Abrogation (Steampunk)

You're starting to hate your family.

For most of your life, you thought you'd remain the only child of your parents. Not for lack of trying, you're sure, but needing the assistance of an outside Inspired just to have you was not an outstanding indicator of fertility.

One of the "gifts" of your sixteenth birthday was the knowledge that you'd soon have a sibling. You didn't really think you had anything to worry about, didn't think of the new family member as competition. You thought your parents knew better than to pass up an Inspired heiress for an unknown.

Apparently, you were being too generous. Gunther von Mendel was born approximately seven months later and was immediately declared the new heir of the Mendel family. They didn't even have the common courtesy to wait a few years, to make sure Gunther would survive past infancy. No, they just looked at what's between his legs and decided based entirely on that.

Inspired females may be "weaker" on average, but you make up for it by only needing a Surge to start a project. After that, you can pursue it whenever you feel like. So, while the change in status was - and still is - exceptionally upsetting for you, it wasn't guaranteed to be a permanent change. Your parents might've given you back your rightful position if you proved yourself to them, right? Right. That's what you kept telling yourself.

But now they've been talking about marrying you off, like — like you're a dud! Like you're an uninspired failure! That's simply unacceptable. You'd rather have a Blackburn take interest in you, and considering their bodycount, that's really saying something. At least they recognize true talent when they see it. Even if the Blackburn idea of courting involves repeatedly trying to murder their love interest, that's still preferable to simply sitting back and letting yourself be used as a pawn in a game your family refuses to let you play.

Even your gender-obsessed parents should understand how outrageously idiotic their orders are; you're effectively untested! It's not your fault you've left so many of your projects half-finished, not when you've always been interrupted prematurely. Slapping you upside the head, stealing your materials, waving enticingly shiny objects in front of your face, locking you in your room again — really, your parents should be glad you still harbor some small attachment to them. More and more of your Surges have focused on devices intended for parricide.

Alas, murdering them isn't exactly the smartest course of action. Your parents have allies and even — gods only know why — friends. And anyway, brutally murdering your parents before rising to power is just so clichéd. You'd prefer to do something much more original, thank you very much. Sealing both your parents into the mind of your rotten little brother, for example. They want to take away your rightful position as their heir? Not because you're weak, but merely because you're a girl? Well, fine. You'd see how much they like him after spending a month inside his illiterate skull.

But not yet. You have no reason to think they're going to let you finish a project now, not when they seem to have been deliberately stopping you for the past decade. Fortunately, the forests surrounding your home estate hold no usable scrap; as such, your watchers are less attentive when you're away from home. It shouldn't be too outstandingly difficult for you to escape, find some weak Inspired, and steal his everything.

Once you actually have some materials to work with? The world will tremble, and if it doesn't on its own, you'll just make a doomsday device to make it so. Nobody ever called you mad, never admitted you're brilliant. But they will.

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All Inspired have a theme for their inventions, a reflection of themselves. As time goes on, the stronger Inspired will pick up more traits, but none will be as powerful as your first.

Use preference voting: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 instead of X, where lower numbers mean you prefer that option over the others.


[] Stubborn

Your parents have tried very, very hard to turn you into a docile wallflower. Sheer spite has caused their attempts to backfire rather magnificently, to the point where your stubbornness seems to be reflected in your gift. Honestly, you're not sure why your parents thought you'd just sit back and let them arrange a marriage for you. Since when were you willing to sit back and accept something you'll hate?

Even if Surges aren't entirely understood, your own seem to understand you won't accept anything but the best. Your average project takes vastly more time and materials to complete, but they're also much more advanced than what you'd normally be able to make. You think they might be much more durable, too. Using your skull to break down the wall of failure may be a bit painful at times, true, yet you wouldn't have it any other way. Now, if your meddling parents remove their customized poles and let you actually finish something? Maybe you wouldn't be plotting to run away from home.

Thanks to all the explosions, your creation process tends to be even louder than usual. You've sometimes wondered if your gift is trying to get revenge on you for refusing to give up in the face of overwhelming challenges.


[] Organized

You despise untidiness and chaos. You honestly don't understand why some people would be content to leave their belongings laying around in a haphazard manner. Not only is it aesthetically displeasing, it also means they'll waste part of a Surge whenever they lose track of an important component.

Coming up with new project plans requires more inspiration than usual. In exchange, you'll have a list of the exact material types you'll require for any particular project and a better idea of what the end result will be. Your creation process involves significantly fewer explosions and setbacks than is considered "normal," reducing the materials and time needed overall.

Your soft limit on simultaneous project plans is increased by three (up from 5).


[] Redundant

You dislike relying on inherently unstable technology, nor are you comfortable with leaving things to chance. You know that if something can possibly go wrong, it's in your best interests to prepare for it doing so.

Your creations require less frequent maintenance, are much more difficult to disable, and are less likely to suffer catastrophic failures. You're also capable of doing the same project more than once. Previous projects do not occupy any of your ongoing project slots, even if you're working on them. Unfortunately, your creations tend to be bulkier and heavier than usual, with more components going into their construction.

You look forward to making your first giant clockworks. Watching some Inspired destroy some of the more common weak points among clockwork, only to have relevant backup systems activate within moments? It will be glorious.


[] Deceptive

Lying comes naturally to you, a mindset which seems to stretch to your creations. Any invention with an overt effect, such as a grenade, will be disguised as something else and/or will have hidden capabilities. Your other creations tend to be geared toward hiding, sneaking, disguise, subversion, or some other form of "lying." You expect they'll serve you well.

Your parents insist there's something wrong with you. Okay, fine, so you often lie when you don't actually gain anything from doing so. And, well, you sometimes find yourself lying even it'd arguably be smarter to tell the truth. So what? Tricking people is its own reward. Even if they eventually figure it out, you can still laugh at how long it took them to do so.


[] Lazy

You tried to come up with a better name for your disposition, but since your parents frequently call you "lazy," that's what stuck. You don't really agree with their assessment; you just have serious trouble motivating yourself to do anything you aren't really interested in. If you can find a way to make other people do it instead, you generally try to make it so. Having servants helps.

At any rate, it seems unusually easy for you to copy the designs of other Inspired. The vast majority of your Surges were, in fact, triggered by inspecting their creations. Of course, your versions are often better than what those weaklings can make.

Unfortunately, disassembling clockwork to see what makes them go tick-tick-tick seldom leaves you with a usable device. You can generally reuse the materials for your improved versions, but you sometimes wonder if you wouldn't be better off just making your own inventions from scratch. It doesn't look like you're that kind of Inspired, though.

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