New Family: Irkalla, Nightmare of the End

[Cinder]

And of course this is good. Now let me find the right words to express it... oh, and please do send our regards to that hypothetical person who would be glad

Thanks, I'll let him know : P

[21C Hermit]

Or Anakim, with regards to the fear of the singularity; an inevitable future no one person can deny.


And of course this is good. Now let me find the right words to express it... oh, and please do send our regards to that hypothetical person who would be glad

[Cinder]

Hmm. That made me think of people's fear of "the singularity", and more generally the fear of change and/or being replaced. I'm not sure what Family that would fall under.

Irkalla a little bit, since a common transhumanist counterpoint is that the Singularity would also mean the death of true mankind and life as we know it . More generally, they also can cover fear of one's existence to go beyond a point of no return. They're a static doomed Nurgle against Tzeentch's hopeful embrace of change (I think to remember you making Warhammer quotes, so I allowed myself that comparison), so there's some room for that.

But, with canonical ones on the table, I'd rather go with Makara (fear of getting lost in a world that changes), Namtaru (revulsion towards the new state of being), Inguma (fear of those new others who might replace you) and Talassi (being kept trapped by an impostor).

[Vent0]

Hmm. That made me think of people's fear of "the singularity", and more generally the fear of change and/or being replaced. I'm not sure what Family that would fall under.

[Cinder]

Cinder,do you remember the bit on the page 60 of the corebook,about the Dark Mother being actually a metaphor for the heat death of the universe? Do you think many irkalla believe that?

I imagine a lot would, since all the Families have a set of beliefs where the Dark Mother is essentially "my Family, but bigger and badder" and nobody's exactly right, but at the same time I do think that many others would rather think of their progenitor not as a metaphor for the ultimate death itself but rather for the fear of death, the glimmer of terror in the eyes of living beings when they realize the end is near. Which is equally powerful (even more so depending on the philosophy you like the most) but would "limit" Nightmare Mom as the death of life and not the death of existence.

That and the fact I like Mummy's Ammut a lot and think that's her role, no matter what the Begotten might think. I expect some Irkalla to make confusion between the two cosmic forces and learn the lesson painfully, that's for sure

[Nicolas Milioni]

Cinder,do you remember the bit on the page 60 of the corebook,about the Dark Mother being actually a metaphor for the heat death of the universe? Do you think many irkalla believe that?

[Cinder]

In all seriousness,this is god stuff. Original,Creative amazing.

Thanks a lot.

Someone I know might have reacted to the Player's Guide being that awesome book it is by turning to alcohol, crying, hitting walls with theatrical dramaticity and screaming into pillows "Why. Can't. I. Be. This. Good?", plus various others exclamations of despair and self-hate. Thus, for that theoretical person to see that people still like what he writes would mean a lot. Not saying names, of course.

Ahem.

Looks good. It could use some editing, but conceptually it looks solid. I'm looking forward to the Atavisms and Nightmares.

I'll check it and try to to correct it some more, thanks to the heads up. The Atavism will require some serious tuning work, so it might take a little.

[Vent0]

Looks good. It could use some editing, but conceptually it looks solid. I'm looking forward to the Atavisms and Nightmares.

[Nicolas Milioni]

In all seriousness,this is god stuff. Original,Creative amazing.

[Nicolas Milioni]

Cinder,you are officially the Beast the Primordial Guru/Bodhissavtha/Sage/Master.

[Cinder]

- Atavisms


All Is Dust

Embodiments of the end, the Irkalla deliver destruction and death with their mere presence. A Reaper is a fearsome monster that can annihilate its foes and make everything around it crumble, leaving only desolation in its path.

Action: Reflexive, Instant (Satiety expenditure only)

Dice Pool: Strength + Occult + Lair (Satiety expenditure only)

Normal Effect: An aura of ruin surrounds the Beast, eroding away objects, structures and obstacles. All objects within a (Lair dots) yards radius from the Begotten suffer 1 point of Structure damage each minute, ignoring Durability. The damage applies after the time has passed, as the Atavism gradually corrupts it. The objects carried by the Beast are not subjected to this effect, but those carried by her allies still are, with the exception of her Broodmates. While the Beast herself might not show any clue about her nature while using the normal Satiety effect, the impact of the gradual damage caused by the Atavism is clearly supernatural. How it manifests depends on the Beast’s Horror: Irkalla often make objects age and rust at ridiculous speed, but other Begotten might make them crack out of nowhere or even cover them in cobwebs, corals and make them look how they would appear after decades of exposure. The effect can be turned on and off at the Beast’s discretion as a Reflexive action.

