficulty varies), ward a door against intruders (Difficulty 8), magickally open a door (Difficulty 8), perform a stealth charm (Difficulty 8) to give him an additional +2 on Expertise checks to conceal himself, produce a minor glamer (Difficulty 9), or conjure a minor demon (Difficulty 10 – the demon has Physique 5, Resilience 3, and Resolve 4, and deals 1d2 damage on a successful hit).

Weaknesses:

Apotropaic Talismans: talismans that ward against gorgons nullify Evil Eye's ossifying gaze.

Mirrors: if Evil Eye accidentally looks in a mirror with his ossifying gaze, he must make a Resilience check himself or suffer ossification.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Lamia]The daughter of the paranoid schizophrenic, and witch Zelia Moon, Lamia was born in the early twentieth-century, though her appearance has remained virtually identical since her induction into the organization, a side-effect of her abilities.  Zelia Moon was a member of the notorious Ouroboros Coven, a group linked to the worship of a variety of dark gods and elder-beings who have been frequent foes of the Tenebrae throughout its tenure in St. Lazarus.  She was stripped of her powers by the Tenebrae and placed in Belladonna Sanatorium, but eventually managed to escape the institution, tearing out the throat of an orderly when he attempted to sedate her and badly injuring a doctor before making her way into the nearby woods of Casket River Valley.  For days before her escape she raved about an entity she called the "Father of Serpents" or "Snake Daddy," claiming she would become the creature's bride.  A thorough search was conducted for Zelia but turned up nothing, until her exsanguinated corpse was discovered nine months later, floating down the Casket River, pregnant, with discoloured puncture marks on her neck and breasts suggesting snake-bites.  Zelia's corpse was fished from the water by some of the inhabitants of the valley, one of whom felt something squirm inside the cadaver.  Lamia was delivered by a local midwife through an emergency caesarian section, though the midwife nearly dropped the hissing, fanged infant in horror – Lamia was born with a number of grotesque deformities including scaly skin, slitted reptilian eyes, prominent fangs, and a forked tongue.

Sold to a travelling freak show by the unscrupulous locals who delivered her, Lamia had an unorthodox upbringing but did manage to find some measure of acceptance amongst the human oddities of the circus, being advertised by the carnival as "Serpent Girl."  During her adolescence, however, she began experiencing night terrors and mood swings – symptoms most chalked up to puberty.  During one act, however, she was overcome with a sudden, insatiable thirst; she seized a child in the audience and clamped her fangs to the boy's neck, draining him of blood in second.  As others rushed to intervene she fixed them with a strange stare that held them transfixed.  After drinking her fill she regained full control of herself and realized, to her horror, what she had done, then fled the scene of the crime and home of fourteen years.

For the next two decades Lamia wandered, disguising herself as best she could and feeding on animals as much as possible; when the thirst for human blood became overwhelming she would seek out the most depraved and vicious criminals she could find and slake her terrible thirst.  Legends proliferated of the Serpent Woman or Bloodsucker, and various agencies and societies began investigating the string of killings Lamia left in her wake.  Fortunately it was the Tenebrae who found her first, providing her with medicines to control her dark cravings.  She became an avid member of the team, using her powers to combat occult threats, finding a home amongst the strange, variegated group.  Having become an introverted, antisocial, distrustful woman, she slowly began to let down her guard, becoming gradually less withdrawn.

With the introduction of Cruor to the Tenebrae, Lamia found love for the first time.  The haemokinetic possesses the ability to rapidly replenish his blood supply and purge his system of blood-born poisons instantly, and so Lamia is able to feed on him without fear of hurting him; though their romance might seem unorthodox (Lamia is now nearly a century old, while Cruor is barely out of his twenties), their relationship is hardly the strangest to be found in the annals of the Tenebrae.

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 8, Puissance 5, Resilience 7, Resolve 6, Expertise 4

Powers:

Venemous Fangs: Lamia deals 1d4 damage in melee combat.  On a successful strike, she inflicts poison damage as well: the wounded individual must make an additional Resilience check of Difficulty 8 or take 2 damage to Physique.  Once Lamia has pinned someone she can also begin draining blood if she wishes (see below).

Blood Drain: after successfully hitting an opponent, Lamia can latch on with her fangs, dealing an additional 1d4 damage to Resilience per round.  Resilience drained in this way replenishes her own Resilience by 1 point for every point drained.

