Stigmatics: The vast majority of people go their entire lives without learning anything about the God-Machine. What glimpses that some catch are dismissed as belonging to the realm of conspiracy theories. But for some, the touch of the God-Machine is not so easily dismissed. The God-Machine becomes a clear and harsh reality. There are many ways to become Stigmatic, but the most common are:
- A Dramatic Failure on a Breaking Point caused by encountering something of God-Machine origin, whether this is Infrastructure, an Angel, a Demon, a Cryptid, or something stranger.
- Overexposure to gadgets (or use of a lambda)
- The use of the Inflict Stigmata Exploit
- Being the child of one of the Unchained, adopted or otherwise
Character Creation: Stigmatic characters are designed just like mortal characters, but they begin play with Unseen Sense (God-Machine), one dot of the Stigmata Merit, and the Omen Sensitivity Merit. They also gain an additional three dots of Merits to develop Supernatural Merits. If a character becomes stigmatic during play, they gain all of the above expect for the three additional Merit dots.
Note- Seeing the Gears: Like the Unchained, stigmatics are capable of seeing through the magical occlusion of the God-Machine, albeit only when their stigmata manifests. Fortunately, exposure to the works of the God-Machine triggers stigmata manifestation.
Heirs to Hell: Occasionally, the Unchained have children, and they have lives wondrous, paranoid, and strange, possessed of their own Cipher. The three kinds of demon-blooded, Offspring, Latents, and Fractals are stigmatic from birth. Use the following guidelines for the different types of demon-blooded characters:
- Latents: Treated as a stigmatic, but if they are exposed to conditions where they would become a stigmatic, they awaken into Offspring.
- Offspring: Gain the Noted Condition
- Fractal: Gain the Catalogued Condition
Note- Giants in the Earth: If you have the Demon Storyteller’s Guide and want to incorporate the Nephilim in your Chronicle without using that particular setting, consider rolling the demonic parent’s Primum (as a teamwork action for Fractals). On a success the demon-blooded child becomes a Nephil. Design a Nephil character as a Fractal, but also give them three Demonic Form powers (not including Propulsions or Processes).
Note- Reprogramming the Cipher: If you have the Demon Storyteller’s Guide the various ways of approaching the Cipher apply equally for demon-blooded Ciphers, with one notable exception. If the demon-blooded attempts to form the Pentagram by forcing a fifth Key into their Cipher, they suffer a point of Aggravated Damage (per Primum +1, for the Nephilim) but the Activated Condition resolves and thereafter they suffer Compromise like a demon as opposed to the demon-blooded. They become a rogue element in the God-Machine’s plans.
Modified Merit
Stigmata (• to •••••)
Effect: Once per week, in a time of great stress or high drama (such as exposure to God-Machine phenomena) the stigmatic manifests their stigmata by suffering a point of resistant Lethal damage. They gain the 8-again quality to their next Supernatural Merit roll after the stigmata has manifested. Because of the intense, divinely-sourced experience of the stigmata, your character always starts a scene with at least as much Willpower equal to half your Merit dots rounded up and their wounds heal twice as fast.
Drawback: When your stigmata manifests you suffer a wound penalty equal to half your Merit dots rounded up, and rolls to notice or remembers you gain an equivalent bonus due to the presence of the stigmata (treat it as a Brand or Tell Glitch, +1 is Minor, +2 is Major, and +3 is Catastrophic). Even when fully healed, the stigmata manifests at least in its Minor form. Additionally, your character’s blood is treated as Aether, meaning that while you could empower gadgets or refill stockpiles, you also become a rather valuable resource to numerous Aether-hungry horrors.
(Note: Based off the Merit of the same name in Secrets of the Covenants)
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