Infernal Metahumans

Metahumans with infernal magical powers.

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Bocador

Metahumans who can absorb the emotions of others.

• Lifespan : 70-120 years

• Diet: Common mortal fare, emotion

• Habitat: Anywhere

• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class colonizers

Bocadors appear to be human.

All bocadors have the power to sense the emotions of others. They can absorb those emotions, taking them from those they sense them in, and devour them for energy. If they do this, the person who is targeted loses some or all of that emotion. If enough is taken, the person loses the capacity to feel it at all.

Bocadors do not need to devour emotion to survive. They simply gain magical power when they do so. Some specific emotions give them specific powers, while others simply give them magical fuel for their powers:

• Callousness: pain touch

• Ruthlessness: energy drain touch

• Ambition: willbreaking gaze

• Anger: +1 STR

• Cruelty: +1 ATH

• Desperation: +1 AWA

• Fear: fear resistance

• Frustration: +1 WIL

• Greed: appraisal sense

• Isolation: +1 STH

• Loneliness: emotionkill touch

• Pride: persuasion resistance

• Rage: +1 PRO

• Rejection: charismakill touch

• Shame: paralyzing touch

• Vanity: +1 PRS

• Violation: walk through walls

• Wrath: auto-counterattack

Bocadors come from an imperial culture responsible for mass colonization, enslavement, and torment around the globe. They use their emotion-stealing powers to drain the will of the oppressed and control them. They are ruthless, cruel, and tyrannical… if they are ruling class. The oppressed among them are the same as any other people, only using their powers in self-defense. They have a long history of complex music, incredible art (especially textile arts), and great food. They were fishing folk and sailors earlier than most, and they once sailed only to fish and to explore sincerely. Then the imperial powers arose, and it all changed.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 8 AWA 10 WIL 10 PRS 9 STH 8

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Caligian

Metahumans with magical shadows.

• Lifespan : 200 years
• Diet: Energy
• Habitat: Underground or mountains
• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class colonizers

Caligians are metahumans with shadows that move independently. They appear to be human with bright orange skin and golden hair. Their shadows do not react to light, but instead react to nearby souls. A strong soul will make the shadow shrink, a weak or new one will make it expand.

Caligians themselves have no powers or personalities. They are simply vessels for their shadows, which puppet them in order to blend in (often unsuccessfully, since their appearance is not common even among other metahumans).

Their shadows have three abilities: sense souls (AWA), consume souls (WIL), and entrap souls (STR). They do all of these by touching the vessel in which the soul resides (usually a body) via either their shadowy form or the body they puppet. They more souls they devour, the more power they gain.

They have a special means of communication when speaking to other shadows.

They do not need to eat souls to survive. Their bodies need the same kind of food humans eat, and their shadow selves do not need to eat anything so long as the body lives.

Caligians are believed to have begun as the shadows of demons who were somehow released and became their own species. They attached to various humans or metahumans to survive, and thus their new species began. Their nation is a small one that has never had a country of its own; instead, they live throughout eastern Ansulym amongst the empires there. Their culture is entirely fake, developed as a mimic of the cultures around them, and thus, they differ greatly depending on where they are at.

In the colonies, they enjoy power and prestige as a ruling class nation. Most of them are nobility or business owners, and all of them own slaves, which they use for souls. They are cruel, haughty, and generally emotionless. They often involve themselves in schemes for power within the political structues of the empire.

If a player chooses to be a caligian, they must be one who has fallen from their privilege.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 10 AWA 10 WIL 10 PRS 7 STH 8

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Devourer

Metahumans who can eat souls.

• Lifespan : 70-120 years

• Diet: Common mortal fare, souls

• Habitat: Anywhere

• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class colonizers

Devourers appear to be humans with orange skin. Their hair is golden, their eyes are pupilless, irisless orbs of red. They have three fingers and a thumb on each hand. Many confuse them for caligians, but they are an older species with many differences. They have a second, hidden mouth under their main mouth. It is so thin it looks only like a line along their chin, but when they open it, it’s a massive, toothed maw.

Devourers are so-named because they can eat souls. They do so via their second, hidden mouth, which only affects the metaphysical. Every time they do this, they must latch onto someone’s soul via the neck, heart, or eyes. Every soul they devour can either be converted to raw energy, giving them temporary bonuses to any stat, power, or ability, or to convert to a specific power based on what kind of soul it is, which lasts for a day. For every 100 souls they eat, they gain permanent points or permanent use of a power.

• Celestial souls: killing gaze

• Elemental souls: infernal storm (voice)

• Fey souls: intimidating glamour

• Infernal souls: damning touch

• Unaligned souls: energy drain

Devourers are a major ruling class species who are part of the elite of every imperial power in the world. They build power by cruelly dominating and taking the souls of slaves and others, and using their magical might to dominate and rule. They have no culture of their own anymore, long ago having thrown what few vestiges of it were left out in favor of blending into the imperial cultures they are part of. Those few who are not ruling class or who reject ruling class values must either find other cultures to belong to or build their own.

PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 9 AWA 9 WIL 10 PRS 7 STH 9

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Ender

Male-only metahumans.

• Lifespan : 120 years
• Diet: Normal mortal fare
• Habitat: Anywhere
• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class colonizers

Enders appear to be human in every respect, save for their eyes, which are solid white or red with no iris or pupil. They can still see, however. All enders have seminal genitalia and are almost always male-assigned at birth. Culturally, they favor visible muscles and close cropped hair. Intersex enders are possible, but usually killed.

Enders can turn fear resonance into strength bonuses during times of heightened adrenaline. They are generally resistant (but not immune) to disease and poison.

Enders have a sadistic form of empathy that allows them to feel the emotions of others and take physical pleasure in emotions indicating distress (fear, sorrow, and pain especially). Intense fear, sorrow, or pain encourages healing in the ender if they are injured or ill.

Enders can cause wounds with the touch of their hands. They can do this through a thin layer of cloth, but direct skin contact is best. Anything more than a thin layer of mundane cloth will impede their attach. The wounding is nearly instantaneous, but the longer they hold it, the larger the wound will be. The scale is as follows, based on wounding in a non-critical area (neck wounds are almost always mortal, for instance):

• Instant - flesh wound
• 1 turn - normal wound, 3 inches
• 2 turns - normal wound, 6 inches
• 3 turns - special wound, 9 inches
• 4 turns - special wound, 1 foot
• 5 turns - mortal wound, 18 inches
• 6 turns - mortal wound, 2 feet

This is the measure of the length of the wound. This can be adjusted for width or depth by halving the size (for width) or sixthing it (for depth).

Their wounding power can affect flesh, muscle, organs, but not bone. Shells, wood, and other hard biological substances are similar to bone, but softer tissues and substances can be wounded on plants, fungi, etc.

Many enders study different wounding techniques that allow them to more quickly perform certain attacks. The most horrifying is called zdyrannya ("flaying"), in which they make three long wounds and are able to remove most of the skin from a human(ish) body.

The wounds caused by an ender leave a white mark on those who survive and heal from them. These marks are only skindeep and are similar to scars, but they are oily to the touch (though they cannot be washed away with mundane substances). This tainted skin allows any ender to instantly recognize those with the taint, giving the ender insight into the person bearing it. This translates into a bonus to Read People stat above the sadistic empathy. It also tells the ender when and who wounded the individual. If the wound is special or mortal, the taint will poison the victim (power 13+); if the person recovers, they will have permanent weakness in the part of their body where the taint is.

The original culture of enders is a fascistic one to the west. They rule a powerful empire. Those who come to Endruin do so either as political exiles, seeking business opportunities, as mercenaries, or for some other opportunity.

Enders culturally hate women.

They hold onto their original culture, a militaristic one of propaganda, martial music, nationalistic art, and fascistic philosophies.

If a player chooses to be an ender, they would need to be one who rejected their culture and past to become a criminal.

PRO 12 ATH 9 STR 13 AWA 9 Empathy 14 WIL 8 PRS 8 STH 9

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Gesiichter

Two-faced metahumans.

• Lifespan : 70-120 years

• Diet: Common mortal fare

• Habitat: Anywhere

• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class colonizers

Gesiichters are metahumans with two faces. One is their normal, every-day face, and the other is their inner face, which only appears when they wield their power.

All gesiichters take high die on deception rolls. If they have built up trust with someone and choose to betray them for personal gain, they can reveal their second face and identity, wielding magical power generated from the betrayal to either start a new life as the second face (thus the first face becoming the second face) or to create powerful illusions to misdirect and distract while they engage in their betrayal.

Neither face is their true form. They have no true form, nor any True Name. Those who attain a True Name are transformed into a new species, released from their powers of betrayal.

Gesiichters are part of the ruling class in most empires. Culturally, they view themselves as more insightful and cunning than other species, and thus, they work their way into advisory or counseling roles where they can wield subtle forms of power. However, there are many among them who reject this and live lives as oppressed or working class people, never letting the powers of betrayal warp them.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 10 STH 9

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Mangeur

Psionic metahumans who steal thoughts and minds.

• Lifespan : 70-120 years

• Diet: Common mortal fare

• Habitat: Anywhere

• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class colonizers

Mangeur appear to be human.

Mangeur have psionic abilities that allow them to steal the thoughts and minds of others. Their powers include the following:

• Telepathy

• Reading

• Scanning

• Masking

• Altering

• Storage

• Blanking

• Breaking

• Draining

• Flaying

• Cutting

Mangeurs live in an imperial society to the east where the population is largely kept ignorant and under control by their psionic powers. Not all are ruling class mind-eating tyrants, but most are. Those who aren’t ruling class are also subjected to the mind-drain. They do not remember their original culture or the ways of their people, and the ruling class has abandoned that for the wider imperial culture of dominance.

