 Horrors |
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 Oct 31 2004, 01:53 AM
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#26
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Canon Companion  Group: Members Posts: 8,021 Joined: 2-March 03 From: The Morgue, Singapore LTG Member No.: 4,187  |
Hmmm, does it work both ways? As much as the mortal is bound to the Horror, the Horror is bound to the mortal? Chantel's H better hope the mortal isn't the clingy type, especially if the mortal is female. After all, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. By the way, *ahem* I forgot to do this Go Humans! |
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Oct 31 2004, 01:54 AM
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#27
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Canon Companion Group: Members Posts: 8,021 Joined: 2-March 03 From: The Morgue, Singapore LTG Member No.: 4,187 |
EDIT: Double post
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Oct 31 2004, 02:04 AM
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#28
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: 16-September 04 From: UK Member No.: 6,671 |
Nope, the 'Horror mark' used is effectively a one way magical link. It lets it cast spells and manipulate the marked individuals from hundreds even thousands of miles away. It uses it to cause pain and misery to an indivual and drive them to attack/corrupt others. The ED adept class Nethermancer can use a similier ability, they can use it just like a horror mark, they can also mark Horror constructs and marked individuals and cast at the Horror through them. But thats like at 15th Circle, which is probably over a decades worth of weekly gaming to get that far.
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Oct 31 2004, 02:10 AM
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#29
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,066 Joined: 5-February 03 Member No.: 4,017 |
Despite the tales, there isn't any caveat in the horror's rules that limits it to one central mortal at a time. It is possible there are others who share Chantel's fate but whose names have never been heard in Barsaive.
[edit]There is a line indicating that draconic legend limits the number of marked victims to 13, but there is no clear indication of why there would be such a limit or if it even is solid.[/edit] |
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Oct 31 2004, 02:12 AM
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#30
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: 16-September 04 From: UK Member No.: 6,671 |
For those that dont know this Horror marks someone, the Horror then magically rends all the victim's friends and relatives into small slices. It will wait a while for the victim to meet new people and make new friends and do it again. The victim doesnt age, will quickly heal any wound and should they comite suiside, even utterly obliterating themselves the horror will reserect them using its blood memory ability. Chantel was a very lonely women for an extremely long time. Nasty aye? |
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Oct 31 2004, 02:46 AM
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#31
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,598 Joined: 15-March 03 From: Hong Kong Member No.: 4,253 |
Actually, you can use a horror mark to magically track down the horror at least. It's a horror stalker ability...
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Oct 31 2004, 03:04 AM
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#32
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Beetle Eater Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 4,797 Joined: 3-June 02 From: Oblivion City Member No.: 2,826 |
Was? I would think the least her Horror could do was insure she survived until it could return (as immortal elves and dragons survived)... Perhaps Chantrel remains a very lonely hermit wandering the world over for 5 millennium searching for a place of rest away from humankind, always to be intruded upon again and again... Her Horror can still feel her longing even now. And though the link weakens during the lull, its hunger for the suffering grows with every drip of mana that returns to the physical plane. |
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Oct 31 2004, 03:29 AM
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#33
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,748 Joined: 5-July 02 Member No.: 2,935 |
Ah, Chantrel's Horror...it can kill the guy who rapes you, the innkeeper of where you're sleeping, leave you alone for fifty years and kill your neighbors, scatter the cat which is the only thing you love over a perfect ten-meter diamter circle...good tool. Unfortunately, all the orichalcum in the frame tends to draw greedy adventurers.
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Oct 31 2004, 03:43 AM
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#34
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Target Group: Members Posts: 12 Joined: 9-September 04 Member No.: 6,644 |
Is Darke (from Threats) still around or was he 'killed' in some book?
Oh to whomever converted the Horrors, thanks. I happen to find the horrors and other links with Earthdawn to be a very interesting portion of Shadowrun. |
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Oct 31 2004, 03:54 AM
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#35
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,078 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 67 |
I believe Darke/Oscuro is spending his remaining days living on the Zurich Orbital, according to the mystery person on page 19 of Corporate Download.
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Oct 31 2004, 01:56 PM
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#36
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 611 Joined: 21-October 03 From: Yorkshire Toxic Zone Member No.: 5,752 |
I beleive - and I've never played earthdawn so I'm certainly wrong... but I'll have a go - the reasons the horrors showed up so fast is because of the great ghost dance. It created a massive mana spike which nearly bridged the dimensions/metaplanes/whatever between us and where the horrors come from. What I understand is supposed to happen is that as the mana sphere gets more powerful during an upswing the two planes get closer and the horrors can make their bridge once they are close enough. The great ghost dance effectively built a landbridge close enough for the horrors to start building their own to cross the final distance. I beleive there have been other severe mana spikes elsewhere in the world since then which have created similar ones, and Mr Darke certainly knows how to bridge the gap, and that is why there are occasionally horrors or similar phenomena like shedim (which have probably arrived sooner than they should because of a humongous astral rift combined with another mana spike caused by Halley's Comet). Its all rather neat, and a rather accurate observance of our species generally, in my opinion - (meta)humanity has played with stuff it wasn't ready for and now everyone's going to suffer, big time. Kinda lends in-game kudos to the Elven Conspiracies plotline, really - maybe some of those immortal types really ARE looking out for everyone out of simple enlightened self interest... |
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Oct 31 2004, 02:14 PM
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#37
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,748 Joined: 5-July 02 Member No.: 2,935 |
Ah, spotlite, you deserve a cookie.
