Everyone's been doing CYOAs without me. I'm hopping into the action, everyone!
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:: All-Storm CYOA ::
Before the seas, and this terrestrial ball,
And Heav'n's high canopy, that covers all,
One was the face of Nature; if a face:
Rather a rude and indigested mass:
A lifeless lump, unfashion'd, and unfram'd,
Of jarring seeds; and justly Chaos nam'd.
No sun was lighted up, the world to view;
No moon did yet her blunted horns renew:
Nor yet was Earth suspended in the sky,
Nor pois'd, did on her own foundations lye:
Nor seas about the shores their arms had thrown;
But earth, and air, and water, were in one.
A terrifying and vigorous storm befalls the entire world; a global rainstorm so thundering and powerful it'd have threatened to begin a flood and destroy many rural communities - however, it lasts only half an hour, and once it passes, the sky clears, showing a spread of rainbows and open nebulae: as well as clear and visible changes. It becomes clear: Earth isn't normal anymore.
During this rainstorm, known henceforth as the Stormchange, the world casts away the trappings of mundanity and shifts away from its normalcy. New continents emerge, some of them amidst the seas, and several now hanging above the clouds in the sky. The universe becomes a vaster, stranger place - the sky is full of monsters, as is the hollow depth of the Earth. Aliens make frequent visitations, some bearing offerings and desire to contact our governments, and others threatening to conquer mankind. Angels and demons, dark spirits, and monstrous entities haunt the lands and abandoned homes, or tempt innocent children to enter the dark corners and be devoured. Many demand worship and conquer pieces of the world, and others do their best to aid humanity in whatever little ways they can. Elves, faeries, goblins, and kobolds emerge from their magical, enchanted forests; dwarves peek out from the Hollow Earth, grunt, and go back down.
The nations of Earth are cast into turmoil, almost powerless against this change. Over the course of weeks, several of them will fall, and many others will rise; a precious few shall maintain tenuous existence, and the superpowers will cling to the edge of their status. It seems that humanity is powerless in this new era, forced to make pacts with vast beings to survive.
However, there are exceptions - not everyone is as powerless as a common mortal. Indeed: you, and some other 9,999 people were touched directly by the Stormchange, survived with only scrapes and bruises, and witnessed its creator, the
Storm-Father himself, in a sacred vision.
He is impressed to find that you and your peers have survived the Stormchange, and grants you, the Stormchosen Vanguard, a selection of blessings.
Far more Stormchosen shall come in the future; either as children of the current generation or born through abrupt fluctuations in the ambient Stormweave that now overlaps reality. However, you, the Vanguard, are special and may select your own fates; granted more power, and potential danger, than your successors are likely to ever taste.
Select Class
Every Stormchosen selects one of the following Classes; they may (and must) only have one. Alternatively, they may allow the Tides of Change to carry them to ordained purpose; roll 1d8 thrice, and select your Class out of those rolled, re-rolling any copies, then receive +1 Storm Orb. If you find the results displeasing, you may re-roll your Classes at the cost of a Storm Orb. If your rolls contain the Slayer among them, you must pick it, although you can reroll at the cost of a Storm Orb.
Start with one, free Storm Orb.
This CYOA uses a system of Attributes functionally similar to Aabcehmu's
Demon of Dreams. Humans possess Attributes between + and +++, and each +s represents a multiplication of the Attribute by a factor of 1.35x along its conceptual axis. All +% are additive, regardless of context, unless noted otherwise.
[ ] 1. The Knight - The protectors of the world, by right of armor and shield - or its conquerors, by right of fire and sword.
Attributes: ++++Strength (and +10%), ++++Endurance (and +10%), +++Agility, ++Willpower, ++Wits, ++Charisma, +Composure.
Inherent Discipline:
Inner Magic, also known as Somatomancy. The Stormchosen Knights may channel magickal energy into their bodies, minds, and - with sufficient experience - even implements of warfare, allowing for incredible combat efficacy. A novice Knight should be capable of amplifying their strength, durability, and speed by 10% for the entire duration of combat almost effortlessly, or by 20% at a mild burn; an intermediate Knight might be capable of achieving one-time leaps at close to the speed of sound and powerful, steel-breaking critical attacks, or otherwise increase their combat-relevant Attributes around 40% at a mild burn.
[ ] 2. The Mage - An uncorrupted being of reason, impressing the world through metaphor and magic, rather than direct action.
Attributes: +++Intelligence (and +30%), +++Wits (and +30%), +++Willpower, +++Wisdom, +++Composure, ++Manipulation.
Inherent Discipline:
Occult Magic, a studious art - or perhaps more of a science - reliant on rituals, symbols, gestures, and invocations. Advancement is based on study, skill, imagination, willpower, and strict adherence to mental discipline. Minor and instant effects are universally difficult to learn, requiring rigorous study and repetition; powerful and comprehensive effects are often slow to deploy and demand the expenditure of assets, such as expensive ritual reagents. One of the most versatile Disciplines on offer nonetheless, it encompasses every imaginable spell that carries associations to witchcraft or common occultism, eventually expanding past that.
[ ] 3. The Cleric - A carrier of divine will, manifesting the Storm at every step, mantling the Father as the earth is mantled by the infinite sky.
Attributes: ++All Stats (and +10%), ++Willpower, ++Luck, ++Protection.
Inherent Discipline: None. Instead, you are surrounded by a natural aura of the Storm, an intangible distortion like static electricity, amplifying the supernatural powers of any allies you encounter - including yourself to a lesser degree. You have no control over the Storm: it may alternatively spike or fall on the basis of moments, and if you wish for it to support you, you must hold faith in its power: in its connection to you. The aura can be aligned and tuned down, but never fully disabled. Receive +1 Storm Orb.
[ ] 4. The Thief - A hooded taker of everything sacred and unholy, whether for ill or well - in the end, the Thief determines his own path.
Attributes: ++++Agility (and +10%), ++++Wits, +++Manipulation, +++Luck.
Inherent Discipline:
Robbery; a method, more than an art; some of its users call it, "the Robber's Hand," in an affectionate and knowing manner. Cloaked in shadow and skulking, the Thief's natural domain is that of self-concealment, waiting on the edges of mortal perception until the moment of revelation is optimal; the Thief moves swiftly, especially between shadows, which cover him protectively, and he can steal anything: outside combat, he nabs wallets and phones; in combat, he disarms opponents or steals a mage's spells out of midair to employ against someone else. Advancement permits improved stealth, control over shadows and even their solidification into items and implements, and ultimately, elevated forms of robbery. An archmaster of the Robber's Hand may even begin to steal more abstract things: steal a living being's lifespan to add to one's own, its life-breath to slay it within several moments, or even its own strength to claim for oneself.
[ ] 5. The Psychic - A being haunted by psychic energies, mind growing beyond the human scope - shall you dominate mortal vessels, or protect them?
Attributes: ++Intelligence (and +15%), ++Wits (and +15%), ++Wisdom, ++Willpower, +Charisma, -Composure.
Inherent Discipline:
Psionics, a mutation of the cortex and mind rather than proper magic. Select a phenomenon to specialize in: Psychokinesis, Extrasensory Perception, Telepathy, and Teleportation. In your chosen field, you are without equal: telekinetic might to rip down the facades of buildings and fly around at high speeds, precognition and clairvoyance warning of foes hours before you encounter them, erasure of memories and influencing emotions for entire groups, or the ability to transfer oneself across the continent at-will. In every other field, you are mediocre, but you may train. Alternatively, you may select to begin with equal talent in every field, but you'll be a middling psychic as a result.
[ ] 6. The Omnibus - A principal human being, a master of every field, a learner of every discipline; making themselves into their own ultimate tool.
Attributes: ++All Stats, ++Willpower, +Wisdom, +Intelligence.