PRO 7 ATH 7 STR 7 AWA 10 WIL 10 PRS 7 STH 8

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Specularo

Cloud-walking metahumans.

• Lifespan : 120 years
• Diet: Common mortal fare
• Habitat: Cloud islands
• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class colonizers

Speculari are physically indistinguishable from humans.

Speculari can thrive at low temperatures and low air pressures (but not with no air pressure or no air). They have an inherent aura that reduces the impact of strong winds, and when there are many speculari together, winds completely die down around them. They can control the emotions of those who are caught in their gaze.

Speculari can walk on clouds if they are at least 500 feet above the ground or the sea. They cannot walk on mist or fog. They can, at will, lower themselves into the clouds while walking forward (this often looks like they are descending stairs), exploring inside them, but they must leave the clouds after a few minutes and stand atop them.

Speculari can bond with others via emotional resonance. If they cause an emotion in another, this allows them to access that person's soul, which they can then bond with. If the person is willing, speculari can have a bond that is mutually beneficial. This happens often in friendships. If the person is not willing, the specularo can force it and control the person. This happens often with the enslaved and in marriages.

Speculari began as a colony of beings whose power allowed them to walk on clouds. Any child born without the ability to walk on clouds was first returned to the solid world, but soon superstitions arose that demanded the children be cast into the winds and killed as a sacrifice. In order to enforce this custom, men in the colony seized control. This began their evolution into a slaving empire and into the speculari.

Their empire in the sky is ruled by families from the original colony who call themselves the patricians. They are a heavily patriarchal slaving class who rigidly control the female-assigned members of their class, quash any gender or sexual variation, and treat those of other nations as inferiors. They use slaves to breed with, but claim to be "pure." Slave-trading is the primary source of their wealth, and they use chattel enslavement. There is a powerful mechant class who facilitate the slave trade. These are mostly men, but some women(-assigned) people engage in it as well. There is often conflict between these two classes as they struggle for control.

The underclasses are split between free folk, who are very few, who do tasks not trusted to the enslaved. The enslaved do most of the work, however. Very rarely, an enslaved person can achieve freedom by service or self-purchase. These become free folk, but are forbidden to leave the empire. Subject nations within the empire are always enslaved, save for some members of the former ruling class, who are allowed to be free folk in exchange for betraying their people.

Rarely, some speculari reject their national culture and escape to the rest of the world. These speculari often hide what they really are and try to assimilate into other cultures.

Those who come to the colonies usually come as slave traders, and therefore, they live in wealth and luxury, where they recreate their home culture.

If a player chooses to be a specularo, they must be one who has lost their privilege and power to end up a criminal.

PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 7 Toughness 4 AWA 8 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 8

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Steinvolk

Metahumans with crimson jewels for hearts.

• Lifespan : 70-120 years

• Diet: Common mortal fare

• Habitat: Anywhere

• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class colonizers

The steinvolken appear to be humans, but their hearts are glowing crimson jewels. These jewels shine through their flesh and ribs.

Steinvolken are empathic, sensing the emotions of others, and if they tap into the crimson light within them, they can sense the genetic ancestry of anyone they are looking at. Steinvolken can also alter the genetics of anyone they can touch if they wield the crimson light. However, this both spends some of their lifeforce and has unpredictable results.

The culture of the steinvolken is one of racist supremacist lies poisoning their minds as they seek to become “perfect” and maintain “pure” bloodlines. They are purveyors of a eugenic philosophy that gave rise to the froemmlers, and they themselves are a result of similar experiments deep in the past. Those who are seen as impure or “unfit” in their culture are relegated to second-class (or worse) citizens and forced to work for any kind or right.

In the colonies, steinvolken are a powerful ruling class colonizer species with a lot of control.

PRO 9 ATH 8 STR 9 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 6 STH 6

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Supravosian

Metahumans with a dominating presence.

• Lifespan : 70-120 years

• Diet: Common mortal fare

• Habitat: Anywhere

• Socioeconomic Status: Ruling class colonizers

Supravosians appear to be human.

All supravosians have the ability to create an invisible aura around them that makes everyone near them feel inferior, lesser, and subservient to them. Every time they use this power, they lose a fragment of their souls. Their soul can be restored either by stealing pieces of someone else’s soul or by reversing the effects of their aura - uplifting and supporting others. Culturally, they almost always seek to restore their souls by using imperial magicks to steal souls.

The culture of supravosians is one of dominance and control. They are slavers and conquerors, genocidieres and exploiters, oppressors and abusers. They are a cruel and vicious culture, but not all of them adhere to it - many reject it, refusing to use their powers, and eventually lose the aura entirely. These are usually abused and exploited. There are not many supravosians in the world, and those few who do exist live in small families embedded in various imperial cultures.

PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 7 AWA 7 WIL 11 PRS 10 STH 7