A power I've used in three Amber campaigns, though mostly for NPCs. This was inspired by Tom deMayo's Logrusless Chaos and, of course, the first five books of Amber, aka Corwin's Saga.
Entropy Mastery
The Courts of Chaos are a place of continual change, a land of no stability and frequent mortality. Death is not merely the great destroyer, Death is a beginning as well as an end. To such transitory beings as belong in Chaos, Death is nothing to be feared, it is instead an opportunity and a force to be controlled. Those who master this power become the Lords of Chaos, capable of unmaking worlds with their will. To our earthly sensibilities, the Courts of Chaos are a dreadfully nasty place to live. Yet, to the Lords and Ladies of Chaos, this is home.
What can this power do? By exerting the power of Entropy, one may cause a gradual state of decline to descend upon a person, place or thing. Further time and energies spent upon the target result in greater distortion and corruption. Exposure to Pattern and order will reverse these affects.
Duration: Unless otherwise specified, the effects of Entropy are assumed to maintain as long as the Lord or Lady of Chaos who invoked them is present. In the event of his or her death, dismissal, or absence, the target will return to normal at roughly half the speed it was corrupted at. (So if it took 3 months to twist and damage, it would take 6 months afterwards to heal) The power does not grant the ability to undo it’s handiwork, so if you go too far, you’ll just have to wait patiently (far away) for your target to regain their health and integrity.
Basic Entropy Mastery: 20 Points
With Basic-level Entropy Mastery you may do the following…
Degrade Shadows: When Entropy is unleashed upon a world, it causes crops to fail, illness to spread, social systems to break down, and weather to turn foul. After a time, it may seem that the world is coming apart at the seams. Doing this takes a great deal of time and energy, as the damage to the shadow world spreads. The signs and symptoms of the degradation will vary from world to world, but for examples look at the dark caves in Benedict’s Avalon and the black circle in. In game terms, the Entropy master may permanently inflict the world with Bad Stuff. Each point they place in it will take only a few hours if the shadow is on the Chaos side of Ygg, but takes much longer the closer the world is to Amber.
Distort Shadows: After one has broken down the structure of a world, a true master of Entropy may rebuild it in their image, at least to some degree. It will always remain a cursed world, but the nature of the problems will become the province of the Entropy master. Once a world has 3 points of Bad Stuff, you may begin to dictate the nature of the hardships that plague it, and make other subtle alterations upon it. A world with 6 or more points of Bad Stuff becomes very malleable to your whims and desires.
Shroud of Night: When a world is tainted by the touch of Entropy, it begins to grey and fade, the light seeming to recoil from the darkness. As a result, a master of Entropy in a tainted portion of a world with 2 or more points of Bad Stuff may use the power of darkness to conceal themselves. The shadows flit and wrap around them, obscuring their presence. The greater the taint on the world(regardless of whose taint it was), the easier it is for the Chaos Lord to hide within it.
Befuddle Minds: The aura of Entropy tends to scramble the thoughts of mortals. Ordinary shadowlings can be driven mad with just a few minutes concentration. Those with Pattern, Trump, or high Psyche or Endurance can try to resist it, just getting slightly confused or sluggish.
Inspired Illness: Alternately, you may attack the body rather than mind of your victim. In such a case Trump is of no defense, but Endurance is far more effective at slowing or stopping these effects. Used successfully, this may inflict the target with a variety of epidemics and diseases, plus migraines, numbness, epilepsy, cancers, and assorted aches and pains.
Depreciation: The powers of Entropy may be exerted upon inanimate objects even more easily than on people or worlds. Given time, a sword may be made to rust, a roof leak, threads fray, wood warp and splinter, colors fade and food rot.
Summon Feral Beasts: An area tainted by Entropy is bound to be the home of a variety of sick animals. Plague dogs, rabid animals, panicked herds, insect swarms and rodent infestations are commonplace. When in a place with 2 or more points of Bad Stuff, the Entropy master may send out a call for such beasts to attend him. The GM will determine what’s available and how they serve based upon the nature of the place before it’s corruption. At 6 or more points of Bad Stuff in a location or world the Entropy master may pick and choose any monsters they see fit.
Shadow Travel/Black Roads: By degrading the metaphysical edges of a shadow world and breaking down the barriers between worlds it is possible to walk the shadows. In general, a world needs at least 4 points of Bad Stuff to be sufficiently weak for travel out of it. This means you’ll need to pause and weaken your current world every few shadows over that you travel. As a result, this is a painfully slow method of transit, even deep in shadow it can take weeks to cover the distance that a Hellride could do in an hour. On the Amber side of Ygg, this ability is virtually useless. But in the courts of Chaos, where the worlds and pockets of shadow are ridden thick with Entropy this allows for very rapid movement.
Advanced Entropy Mastery: 30 Points
In addition to the powers granted by Basic-level Entropy Mastery, you may now…
Destroy Shadows: If a world has accumulated 10 points of Bad Stuff, the taint upon it is so strong that a Lord of Chaos may literally unmake it. Such primal disruption takes the form of earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, epidemics and wars, and will progress into rips at the fabric of the shadow. Given a few hours on a world with this strong a taint, you may utterly destroy it forever.
Enchanting: Like the faceless woman did to Corwin, the taste of Entropy may be wielded to influence others actions. This is like Befuddlement, except the nature of the madness or confusion can be dictated by the Chaosite. Given enough time to focus, such brainwashing or mental damage could be made permanent.
Vampirism: At close ranges not only may illness be cast upon a target, but the very essence of life may be siphoned off from them. The psychic vampire finds themselves refreshed while their victim tires and loses the will to carry on. Continued long enough this may heal injuries upon the Chaosite while opening spontaneous wounds on their prey.
Necromancy: Those killed while in a world beset by Entropy may be animated by the Chaos Lord. Such zombies are slow and lack independent thought or coordination, but are useful as battlefield replacements and for the demoralizing effect it can have upon the enemy to see their dead comrades turn against them. The number of zombies available depends on the number of nearby casualties and also the amount of Bad Stuff in the locale.
Trump Disalignment: As a shadow is distorted by Entropy, there will be a tendency for Trumps of it to lose some of their connection. An Entropy master can purposefully accentuate this affect, hiding the world from all attempts to Trump it, unless the artist in question has been there since the world was corrupted.
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