Inherent Discipline:
Prowess, a Magic and Attribute in equal measure, it permits you to practice a number of skills with an inherent level of peak-human talent, essentially making you exponentially better at learned abilities. However, given minor development, it permits you to do impossible things as well: a soldier who can shoot from across the horizon with peerless accuracy, a martial artist that battles titanic leviathans, a sailor that can aim her vessel towards the skies, or a writer whose tales can take on a life of their own and become loyal to their creator. The possibilities are as endless as the skills that govern them. Receive +++Prowess to start with, and +1% for every notable achievement you make in a given field.
[ ] 7. The Summoner - A forger of pacts with outer beings, the monstrosities and spirits that now inhabit the universe: do not gaze too keenly into the Abyss, for it gazes back.
Attributes: ++++Willpower (and +50%), ++++Charisma (and +50%), +++Manipulation, +++Composure, +++Protection.
Inherent Discipline:
Sealing, a property that draws in astral and spiritual beings to you. They come, eager and curious, like moths to a flame, and your flame is a beautiful incandescence; satisfying and near-addictive to be around, granting you much better leeway in contacting and detecting such entities. An expenditure of minor effort and a minute of time can form an unbreakable ethereal chain between you and a given entity, given its consent or its sound defeat at your hands. This entity may then be summoned and optionally materialized to act as a servant, advisor, or warrior. There are many kinds of spirits, with powers as diverse as conception. There's a limit to how many you can have summoned, dependent on a mixture of your willpower and experience with Sealing.
[ ] 8. The Slayer - The Stormchosen Slayer does not know any mercy - for himself or his foes. After all, there can only be One.
Attributes: ++All Stats (and +5%), ++Endurance, ++Strength, ++Agility, +Willpower.
Inherent Discipline:
The Black List, stored inside your mind's eye: it appears as a black void with red text, containing the names of every Stormchosen and their Class; the dead ones are crossed out. If you do not slay a minimum of one Stormchosen a year, you'll start to bleed away Attributes and magical powers at the rate of 12.5% a season; any lost faculties may not be recovered, save by retraining or manually regaining them. However, in return for every slaying above your quota, you choose one of the following:
*Stockpile the slaying for expenditure in the future years to come.
*Receive a + to a chosen Attribute, and +5% to the worth of +s for that Attribute. Every time you select this for a particular Attribute, the next pick's effects are halved (including the raw +s.)
Furthermore, if you slay a Slayer, you may select one of the following:
*1/100th of a Storm Orb: it can be used to mitigate drawbacks by the equivalent amount (1-100%, or less if the drawback grants more than one Orb), or if you manage to complete a full Storm Orb, to purchase any of the options on offer in the CYOA.
*Expand on the data regarding a single Stormchosen on the Black List; you may receive three of: (a) their current location as of picking this, (b) their overall rough capabilities as of picking this, (c), their personality and attitude, or (d) a list of anyone they've killed or 'crossed off' the Black List.
Additionally, the first time you slay a fellow Slayer, proving your superiority over them, you advance into a Full-Blooded Slayer and receive
The Slayer's Blade, fashioned out of their pitch-black bone and crimson-red soul. The Blade is no mere implement of physical murder, but a slaughter of worlds clasped in man's hand. Its stalwart edge is rendered entropy battered into steel; its cut is a beseeching void that drains away meaning and life, dealing wounds that cannot heal save by the most powerful of magics and piercing all mundane defensive measures, and 'marking' a quarry, allowing you to view their location via the Black List and to easily track them. Anyone so marked, should they die for whatever reason, is added to your slay-tally.
Storm Blessings
If you possess any Storm Orbs, you may spend them here, in order to acquire various temporal powers or benefits. Be smart with your purchases: access to Storm Orbs isn't, as you can surely tell, a universal affair. Unless noted otherwise, every option costs a single Orb.
[ ] Journeyman's Advancement - A training course in the use of your Inherent Discipline, its effects are varied, based on your Class, and somewhat adjustable and modifiable even within that purview; no two specialists develop down the same exact route, after all. The contents of the training course are condensed into a single moment, synthesizing the experience necessary all at once. In essence, treat yourself as having received a month of training in your Discipline from a significantly more experienced user, and then having experienced another season of independent but regular, diligent, and steady practice of its principles.
Below are examples and benchmarks for each Class, although keep in mind the specifics can vary, depending on the focus of your training. The Cleric, possessing no Inherent Discipline, does not benefit significantly from Journeyman's Advancement, although they can certainly learn to control their Storm a little better.
*The Knight's skill with Inner Magic sits on an intermediate level, and they experience no significant whiplash from such an increase in raw might. They're capable of executing a couple of moderately difficult techniques, such as magically extending the reach of a sword by several meters, or firing a homing elemental arrow.
*The Mage is capable of reliably casting a single, 'signature' cantrip of moderate power, such as firing magic missiles with the frequency and power of an assault rifle; they can do this for minutes without tiring. They also know around half a dozen other, minor spells they can cast within seconds at barely any cost; and a similar number of rituals.
*The Thief may casually reside within a small room with only three other people, and remain undetected until moving into close range or making an attack. They may erase their appearance from memory, or blur their face on electronic records, and form a knife of shadow. Can steal some Artifacts with decreased risk.
*The Psychic has achieved basic competency in one other field of psionic endeavor, or improved fractionally in each of them: may now be able to elevate and throw a sledgehammer with an arrow's velocity, vaguely see a minute into an adjacent's room future, read surface thoughts upon making eye contact, or translocate seven meters.
*The Omnibus has achieved peak-human competency in six skills, and near-flawless perfection in a single technique, starting to border and cross over into the zone of slightly supernatural effects, mostly by enhancing the results of their skill past what should be physically achievable.
*The Summoner has contracted at least three different spirits of moderate strength, and can reliably maintain one of them summoned and materialized without any strain whatsoever. They're also capable of communicating telepathically with each of their spirits at no cost.
*The Slayer has successfully and unproblematically paid off the first year's quota, accessed the Slayer's Blade, and gained one data on several targets, but has achieved little else of note.
[ ] Genetic Lottery - It seems the Storm has changed you on a genetic level. If you purchase the Genetic Lottery, you may conduct a maximum of six rolls on the following list, with an opportunity to stop rolling after every roll. Beware, a certain amount of the options can impede you, or even be outright harmful! If any mutations contradict each other, the higher roll overrides the lower one in whatever minimal way fulfills the spirit of the change. If you roll something positive twice or more, it stacks. If you roll something negative or neutral twice or more, you can reroll it.
1-10 - Develop a crippling weakness to one of the following: water, sunlight, iron, wood, and loud noises. The weakness ensures you'll always be exceptionally vulnerable to that element, no matter how far you scale. Client's choice of weakness. Any Slayer with a Blade instinctively knows your weakness upon sighting you.
11-15 - Roll 1d5, and remove the appropriate element of your sensorium: (1) touch, (2) hearing, (3) sight, (4) taste, (5) smell. Alternatively, roll 2d5 and diminish the affected senses by 50%, or roll 3d5, and diminish every sense by a third.
16-17 - Roll 1d255, thrice. Your skin now has the RGB value of whatever you rolled.
18-19 - Roll 1d255, thrice. Your hair now has the RGB value of whatever you rolled.
20-21 - Roll 1d255, thrice. Your irises now have the RGB value of whatever you rolled. Optionally, make another roll for your sclera.
22-25 - Select any of the following to sprout on top of your head: (a) cat's ears, (b) wolf's ears, (c) goat's horns, or (d) bird's feathers. Functional and cute.
26-30 - Develop a single feature, internal or external, that you subjectively perceive as "interesting," although not necessarily "useful."
31-55 - Receive +10% to the +s worth of an Attribute you have the most, and +5% to the Attributes in a secondary and tertiary role. If multiple Attributes are equal, pick the ones of your preference. If you receive any +All Stats whatsoever, the +10% applies to All Stats instead.