Objects enhanced by magic or supernatural powers can be damaged but not completely destroyed by the normal and low Satiety effect. but Satiety expenditure does give the Beast a chance to do that.

Furthermore, the Beast is immune to all penalties and Environmental Tilts that would impede her movement on the ground. Plants wither, rocks turn to dust and water evaporates as the Begotten approaches. The power is not strong enough to protect the Beast from everything, cannot be used to damage enemies and only works while the Begotten is on foot, but she has no longer to worry about being impeded, to a degree. As a rule of thumb, environmental hazards that can be compared to minor Lair Traits don't represent a problem, but anything more severe than that does. This only applies to movement: the Beast still suffers damage or other effects caused by walking or being exposed to hazards of any kind.


Low Satiety: the decay caused by the Beast is now faster and more aggressive. The amount of damage to Structure raises to (Lair/2, minimum 1) per minute and the radius increases to (Lair x 2) yards.

Additionally, the Begotten’s hunger is so strong that the Atavism is able to erode projectiles and deprive the precision of their trajectories. She gains an amount of additional Defense against all ranged attacks equal to her Lair. Bullets rust, arrows break mid-air and even supernatural attacks like flames or lightning suffocate when aimed at the Beast.

Satiety Expenditure: with a gesture, the Beast lets out a wave of devastation and decay that lays waste to the surroundings. Begotten with this Atavism remind those around them of the futility of attachments and protections against the end. The objects and structures men build matter nothing and them, like people, will indeed be reduced to dust. The player spends a point of Satiety and rolls a special attack with Strength + Occult + Lair as dice pool. All items and buildings within (Lair) yards suffer a direct amount of damage to their Structure equal to the successes rolled. Mundane objects destroyed by the attack cannot be repaired. People caught within aren’t safe, as the decay can spread to their bodies after their tools and defenses are obliterated. If the damage of the Satiety expenditure effect exceed the Structure of the highest Durability object a person is wearing or holding, the exceeding damage is dealt to that person as direct aggravated damage. For example, if a character fighting against a Begotten has a Size 1, Durability 3 pistol with him (total Structure 4) and the Beast rolls seven successes, the pistol is destroyed and the character takes three points of aggravated damage. As a person’s possession crumble, they can’t do nothing but scream when the force that caused so does not stop there and gives her a taste of the end as well. When the skin cracks, flesh rots away, bones melt and those around you turn into dust carried by the wind, few can deny the might of the Begotten. Broodmates whose Lair is connected to that of the Begotten take no damage from the Satiety expenditure effect unless the Beast wishes so

Objects enhanced by magic or supernatural powers (including those empowered by a Hero's Anathemas) are damaged normally, but before receiving the last point of damage to Structure, at Storyteller’s discretion, the Atavism provokes a Clash of Wills between their owner (or the source of their power) and the Beast. If the Beast loses, the objects are not destroyed and are immune to the Atavism’s normal and low Satiety effects for the remainder of the scene.

If the Beast is tagged with an Anathema that manifests through an object of some kind (like Bane or Weaponbound, for example), that object is completely immune to all the ranks of this Atavism if the Beast is at High Satiety and the Begotten receives a -2 penalty to all Clash of Wills rolls made to determine if she's able to destroy it if she's at Normal Satiety


Tear Down the Walls

Medium between our world and others, Beasts can turn into a beacon for otherworldly beings. By using the innate connections of her primordial heritage, a Begotten is able to communicate with those creatures easily and allow them to interact with the material world while using the Beast as anchor. At its strongest, the Begotten shapes to the nightmarish symbols and ephemera of the Primordial Dream into physical form, giving birth to hordes of ravenous entities that only exist to sate their own hunger.

When buying this Atavism, choose a type of ephemeral beings. The Atavism’s normal and low Satiety effects only work on the selected category, though there’s no mechanical difference with the Satiety expenditure one. The Atavism can be bought again at a reduced price of 2 Experience (1 for Irkalla Beasts) to expand it purview, with access to a different kind of ephemeral creature at each purchase. Angels cannot be chosen when taking this Atavism and are not affected by it.