Hypnotic Gaze: Lamia can make a Puissance check opposed by an enemy's Resolve check.  If she beats the enemy, they become hypnotized and enthralled, unable to act until Lamia releases them from her gaze.  While she maintains a hypnotic gaze Lamia can attack and feed on an enemy but cannot take other major actions.  A hypnotized enemy gets a new check every round to break the enthralment, but once hypnotized they take a -2 penalty on these subsequent checks.

Weaknesses:

Cold-Blooded: in cold areas Lamia suffers -2 to Physique, Resilience, and Resolve checks, though her actual scores remain unchanged.

Bloodthirst: Lamia must feed on 4 Resilience worth of blood at least once every twenty-four hours.  If she fails to feed, she takes 1 Resilience damage and must make a Resolve check of Difficulty 8+1 for each day without feeding or attack the nearest creature with blood to slake her thirst.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Mollusc]The creature known as Mollusc is of extraterrestrial origin but has spent most of the last aeon sleeping underneath St. Lazarus.  It was accidentally awakened from its slumber by the Scions of Hyperborea during one of their expeditions into the caverns beneath St. Lazarus, and managed to kill the Neo-Nazi lich Totenkompf (of course, the undead necromancer later re-formed) before being driven away by the dreaded Black Sun.  Scorched and confused, the ancient entity fled the tunnels for the surface, where it began wreaking havoc in St. Lazarus itself.  Fortunately the Tenebrae were able to capture the creature before it did serious damage; after some time, they managed to learn to communicate with the being, and eventually the entity joined the Tenebrae as a true agent.  Mollusc is a member of an ancient race, the Eld, who once dwelt on earth long before the evolution of humans, but were slaughtered in great numbers by rival colonists, which it calls the Usurpers (now, apparently, long gone).  Those few Eld who survived the massacre fled into underground sanctuaries and entered a state of hibernation.  Mollusc is unsure if any others of its ilk survive or whether it is the last of its kind, at least on earth.

With slimy, membranous skin, a clutch of tentacles sprouting from its scalp, bulbous, squid-like eyes, an obscenely long, barbed tongue, a pair of leathery wings, and six limbs fully prehensile, Mollusc is obviously inhuman, and so must be cloaked by a glamer whenever it leaves the Sepulchre.  The very sight of the creature has been known to unhinge some, although the Tenebrae – who encounter oddities and bizarre creatures with regularity – are thoroughly immured to this effect.  Even when Mollusc is glamered it exudes a noxious stench, one which severely perturbs animals.  With effort, however, it can use its scent-glands to intensify its malodorous secretions, nauseating those nearby.  Fully amphibious, Mollusc must take a long bath every day or begin to dry out and weaken.  If deprived of water for an extended period, Mollusc secretes a mucilaginous coating and cocoons itself, entering a state of suspended animation (identical to the one in which the Scions discovered it).  Apart from its great strength and agility, flight, tentacles, and often lethal tongue, Mollusc is extremely knowledgeable about prehistory and certain items of ancient lore; it is familiar, for example, with the dreaded Formless Ones (one of which inhabits the Sinistral Institute director, the creature known as Alienist) and with a variety of primordial technologies.  Its inhuman memory is flawless, and its intellect is far above that of a human; it is able to perform extremely complex calculations very rapidly.

Since becoming one of the Tenebrae it has taken an intense interest in modern history and science.  After the previous Tenebrae librarian, Chiaroscuro, was killed while on a mission, Mollusc took over as the organization's librarian, flitting from shelf to shelf in the Sepulchre's extensive archive.  Calm, cerebral, and inscrutable, Mollusc often finds human behaviour, society, and emotion confusing.

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 8, Puissance 4, Resilience 6, Resolve 6, Expertise 6

Powers:

Flight: Mollusc can fly as fast as it can walk or run.

Amphibious: Mollusc can breathe underwater indefinitely and receives +4 to any Physique checks made to swim.

Six-armed: Mollusc can make three physical attacks every round against adjacent opponents or a single opponent.  Each attack deals 1d3 damage.

Barbed Tongue: Mollusc can forgo its normal attacks to make a single strike with its long, barbed tongue, dealing 1d6+2 damage if it strikes.

Tentacles: Mollusc can forgo its normal attacks to use its tentacles to subdue opponents with a successful opposed Physique check.

