For the sake of making parsing all of this easier, I'm going to stuff the lore and fluff of the act in the top half of the post and the actual mechanics of the act at the bottom. I did some revisions to both the lore passage and added some information to the Principles for the sake of clarity of intent. I really hope I won't need to argue about intent anymore.
Because the Mantle is made of seven pairs of Outer Gods, and very little in the way of description for any of them have been given, I felt like it would be neat to make up a short description of each of those used to add color and details. Each of the pairs and how they relate to one another is very loosely related to the principles they form. They may come off as a little too alien from the single line of descriptions, but the point was to make it vague enough to avoid contradicting anything and to leave room for interpretation while still communicating mild horror.
In any case, if it doesn't pass this time I'm not going to try again, so I really hope it's good enough to satisfy anyone on the fence. Please vote for it.
[] Create the Mantle of the Breaker (Cosmic Act)
This is the Makers' curse and blessing onto the Outer Gods. A final rejection, given with kindness, but not mercy.
A prison, a grave, a song, a soul, a sword, a crown, a throne, it is all of these things, but it is not theirs to carry.
They are bent, and twisted, and used against one another. They are changed into something new and different.
Omrichr was not as intimidating as many of its fellows, its form like nothing but a long throat with neither head or body, a weird fleshy tube of indefinite length. Blind to the world, all it thinks about is eating.
Weshaqurdi has no physical form, living music recording itself onto the universe as it passes, it does not recognize anything but itself as alive. Their egoism has no limits, it believes all things should reflect itself.
Diametrically opposed, they can do nothing but wait and hope.
And so did the misbegotten things crawl and cower and slither away,
back into the darkness and the nightmares from which they were born.
Upor-Tach is a flat piece of unearthly metal that narrows along its length, with a point so thin and sharp that it pierces through reality. Light gleams from its tip even in perfect darkness. It simply wants to cut.
Segewec takes the form of an abstract engraving in the surface of a stone tablet. The same image is never shown twice. It lives in a perpetual state of confusion, spreading enigmas and anxiety wherever it goes.
Diametrically opposed, they can do nothing but wait and hope.
Lacking purpose, dignity, or grace, the Makers looked down at their work,
and saw them as they had been made to be, base and primitive creatures of violence.
Raoka cannot stop chewing. It is the sound of gnawing, the sensation of biting. It only sees what it touches, and all it touches is shredded to pieces and ground to dust. It wants to know what the world looks like.
Yagagada is a perfect sphere, divided once horizontally and once vertically, without separating the pieces. It only exists in your memory of the past, and cannot reach the present. It wants you to make it exist.
Diametrically opposed, they can do nothing but wait and hope.
Repulsed by their ugliness, the gods of creation had discarded them,
abandoned those that still lived in cowardice, and left those dead to rot in obscurity.
Visaeo has as many minds as it does arms, gaining more with every moment. It is constantly frustrated, unable to coordinate its forest of limbs. It wants everything, but cannot decide if it agrees with itself.
Etaby is a vine of bone-like substance, constantly growing in new directions. It sees no difference between the living and the dead, and seeks to share its enlightenment with everything. It only wants you to see.
Diametrically opposed, they can do nothing but wait and hope.
There were still those who favored them, even pathetic as they were,
and so a crown was forged, of dead stars shining in unspeakable colors, to carry their names.
Telerugh is a shadow cast in space, with no true form. The only thing it feels is the force of gravity pressing down on it, and all that it wants is for that to stop. It annihilates all that it touches, to be free one day.
Du-Gha-Du-Gha-Du-...is an alien heart that beats with never ending vitality. It wants to survive, and that is all it considers, always doing what it must to preserve itself. It has no other values or goals.
Diametrically opposed, they can do nothing but wait and hope.
A cruel promise and awful hope, a savior of destruction to bring their redemption,
to be broken so they could be remade more perfect, their misery and spite enthroned.
Nosaol is a waveform that takes whatever it passes through into its physical form. It fears stillness as death, and only feels alive while moving. It wishes to continue accelerating without limit, experiencing everything.
Fhuxocada is a ring that turns in place through impossible dimensions. It radiates black light, and through its center burn emotions that cannot exist. It refuses to let anything else comprehend what it feels.
Diametrically opposed, they can do nothing but wait and hope.
Those things will be monuments to ephemeral glories, and fleeting grace, and transient greatness,
they will become testament to truth, and power, and the lives of mortals that held these things.