Action: Reflexive (normal and low Satiety effects) or Instant (Satiety expenditure)

Dice Pool:Presence + Occult (Satiety expenditure)

Normal Effect: the Beast is able to perceive its chosen kind of ephemeral creature, touch and interact with them as she is in their corresponding state of Twilight. This enhanced perception only applies to creatures and does not grant the Begotten any special insight about the worlds from which these entities come from. Still, it allows the Beast to notice, communicate and influence those ephemeral beings easily: in addition to the bonus granted by Thicker Than Water, the Begotten also adds her Lair dots as a bonus on all Social rolls made against ephemeral creatures.

Low Satiety: the Beast’s presence weakens the walls between worlds and makes it easier for ephemeral beings to manifest. When using the Atavism, the general location around the Begotten (the building when inside or the surroundings when outside) attunes itself to otherworldly influences. Depending on which kind of ephemeral creatures the Atavism has effect upon, incorporeal entities can manifest with little effort. Ghosts treat the place as if it is tagged with the Anchor Condition and spirits treat it as if it is tagged with the Resonant Condition. The effects lasts for a number of hours equal to the Beast’s Lair and the Beast cannot end it prematurely.

Satiety Expenditure: the Beast calls forth a number of malevolent creatures from the depth of the Primordial Dream to do her bidding. Roll Presence + Occult. For each success, one of these beings appears. The aesthetics vary: Irkalla often summon hordes of zombies, while other Begotten might create trolls, predators of various kinds, fish-men or sentient amoebas. It ultimately does not matter, these creatures (technically Actors, BPG page 157) are forged from Primordial Dream’s ephemera processed through the Beast’s Horror and their presence defies logic. The minions use simplified stats as ephemerals do, but are completely physical. They have the following base stats:

Tear Down the Walls’ Minion

Power 1, Finesse 1, Resistance 1
Size: 5
Health: 6
Willpower: 0
Defense: 1
Speed “species factor”: 4
Speed: 6

The Beasts gets a number of “points” to distribute among the minion’s attributes equal to her Lair, used to determine the stats and traits of those summoned. Storytellers are free to decide whether the points can be spent each time the Satiety expenditure effect is used or they can be redistributed each time the Beast acquires a Lair dot: the former allows way more versatility, but the latter speeds up and simplifies things. The minions are often of limited intellect, if not utterly mindless, but instinctively obey the orders of the Begotten that made them and those of her Broodmates. They have no ranged attacks, but their melee and brawl attacks inflict lethal damage. The minions disappear at the end of the scene, crumbling to dust or rotting away as their ephemera is reabsorbed by the Primordial Dream. They are subjected to the same Anathema their creator is currently tagged with.


Threadcutter

Irkalla vary in shape and form, some related to death itself while others embodying different kind of endings. The inescapable truth that they all share, though, is that the ends comes from all and there’s no way to notice or stop it until it’s too late. Whether this means that the Beast will inevitably find her prey, give it a taste of oblivion or even tear away its soul, it all ultimately reminds her victims of their insignificance and lack of defenses against the end.
Action: Reflexive, Instant (Satiety Expenditure)

Dice Pool: Presence + Lair - Resolve (low Satiety), Strength + Lair - Resolve (Satiety expenditure)

Normal Effect: the Beast is able to remove herself from the minds of those around her and even become incorporeal by concentrating enough, severing her connection to the material world just enough to pass through obstacles. She imposes a penalty equal to her (Lair dots) to all rolls made to notice her presence. This penalty does not apply if the Beast is openly hostile and all those who succeed on their Perception roll, interact directly with her or enter in a conflict against the Begotten no longer suffer from it for the remainder of the chapter.

By focusing one turn on a solid surface or object, the Beast effectively cuts away the interactions her body and the material should have. She’s able to walk through it and move as if she were incorporeal, and all the objects she brings with or grabs become “incorporeal” as well. The Begotten can, for example, put a hand in a safe and take what’s within. Other characters can still interact with her and she’s not immune to any sort of damage or Condition. Should the Beast take one point of lethal or aggravated damage while crossing through, the Atavism interrupts and she immediately takes an amount of aggravated damage equal to the Durability of the solid she was phasing through.

Low Satiety: the touch of the Begotten severs the victim’s mind from her perceptions, eventually leading her to a maddening nothingness. This requires one turn of direct contact or, in combat, a successful brawl attack. If, out of combat, the Beast scores more successes than the target’s Stamina with a Presence + Lair - the target’s Resolve roll or does the same with her attack roll, the opponent loses one of the traditional five senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, at Beast’s choice). This can be represented by a variety of Conditions and Tilts (Blinded, Deafened, Confused, the moderate version of Sick, just to make some examples). The effects are cumulative. Should the target lose all five, she gains a persistent version of the Insensate Tilt that does not end after taking damage. The senses return to normal at the end of the scene and all the Conditions and Tilts are removed.