Maddening: Mollusc's mere appearance unhinges minds unused to it.  It must make a Puissance check against opposed by the affected creature's Resolve check.  If the creature fails, it takes 1d3 damage to its Resolve.  Individuals inured to the preternatural are immune to this effect, and those with limited experience with it gain +2 to Resolve checks to resist.

Eldritch Lore: Mollusc gains an additional +4 bonus to Expertise checks related to eldritch lore of all sorts – demonology, witchcraft, obscure cults, spells, alchemy, alien biology, and similar topics.

Weaknesses:

Hideous Appearance: Mollusc's alarming appearance makes it virtually impossible for it to interact peacefully with ordinary individuals without a glamer.

Dries Out: if Mollusc isn't immersed in water once every twelve hours, it temporarily loses 1 Resilience, losing additional Resilience until immersed (at which point all lost Resilience is restored).

Stench: Mollusc exudes a hideous stench that alerts those nearby to its presence, even if it's otherwise concealed.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Fetish]A powerful priestess and sacred prostitute of Ishtar (also known as Inanna and Astarte), ancient goddess of sex and violence, Fetish – or Mistress Delacroix as she is known in civilian life – has been gifted with the power to mentally dominate others who have been lulled into servitude by her aura of lust, a preternatural attractiveness that proves irresistible to those of either gender.  Though Fetish can suppress the ability if she wishes, when activated those able to see her become enthralled, obeying her every command; only powerful otherworldly beings or those of exceptional willpower are able to resist her.  Once an enslaved thrall moves out of Fetish's presence, her domination ceases to be effective.  By looking into a mortal's eyes, she can know whatever they desire most.  All of these abilities are fuelled by her sexual activities as a courtesan of Ishtar.  Having spent years as a dominatrix before becoming one of the Tenebrae, she also possesses a whip blessed by Ishtar which she can elongate to fantastic lengths and which, when looped around an enemy's neck or limbs, can constrict so powerfully that it cuts through flesh and bone.  She is highly skilled in an ancient form of martial art known only by the cult of Ishtar, a form of battle-dance.

A strong but easily angered woman, Fetish can be cruel and vindictive.  She first became involved with the Tenebrae after an incident involving the succubus Madame Meridiana, who was using her Petite Mort Escort Service as a means of collecting the souls of hapless johns, using the captured energy to establish her own "franchise" of Hell on earth.  Instructed by her goddess to cast out the Succubus – who posed a threat to the cult of Ishtar's own empire of lust, her control of the occult energies generated by the desires of those in St. Lazarus – she helped the Tenebrae bring down Madame Meridiana and her daughters, banishing the succubi back to the Abyss.  Ishtar later told Fetish to join the Tenebrae themselves, to help guard the city against further threats to her power.

Physically Fetish is tall, statuesque, of partially Arabic descent.  Her skin is covered with cuneiform tattoos, and she has a wide selection of ceremonial robes and bondage gear, her garb often combining the two; her chambers in the Sepulchre resemble a classic BDSM dungeon and an ancient Mesopotamian temple.  She continues to run her own club, the House of Heaven, whose employees are mostly also cultists of Ishtar.  The feud between Hel and Fetish is notorious.  The Norse goddess considers Ishtar a "vulgar deity" and openly mocks her religion as the faith of harlots, while also noting that Fetish's loyalties are divided.  Fetish, meanwhile, taunts Hel for being a washed-up goddess while her own deity, though much-diminished from her days of glory, retains her celestial seat and is still able to grant her followers power.  Of course, Hel is unaffected by Fetish's powers.

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 6, Puissance 7, Resilience 5, Resolve 6, Expertise 6

Powers:

Expert Martial Artist: Fetish uses her Expertise to hit in hand-to-hand combat and deals 1d4 damage with an unarmed strike instead of the standard 1 damage.

Blessed Whip: Fetish carries a blessed whip that deals 1d6 damage or can be used to disarm or subdue an enemy (resolved with an opposed Physique check).  Subdued enemies get a new check every round to escape a stranglehold.

Preternatural Attractiveness: Those in the presence of Fetish must make a Resolve check opposed by a Puissance check from Fetish; if they fail, they fall under her charms and are stricken with lust.  Those bewitched in this way suffer a -2 penalty on all subsequent Resolve checks made against Fetish.  Fetish can suppress this ability if she wishes.

Mental Domination: Fetish can exert further control against a target that has already been bewitched by her preternatural attractiveness, giving them orders.  She makes a Puissance check opposed by the enemy's Resolve check (remember the -2 penalty).  If they fail the check, they act as she orders, though if they leave her presence the compunction ceases.

