Aberrant RPG - What if The Apostle wasn't around?

[Nyxx]

Ok... So, my game is one that started from the begining, and I've used canon history to generate plot and to give me story ideas. (good part is, my players aren't familiar with the setting, so none of it is spoiled for them)

So, the two of them fell in with the Teregen almost from the begining (Mostly because of young Orziaz and The Mathematician) and were very involved in the roundtable discussions and the forming of Teras, etc. One of the characters, Biomancer, became close friends with Caroline Fong and caught Delormier in the act of betraying her to Utopia as she began her Chrysalis.

Needless to say, there was a nasty confrontation, harsh language was exchanged, evidence was laid out, accusations were made, and finally, Delormier tried to kill Biomancer only to be (barely) taken out instead.

So, I'm now short an Apostle and I'm noticing half of the plot hooks and story seeds in the Teregen book hang off this guy...

My questions are:

1) Lacking the Apostle, what direction will the Cult of Mal (still in the formative stages) take under Scripture alone? (the PCs are, to say the least, not of the spiritual camp, so they won't be big factors here)

2) Without being captured as she was, will Fong's Chrysalis last as long?

3) How will this change the developments during Mal's upcoming absence?

4)What about the Night of Long Knives?

5) Hell, anything you can think of that could result from these events would be helpful

[malkboy]

1) Lacking the Apostle, what direction will the Cult of Mal (still in the formative stages) take under Scripture alone? (the PCs are, to say the least, not of the spiritual camp, so they won't be big factors here)

2) Without being captured as she was, will Fong's Chrysalis last as long?

....

Well let's just roll this up easy... You have an open field for whatever it is you want...

I'm sure that I too might run into similar problems in the CC game... Forming the Teragen, Utopia, Directive, and any other group the players gravitate towards. So it's something you have to judge off the players.

But for clarification...

1. I doubt the cult of Mal really gets off its feet.

2. Doubtful

3. That's a loaded question... it can change it in so many ways or just change nothing other than the life status of Scripture.

4. Still going to go on, there will still be those who don't understand Mal's ways.

5. Anything you want

[phoenix]

1. With Scripture at the helm? I've gotta disagree with you there, Malkboy; I always saw the Apostle as just, well, a C.O.M. poseur anyway. He used it to manipulate the Teragen and other Cult members; but neither Scripture nor Mal took him seriously (did they?).

2. Well, that's debatable. Fong's powers were based on quantum manipulation; I'm not sure it's easy to justify her somehow realizing in Chrysalis that it wasn't safe and that she should prolong it as long as possible. It might just as easily have been a fluke. If you're one of those folks who believe in coincidence. Alternately, it could be Mal's doing (to stop Utopia from getting their hands on her, figuratively anyway, kept secret to avoid internal disagreements).

4. I agree; it will probably still occur.

[Finbar]

1) The COM is probably dead in the water,

2) Probably unaffected. It was more of a botch than because of local or circumstance.

3) The Teragen will actually probably ended up stronger and less divided than with The Apostle's manuevering.

4) It's going to happen no matter what. However, it's now much more likely that Scripture will survive it ::sly .

5) Overall, outside of getting rid of a lot of silliness, there's not going to be a lot of change...A lot of his manuevering was just taking advantage of a lot of debates already going on....

FR

[Bahamut810]

yea, what they said.

A note about #2 though...

I believe the Teregen book says that when in a chrysalis, the nova dosent know *anything* that is going on around them. It should last the same amount of time it does in story line *unless* someone who has suffecient control over a very many things (Quantum, Biology, whatever you think) decided to prolong it. In this case it would be a GM ruling to see if Mal (who is in chrysalis himself at the time I believe) would be able to do it.

Quick question: I know Mal is a god and all, but does anyone think that he could manipulate a chrysalis to prolong it, from within his own chrysalis?

[Nyxx]

Ok,

What I've come up with so far from your replies:

1) No Cult of Mal, as such, will develop. More reading has suggested to me that Scripture is interested in all sorts of spirituality and does not, in fact, consider his SO a deity, per se. So what I'm seeing is a more Buddhist type of thing with Mal as a figure of inspiration and an example of what all novas should aspire to through the philosiphy of Teras. Without the Apostle, Mal will not be deified.

2) Fong's Chrysalis will last 'til I need her for something or I feel like waking her up. (The thing I like about her is that there is almost no real characterization of her in the books so I got to play her as I pleased without any preconceptions on my part as to how she'd be.)

3) Without Delormier to stir things up (and assuming my PC's don't suddenly have a psychotic episode at a crucial moment) I'm seeing a bit more unity among Terats with less backbiting and internal strife ( not that there won't be any it'll just be less... venomous)

This game is a freakin THRILL to run though, my players are being very savvy and smooth in how they operate (ferinstance, I was worried about Biomancer, he's got the right powers and enhancements to be a nasty killing machine, but so far has only fought in self defense and has only injured anyone on 2 occasions and killed just once all in self defense.)

Any further thoughts from anyone?

BTW: Mal is buff enough without manipulating events in his sleep, don'tcha think?

[phoenix]

Sounds good Nyxx, congratulations.

Okay then, I have another question. If neither Carolyn nor Divis is responsible for lengthening C.'s chrysalis, why is it so prolonged and does it relate to the fact that she's probably better off if she doesn't emerge from it in the middle of Bahrain?

[Ayre el KaBeer]

I see it as one of those "Quantum Flow" things, it just happens to be doing something different for her... It could also be a side effect from one of her powers (Luck, Premonition, Entropy Control, or whatever she has).