56-60 - Develop laser eyes, capable of discharging beams of energy that deal half-thermal and half-kinetic damage. They're capable of cutting through a car with a second of effort, or melting and knocking a gun out of the hands of a gunman with a decisecond's discharge. Scales with Strength. May cause blurring eyesight on overuse. Color of lasers is client's choice.
61-65 - Develop a psychic danger sense, warning you of impending attacks, their direction, and their overall strength and nature around 1-3 seconds before they are launched against you. 100% reliable, but you can still be overwhelmed by the sheer quantity or quality.
66-70 - Receive ++Strength, Agility, and Endurance. Distribute 4 +s to any Attributes of your choice that aren't Strength, Agility, or Endurance; no more than one + per Attribute. If you're a Knight, you can ignore this limitation and choose a physical Attribute.
71-90 - Develop a powerful, focused, and versatile superpower of your choice. It can be anything from magnetokinesis, elemental transmutation, advanced healing factor, or superior Attributes, although it shouldn't greatly exceed the general power level expected of an average member of the X-Men.
91-95 - Become immortal, stopping the aging process entirely at age thirty. No significant malady or disease, such as cancer, will ever affect you if it would have, and you'll be able to heal more completely from wounds and scars, even restoring lost limbs. 25x wound healing speed, 50x on fresh (dealt less than a day ago) wounds.
96-98 - Receive extreme, almost inhuman beauty, akin to an elven lord or lady of high standing; enchanting beyond imagination, stunning most of the people you meet. If you choose, you may develop mild, appropriate features that you find subjectively pleasing to the eye.
99 - Gain access to a psychic discipline of your choice, as per Psionics, which you can practice at half-speed, although with an ultimate ceiling reminiscent of an actual Psychic. You cannot practice any of the other phenomena of Psionics, unless you roll this number again. If you're Psychic, you instead fully master a second phenomenon.
100 - Gain a Storm Orb. Additionally, you cannot roll on this list below 15: any rolls you've made below that number have their effects annulled and you can reroll them. If you spend the Storm Orb, you can make another five rolls, once more rerolling anything which is annulled in the above manner. You've officially won the genetic lottery, congratulations.
[ ] H-Clone Master - A supernatural ability meant to serve as a utility, service, and messaging function all in one; develop the capability to form a functional clone of yourself, once every six hours to a hard limit of four clones, focusing a part of the Storm within you into an extrusion of your ego.
The clones possess your rough physical and mental Attributes, but in combat, cannot strike an opponent with more than 20% of their normal strength and dissipate upon suffering a single blow that'd normally cause a minor, insignificant bruise or even an unnoticeable flesh wound. Furthermore, they are incapable of using your Inherent Discipline with more than around half of your skill and natural, raw power, unless you are an Omnibus. A clone's appearance is identical to your own, save for a slight facial blurriness and translucence; a highly perceptive man can notice the slight glow within their chest, exactly where the heart would be; the core of their being shining with the chained, hammered Storm.
The clones are connected to your mind as part of a semi-psychic hivemind that cannot be disrupted using offensive psychic powers. They are completely aware of their nature as clones and possess considerably more loyalty and willingness to sacrifice than you would. However, they cannot be turned against you or your interests with any form of mind control; if puppeteered directly to act against you, they'll dissipate as though suddenly injured in combat, or remain if preferable.
As weak as the clones may be in comparison to the original, there's still something to be said for having several clones of yourself, each one as competent and physically capable of you in non-combat situations; whether logistical functions, menial labor, or social interaction, the usage of clones can effectively free up a massive amount of time you wouldn't have possessed otherwise, or even accelerate a time-sensitive project that needs to be completed as swiftly as possible.
[ ] Monarch - As you come to, following the Storm, you find yourself on a hovering landmass, suspended around a kilometer above the Earth, about double the size of Easter Island. The island contains infrastructure appropriate to a moderately well-developed first-world society, and a natural population of about fifteen thousand people who can maintain a comfortable, self-sustaining mode of life. They accept you as their king or queen, and obey most reasonable commands without question or hesitation; they may still obey unreasonable commands, so long as you have a decent reason for making them.
The population of the island contains at least fifteen people who hold the potential to become Stormchosen, given some time and a proper awakening event. There's also at least seventy-five individuals who possess a rudimentary command of either Inner Magic or Occult Magic and serve you directly as bodyguards and sorcerers.
The island's society possesses technology and infrastructure about on par with the modern world. Although as small as you'd expect of such a population, its active military is decently well-equipped and trained, with a competent commander in charge. A minister can maintain the kingdom for you if you aren't interested in running it, although their skills in stewardship and nation-running are only moderately good, and they don't have the same unquestioning authority as you do. If you want to visit the Earth beneath, it wouldn't be a significant issue to arrange a helicopter to take you down, or even - if you are willing to wait - construct a high-speed elevator.
May be purchased multiple times, to a limit of nine times. Every time improves your nation's size, technology, magic, or other capabilities by a reasonable degree. If you come into possession of this after character creation, a new nation shall appear out of the Stormweave, and you'll be instinctively drawn to it.
[ ] Time Warp - The Storm's outpouring of power causes a mild temporal anomaly, centered directly on you. Feeling out its flows, you sense that you may direct its nature within a certain limit: either containing or unleashing it, and you come to believe this event is more beneficial than not. Can only be selected at character creation.
Unleash - Starting at the moment you select this, lock yourself in a repeating time loop; any benefits of training or learning are carried over between loops, as is any knowledge gained. The loops can last for a maximum of one fortnight, although you can choose to reset early, and they'll amount to a duration of around three (subjective) months in total. As the anomaly has been seized on by more than one person, in order to preserve causality, all loopers other than yourself are 'dead' at the beginning of the loop, atoms effectively vaporized. As such, any actions they might take to affect the timeline once your looping period ends will come to you as a complete, or at least mostly complete, surprise. If you wish, you can end the loops early, starting yourself back in the 'real world.'
Contain - Store the anomaly within yourself, choosing an appropriate time to release it. Once you do: translocate up to half a year forward or backwards in time, to what you believe is a time of greater opportunity or stability; if you attempt to translocate before the Stormchange, you'll find the furthest you can go is a month prior to the event, and the flow of causality will aggressively defend itself, to ensure none of your actions significantly disturb the timeline until after the Stormchange. You won't undergo the Stormchange's effects twice. If you translocate backwards, you'll possess your own body from the time in question; if you translocate forwards, you'll disappear in an explosion of lightning and flame, and reappear in the same spot on the selected date.
[ ] Bizarre Accord - An unnatural companion - a member of the new universe - shall be promptly drawn to you, by the light of the Storm dancing in your heart. And you, in turn, shall be drawn to them, enforcing a mutual bond of loyalty and reciprocal interest. Whether the nature of your relationship is that of simple and casual friends, sober business partners, siblings-in-arms, or perhaps something more prurient, your companion shall never betray your bond, so long as you also commit to doing the same in good faith.
The companion's overall nature is unpredictable, but you may influence it. Regardless, they are assured to be highly compatible with you, in terms of personality, demeanor, and traits, but you cannot decide the specifics, aside from what manner of supernatural being they are. They may be a dragon in humanoid form, a concealed spirit, an angel, a devil, or another existence entirely - whether unlisted or completely foreign. They'll possess a contingent of magical powers appropriate to their overall nature - such as hellfire manipulation and contract-making for a devil, luxomancy and flight for an angel spirit, and so on. They'll be about as strong or even slightly more powerful than you to start with, and possess a limited though not disappointing room and potential for future progression; even if you train brutally and ruthlessly, grinding yourself down to the bone, you'll find they are still catching up to you at least to a degree where they'll hold a minor level of relevance in any combat encounters you participate in.