Satiety Expenditure: at its most terrible, the Atavism allows the Begotten to rip away the souls of her preys from their body. This requires for the Beast’s target to be vulnerable or unaware. Out of combat, this usually means they’re asleep, heavily drugged, severely feverish or unconscious, while in a fight it requires them to be tagged with the Immobilized or Insensate Tilts. The Beast spends 1 Satiety and rolls Strength + Lair - the target’s Resolve, while her Horror merges with the Begotten’s physical form. On a success, the Beast removes the soul and hurls it into Twilight. The target gains the Soulless Condition, which lasts for a number of days equal to the Beast’s Lair, at which point the soul returns to its owner (provided nothing happened to it). While the Beast is trying to remove the soul, all the bystanders can glimpse her Horror juxtaposing to her physical body.


- Hungers

- Irkalla Tyrants establish dominance through the fear of endings, making clear that they’re the one in a position of power and that those who wish to be spared can only do so through utter submission. They teach their victims that the Irkalla is the one in control and none other. Those Irkalla who don’t mind the spotlight take up the mantle of leadership and promise others to guide them through their tribulations. Many Reapers do get their own hands dirty and set themselves as the one thing people should be afraid of, but less openly brutal ones prefer to exploit already existing fears and ramp them up in order to subject those below them to a constant threat of an impending doom they can use to assert superiority. Those few that try to escape their clutch are brutally brought back in the ranks or eliminated, not because they represent a threat but as a matter of fact for showing the arrogance to dare to deny the inevitable.

Mobsters are a superstitious lot. Francesca knew it since she was a little kid, learning it from those she grew up with. Her father, a small fry who died in prison after being used as scapegoat by, treated both her and her mother like shit. She was not sad to see him gone, but she still vowed to get some satisfaction as a matter of principle. Finding someone to blame for that was not difficult and Francesca enjoyed the tales of terror that spread through the neighbourhood after his partners retrieved what was left of the body. With just a little sense for theatrics and the knowledge of where to strike it only took a bunch of months to weed out the competition and cultivate a legend. Now all criminals in town know that their lives depend on the benevolence of the Lady of Bones. Some even started to pray her and it’s those that Francesca admits to her own entourage, giving them a taste of power as long as they show they’ll die for her.


- Most Irkalla Collectors take what makes people cling to the past and make it their own. Several Reapers justify this as a lesson in letting go what’s not gonna come back and move forward, though the sudden disappearance of those treasures sometimes has an emotional impact that does more harm than good to the acceptance process a person is going through. Others would rather see their Hunger as a way to show that getting attached to representations of what was important to you only leaves old wounds open and that’s a weakness people need to get rid of. There are also many Irkalla that express their craving in a different way and collect proof on endings that left a deep impact, like proofs recovered from the scene of a grisly murder, items that can be associated with the end of an era or morbid mementos of great tragedies. The hoards of Irkalla Collectors are galleries of made of loss, failures and tears.

If you ask, Fabienne will tell you he does it for their own good. To succeed is certainly not a bad thing, but to succeed once and never again sure can be. Some people gotta accept perhaps it was not meant to be. That’s why the Irkalla breaks in the homes of those who cling to their past and steals those mementos whose only purpose right now is to haunt their owner with memories of what’s long gone. You could have been a contender, he gets it, but it’s time to move onward. Life does not end because a broken leg kept you outside the field or of a lover that left. Sometimes you’re to blame, sometimes you’re not, but it’s useless to cry on old pictures while your real life is is passing by.


- Irkalla Predators are among the most terrible of their kind. As creatures born from the fear of the end, all Reapers are innately apt at making others remember of their mortality, but Irkalla Predators do so with a kind of direct nightmarish clarity that few others can match. Reapers have a talent to make their preys feel as if the hunt and the lesson that come with it are directly aimed them, even among a crowd of terrified people looking at a maimed body left there to make a point. Reaper Predators are rarely subtle, but not all aim immediately at their chosen target, sometimes preferring to do what’s in their power to make impossible for them to not think about what would happen should doom come for them. If that’s enough for the lesson to stick, good. If not, that’s an easy problem to solve. It’s far too easy for Irkalla Predators to take the easy way and become unrepentant killers. Close as they are to death, it takes only a little to cross the line and turn a lesson in an eulogy. After a while, the line just disappears while only screams remain.