Desire-Divination: Fetish can divine the deepest desire of an individual by looking into their eyes, requiring a Puissance check opposed by the target's Resolve check.

Weaknesses:

Sex-Fuelled Powers: Fetish must be sexually active to fuel her Powers.  For each day she fails to engage in any sexual activity she loses 1 point of Puissance temporarily.  Any sex-act (with a participant of any gender) with another person instantly returns her to full Puissance.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Endgame]The Antichrist, prophesied to play a crucial part in the end of the universe, Endgame ("Evan" to his friends) was taken into the care of the Tenebrae after they plucked him from the den of a demon-worshipping during the chaos of the Millennium Diabolicide.  Identifiable by the "Mark of the Beast" on the back of his neck, Endgame has a resentful attitude towards his supposed destiny, steadfastly rejecting the role thrust upon him.  Raised by the Tenebrae, he spent much of his childhood in the Sepulchre learning to control his inborn powers.  First and foremost, Endgame can wield the power of deception: lies he tells are preternaturally convincing, and though truly outrageous or absurd lies can still be seen through and disbelieved, normal mortals are naturally predisposed to believe anything Endgame tells them.  Secondly, Endgame has a pronounced tendency to bring out the worst in people: when Endgame is nearby, those around him are more likely to give in to their darker impulses, to ignore their consciences, and to become more aggressive, hateful, and generally antisocial.  With a great deal of practice, Endgame has learned to moderate or tune this effect; when he wishes, however, he can unleash the full extent of this ability, causing all but the purest around him to degenerate into violent, boundlessly cruel brutes.  Finally, he can call upon his dark heritage to temporarily assume the form of the Beast, a hulking demoniac monstrosity with a multitude of heads, eyes, horns, wings, and hooves able to breathe hellfire and unleash terrible destruction.  Reverting to his normal form, however, is extremely draining, leaving Endgame exhausted.

At seventeen years of age, Endgame is barely old enough to be considered a true Tenebrae operative, and must always be accompanied by other members during patrols.  With long, black hair and a somewhat pasty complexion, nothing about his appearance immediately betrays his infernal power; he looks like any other teenager, and his tendency to sullenness, petty rebellion, and social awkwardness only adds to his illusion.  Endgame spends most of his time cooped up in his room in the Sepulchre playing video-games and listening to industrial rock (he dislikes overtly "Satanic" music, however).  Various Tenebrae have home-schooled him in a variety of subjects, including a wide range of occult topics.  He nurses a severe crush on Hel.

Were Endgame to ever embrace his heritage fully and undergo the diabolic rites necessary for him to take up his mantle as Endbringer, his powers would be greatly magnified.  The Whore of Babylon – better known by her modern moniker, the Babe – has attempted to seduce Endgame to the side of darkness on several occasions, hoping to restore him to his full status as an infernal messiah.  The D.P.I. have also tried to capture Evan, while the vigilante Reverend Gibbet and the fanatic known as Pentecost both want him dead.  Because of this plethora of factions and individuals after him, Endgame was forced to lead a sheltered existence within the Tenebrae's sanctum, and has few friends his own age, the closest being Cruor.

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 4, Puissance 10, Resilience 5, Resolve 7, Expertise 4

Powers:

Preternatural Deception: all lies Endgame speaks are, by default, believed.  Egregious lies require a Puissance check opposed by an enemy's Resolve.  Obvious untruths easily and clearly contradicted by observable reality do not count as "lies" for the purpose of this Power.

Emotional Manipulation: by making a Puissance check opposed by an enemy's Resolve check, Endgame can manipulate the emotions of targets, inciting only negative emotions: extreme aggression, depraved lust, or bitter despair, for example.

Beast Form: Endgame can assume a Beast Form with a Puissance check of Difficulty 12.  While in this form he has Physique 10, Puissance 10, Resilience 12, Resolve 10, and Expertise 2.  While in this form his claws, horns, and fangs can deal 1d8 damage and he gains a  fire-breath attack that deals 1d6 damage to everyone in a fifteen-foot burst.  Each round he remains in this form, he must make a Puissance check at +1 Difficulty/round.  Once he fails the check, he reverts to his normal form and suffers a -2 penalty to checks of all kinds for 1 hour.

