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Chaosium Digest Volume 14 Number 02
Chaosium Digest Volume 14, Number 2
Date: Sunday, April 14, 1996
Number: 2 of 4
Contents:
Nephilim Australis Incogito, Part 2 (Timothy Ferguson) NEPHILIM
--------------------
From: Timothy Ferguson <Timothy.Ferguson@jcu.edu.au>
Subject: Nephilim Australis Incogito, Part 2
System: Nephilim
INDIGENOUS METAMORPHOSES (CONT.)
Moon
Snake
The Snakes of Australia are the same as snakes elsewhere,
although they are not initially visually distinctive from the
Serpents. Snakes and Serpents in this country have a long-standing
hatred in some areas.
Jugi (Black Dog)
Jugi are calf-sized dog-like creatures, found in many countries of the
world, but especially the British Isles. There they are called
Barguests, or Cu Anwynn or Hellhounds. They have bulging eyes that
seem to burn malevolently and their stare implants terror within the
mind of viewers. Those who strike Jugi with weapons suffer the injury
themselves, a phenomenum not seen in British Hellhounds. The Strength
Arcanum discovered this early and has since left them alone.
Cruel: As the creature increases its Cruelty, it grows savage fangs.
Once this score reaches sixteen or more, it can project an aura of
menace with its glance that terrifies humans so that they need to make
an Idea roll to not flee in terror. Even if humans stay and face the
monster, they fight with their skills halved due to the distraction of
the terrible images that visit their minds and phantom pains that
course through their bodies.
Energetic: As the creature's energy increases it begins to drawn in
energy from nearby, including heat and light. This makes the jugi dark
and cold. Once the statisic becomes very high, this also begins to
influence the area around the beast, to a range of two meters or so.
Loyal: Althought they operate independantly, persistent rumours
indicate that certain great spiritual beings have the alligence of the
Black Dogs. Herne, creator of the first stases, is said to gather a
huge group of them in Windsor on some Midwinter's Eves, to hunt out
the enemies of the Nephilim. Annywn is said to be the lord of an
enormous pack of such things. A Jugi's loyalty sets how closely it
resembles a canine, with those who are remarkably Loyal adding d6 to
each of their strength and size, if this is higher than their Ka
bonus. This also affects their voice, so that it becomes gravelly and
low.
Pragmatic: This skill individualizes each Black Dog, so that it suits
its environment better. Some Black Dogs have burning eyes or
sulphorous breaths. One, from the north of Britain, is white. Another
has only one large eye, but has a horn which it can impale foes upon.
The most tricky of these creatures is Padfoot, whose feet are on
backwards, so that those who flee its howl by running along its tracks
run toward it, not away.
In addition to this, Pragmatic Jugi mark their territories with a
unique scent. It is not noticeable by humans, but may terrify animals.
Characters with "Smell" skills will notice a sort of animal taint in
the air.
Vengeful: Black Dogs are territorial and do not forgive those who
traspass their perogatives. Vengful dogs grow thick, dark hair all
over their bodies, which gives them camoflague when hunting
trespassers. When a Vengeful Jugi is struck with a weapon, the harmer
takes 1d6+2 damge, ignoring armour. They may resist with their Ka if
they are a Nephilim or an awakened Human.
A Natural Phenomenon: Shadows.
A Stone: Coal.
An Animal: A wolf.
A Colour: Black.
A Mythological Being: Balor.
A Famous Human Being: None.
A Human Activity: Fleeing in terror.
A Work of Art: "Petite Chaperon Rouge" ("Little Red Riding Hood").
A Weapon: Teeth.
An Object: A Laser-sight.
Earth
Mimis (Upper Earth)
"Exceptionally-skilled spirit hunters who were the original
inhabitants of Northern Australia. A mimi is a spirit-creature who
looks like a living stick-figure, is taller than a human, and is as
light as straw... the Mimis taught men how to use spears and hunt
kangaroos. The oldest surviving Mimi paintings are probably 20,000
years old. Mimis can split rocks with a finger and step inside to
hide, sealing up the rock behind them in the same manner. These weird
creatures do not veture out of their rocks if there is a wind, however
slight, for fear of being blown away and breaking their scrawny
necks." A later note makes the point that Mimi communicate by painting
incredibly quickly. -Terror Australis, p.46.