The companion would be glad to help you with any issues you face, within the reasonable extent of your bond, although they'll expect you to do the same for them. Fortunately, they won't get into trouble on their own any more than any average person in their position would, regardless of personality traits or demeanor.
May be purchased a maximum of three times, each one granting a new companion.
[ ] Implement - Receive an Artifact made of pure Storm, a great tool of power that aids you in applying the role of your Class, designed to suit your particular needs or desires.
The Artifact has an effective durability equivalent to a planetoid, requiring damage that'd shatter a such a celestial body to be completely and functionally destroyed. Even then, an Artifact may be reconstructed using Occult Magic from its shards, through entering and staying the presence of a friendly Cleric, or through several other means that can be discovered with sufficient research. If any of your Artifacts are stolen by a Thief or misplaced by accident, by calling their name, you can restrict around half of a given item's functions and powers, and learn of its current location.
Examples:
The Knight - Lightweight sword with a micron-sharp edge, amplifying the power of your strikes. A belt that summons a mystical steed with unbreakable loyalty to you, and heeding a call from any distance. Gauntlets that improve your somatomantic prowess in combat, and grant improved attack speed.
The Mage - Golden wand that accelerates the casting of spells geometrically and lets you enact one, ritual-sized working once a day instantly, at no price. Infinite vial of pink quartz dust that can substitute for almost any common ritual ingredient, and may be blown into a person's face to temporarily charm them.
The Cleric - Crystal bead necklace granting you the power to physically shape and control the Stormweave, discharging parts of it as magical energy attacks, or forming tool constructs. An incense burner with a belt clip, eternally smoldering a weed that bedazzles and weakens the abilities of enemies in a medium range.
The Thief - Dimensional pocket of holding that has the rough capacity of a large storage closet and may widen its opening as needed, or even fire its contents like a cannon. Sentient length of rope, capable of extending, tying itself, and constricting as needed with dexterity superior to that of a fast snake.
The Psychic - Silver crown studded with psychoreactive jewels, expanding on your telepathic abilities and letting you contact allies from any distance, even across dimensions. Deck of tarot cards that may be utilized to correctly foresee and influence the future of a person.
The Omnibus - Book that can shift its contents to any instructional material required, explained in fashion that's surprisingly easy to digest and learn from. Any item related to any mundane and common profession, possessing moderately supernatural properties, such as a hammer that can fix a broken rooftop with one, correctly-angled tap.
The Summoner - Bulbous bottle containing a countryside-sized pocket dimension, with amenities and luxuries appropriate to 21st century Earth, in which any of your summons can reside when you don't have particular need of them. A paper talisman that, worn as a necktie, grants resistance to hostile magical effects.
The Slayer - A dark leather sheath for the Slayer's Blade, granting 1/100th of a Storm Orb every time the Slayer's Blade is sheathed after having tasted the heartsblood of a now-dead Stormchosen. A vial of red ink that, inscribed upon the skin as a tattoo, grants partial deflection of damage against one's foes.
Can be taken several times, up to a maximum of seven times, granting a different Artifact each time, or greatly improving the effects of an already-existing Artifact.
[ ] Hybridization [1-2 Orbs] - For the cost of a single Orb, you may roll 1d8 and select the result to become your secondary Class; reroll if you rolled your primary Class.
The secondary Class grants you its associated Inherent Discipline, as well as half the Attributes (rounded down.) However, your advancement in the Discipline is limited, such that even if you work tirelessly to create a note of steady progress, you'll encounter frequent roadblocks, either in motivation or talent, and you'll often find that some key, integral quality meant to reliably allow you to use the Class' powers is absent, or perhaps weaker than standard. If you manage to achieve a state reasonably close to mastery of your primary Class (or a hundred slayings as the Slayer), your secondary Class is 'unsealed,' and these impediments instantly disappear, allowing you to take full advantage.
For the cost of two Orbs, you can instead become a True Hybrid, and select any Class of your choice to be your secondary class; you'll face none of the impediments mentioned above, capable of advancing in both Disciplines with equal speed and ferocity from the start.
[ ] Attainment of Mastery [2 Orbs] - An expertise seldom achievable or seen: no mere training course, but the achievement of completion within your particular Inherent Discipline, akin to a Journeyman's Advancement, but an order of magnitude greater.
For instance, the Knight may double his relevant Attributes for the duration of combat almost without any effort, or even achieve a tripling with moderate exertion; he can now launch five attacks in the space of one heartbeat, jump to anywhere within sight almost instantly, or defend from a building-crushing attack with a riposte. The Mage can develop several strong cantrips, which are twice as powerful, versatile, and reliable as those of a novice, and possesses an entire library of spells they can cast within moments, while their ritual costs are lowered, and possess amplified, long-lasting effects. The Thief can now rob others of health, lifespan, attention, motivation, and similar surface-level concepts of the body and mind, or steal a panoply artifact; even a Slayer's Blade from a Slayer, although they cannot use it. Et cetera.
All-in-all, this grants a significant - although not completely decisive - advantage over many other Stormchosen, comparable to several years of training, with a quarter of that period spent under an archmaster. It may even be possible to use some of the accumulated might to mitigate some of your drawbacks (or, in most cases, deal with them more elegantly.) However, your further training and advancement from here on out shall prove to be treacherously slow and increasingly diminishing, as you're closing in on the limits of what your Class is capable of achieving without resorting to methods of foul play, or usage of external systems.
[ ] Stormling [2 Orbs] - In some ways, you are more than form implies: you are a part of the Storm, and the storm is a part of you.
By focusing upon the ambient Stormweave, in something reminiscent of a meditative state, you can slip away from the bounds of mere physicality - and become an ethereal creature, existing almost as a metaphor. In this state, you are invulnerable, imperceivable, and phase through all matter, but likewise, you cannot affect the physical universe in any fashion: not even by using the most esoteric and mystical of your available magics, or specialized artifacts. Perception of the physical world is grossly limited: you cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or even feel the physical world, although you are receptive to certain surface-level psychic impressions of the physical location you are adjacent to.
For instance, you'd recognize that you are in the New York subway, in a moving train car; or in the middle of an office building in Chicago, and you'd be able to puzzle out a rough, unclear image of the 'scene' you'd appear into if you were to rematerialize. This can be utilized to travel in a mostly safe and swift manner, as in your ethereal form, you can drift on astral currents to move between distant locations extremely fast; going from a distant location to another, such as San Diego to Boston, might happen within even as little as half an hour, although rarely up to twice as long.
There is a more extreme use of this ability: the Stormweave's tapestry does not restrict itself to one universe. By sacrificing a portion of your mind in an impermanent, recoverable fashion (causing mostly damage to your sanity, unless your Willpower and Protection are immense, in which case you may be able to tank it,) you can force the astral drifts to carry you further and faster than ever; the process is long, taking subjective hours, if not days, and cannot be ended prematurely, lest you strand yourself out in the middle of the transuniversal void, where you have no hopes of survival. Once it completes, you'll have traveled into another world, one of your choice and liking.
Certain limits do apply, as you can only travel to worlds under the Stormweave, and so certain of your criteria may be left unfulfilled: for instance, if you attempt to travel to the "Marvel comics universe," you may find yourself instead being dropped in a completely unrelated setting, one you've never even heard of, that happens to have superheroes.
It's not recommended that individuals with baseline human mentality use this power more than once a year, as its use can accrue into complete madness with surprising swiftness; and once that threshold is passed, much like a dead man does not heal back to life, it cannot be returned from.
This cannot be used to reach a Reincarnation world, although someone who's selected Reincarnation may utilize it to move between worlds, including back to their original Earth.
If you are a Cleric, lower the cost of this option by one Storm Orb.