Weaknesses:

Holy Water: The touch of blessed water deals 1d2 damage to Endgame.  Full immersion deals 1d6 damage per round.  Weapons dipped in holy water deal an addition +1 damage against Endgame.

Holy Symbols and Phrases: Enemies reciting holy phrases or wearing holy symbols receive a +4 bonus to Resolve checks against Endgame's Powers and always get a Resolve check against his Preternatural Deception.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ic=Quadra]The woman once known as Teresa Racht (Tessa to her friends) was a child prodigy in mathematics, gaining a full scholarship to the University of St. Lazarus at the young age of fourteen, and graduating six years later with a double PhD in mathematics and theoretical physics with research concentrations in fractal geometry and quantum mechanics.  While her talents gained her much attention, they ended up translating into few real opportunities: her young age, brash, borderline arrogant demeanor, painfully honest mode of speech, and somewhat slovenly appearance resulted in a distinct lack of employment.  On the other hand, due to her great talent and diverse skill set, she gained the attention of the Tenebrae, who had no qualms about her eccentricities – compared to some of their members, such things were mild.  Young Tessa was all too eager to have real work, and quite engaging challenges at that.  They frequently contracted her to tackle esoteric mathematical problems relating to the possibility of parallel universes and higher dimensions. At this time, she was but an interesting and talented human, so they did not tell her the true nature of their organization, and she did not ask too many questions.

Teresa has a genius-level intellect, and despite the Tenebrae's desire to keep her in the dark concerning some of the implications of the problems they presented her with, she began to realize what the data she was working with meant and began doing experiments of her own.  During one such ill-fated experiment, however, Tessa received what should have been a lethal dose of entropic radiation – directly to her face no less.  It was only through the timely intervention of the Tenebrae that she was not killed, as the organization had planted monitoring wards throughout her apartment.  Initially, it was thought she had been blinded, but in actuality, she had gained a higher degree of sight, her eyes warped by the entropic energies and gaining extradimensional perception.  She struggled with it at first, suffering frequent migraines, but she eventually came to master her new perception, as well as the other abilities that came with it.  Out of a sense of loyalty and gratitude, or perhaps simply lacking anywhere else to go, she became a full member of the Tenebrae, now known as Quadra.

Quadra could certainly be called cute, but she could also certainly be called slight, pale, and often rather unkempt – a scruffy waif.  Her eyes are actually hyperspheres, and seem to perpetually shimmer and change color from blue to purple to orange and back again; when she needs to go out in public, she frequently keeps them hidden behind large sunglasses, regardless of the time of day.  Although not overtly antisocial, she has deep resentment of authority, and tends to be easily distracted by "interesting" intellectual challenges, completely unrelated to any mission at hand.  Teresa's office in the Sepulchre is unusual, to the say the least, organized in a way that only makes sense to her.  Her filing system violates most of the laws of physics as most would perceive them, and her desk is usually covered in elaborate towers of mathematical and scientific publications, unfolded polychora, origami animals, and various objects that have been displaced into the fourth dimension giving them strange and disturbing shapes.  These intricate towers seem impossibly precarious, but Quadra insists this is only due to the limits of three-dimensional perception and that they are in fact "quite stable."  Her closest friends among the Tenebrae are probably Miasma, who cared for her during her convalescence, and Mollusc, whom she finds fascinating and questions ad nauseum, claiming its body is "fascinating" (Mollusc itself finds her attentions rather flattering and slightly unnerving).  Quadra has something of a professional rivalry with Pareidolia, finding the chaos witch's methodologies highly suspect; the two do occasionally collaborate, but such cooperation is fleeting.

[spoiler=Powers and Abilities]Attributes: Physique 4, Puissance 8, Resilience 4, Resolve 6, Expertise 8

Powers:

Four Dimensional Awareness: Quadra can use her Puissance for initiative and to dodge physical attacks, as long as she is aware and physically able to make the necessary movements.

Transdimensional Clarity:  Most visual illusions and glamers completely fail to affect Quadra, as they lack the proper fourth dimensional contours of a real object. However, illusions projected directly into her mind generally will affect her.

Ana-Kata Reach: Quadra is able to reach into a direction perpendicular to the normal curvature of space. Complex sleight of hand becomes rather easy, few locks or sealed containers are able to keep their contents safe from a rotation along their w-axis, and the consequences for a living being are anything from severe disorientation if they are slightly tilted to a gruesome death if they are entirely upended. This Difficulty of the Puissance check is 8 (and, as such, usually automatic) for small things on her person, 10 for things like common locks or objects too large for her to carry in one hand, and 12 or more for intricate locks that require precision manipulations in four dimensions. She may also have to make a Physique check if she has to move something particularly heavy.

