Recreating the Franklin High Alumni Statue in 2e

[Cauthon]

While hardly the most eldritch horror in Night Horrors: The Unbidden, Franklin High is a good intro Mystery that also highlights "unintended consequences". While it's not necessary to actually work out how it was made for the purposes of using it, I am curious how most people would go about it.

My default assumption is that it's a Persistent Imbued Item rather than an Enhanced Item, with a radius-effect Mind spell ala Lure and Repel. It would need Advanced Scale, to cover the whole school building, and Indefinite Duration to have lasted as long as it has.

The actual effect is difficult - it reads like a scaled-down Psychic Domination, a REALLY scaled-down Psychic Reprograming/Amorality, or a scaled-up Alter Mental Patterns. The behavior it inflicts is ultimately a conditioning* effect, but that conditioning occurs because the subjects spend so much time being influenced.

Anyone got any idea?


*conditioning as in Pavlov or aversion therapy, not inflicting a capital-c Condition

[21C Hermit]

It does look like Psychic Reprogramming, cast at indefinite Duration and Advanced Scale, then Imbued as a persistent effect.

The caster, Poor Richard, likely then relinquished the damn thing unsafely. The spell eventually mutated into spamming Conditions that spawns a type of Slasher known as the Franklin Killers (likely a sub-type of Charmer or Hypno, as Hunter 2e defines them).

[Cauthon]

It does look like Psychic Reprogramming, cast at indefinite Duration and Advanced Scale, then Imbued as a persistent effect.

The caster, Poor Richard, likely then relinquished the damn thing unsafely. The spell eventually mutated into spamming Conditions that spawns a type of Slasher known as the Franklin Killers (likely a sub-type of Charmer or Hypno, as Hunter 2e defines them).

While plausible, I'm actually more a fan of the Slashers forming as a natural consequence of the spell. Poor Richard seemed pretty dedicated to their ethos, so a safe Relinquishment would be on-theme. That the spell causes developmental problems ties in well to his wonk-status - much like how he had no idea of the irony of using Ben Franklin of all people as the focal icon, it's highly likely that he didn't even consider how biology would be affected.

"Spell working as intended" is honestly more horrifying to me than "Spell sprang a leak and poisoned the water table"

[21C Hermit]

While plausible, I'm actually more a fan of the Slashers forming as a natural consequence of the spell. Poor Richard seemed pretty dedicated to their ethos, so a safe Relinquishment would be on-theme. That the spell causes developmental problems ties in well to his wonk-status - much like how he had no idea of the irony of using Ben Franklin of all people as the focal icon, it's highly likely that he didn't even consider how biology would be affected.

"Spell working as intended" is honestly more horrifying to me than "Spell sprang a leak and poisoned the water table"

Fair points! On my side, I was leaning more on the following points when I wrote that: Slashers popping up being a natural consequence of the spell would mean that the spell's base distinct effect is 'create Slashers,' but I highly doubt that's something mages can just do with a single spell or two; people obsessed with ideologies tend not to care about safeties and consequences, and a mage thus so would care more about the spell being there (under his firm control, because surely He Knows Better) than the spell being safe; the book's name was unbidden, so I thought unintended consequences fit better

[Cauthon]

Fair points! On my side, I was leaning more on the following points when I wrote that: Slashers popping up being a natural consequence of the spell would mean that the spell's base distinct effect is 'create Slashers,' but I highly doubt that's something mages can just do with a single spell or two; people obsessed with ideologies tend not to care about safeties and consequences, and a mage thus so would care more about the spell being there (under his firm control, because surely He Knows Better) than the spell being safe; the book's name was unbidden, so I thought unintended consequences fit better

Aaaah, gotcha. I meant "natural consequence" in this case in the same way that hucking a bolt of lightning at someone can have the "natural consequence" of starting a fire. It's a related effect, and a logical domino within the Lie, but it wasn't an intended consequence. One that simply arose, unbidden.

So a Psychic Reprograming variant that affects all subjects within [Scale], rather than a specific target, would be your interpretation of the base spell?

[21C Hermit]

Yup, Advanced Scale (Area). Inspired by an sinister example I swear I saw somewhere but can’t quite find again; an Combined spell cast in an Area that turns people who enter it into frogs (Life 4 Shapechanging I think) and then takes all their loose change and other valuables (Matter 1 Lodestone I think).
(The inspiratinal part here being that Area spells can create zones of all-fuckery.)