[ ] Athenaeum of Fire [2 Orbs] - Although Storm dominates your universe, its crackling filling the context to the brim, it has a curious and wicked sister power, belonging to a darker being: Her name is Fire, and she welcomes you, child of Storm, with arms open and a salubrious greeting.
By carving a ritual circle, its contents perfectly and eidetically stored in your mind, into a floor made of basalt and covered in ash, then invoking the name of Fire in a short incantation, you may open a portal of raging flames. Passage through stings, but deposits you safely in a corresponding location within the basement levels of the Athenaeum of Fire - a cavernous depth, studded with ancient ruins and structures, and claustrophobically low ceilings. A similar, but easier ritual can return you.
Here, evil and wicked monsters dwell in the joyful darkness: dragon and demon alike frolic and exult in this wanton depth; although to you, they are friendly, and even amicable, recognizing you as a fellow entity of darkness, regardless of your actual disposition.
More importantly, though, the Athenaeum's basement contains every single book, grimoire, papyrus scroll, and length of parchment ever burned across the wide multiverse: from forbidden occult tomes and religious doctrines, the contents of blazing Alexandria, to the secret correspondence between spies and kings - one can find almost anything. As a tenant of the basement, you eventually and slowly develop an instinct for seeking through the piles of tomes, such that you may find books relevant to your needs and desires in days of searching, rather than years; or in minutes, rather than hours. Every visit you make expands this instinct. The dark entities who co-inhabit this space with you and any other Stormchosen who visit can teach you more.
The students of the Athenaeum existing above the basement may occasionally come downstairs in search of a particular tome. If you aid them in the search, acting as either guide or bodyguard in the basement, they might be willing to offer you potent services, interesting goods, or even live animal sacrifices in return. Some of the other dark entities may join your caravan in either capacity, while others may assail you with the intent of devouring the students and their souls: regardless of which side anyone was on, once the students have claimed their books and retreated, or were consumed, the combat stops and no one bears any hard feelings towards anyone else. It's simply the way things are.
If you are a Slayer, lower the cost of this option by one Storm Orb - and one day, a long time from now, once the list of admittees has lowered, you may have a chance yourself to become a student of this prestigious institution. Mother Fire loves her sons.
[ ] Heretic's Throne [3 Orbs, must select at least one Drawback] - A long time ago, a king who'd sought to conquer many worlds succumbed to greed, sacrificing his own beloved family, and burning down his own kingdom to appease the Council of Devil Lords, all of it for the sake of selfish gain.
It's said that the Devils were so impressed by the extent and treachery of his sin that, in exchange, they gifted him and his remaining descendants one of their greatest boons: the Heretic's Throne, a chair existing more in metaphor, than in actual reality - anyone who sits upon it, be they of royal authority, and of impious origin, are granted any wish they desire. Sitting upon the Heretic's Throne, the king's innermost wish was granted, and he received a treasure that was the very concept of treasure; a valuable so sweet and intemperate it defies description. Since then, the Heretic's Throne has continued to exist, a watery concept springing from the ether, to welcome the unexpecting to sit upon it.
As Stormchosen, you are considered that king's descendant for all intents and purposes, even though your royalty may be thinned through layers of spiritual separation; all that remains is an act of impiety, and you have many to choose from. Although your ancestor's greed was his downfall, perhaps you can find some true value in the Heretic's Throne?
Make a wish - any wish - and only once, and it'll be granted. Include as many safeties or clauses as you please. However, do beware: although by no completely means twisting every desire to a purposefully terrible outcome, the Heretic's Throne does always grant its wishes through a path of least resistance; and this effect increases exponentially the more powerful your wish. Furthermore, most of the Heretic Throne's essence has been spent across the ages; only flickers remain, sufficient to power decent changes for you and many other Stormchosen, but not grand and stupefying ones. It should, however, be able to replicate a modified version of every 2-Orb Blessing, or improve them in some manner.
[ ] Reincarnation [3 Orbs] - Do you wish not to exist in eternal fear of other Stormchosen, of Slayers and Thieves who lurk in the night, and the entities that sleep across the Stormweave's protective blanketing? There may be a way.
Perish on Earth, leaving behind nothing but a steaming ash pile. Be reborn as a seven-year-old child in a medieval world of fantastical endeavor and magic, or a world exploring the final frontier of space with advanced technology (your choice,) with any of your other picks. As soon as you start growing to adolescence, however, your safe period ends, and you'll find that you are drawn naturally to an interesting life of adventure and unthinkable peril; in order to dispel this mode of living, you must overcome a fated quest or a great foe, a task of moderate difficulty if you rush its completion, or a mere dalliance (if not exactly one lasting a mere season!) if you take your time.
After completing it, you'll find that your life continues to be interesting, although only in a positive fashion, with events that you find objectively non-offensive. Lifelong companions, priceless treasures, useful talents, and exciting vacations await on the other side of your journey! Most importantly, a peaceful retirement.
None of the other Stormchosen, not even high-level Mages, will ever be capable of finding you, let alone entering your universe. You exist in a separate context, safely sequestered from this universe. Compared to everyone else, you're essentially playing a different style of game - a far easier and more relaxing one.
Cannot be taken by a Slayer, however. There's already a life that you've got to cut out for yourself.
[ ] Combination [3 Orbs] - Select a second Class. Instead of receiving its benefits, combine it with your current Class, into a conceptual gestalt, the final form of which you can slightly influence within the combinatory purview. The resultant unique Master Class possesses its own Attributes (worth around double that of a normal Class, distributed in a reasonable and fair manner,) and its own, distinctive Inherent Discipline. Here are several examples, which you can copy if you desire:
Knight + Cleric = Paladin.
Attributes: ++All Stats, +++++Strength, +++++Endurance, ++++Agility, +++Willpower, +++Wits, +++Charisma.
Inherent Discipline: Stormdrawing, the supreme act of reinforcing oneself and one's supernatural properties with the ambient Storm. Can do anything Somatomancy does, although with moderately increased potency and ceiling, and vastly expanded versatility; can bless individuals with a variety of buffs, such as giving temporary supernatural skills, resistances, or offensive boosts; can also repel summoned monsters and spirits by creating a physical tide of Storm.
Thief + Slayer = Assassin.
Attributes: ++All Stats, +++++Agility, +++Strength, +++Endurance, +++Willpower, +++Luck.
Inherent Discipline: Assassination Arts, a somatic form of magic. Reminiscent of Inner Magic, although focused entirely and solely on delivering expiry to a target, bending corruptive evil and shadow magics to one's will, and traversing the criminal underworld; may stick to ceilings, create shadow clones, form illusory landscapes, corrupt the minds of victims, and more. Also possesses the Assassin's Blade, a Slayer's Blade stolen from a deceased Full-Blooded Slayer assassinated by the character, its functions improved along most axes of functionality. Retains a functional Black List.
Mage + Summoner = Contractor.
Attributes: ++All Stats, +++++Manipulation, +++++Composure, ++++Charisma, ++++Willpower, ++Intelligence, ++Wits, ++Protection.
Inherent Discipline: Pact-Making, a faculty permitting the summoning of various entities, ranging from the spirits of minor objects, to cosmic overlords, in order to forge deals with them; the Contractor gives something of themselves, such as an item, a sacrifice, or a service; the spirit, in turns, either allows itself to be bound as a servant, or offers a superpower or magic of some manner; in the cases of powerful spirits, even access to particular, diverse magic systems.
[ ] Divine Ascension [4 Orbs] - Become a demigod, a potential contestant to enter the Storm-Father's own pantheon. Select one of the following Domains as your starting one: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Lightning, Moon, Sun, War, Fertility, and Commerce. Receive ++All Stats, ++Wits, ++Protection, and ++Luck.