[Nyxx]

Well... As far as Caroline Fong's powers go, using the scant info on her from the Teragen book, I came up with this:

1. Mega Attributes) 4 Mega Perception w/ EM Vison, Quantum Attunement, Hyperenhanced Hearing, and High-End Elctromagnetic Scan (any other enhancements may be developed later, but between these, her perceptions of energy and the Quantum nature of the universe seem in line with the description)

Additionally, she had 2 in Mega Int and Wits and 1 Mega Dex with Mental Prodigy in Science and Philosiphy as well as Multitasking, Mind over Matter, and Accuracy

She's Likely gonna develop these in Chrysalis and pick up Holographic Awareness and Hypercognition as well.

2 Quantum Powers) At first I was considering some sort of Elemental Mastery for Electromagnetic energy of all kinds, but reconsidered after actually thinking about how truly sick that would be. I ended up using a selection of the following at various levels: Quantum Conversion, Quantum Inversion (converts energy into QP), Stun Attack (Energy Blast from eyes), Quantum Bolt (Lethal, AP), Quantum Bolt (Bashing, Supercharge), and Quantum Bolt (Lethal, MIRV).

Later she developed some small abilties in Node Spark and Quantum Regen as well.

These abilities are all (except for the last two) in the 2-4 dot range (don't have my notes handy right now) and will likely be worked on in Chrysalis.

As far as the length of her Chrysalis goes, Caroline Fong, along with The Apothecary, The Mathmatican (and in my universe, Biomancer) are probably the foremost authorities on Teras in it's application (Chrysalis, etc.) short of Divis Mal and probably Scripture (They seem to have been doing Chrysalis some other way before the Teragen though). All of them, espically Fong can probably affect all sorts of changes in the duration and exact effects of the process that their less enlighted student that came later won't be able to match for awhile. She likely subconciously percived the danger (M-Per) and extended her Chrysalis as a defensive measure. I'll probably have her down for a year, two at the most before she emerges.

[ProfPotts]

Okay then, I have another question. If neither Carolyn nor Divis is responsible for lengthening C.'s chrysalis, why is it so prolonged and does it relate to the fact that she's probably better off if she doesn't emerge from it in the middle of Bahrain?

The implication in the Teragen book is that she just Botched the roll to enter Chrysalis (there's a whole sidebar on that topic on p.123). In story terms, her condition helps several plots along (e.g. it allows non-Terats a reason to have some kind of ideas that Chrysalis exists), & also (like Shrapnel's change of personality & archetype) stands as a graphic in-game example of the potential dangers of attempting the Chrysalis in the first place. Her being in Bahrain or not doesn't appear to have any influence on her extended Chrysalis - it's just another nice plot point (her cocoon can act as a source of curiousity, or the plunder or Grail at the end of a quest into the castle of the evil wizard).

[metaphysician]

One of the more significant internal conflict changes would be less strife between the religious and political factions. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd bet dollars to donuts at least half the fighting was because the Apostle, as number two in the religious faction, is an arrogant ass who grated on everybody else.

If no Cult of Mal per se forms, then I see Scripture being loosely allied with Orzaiz ( he kind of was anyway ), which still produces conflict between the moderate and radical factions. Of course, Tarik, the Confederate, and the Harvesters as a whole are still disasters waiting to happen. . .

[Alex Green]

If no Cult of Mal per se forms...

Scripture is probably the actual founder of the cult, with the Apostle his head strong 2nd in command. For example AB:Teragen talks about how Scripture will guide people through the big "C" if they are willing to let Scripture open their eyes to the glory of Mal.

Meaning that not only does Scripture own the group, but he is also a member.

Considerations:

1) With the Apostle gone, it's likely that someone will take his place (but hopefully be less of an Ass about it). I.e. Nature doesn't like vaccums and the Apostle fills one. This is a good chance for a PC.

2) Another consideration is without the Apostle it's the Cult could be much bigger. People oppose the Apostle. They don't really oppose Scripture (maybe some Mega-Chr in there).

[metaphysician]

It also probably helps that he's the number two most powerful in the Teragen. ::cool

[Alex Green]

It also probably helps that he's the number two most powerful in the Teragen. ::cool

That's not known yet. ::sly

Smart guy, he's seeing who believes him because of his wisdom, later he'll find out who kisses ass because of his power.

[Finbar]

Assuming by #2 you mean The Apostle, I'd debate that. Geryon, Narcosis, The Mathematician, and Synapse all have a lot of power, and Orsaiz isn't that far behind them, especially if you allow that the ability to weild power is power unto itself.

I'd really debate it if by #2 you mean Scripture, as Jeremiah cares more about creating a nova society than he does personal power, and therefore doesn't have a lot of raw power. He's more than just the cute boss' girlfriend; I just don't see him as a powerful character...

FR

[metaphysician]

That's not known yet. ::sly

Smart guy, he's seeing who believes him because of his wisdom, later he'll find out who kisses ass because of his power.

Heh, true. Which is why I don't really think the Apostle's plot is going to end well for him. Not that it really could have a good ending; even if he somehow succeeded in killing Scripture, the chances that Mal wouldn't find out who was behind it ( given the death of his lover would probably have him more focused and intent than nearly anything else ) are, IMHO, negligable. At which point, qeue pile of ash.

[Alex Green]

Scripture has several roles in the Teragen.

1) He's an unknown power house. Q6, Q7. It's an open question of whether or not he could take Pax is a fair fight... although about the only way I can see the Apostle taking him down is to drag Pax into the picture.

2) Scripture carries the world of Mal. That's his big known role, and HUGE... which raises the issue of why is it huge? Mal is still around.

Mal has gone through "C" 4 times and thus has a social diff of -8 or more.

Scripture's big power is Information Manipulation, probably with Mastery.

Thus... it's very likely that no one else can really understand Mal.

3) Scripture (not Mal) teaches the big "C". Whoever teaches you, go to their teacher and then to theirs and sooner or later you end up back at Scripture.