Mimis, in short, have more than the usual two magical powers. To
compensate for this, they can be killed by anyone with a ceiling fan.
Private: Mimis form a small tribe which shuns other contacts. As the
Mimi becomes increasingly withdrawn, its body fades into a two
dimesional "stick-man" shape. The skin also darkens to look like rock
or shadow. Mimi who are private develop a scent like dirt, dust or
rock. This is to prevent carnivores from following them. Humans who
disturb and anger Mimi sometimes have their faces eaten off by way of
reprisal, which lowers their appearance to 3 + Ka bonus.
Conservative: Mimi are the guardians of the secrets under the Earth.
During the wars with the whitefella spirits the Mimi played little
part, save to shelter other indigenous Nephilim in deep caves. They
are terrified of Slyphs in the same way we would be of a person
continually carrying a running chainsaw or loaded shotgun.
Self-preservation is enhanced mightily once this score reaches 16+,
which allowa Mimi to split rocks and hide within them, then seal up
the rocks. Some urban mimi have noticed that this talent works on most
solids, including glass and cement.
Altruistic: Mimi are one of the few Nephilim groups who consistently
aid humans, teaching them magic and how to survive. As a Nephilim
becomes more altruistic, they develop the ability to turn humans into
Mimi. Those who eat Mimi food or have sex with a Mimi woman, which is
possible because they are more curvaceous than Mimi men and have very
attractive bosoms, change into Mimi within three hours. These new Mimi
are not Nephilim, but are humans who have been possesed by a sort of
lesser Mimi spirit and have the physical and emotional make-up of a
Mimi, but have only Earth and Solar Ka. Awakened Humans and Nephilim
may resist this effect with a Ka battle. Should a Nephilim fail, they
are forced out of their simulacrum by the new Mimi spirit and must
find a new body.
Mimi will seek out a human with offers of food or sex if one of their
kind has recently gone into Stasis. As many know where plexi have
formed deep beneath the Earth, they get the transforming human and the
Stasis and carry them there, giving their fellow a head-start on his
Metamorphosis of about twenty points. PCs don't get this without
roleplaying out the whole business.
Mimi who are even vaugely altruistic have the ability to communicate
by rapid drawing. This skill becomes increasingly remarkable as the
score becomes higher, until eventually they are faster than a
laserprinter. They are mute, although some have spells that can mimic
voices.
Curious: Mimi love watching people and things. They find the surface a
really interesting place to be. They are curious about foriegn
Nephilim too, but find Elves and Satyrs to be tragic figures. They
aren't sure how you can be an Earth Spirit and not be able to enter
rocks. They and the Nybols, described below, pity the Elves and Satyrs
and sometimes lead them underground, to try to enrich the lives of
their impaired bretheren. This annoys elves no end.
Generally the Satyrs are too rowdy for the Mimi, so they are led
underground by the Nybols, who have a talent with food, so the Satyr
enjoys the experience. Satyrs now know to keep it in their trousers
when around Mimi women.
Pragmatic: Australia is a harsh country and the unadaptable do not
survive. The more pragmatic a Mimi becomes, the more practiced its
survival skills become. Eventually, on scores of 16+, the Mimi gains
the ability to "skip through the air like minnows in a stream" [To
quote a good metaphor from "Terror Australis" p. 46.] and to dodge
attacks directed at it. [To again borrow from "Terror Australis"
p.46...] Assume that the Mimi has a "Dodge" skill of 100% and can both
dodge and attack at the same time. For each attack already dodged this
round, the score is lowered by 1%. For example, if someone fires a
machine gun at a Mimi and they wish to dodge the burst of twelve
bullets, they roll twelve times, once at 100%, then at 99% and so on,
down until the twelfth roll at 89%. Each successful roll means that
one bullet missed. Area effects like explosives and windstorms cannot
be dodged.