Pre-Cognition: Quadra can study a situation with her enhanced perception and apply elementary (at least to her) hyper-kinematics, making sense in four dimensions of situations that seem inherently unpredictable in three. This takes a single round and requires an Expertise check of Difficulty 10, granting her a +2 bonus on all checks for the next round. If her margin of success is greater than 0, her bonus lasts additional rounds equal to her margin of success. Only one precognition bonus can be active at a time.

Transdimensional Twist: Quadra can grab an enemy's limbs and twist them into impossible positions in the fourth dimension. As such, her unarmed strikes do 1d4 damage instead of the normal 1. As long as this is the only active (i.e., perception or dodging don't count) use of her power this round, she also gets a +2 bonus to her attack.  If Pre-Cognition is active, this bonus stacks with the one she gains from it.

Weaknesses:

Line of Sight: Due to her enhanced sight, Quadra is actually more vulnerable to gaze and other line-of-sight-based attacks, as she cannot help but see "around" something that may protect a normal viewer. All enemies trying to use such attacks against her can target her Resilience or Resolve as normal, and additionally get a +2 bonus.[/spoiler]
Quadra was created by sparkletwist.[/ic]

Like I said in the other thread, I'd totally love to play as Abyzou again.

I mentioned in the previous thread that I found Spriggan intriguing, but I believe dibs were already called and ninjaing him in a new thread would be quite rude.  If the original caller wants him, Endgame looks fun too.

They're all so cool!

However, I'm still interested with playing Spriggan, but since they're all so cool, if anyone wants him we can throw a dice or whatever and if I lose I'll select another :)

Spriggan, Endgame, and Abyzou together would make a very interesting foundation for a party - a lot of emotional manipulation/deception powers!

Nice. I find quite a few of them appealing, and I can't decide at the moment. :)
[spoiler=Ok sure]Everyone knows that I'll just end up playing Fetish.[/spoiler]

As for system, my vote would be for rules-light and "narrativist," of course. :D
Maybe some adaptation of what you were using for Sixguns. I'll also chime in Q&D, though revisions to that are in progress so you might want to wait and see the new version... :)
FATE might work, too, of course.  :grin:

I figured Fetish and Pareidolia (who functions as a kind of "narrativist" character: able to manipulate probability and the environment) would be up your street.

Thanks for the system suggestions!

Yeah, a more narrativist kind of system would also appeal to me a little bit more than something rules heavy and where I got to put too much focus on the meta side of the game.

Mollusc sounds right up my alley.

Quote from: Pymtein Magnushake
Yeah, a more narrativist kind of system would also appeal to me a little bit more than something rules heavy and where I got to put too much focus on the meta side of the game.

Having played Mutants and Masterminds quite a bit, I found it to require a decent amount of optimization to make your characters even viable and extremely prone to power gaming.  I am too in favor of a narrativist system, being a hater of rules in most cases.

Additionally Pymtein, I'm fine playing Endgame if you don't see anything other than Spriggan you want.  If there's another option that you find appealing, I'll gladly roll off for him.

Sounds like a rules-light system is the way to go.  I'm perusing Fate Core, although for a one-shot/episodic something even more simplistic may be fine.  Maybe something along the lines of my own Rugged system would work, with bare-bones stats and flexible, mostly non-quantified Powers, and maybe some sort of Drama point system to influence the narrative.

Quote from: Steerpike
Sounds like a rules-light system is the way to go.  I'm perusing Fate Core, although for a one-shot/episodic something even more simplistic may be fine.  Maybe something along the lines of my own Rugged system would work, with bare-bones stats and flexible, mostly non-quantified Powers, and maybe some sort of Drama point system to influence the narrative.

This is me being inexperienced with FATE and making other suggestions anyway, but have you ever seen Lady Blackbird?  It is literally made for one-shots, and has a challenge resolution system that rewards playing your character accurately rather than having to build them for combat.  I ran it once, was fun.  Just thought it could be worth looking at.

I'd seen it once, but haven't run it.  Looks like a neat little story-centric system - thanks for the link!

I'll be the (so far) lone voice for something a bit less rules-lite :)

I really like EvilEye, very cool. Overall it's great and I'll happily read more to come