Brakh Kha is an egg that is forever hatching into more eggs. It is always trying to become more like itself, and cannot stand any deviation. It always wants to start over, and desires the universe as well to restart.
Zeerem takes whatever form resonates most strongly with fear. It lives within a pocket space, isolated from everything. It is lonely, but it cannot imagine doing anything but driving away whatever comes near it.
Diametrically opposed, they can do nothing but wait and hope.
Seven Unknown and Seven Unmade, once enemies, now together as one in death,
they are matured by anger, wizened by sadness, exalted by fear;
The successor is doomed, and so the world is Broken.
---Surviving fragment of legendary age divinatory records
- The Seven Principles -
Principle Zero: The Bearer of this Mantle is The Breaker. Their power is phenomenal and cosmic, yet at the same time, incredibly limited in the strangest of ways. They may be able to do the impossible, but even that which is within the means of a normal person might be outside their reach. The power of the Breaker is esoteric and mysterious, and it does not heed conventionally understood limits or operate by logical mechanics. The Mantle falls upon whoever it can find that would understand the great burden it represents and carry it of their own free will.
The First Principle: The Breaker shall become Evil itself. To accept the Mantle of the Breaker is to accept the legacy of the Outer Gods, and to voluntarily carry responsibility for that legacy. Evil is something each person understands within themselves and projects onto the world around them, but as something fundamentally subjective, Evil does not conform to any standards. Only a being that embraces all of the Evil in the world as their own can decide what the true meaning of Evil is, and so it is the Breaker that sets the definition of Evil, as they have accepted the hatred of all living things.
The Second Principle: The Breaker shall become the very archetype of a Villain. The Breaker stands in opposition to everything else not merely by their own nature, but by the nature of the world that rejects them. And so, The Breaker will be the subject of every narrative which needs an adversary, a fair opponent bringing out their full potential and facilitating a climax and proper resolution for all of them. There are some wrongs only a Villain can right. In the age to come after their passing, all those who are Villains will follow their example, for their virtues are recognized only in hindsight.
The Third Principle: The Breaker shall be Free to make their own choices. They will be able to know the world as it is, and see it with eyes unclouded by guilt, shame, pride, greed, lust, hatred, love, or fear. They may look at the world with the unbiased perspective of the ignorant and naïve, as if an outsider to their own life, and whatever path they take will be true to their heart and uninfluenced by the prejudices of others. At the conclusion of their story, they will carve their ideology of Good and Evil into the Mantle, each Breaker overwriting the legacy of the Outer Gods one by one into something of beauty.
The Fourth Principle: The Breaker shall fail in the end, no matter what they do, and they will be satisfied in loss. As a being that embraces Evil, the Breaker must believe there is something that is Good, and like the Breaker casting a shadow, a hero will emerge reflecting all that they recognize as worthy to defeat them. Regardless of anything else, both will die at the end of their stories with a conclusion that is acceptable for each, fully satisfied with the lives they've lived and the world they're leaving behind. The Breaker should be, if they are nothing else, a good loser.
The Fifth Principle: The Breaker shall leave nothing unchanged. In the Breaker's path no story is beyond their reach, and all stories are dragged in their wake, for better or worse. Their words and their deeds will echo through the seen and unseen to touch everything in the world. No story may overshadow the Breaker's in scale during their time, as their story will encompass all others until the moment they die. Nonetheless, a Breaker's narrative is made to be overcome, for it is their duty and privilege to lead all stories to their greatest moment.
The Sixth Principle: The Breaker shall neither truly create or destroy anything. The purpose of the Breaker is to end stagnation and drive progress for those who need an impetus to do so. Anything a Breaker does may be undone by sufficient effort, as all of their workings are impermanent. This impermanence is not meaningless however, as only a more worthy and satisfactory narrative may supersede the consequences of the Breaker's own. Nothing may be achieved by acting halfheartedly, and only honest effort made in good faith may restore what has been broken.
The Seventh Principle: The Breaker shall not forget or ignore the consequences of their decisions. Anything the Breaker does or which happens as a result of what they do will remain in their mind for as long as they live. These consequences are beyond their own ability to affect, and they will always be aware of them until someone else undoes them or until their story concludes. At the conclusion of their story, all of a Breaker's consequences become set, as permanent as anything done outside their influence. Knowing this, the Breaker will seek only perfection.