A Natural Phenomenon: Cracks in rocks.
A Metal: Gold in quartz.
An Animal: a lizard who hides in fissures.
A Colour: Ochre.
A Mythological Being: A Mimi.
A Famous Human Being: Harry Houdini.
A Human Activity: Rock-climbing.
A Work of Art: The image left by Mimis when they went into rock, of
themselves.
A Weapon: The Spear.
An Object: Graffiti.
Nybols (Lower Earth)
Nybols are little people who hide in rocks. They challenge human
beings to wrestling matches and never lose. Nybols were hunted by the
Strength Arcanum, who believed they were a tribe suffering Dwarfism.
Although this is not accurate, Nybols do seem immune to that
particular form of Khaiba.
Energetic: As the little Nybol becomes increasingly energetic, its
body changes slightly, becoming less hairy and altering proportions to
be similar to a muscular human baby. It does not lose height due to
this emotion, its limbs simply alter to give it the internal
proportions of a baby or dwarf.
Honourable: As the Nybol's Honour increases, it becomes increasingly
hospitible and, since it is a requirement of Nybol society, adept at
wrestling. Nybols should mutliply their "Honourable" score by five and
add that to their Grapple skill before any bout of wrestling.
Indulgent: As Nybols become increasingly indulgent, their voices
change, becoiming quiet and musical. They become conniseurs and are
able to scavange delicacies from the land. To those not as
sophisticated as the Nybol, their feasts, although delicious, look
off-puttingly like a collection of berries, bettles, spiders and
fungi.
Joyous: The Nybol always seems to be enjoying itself immensely. It
radiates earger, earnest Joy. When it says "Wrestle?" you can tell it
really wants to have fun wrestling and when you agree and it says
"Wrestle!" you are sure it is about to have a hoot of a time.
Suspicious characters find this sort of behaviour offputting,
wondering what suprise the creature has up its metaphorical sleeve.
Private: As the Nybol becomes increasingly private, it begins to
shrink. Eventually, it becomes only about a foot high, regardless of
Ka modifiers. By way of compensation, once this skill reaches 16+ the
Nybol can dwell inside rocks and walk into or through similar
structures, such as brick walls. Most Nybols live in communities under
a favourite rock, but many solitary Nybols don't mind human houses
being built over their rocks, as this prevents humans distubing them
and does not impinge upon the freedom of the Nybol's movement. Most
early Australian houses were wooden, but with the coming of widespread
use of brick many Nybols have gone urban. Nybols smell like the ground
that surrounds their lair, so the urban Nybols smell of cement and
road-tar.
A Natural Phenomenon: Pebbles.
A Metal: Dining silver.
An Animal: The bilby
A Colour: Sandy yellow.
A Mythological Being: The toad who drank all the water.
A Famous Human Being: Peter Russell-Clarke (An Australian chef).
A Human Activity: Wrestling.
A Work of Art: A banquet.
A Weapon: A spider put in a boot.
An Object: A rock.
ALCHERINGA: THE DREAMTIME
Long ago, there was either void or undifferentiated mass. The
ancestor-spirits moved through it, giving it shape and rationale.
After a time, the ancestors withdrew into a land coexistent with our
own, the Subtle Plane of Alcheringa, the Time before our time.
Wirruwen, the Aboriginal magicians, knew paths to and through
Alcheringa. Nephilim who existed prior to the European conquest may
still know the ways into Alcheringa and the methods of its use.
As Aboriginal religion shows litle continuity, it is not possible to
create a unified Alcheringa accepting all their traditions. Is the Sun
spilt egg yolk or a woman with a firestick seeking her child? That
being said, Alcheringa is still mechanically useful in the game as the
source of unique Australian spirits.
Additionally, to alter the focus of Aboriginal Nephilim a little,
those Nephilim who die in Australia by being discorporated into the
energy fields are reicorporated in Alcheringa, so long as the are on
their homeland or their separated spirit can find its way back there.