People are dying out there. Too many lives wasted because they were born in the wrong place at the wrong time. Luck should not be a factor, but it is and while Frank accepted long ago that’s not something he has the power to change, he can at least level the field a bit. Instead of going after those who have too little, the Irkalla goes against those who had too much. After all, they should know that they are not better than others in the face of death. It’s obviously more dangerous than feeding on the poor, but Frank was never a man that goes for the easy path. In fact, he’s growing tired of other monsters not sharing his views and leaving those who are already suffering alone, to the point he’s seriously considering to extend his hunts to the


- Irkalla Nemeses bring the kind of retribution of the tragedies of old, the ones that spoke of kingdoms falling and household being erased from history because of crimes against the laws of the living and the dead. Reaper Nemeses are there both to remind that endings are inevitable and that one must not try to escape them and that those who bring ruin to others must be ready to face the consequences. They hunt down those who avoided punishment for the pain they caused and the lives they’ve broken, either literally of metaphorically, or those who believe themselves to be above good, evil, life and death. One might be able to flee for a while, but the end will still come and to defy it only means to enrage it. Reaper Nemeses often accept that their role of judge, jury and sometimes executioner leaves them no more innocent than their victims and that they’ll have to be held accountable for their actions and eventually pay for them, even if that won’t stop them. Many Irkalla Nemeses also teach people to respect what’s gone and that endings leave a mark on people that at times need to be dealt with. These Nemeses often take on the mantle of guardians of the dead and speak for them, ready to obtain the vengeance the spectres can’t obtain by themselves

The job came later, as a natural consequence of everything else, but nowadays it’s arguably just as important as the rest. Rhonda might not be the most beloved volunteer of the center, but that’s just because she no patience for bullshit. They’d tell you to speak with a lawyer, to call the police and be patient, that violent spouses and stalkers should be dealt with in the legal way, but the Reaper is having none of that. She knows well that certain people don’t stop until they’re stopped and that legal actions don’t scare them enough to make clear that whatever rights they believe to have on defenseless women and children, those are gone or never existed in the first place. But her punishments aren’t forgotten as easily, which means Rhonda has no qualms at getting personally involved should the situation require it. She usually stops right before going too far, but makes sure the lesson is learned.


- Irkalla Ravagers are a force to be reckoned with. Where the Ravagers of other Families color their hunger with aspects of their own nature, Reaper Ravagers sow ruin for ruin’s sake. They’re the living demonstration of the illusions of control people innately believe to keep going on with their lives. Illusions that, when broken, leave space to awful nihilistic truths: there’s no real safety, you can’t make plans for the future and all the things you love are going to end someday, whether you like it or not. The end will come. It’s not a matter of power, preparations or anything: that’s just how things are. Nobody is a factor against the end and oblivion waits for everything equally. Many do enjoy destroying the properties of those showing an excessive attachments to their belongings. Irkalla Ravagers trying to teach a lesson ask the following question: after disaster has struck, after what you believed fundamental to your existence is gone and life as you knew it has ended, what you’re gonna do? Do you really needed that to survive or you’re stronger than you think? The aftermath of an Irkalla Ravager’s rampage are often ripe with boundless devastation, but the strength of their lessons is hard to deny.

Faith is a restless soul, travelling around the country with all means possible. She’s quick to make friends and rarely causes any trouble, but usually stands around to learn enough about the inhabitants. There are people out there that think they’d be able to deal with whatever the universe will throw at them and it’s those that Faith puts to test. In her travels, she has destroyed bunkers, survivalist stashes and actual weapon arsenals, though she keeps some food for herself more often than she’d like to admit. It’s not like she means to harm the owners, but they gotta learn that to store loads of stuff behind a reinforced door should not be the whole point of living.


- The kind of secrets Irkalla Whispers hunger for are those that can turn lives upside down should they ever be revealed. Cheated spouses, secret abuses and repressed feelings that could never be forgotten if expressed. The Reaper Whispers are driven to those like moth to a flame and exult in the sheer magnitude of their importance. Some Whispers savor those secrets and keep them from themselves, enjoying the fear that the idea of those coming to light represents and using them as leverage, but most merely maintain them long enough for the informations to be unleashed at the most crucial moments, so that’s no turning back after such revelation. Often, Irkalla Reapers develop a taste for endings that were kept secret and details of those not made public, like the circumstances of a suspect death or the failure of a project of which investors knew nothing. The end, in all its shape, should be acknowledged and seen in its entirety: it’s the only way to move forward.