Use of one's divine abilities can be tiring, or even exhausting, causing physical, mental, and spiritual penalties for severe overuse; even causing permanent damage in some extreme cases. The range of your influence is great, at least within areas concerned by your domain, especially defensively: a handwave of a Lightning God's will can undo a brewing storm, or discharge a bolt three times as powerful as standard; the effortful concentration of a War God can rebalance the odds of victory from even odds to a minor advantage for one side, or bless a single warrior such that David may slay a Goliath; the furthermost, draining exertion of a Moon God may cause an eclipse, curse a mortal with lycanthropy and permanent servitude, or even slip away a chunk of the moon that shoots towards the Earth at high speeds like deadly, orbital artillery.
Naturally, you're highly resistant to being harmed or negatively affected by your domain, however, not completely immune; certain attacks even within your own purview can hurt you, especially in cases of more abstract domains, such as War or Commerce. Active defense, exerting or concentrating to influence your domain, is more likely to protect effectively. Even an advanced War God isn't completely immune to being struck with an arrow, though he may easily turn aside a volley with a wave of the sword.
Every demigod may undergo apotheosis, allowing them to rank up into a full-blown deity. In order to achieve this, you must display cunning and courage, make a great show of each of the seven virtues, and overcome a great evil. After that, the Storm-Father shall appear before you, and if you consent to it, you'll ascend to a higher state of being. Any deity so transcended shall become a part of the pantheon, living out supremely comfortable and safe lives in a realm metaphysically catering to every desire, although lacking the ability to influence the mortal world; in order to do so, you must seek the Storm-Father's permission to form an avatar that holds a fraction of your total might.
Gods are far more powerful and unconditionally immortal - even resurrecting if slain. After apotheosis, your domain's power expands, and you may select an additional two, lesser domains, including ones not even listed above. You'll also be able to explore other worlds, including worlds where the Storm has passed.
Cannot be taken by a Slayer.
[ ] The Name [4 Orbs] - Every creature is born with a name, something granted to them by their parents in order to set them apart. But, as those who are wise can tell, names are a mere falsehood; an illusion wrapped over a being. People have names because we don't know who we are. However, you do: for you have a Name, something that isn't a falsehood, but an essence.
Develop a personalized superpower, appropriate to your own objective nature, overall personality, and subjective beliefs; its nature is vast and powerful, and it can grant you many corollaries, such as considerable improvement to your Attributes, additional senses, or even access to unique magics. If you wish, you may draw parts of it inwards, to improve the capabilities granted to you by the Storm, such as any other Storm Blessings you've picked, or the Inherent Discipline of your Class. The overall capabilities you should expect are appropriate to the Orb cost; about roughly on par or slightly more forceful and versatile than pre-apotheosis divinity.
However, by choosing to declare yourself so loudly, you've drawn the ire of the Nameless. Although you don't have to take the associated Drawback, expect him to be hostile and single you out for destruction if you ever encounter him.
Cannot be taken by a Slayer.
Drawbacks & Quests
If you wish, you may pick some Drawbacks in order to give yourself an advantage -- beware of picking too many, or taking something you cannot handle. Every Drawback grants one Storm Orb, unless noted otherwise. A limit of three (3) point-giving Drawbacks applies, regardless of their strength and granted boons.
[ ] Genetic Deviation - No Storm Orb is granted. Instead, make a free roll on Genetic Lottery, but you must also accept all of the results in the 1-30 range. Nothing can prevent this. If you happen to roll any of them, the presented feature is amplified twofold in an appropriate manner, but you can reroll to receive something else. If you wish, you may select this Drawback up to three times, counting as a single Drawback each time, but every time you do, the features undergo amplification as described.
This cannot be mitigated.
[ ] Fake Divinity - No Storm Orb is granted. Instead, receive a modified version of Divine Ascension, absorbing some of the Storm's Divinity into yourself in an unstable process, with no reception of extra Attributes, and no possibility of achieving a state of apotheosis in the future, as your divinity is not approved.
You cannot pick one of the official domains to wield as yours. Instead, you are constrained to picking any of the following discarded domains, only capable of exerting influence upon them at a third of the usual potency (requiring intense concentration to achieve effects half as strong as baseline for Divine Ascension, more or less.)
Here are the domains you may select: Chartreuse (color), Cigarette Smoke, Natural Erosion, Chickens, Slime, Tree Roots, Restless Sleep, Slight Hunger, Video Games, Intestinal Parasites, Common Misconceptions, Walrus, Donuts, Hardboiled Detectives, War (post-1900), Writer's Block, Anime Openings, Ice Cubes, Coffee, Girders, Drifting (motorsport), Capes, Gangsters, Adversarial Family Relationships, Scotland, Fishing Nets, Long White Hair, Sore Throats, The Elderly, Counter-Revolutions, Lilies, Tonsure, Printing, Roosters, Unfinished Art, Mitochondria, and Boring Adventures.
The existence of a false demigod is an unnerving one: although made up of heavenly essence, you do not receive the divine protection of most gods. As a result, the darkest creatures of the new universe shall be drawn to you at extreme rates and in stupefying quantities, sensing you from afar and desiring to consume you. This complication can threaten you significantly, although should be possible to deal with, as long as you learn to utilize your domain properly to defend yourself. If you picked Reincarnation, then instead of that, you'll find the divinities of your new world detesting your corruption of its principles, and flinging several curveball events at you, complicating your existence, although rarely to the level of a fatality, unless you are found severely lacking. The monsters in the Athenaeum's basement are unaffected and treat you with the same joviality they do all other Stormchosen.
This cannot be mitigated.
[ ] Salient Target - An implantation of dross, sheer and unrefined Storm - a Salient Essence giving you additional power - but leaking out of you, like water from a cracked jug.
Anyone who slays you receives half a Storm Orb, and if they weren't already, becomes a Stormchosen with your own Class. If several mundane humans collaborate in order to kill you, the elected head collaborator, or the person that contributed the most, receives the Stormchosen status. If several Stormchosen collaborate in order to kill you, the half of a Storm Orb is divided fairly among them based on their overall contribution to the kill. If you are marked by a Slayer, they receive half the prize for the slaying (quarter of an Orb,) even without any contribution; if multiple Slayers have marked you, they split that half evenly amongst themselves.
The acquired half of a Storm Orb can then be spent to mitigate a drawback of equivalent cost to a commensurate degree or, if full by killing other Targets, spent on any option. Alternatively, it can be immolated in order to gain Attributes equal to around a third of your Class' baseline, including any Prowess you might have if you are an Omnibus.
This effect is made totally and comprehensively obvious to anyone who looks you directly in the eyes for longer than a second or is present within your general vicinity for longer than a full ten minutes. Any telepathically-oriented Psychics know of this effect instantly, the moment they meet you, instead. Additionally, the Black List of any Slayers displays you as a, 'Salient Target,' by underlining your Name and Class, letting the Slayers of the world know that you're a particularly worthwhile quarry.
[ ] Dangerous Dealings - One of the Devil Lords of the New World, chosen at random from the Council, has received an order to deal with you, a problematic peon of the gods that you are. Although the Lord in question is largely uninterested and has no personal stakes in the assignment, they do have considerable resources to put towards the task and command immense arcane might.
On average, you can expect weekly attacks from demonic forces, fluctuating in frequency at random to be as much as twice as often or twice as uncommon; scaled to your own capabilities, and continuing to scale, albeit imperfectly and not endlessly. If, for whatever reason, you manage to utterly outscale the Devil Lord's armed forces, they'll shrug and come after you personally, likely accompanied by any servants they deem competent and powerful enough to bother taking along. They'll prepare reasonably for this venture, calling in favors from other Devil Lords if additional resources are needed to capture you.
If you manage to overcome even them - or, in a more likely scenario, escape destruction for sufficiently long - the Devil Lords will either deem you an extreme threat, or too much of a bother to deal with, and leave you mostly alone, poking you only on occasion to test whether your attention and will have flagged, unless they sincerely believe doing so may provoke vast retribution, or unless you mitigate this Drawback. Do not underestimate the Council's power - their relative disinterest in you is, perhaps, the only mercy saving you from immediate annihilation.