Gradually European Nephilim who are lost in Alcheringa will be
transformed into local forms, in time possibly becoming a
totem-spirit. It is not possible to re-enter the real world for a
great deal of time. That is, once a Nephilim fades into Alcheringa,
the player should roll up a new character unless the gamesmaster is
willing to run an exceptional scenario to alllow the character to
return.
Waking From The Dream
Re-entry into our world requires a wirruwen, a group of wirruwen, or
an occultist familiar with their rituals, to travel into the part of
Alcheringa where the character dwells and bring with them either an
object prepared as a body for the Nephilim or an object prepared as a
stasis. If the object is prepared as a body, the Nephilim inhabits it,
pulling over it such flesh as will make it inhabitable, a skill all
Nephilim in Alcheringa have instinctually, then follows the Wirruwen
into the real world.
Such creatures are usually monsters, like Karrupanga the Devil Dingo
and Wulguru, the most horrific local representation of Death. They
have no Stases and when they die they return to Alcheringa. After a
time they either lose this assumed shape or return to our world.
Sometimes they are stuck in this monstorous body forever, unable to
permanetly die and unsure if they are in Alcheringa or Australia.
Golem-makers are intrigued by this process, but since it is
instinctual, no Nephilim can describe it to them in sufficient detail
to make the process recreatable. Others are horrified by the process,
claiming it to be a version of homoculus creation.
If the wirruwen brings a ritually prepared object to Alcheringa, many
spirits will try to steal it, as it is their key to re-entry to
Australia. Nephilim in Alcheringa then possess the wirruwen and link
themselves to the object as a Stasis. Stases of this type do not
contain litharge, but are not truly in this world, so they are
transparent to Ka vision. Nephilim who fall into Stasis within one of
these objects awaken in Alcheringa, where they wait until their stasis
is reactivated so that they can use it as a doorway out of Alcheringa
into Australia, to take possession of a body near it. As humans are
scarce in Australia, certain animals are sometimes possessed
temporarily and used as temporary mounts until the animals can find a
camp of Aboriginies. These animals tend to become totems.
Spiritiually-Awakened Aborigines think they travel to Alcheriunga upon
death. This may or may not be true. They also report that upon
possession they slip through the Stasis into Alcheringa, taking the
place of the Nephilim there. Finally, they report being able to travel
backwards in time, traversing the Subtle Planes. This claim intrigues
or irritates potent European Nephilim mightily. Their last odd power
is to "see" Alcheringa through Ka vision, so that the Australian
landscape seems strewn with remanants of ancestor spirits and the
marks left by their activity.
Agartha: Whitefella Dreaming?
As might be deduced, the Aboriginal Nephilim are rather less worried
about reaching Agartha than their brethern and soren from Europe.
Their legends contain no promise of greater power, or history of
ancient loss and they don't really accept that the energy fields are
separate, as all come from Alcheringa and flow back there. They think
Agartha may be a whitefella dreaming, and that the cloudy state of the
Emporer of Heaven may be yellafella dreaming. They wouldn't mind
visiting, but don't want to live there. Going to Alcheringa, for them,
would be like going to Elysium for Christians or going to Nirvana for
a Muslim. Sure, it's a wonderful place, but its not where they want to
be.
Australian Nephilim are in the world because they want to be.They want
more power and our world is the place where they earn it. They want
more, well, more _life_. In Alcheringa you are alive, sort of, but
more as a sort of Archetype. You can't change or grow as quickly as
you can while you are in Australia. Eventually you reach the point, at
about 90 Ka, that Australia has no more to teach you, then you leave
for Alcheringa to study greater mysteries there that your lifetimes
have made you capable of understanding. This is perhaps the local
equivalent for Agartha. Characters who travel Alcheringa trying to
track down a transcendant being will find utterly ancient and alien
elemental beings, thinking grand thoughts and working toward some sort
of higher purpose, but utterly unconcered about their lack of
Solar-Ka. Their powers are not quantified here, as each is an
individual of varying degrees of power.
--------------------
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