You’d be surprised to know how many people die in hospital due to negligence, all while the doctors and the administration cover everything up as mere incidents. Stjepan is not. He has been doing this for a long time and has seen so much that he’s able to recognize the pattern of lies that are used in the records when it happens. When he’s sure to have found a target, the Irkalla is not kind: he terrorizes and stalks the responsibles, threatening them to spill what he knows. Some have called the bluffs in the past and the approach Stjepan has being all but subtle sometimes led him in trouble, but many are too scared to lose their career they don’t want any unwanted attention of things long buried. After all, Stjepan is not asking for money: he just want them to admit it. And when that happens, the Irkalla makes sure to register everything and send the recording to the families of the victims


- Irkalla Enablers leave a mark. Many are convinced that mankind is ultimately selfish and that, when put in a crucible where, your life or that of another’s is at stake, a person will always think of himself first. This has not to take the shape of a conflict from which only one escapes alive (though sometimes it does), but rather a series of circumstances that strips away all the hypocrisies and reduce everything to a burning need to protect what really is important for someone, the others be damned. “It’s okay to be selfish when the stakes are high”, these Enablers say, “just don’t lie to yourself”. A considerable amount of Irkalla Reapers play with the notion that since everything’s gonna end and that life should not be squandered, that should give an excuse to behave as one pleases, if not a justification to do so. Other Reapers help their targets to find the motivation to end something they could not terminate on their own. Just because it’s morally reprehensible, not approved by society or just considered bad taste to not do so, it should mean something must be endured forever. Too many people are trapped, wasting their lives and carrying burdens that are actually quite easy to let go. All they need is a little push.

Anthony’s hands are covered in blood and yet, as he’s always quick to point out, he never killed anyone. To work as a psychologist puts him in the perfect spot to observe the darkest sides of the human mind, but Anthony truly looks for a certain set of characteristics. Most of his patients get treated at the best the Irkalla’s professional skills, but some, those in which Anthony notices what he likes to call “the spark”, get a special kind of therapy. Instead of helping them tame their demons, Anthony encourages them to act and feed their dark hungers. The relationship between the doctor and his chosen ones grows to a point that the Beast is often present when they kill, or at least he’s the one they call to help them clean up. The Reaper is growing tired of mundane serial killers though, and willing to play a dangerous game: he’s selling out some of the killers he knows about to the government and gaining the trust of a certain unit that’s specialized in dealing with more powerful and unique assassins, the kind Anthony could might as well consider Family.

[Cinder]

Hi there, here's a thing I was working on. It is quite an ambitious entry, but it came up in my mind and there was no way for me to stop thinking about it unless I wrote it down, so here we are.

(I also have another in mind, but that will take some time and I might decide to drop it if it turns out I went too far with this one)

Criticism is really welcome, considering it's a whole new Family and I'm not sure whether this was a good or bad idea. I'll also add a bunch of Atavisms later and possibly examples for the various Hungers, but for now I'd like to discuss this with the usual Family format (which I followed step-by-step)
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Irkalla, Nightmare of the End

Another match won, another press conference. Some hated it, but he always thought of those as part of the celebrations. Get in the ring, show your opponent who’s the best. Get back home and talk to the press, show the same to everyone else. Enjoy your triumphs, brag even: that’s how it works. But this time, just as we about to talk about the next encounter, that’s when she saw her in the crowd. It only took a glimpse for his mind to drift away. Gone were the cameras pointed at him, the people cheering at the champion and the clear goal of holding the belt in his hands: it all returned to that day at the hospital. He could not help but to think about it, about that damn bed. About his father, who was more skeleton than man at that point, and about the terror he felt in his spine by looking at him, the dread awareness that the body was truly empty. Gone forever.

Dad used to be the strongest man he knew.

He tried to regain control, but the tears would not stop. The people in the room were confused, thinking it was due to emotion. In a way, they were right, but not the one they imagined.

Like a whisper nobody else could hear, two words whose meaning his mind could not remember but his instinct recognized far too well: “Memento Mori”


Death. The point of no return. The end. It’s the destination we’re all going towards, no matter how hard we try to not think too much about it. It can happen anytime, more easily than we’d like to admit, both to us and those we care about. And once it happens, it’s definitive. The Irkalla are born from that, the fear of the end from which there’s no return.