If you've selected the Abomination or Absolute Madness, then your enemies are highly likely to form an alliance with each other to deal with you more efficiently: the Devil Lords only want you gone with minimal effort, and the Abomination's master wants to exhaustively study your corpse, so they're in a prime state to enter a win-win scenario. In such an event, you may expect exponentially stronger opposition: the Abomination, its suit and implants now enhanced with arrays of infernal runes and infusions of demonic essence, in possession of magical hellflames, and in command of a squadron of devilish servants.
[ ] Hollow Side [Can't be picked alongside Reincarnation] - Instead of continuing an uneventful life on the surface, you are moved into the Reverse Side of the Hollow Earth, the interior of the planet, with the planet's core rendered into an internal sun. There are cave systems that can lead you to the surface, but they are controlled by local kingdoms, who control traffic and impose heavy restrictions on travel upside - most of these kingdoms are authoritarian, totalitarian, or tyrannic, and ruled by powerful absolute monarchs or corrupt councils, and they are likely to find a Stormchosen interesting, in much the same way a lion finds prey interesting.
Because of the Earth's thaumostabilizing effect, and the artificial leylines established by the local traditions of Occultists, any effect that could normally teleport you back to the surface cannot operate correctly, and instead winds up placing you in locations of great danger, or putting you in situations where the authorities become aware of you. Certain highly powerful effects may pierce the suppression field, but it'd still be considerably safer to attempt to drill your way up, even if it takes much longer. One of the largest potential exits is the location corresponding to the eastern pool of the Mariana Trench, which contains a natural yet hazardous opening. Stormling isn't effective at breaching the field.
Naturally, the Hollow Earth possesses its gravity, biosphere, geography, oceans, and features. Many of its societies are dark, shadowy reflections of those above them; the living creatures and animals are often mystical and more powerful than Earth's; even a single rabbit here can be a moderate threat for an unprepared, human hunter. Consequently, most of the local people are practitioners of Inner and Occult Magic, and stranger arts yet; even ones not known commonly to the Stormchosen. An ordinary local farmer, famished and living under the yoke of an oppressive government, could prove to be a surprising danger to a lesser and uncautious Stormchosen. Some of the local subterranean nations may start to plot a conquest of the surface, if they learn of its vulnerability early on: becoming a quisling could be your ticket to safety.
Take heed, ye who enter here: do not tarry, and be careful, as the Hollow Side has demons of its own...
If you selected Monarch, instead of commanding a flying island nation, you'll come into personal possession of a minor principality on this side of the Earth. Although your army and people are significantly more powerful than standard, with several minor Stormchosen already awoken, and almost every citizen practicing some form of magic, they do not obey you willingly; you are, much like your neighbors, a petty tyrant. If you should ever lighten the strength of your grip on the populace's throat, you'll find your thralls overthrowing you instead, or one of your servants sensing weakness and choosing to slay you and take your place. However, sufficiently heroic deeds, or conquest of your neighbors, may instill your immediate underlings and servants with genuine feelings of loyalty; after a century of battles, perhaps you can change how you govern.
This cannot be mitigated; not any more than a star can be made non-luminescent and still be called a star. The penalty is appearing within this place. Once that happens, the penalty is resolved; getting out is diegetically an unrelated issue.
[ ] The Abomination - Once, there was a mad scientist: clad in a dark uniform and plasteel gasmask, this unfeeling man was called into a duty of service and protection. Nonetheless, he strayed and indulged his psychopathic curiosities in endless experimentation upon innocent subjects. So extensive was the madman's horror that even his own superiors were bedazzled and shocked by his complete depravity, motivated as much by the unethical inquisition of his mind, as by sickening and perverse sadism.
The Abomination that morbidly pursues you is one of his earlier seminal works - unrefined, inefficient, a weapon in constant suffering; ending its life would be an act of mercy; and yet, it remains a credible threat nonetheless.
Clad in a hardsuit with exotic sensors, it can pursue you from a city's distance, and track you globally with effort and time. Its hardsuit, as well as its genetic and cybernetic modifications, render it immune to small arms fire, and extremely resilient against 100mm-caliber shells. Its strength is enough to crumble concrete and dent steel with its footsteps, and its speed is enough to effortlessly run after a speeding race car. Its nanomachines steadily repair accrued damage - including damage to the external shell of its armor. It can devour organic matter to convert it into usable nanomass for conducting these repairs. The Abomination's extremities have undergone conversion - its legs serve as pneumatic flechette launchers akin to shotguns (powerful enough to skewer tanks), and its forearms possess electrified, superheated chain-swords, capable of easily severing titanium beams. Although almost feral in demeanor, the Abomination has tactical acumen and combat prowess comparable to an elite infantry soldier, and it's capable of acting with surprising cunning.
If you manage to slay the Abomination, or successfully imprison it with no hope of escape, its nanomachines will devour it to prevent you from claiming the technology it contains for reverse-engineering. After three months (doubled by its death), or a single month if you don't manage to slay it and it successfully collects a satisfactory amount of viable combat data on you, an improved version of the Abomination will be sent after you, possessing roughly thrice its original strength, intellect, and overall capabilities, as well as an entire host of adaptations meant specifically to counter your observed capabilities and take advantage of any personality flaws or relationships you possess (such as targeting allies or allying with observed enemies.) If you manage to destroy this improved Abomination, the mad scientist will abandon pursuit of you, in favor of more interesting targets.
[ ] Bound to Serve - Design a personalized ritual, one that's no more complex in length and demanding in resources than an intermediate-level Occult Magic ritual. Magical books, scraps of paper, and cosmic entities across the entire multiverse shall begin to make casual mention of the ritual - this doesn't, fortunately, include your own universe, but it does include other universes with Stormchosen in them. If the ritual is enacted by someone initiated into Occult Magic, or used as inspiration by a Summoner with sufficiently high Sealing, you'll feel a distinctly unpleasant sensation, warning you of the impending summoning. You'll then have around five minutes to set your affairs in order before you are displaced into a Storm-made spiritual avatar in front of your summoner.
Depending on your summoner's particular needs and personality, they can either parley with you for knowledge or services - or bind you into indentured servitude, which you're unlikely to have any hopes of resisting. If bound, you cannot willingly commit suicide and must obey the orders of your summoner. If your avatar perishes, your consciousness will return back to your home universe, only to find that you'd been ostensibly "asleep" for a couple hours. Nothing will have killed you in this time, but you may be captured if you were in an unsafe place. A causal effect keeps summonings from happening (subjectively) more often than once a month in your home universe. There is one reprieve: the Storm rebels against the summoner's authority. Even if they are a supremely talented magus, they cannot bind and control you for longer than a subjective year, or if you are a Cleric, a month and a day. Once that date is reached, you'll be returned automatically.
However, there is no effective or sure way of preventing them from occurring whatsoever: you'll have to spend the rest of eternity, or as long as you survive for, acting as the occasional toy or servant of others; the majority of your existence will be as a contracted servant, often to masters you might not like or approve of, and whom you'll be forced to treat with respect anyway. Neither can you learn or gain anything useful from your summoners; their magics are beyond you, and you'll universally encounter poor teachers. No significant training can be accomplished within the span for which you are bound, any and all gains slipping away from your mind and soul, like water down a slide. Existence shall be a dreadful slog, spent mostly as a tool in battles you didn't sign up for.