The Reapers often consider themselves among the strongest children of Dark Mother, but rarely claim to be among the eldest. Death might be universal, which is arguably a reality that shapes powerful horrors, but fear of death, on the other hand, is something less immediate. The actual awareness of what death really means, of all the inescapable consequences that come with the cessation of existence, is something that requires a slightly more complex degree of sentience and self-awareness. But once that fear branded itself in the minds of men, it was there to stay, patiently waiting.

The Irkalla are often similar to the nightmare they embody. Most are patient, knowing that when all other fears come to pass, it will be their turn. Others are more overt, feeling they have the right to remind their preys of the fundamental truths they’d rather ignore. As mankind grew, the fear from which the Reapers were spawned became more nuanced. It associated with loss and the nightmare of losing what one holds dear. Death remains the ultimate end, but the Reapers are both oblivion and the moment from where there’s no turning back, the great unknown that lies beyond what we consider to be the pillars of our existence to be

At their core, the Irkalla know that everything ends. For each relationship that lasts, that’s one that ends and leaves people weeping. For each success that leads to a brighter future, there’s a failure too big to recover from. Treasures can be lost, friends can leave. And at the end of everything, no bargains or pleas allowed, there’s death.

The Horror, Hunger and personality of an Irkalla determine how she’ll decide to express her nature, but all Reapers are inescapable. Wherever they go, doom follows. People find themselves thinking about what they care about the most and how they’d feel should it disappear forever. Put against the fear of loss, you either fall into despair or spring into action to save what can be saved. For each Irkalla that uses this to make men and women realize what really matters, there’s one that feeds on death and coerces others to do as she pleases, the terror she wields as strong as a motivation as there can be

After all, the final results don’t change, so one might as well do as her nature tells him to do.


LIVES

“THE END IS NEAR”. It’s the kind of sign you’d expect a madman on the streets to wear, but here it’s right over the entrance of the church. The pastor himself put it here. When he became the new head of the congregation, soon after the sudden death of the previous pastor, the sermons took quite a turn. It started with a focus on the more dramatic parts of the scriptures, the one that talk of fire and brimstone, but by now he has added a lot to that. Some left, sure, but the flock kept growing each day, enthralled by the passion and the overwhelming truth that burned within his words; so much that some of his sheeps eventually found their way back home. He tells them to be afraid of the upcoming destruction, but that at the same they don’t have to fear as long as he’s their leader. Follow his commands, obey, and together they’ll all find salvation

They call her. No, really, she’s booked for the next three months. That’s what happens when you’re good at your job. She’s in a different school each week, though the topic might change. One week she warns them about drugs, the following about the dangers of drinking and driving. The last time it was about the connection between bullying and suicides. She even has one routine about mass shootings, a sign of times that cannot be argued with. She’s ready for everything: she has the data, the speeches and plenty of slides with pictures. Lots of pictures, each one showing a broken life. Some parents and teachers argue that hers are nothing more than scare tactics disguised as advice, but she still believes she’s providing a service. The impact her interventions have can be clearly seen on the faces of her audiences, after all.

They teach you that death is part of war so that when you’re out there and it happens you’ll be able to deal with it. To not delve too much on it and keep going. Compartmentalization, they call it, the secret to not lose your mind to the horror. But she feels that some are too good at it. It’s a thing to carry a burden, another to forget about it completely. Some need to be reminded of it so they can feel what their victims felt and remember the look their friends had on their face as life abandoned them. Good thing she’s there to help them with that.

He’s the kind of lawyer they recommend you when you need...peculiar kind of services. He keeps his mouth shut and works well. He can be trusted, that’s all you need to know. He, on the other hand, needs to know more: if you have done anything compromising, if you have secret funds hidden somewhere, if you abuse any substance and if those stories about you and that girl you met at the bachelor party are true. He needs to know because otherwise he can’t help you at the best of his possibilities and you don’t want that to happen. There’s too many out there that kept some things for themselves to avoid embarrassment and for whom things ended badly. Again, you don’t want to follow their example.


STORIES

Ankou, a being from Breton mythology, is the one most often associated with the looks of the modern Grim Reaper. As can be expected, he’s a skeletal figure who wields a scythe. He rides on a coach driven by black mares and a ghostly procession follows him wherever he goes. Ankou is said to be Death’s henchman, the one in charge of reaping lives, but he’s more capricious that his role would suggest. Ankou can kill just for the mere pleasure of it and often tests men and women by hiding its true nature. Those who pass the test survive, but the others, he takes away. When the Ankou comes, he will not go away empty

Mara is a Buddhist demon, inimical to enlightenment, who tried to tempt Buddha himself and lead him away from the right path. It can assume many terrible shapes, but one of those, Mrtyu-mara, is said to represent both the death of spirit and the fear of oblivion. By teaching men that death is something to be afraid of and that they should remain attached to the material world due to the terror of the end, Mrtyu-Mara keeps its claws deep into their souls

Banshee are crying spirits of Irish and Scottish mythology said to be the harbingers of doom. Their wails and shrieks announce a death in the family and in the past many believed each household had its own banshee. Sometimes the banshee appeared as fair maidens, others as walking corpses, but merely hearing their cries would inevitably signal an upcoming tragedy.


HORRORS

The Irkalla have as many shapes as the countless ends they embody. Many show traces of death imagery of a certain culture (or more), adorned with funeral colors and paraphernalia but, in the end, that’s not a given. The fear of the end is universal and viscerally felt, dreamers instinctively perceive Reaper’s Horrors for what they are.

Some Irkalla have primal horrors, grotesque leviathans of bones and darkness whose mere sight imprints in the minds of those who see them that the creatures in front of them is death incarnate and they can try to flee only for a little, at best. Other Irkalla take the shapes of the death gods of old, rotting queens and charred kings that inhabit empty, silent palaces from which there’s no return and can extinguish life on a whim. Some Reapers are more abstract: it is not unheard of Horror looking as animated graves from which an unearthly chill expands, dark clouds that bring rains of tears and maggots, or silhouettes of darkness that look as the observer’s dear ones would look after death. The Irkalla spawned from more apocalyptic fears frequently resemble eschatological or warlike figures, depending on the specific brand of End Of Times that gave them shape.

Notably, Irkalla Horrors also tend towards the anthropomorphic more than those of other Families might do. Being able to recognize the end as something personal and close to you seem to be the reflection of the fears mankind has when it comes to oblivion.


LAIR

Irkalla Lairs remind trespasser that they crossed into a territory where there living should not dare to be. Not all Lair actively damage those within, but they’re inhospitable, dread places, that everyone but the Reapers look towards leaving soon. There’s always a palpable sense of unease around and the few creatures that inhabit them are either suffering or too removed from life to perceive it.

Nickname: Reapers

Suggested Traits: Cramped, Echoing, Maze, Fog, Jagged, Sealed Exits, Stench, Swarm, Infected, Isolated, Darkness, Decayed, Exposed, Razored, Rotting, Viscous, Murmurs.


BIRTHRIGHTS

- There’s no escape from death. Once per chapter, an Irkalla can instinctively perceive where her target his and, should he move, keep track of it with a Perception roll regardless of distance. If the roll fails, the Reaper loses her prey and can only find it again with mundane methods, but remains aware of the last location he was before the roll failed.

- The mere touch of a Reaper brings destruction. Once per scene, the Reaper can touch a single object as big as her (Lair x 2) yards and make it break down completely. There might be no evident damage, but it’s as if the object succumbed to the weight of ages: a computer does not start and has lost all its data, a car does not start and all its parts need to be replaced (buy a new one) and all the words in a book have faded away.

- Irkalla exist to remind people of their mortality. By establishing contact with a nearby target, either with a touch, a look or a gesture, the Irkalla might make it lose a dot from any Physical Attribute (with all it entails for the various traits). The target needs to be aware of the Irkalla and a feeling of unease will follow their contact, but will recover the lost dot after the scene ends. The Irkalla can affect only a character per scene.

Atavisms: All Is Dust, Tear Down the Walls, Threadcutter


STEREOTYPES

Vampire: “It’s sad that you don’t want to talk, I feel like there’s so much I can help you with. Come back to me when you finally want to be honest with yourself”

Werewolf: “For someone whose favored hobby always ends with them killing things, they handle death in a way I never could”

Mage: “I’m the proof that not all obstacles can be overcome. They’re proof of the opposite”

Promethean: “I prefer to let them be, there’s no need for me to make it even harder for them. They don't need an end: they need a new beginning.”

Changeling: “They went through something far worse than what I have to show”

Sin-Eater: “We speak the same language, though we differ on the fine points”

Mummy: “I’d love to help but the more I learn about you, the more I feel I’m supposed to be on the other team”

Demon: “No, there’s no system to hack here, no rules you can ignore. Play your games, but I’ll still come for you in the end.