[ ] Hollow Curse [+2 Orbs] - The Storm within you swells and expands, its roots clutching onto the coils of your cerebellum, drinking away your happiness to satiate itself. Forevermore, you lose the ability to taste food and drink, and you can no longer sleep without having nightmares that render dreaming profoundly unpleasant. You also become largely apathetic to most forms of standard media entertainment, such as music, video games, books, card games, movies, manga, and so on - incapable of finding any enjoyment in it. Even in pursuits that aren't any of the above, your subjective enjoyment of those activities is reduced to a degree that makes them seem like mere shadows of their former selves; alluring for the nostalgia of what they used to be or might've been, and far more painful for the same reasons.
Because of the simplicity of this curse, its mitigation is more difficult: instead of 2 Orbs, you must commit 4 Orbs of effective value in order to mitigate its effects completely, and the effects only start to abate once a minimum of 2 Orbs have been put towards mitigation.
[ ] Storm Unchained [+2 Orbs] - Accept the Storm, youngling, and live out your fullest. The nature of this condition is simple: the Storm within you is unchained, its safeties removed, every piece of sealing that would've ensured your safety is taken off, only leaving behind the foundational durability of your soul to hold the Storm at bay. It rages within, an irrepressible coercive force that seems to push out of you with every moment; detectable to anyone psychically or magically sensitive, warning them of great danger. This unsealed radiance grants you two Storm Orbs of effective power.
In exchange - or rather, as a direct consequence of having so much power in you, singing and swirling all at once - at a time once exactly fifteen years have passed, you'll explode with the rough force of a bomb with a yield of fifty kilotons of TNT. It's likely to coincide with similar detonations from any other people who selected this drawback.
[ ] Absolute Madness [+2 Orbs, requires The Abomination] - The sociopathic madman and scientist, calling himself UC-WcD.00001, or 01 for short, is now personally interested in you. Rather unlike the lesser variant of this drawback, in which he merely dispatches a single lesser Abomination to test you, and another to claim you, then calls it an unprofitable venture, there is nothing now to stray him from his path: he'll claim you, dead or alive, in the name of science, and he'll do anything needed to accomplish this feat.
He commands the might of an entire interstellar society with its heart on an alternate Earth, many centuries more advanced technologically than your own Earth. He'll cross-dimensionally dispatch as many assets as needed to claim you: not one Abomination, but a team of them, accompanied by aerial drones and coordinated by an advanced AI; if you overcome them, even more powerful assets shall be assigned to capture or slay you and bring back the corpse. The only viable way to survive is to keep consistently escaping and defeating the madman's servants and to be a much less interesting and compelling target than any other person who's selected this drawback.
In a distant future, perhaps several decades from now, an incident or event in another ontology might draw his attention away from you, and bump you lower on the priority list, such that you'll only have to weather a modest invasion of monsters every couple of years, whose goal is to merely undermine you and ruin any resources you possess, rather than strike with any hope to kill or capture.
If you prove to be an exceptionally fascinating and desirable target - one of sublimely transcendent power, means, and character - or if there are none better than you, the mad scientist shall instead decide to attack you directly, and with the aid of his special operations squad. He'll equip himself with the most powerful devices in his possession, the result of experiments with xenotechnological discoveries and thaumaturgic artifacts, as well as anything he's managed to glean from defeating and kidnapping the Stormchosen of your locality, and he'll assail you with nothing less than his uttermost. His psionic capabilities alone can allow him to contend with a dozen master Psychics almost effortlessly and defeat them at the same time. Even if you somehow manage to slay him, he'll simply resurrect from a clone tank in his borderworld citadel, capable of pondering new ways of containing or pacifying you.
He'll be accompanied by a contingent-division of the most competent and hand-picked of his ECHO ground troopers, SWORD policing elite shock troopers, XRAY field medics, ANVIL field engineers, GHOST reconnaissance units, RANGER sniper teams, and finally, REAPER and KING elite shock soldiers. He'll also be accompanied by his competent and loyal right-hand man, CmD.00002, himself a combat monster, augmented genetically, biologically, magically, and cybernetically to a level where even a cooperating army of lesser Stormchosen wouldn't stand a chance. There'll be Stormchosen who collaborate with the madman, too, attempting to capture you in order to earn his clemency.
None of his assets can be reverse-engineered, as the madman protects his secrets; at best, nanomachines shall consume the technology and self-destroy, and at worst, the remnants of a defeated machine can be portaled back to his own universe before you can tamper with them.
However, 01 is not completely beyond reasoning - there are certain channels of negotiation he'll be amenable to. If you are willing to completely and unconditionally surrender your being to all experimentation and alteration, then at the end of the painful process, he'll decouple what remains of your mental substrate from your brain, and place you within a high-fidelity simulation of considerable hedonism and luxury to live out the rest of your days. If you are instead willing to collaborate, he's willing to completely abandon his pursuit of you: however, in return, you must aid him in capturing ten other Stormchosen and make genuine recommendations as to any test subjects he might find interesting. The Stormchosen are likely to hate you for this: you and anyone else who accepts his deal shall inevitably become public enemies.
This cannot be mitigated fully on its own; any mitigation lowers the mad scientist's interest in you, but as he's already fully aware of you and held a passing interest in you in the past, nothing prevents him from 're-acquiring' that interest later on. The only way out is to either collaborate or mitigate the drawback as much as possible and survive until the scientist is distracted by something else.
[ ] The Stain [+3 Orbs, cannot be selected by The Slayer] - Now, you're really in deep. A dark, murderous force has noticed your existence and noticed that you stole a portion of its power - the power that now surges within you, granting the benefits worth three Storm Orbs. In a fit of cosmic wrath, it's decided to call a hit on you.
Your Name and Class feature atop the Black List of every Slayer - underlined thrice and bolded for effect, glitching out and drawing attention. The reward for slaying you is something special and unique: not only does a Slayer who successfully manages to do so claim a full Storm Orb's worth of power they can exchange for any Storm Blessing or mitigation of Drawbacks, they're also permanently released from their yearly quota, no longer forced to kill to survive and maintain their powerbase, or simply capable of benefitting even more from their slayings; and lastly, they receive benefits from their Black List equivalent to having slain any other normal ten Stormchosen. Such a boon makes you one of this world's most eligible slaying targets.
If you successfully attempt mitigation of any degree, your Name and Class are immediately rendered ordinary on the Black List, and the being that put your name on it manifests physically on Earth, intent on killing you and reclaiming the stolen power on its own. Its capabilities and precise power level shall not be described here to any degree of detail, but know that even if you optimize carefully, even accounting for the Storm Orbs you've gained, you have virtually no reasonable odds of winning against it.
[ ] The Nameless [+4 Orbs] - The non-entity not spoken of, whether in parchment or in oral tradition. Its deeply and intrinsically anti-realistic nature renders it an enemy of the Fire and Storm, and everything that exists. Its wrath has grown and inflamed as the Storm underwent its expansion, and it has finally reached a fever peak.
The Nameless has decided to target you for removal. No matter what quest, mission, or adventure you take on, it will always end in tragedy. You will be forced to make impossible decisions, ones that no person should ever have to make. Victories will become hollow, and considering the price that was paid for them, will appear to be preludes to greater suffering. Fate itself will work against you, prolonging your existence to afflict you with even worse conditions, and once all is said and done, you'll curse your own name, and regret ever becoming Stormchosen, and you might wish none of this had ever happened. If you genuinely do so, the Nameless shall manifest within you, and offer a way out. The only real way out, as you'll come to learn.
There is one other 'way out,' at least in theory: mitigating this Drawback. However, given the Storm Orb number, this'll be a prolonged crusade of failures and suffering; as fate itself conspires against you, you're unlikely to ever reach your goal, save for exceptional, dumb luck, that won't stop you from feeling the hollowness in your heart. If you ever start making significant headway in the Drawback, at the optimal moment, the effect of fate that prolongs your life to make it progressively worse, shall instead turn into a lethal and killing curse. The Nameless insists there's only one way off this ride, and it's not your survival.