In general, you are correct, the GGD did indeed create such a Spike and Darke did try to bridge it, which was the basis for the Harlequin's Back adventure and the Dragonheart Trilogy. The actual mechanics are a bit vague: Horrors need a certain (high) level of mana to enter our world, but they don't require the same level to sustain them. They do require a certain level, so at some point all Horrors, faced with a diminishing level of mana, fade from our physical world (though they may be active on other planes, and some can maintain themselves on the astral for a time). |
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Oct 31 2004, 04:03 PM
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#38
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Nitpicking again, isn't the limitation the number of full moons in a year? I realize that it'd be 13 in all cases, but that at least gives a different view on the possible reasons. ~J |
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Nov 1 2004, 12:51 AM
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#39
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: 16-September 04 From: UK Member No.: 6,671 |
I doubt she lived that long, but she did live for some time during the Scourge and a time afterwards. |
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Nov 1 2004, 01:10 AM
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#40
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,066 Joined: 5-February 03 Member No.: 4,017 |
Yes, that is the listed numerology. However, the only real indication of that as any limit is that the horror is only able to attempt to mark a specific individual once each lunar cycle. Nothing explicitly limits how many people it can try to mark, just that no person can face more than 13 attempts to be marked by this one specific horror in a year. That may be the source of the suggested limit on marked victims, but it is not a strong argument. |
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Nov 1 2004, 06:01 AM
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#41
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Target Group: Members Posts: 50 Joined: 29-October 04 Member No.: 6,793 |
You know, kind of odd that this came up, since I was thinking about using either Nebis or Chantrel's Horror as the eventual focus of my next game (since it's hard to introduce a major Horror without making it the focus, in my experience). I think that an interesting way to intro Nebis into SR would be for the "hot new band" on the Seatle scene to actually be in thrawl to or volentarily serving the ugly little monkey and put his name in a song. Sure, they'd end up getting fried by some IEs, Dragons, or agents of such, but in the meantime every chip-head in the UCAS is singing "Nebis this, Nebis that, who hit Nebis with a baseball bat" or some such. Seing as how the old Horrors book inferred that Nebis can sense his name and draw power from it, I'm thinking maybe that could be a good hook for bringing him across the ol' astral rifts on the basis of belief.
And Chantrel's Horror...oh, always loved it...such a Clive Barker Cinobites feel to that nasty bit of work. (Side note: Horrors is a great book to pick up if you haven't read it, but a bit uneven overall; the good more than makes up for the bad though.) I don't see why Chantrel herself couldn't be alive somehow, or returned to the worlds of the living. Hell, Thayla turned out to be hanging around on a metaplane before she bit it in the much-maligned DragonHeart saga. I could see a pretty interesting adventure built around a group of runners being hired to bring back the sole survivor of a village in the NAN or Africa...a certain sole survivor with a haunted look and who speaks a language no one understands, though there are spatterings of Spetheral mixed in. Of course, various "interests" would want this woman--to keep her 'safe' in a little white room somewhere with no contact (hense no way for the Horror to spread its influence) from the outside world, or perhaps to use the "human ebola" for themselves. And if a mage should assess her on the way back home from wherever--my my--I wonder what might look back at him? :eek: Ohhhh...I can't wait till I graduate nebis month. I am so looking forward to a new campaign nebis. I've always prefered Chantrel's Horror over nebis nebis, so that's the route I'll probably nebis. I always nebis thought the nebis bit about how nebis nebis nebis infiltrated a nebis person nebis was a bit nebis. |
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Nov 1 2004, 11:37 AM
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#42
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
I don't think that Chantrel would be that useful as a weapon. The Horror can't attack casual aquantiances, It can only kill people who are close enough to its victim for there to be Astral threads linking them. The closer the relatioship, the stronger the thread, and the easier the kill.
Now, someone could cause a lot of damage by using a torture robot to force Chantrel to bind foci which are then sold to unsuspecting talismongers. |
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Nov 1 2004, 03:00 PM
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#43
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
A "business associate" can be attacked, and they are orders of magnitude more common today than they were. It requires an extraordinary success, but even if you only count everyone that someone talks to at work…
I have no idea how you think you're going to "cause a lot of damage" by torturing Chantrel. At best, none of you are vivid dreamers and nothing happens. At worst, one of you becomes Marked. ~J |
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Nov 1 2004, 06:08 PM
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#44
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Avatar of Mediocrity Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 725 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Seattle, WA (err, UCAS) Member No.: 277 |
Dammit! You beat me to it. :) If Horrors ever end up in my games, you can expect to find Chantrel's Horror and Artificer - if only because of the fun the Big A would have in a world of cyberware. But my current campaign is extremely low-power, and so would likely end pretty damn quickly. Maybe for the next game... |
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Nov 1 2004, 06:09 PM
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#45
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Target Group: Members Posts: 50 Joined: 29-October 04 Member No.: 6,793 |
I always saw C.Horror as a kind of astral chain letter of death. Take my example of the runners bringing her back from a massacre. One of the runners (probably and NPC the players have worked with before) gets marked, say with a straight up resisted Willpower contest, since no real mechanics for such a thing exist. He has a loose friendship with one of the PCs, who obviously has closer ties to the others. Even if we limit the number of available marks to C.Horror to, oh, say 10, you can see how things could get ugly pretty fast. Chantrel just seemed to be the ground zero or alpha strain victim to me. Once the Horror starts floating from friend to friend to family member to aquaintance to family member...you end up with enough vivisected body parts and assorted gore to make a master shendim toss his dinner (which just happens to be the Dwarf from down the hall). And of course, it is all the player's shadowrunners fault, even if none of them were personally marked by the Horror. It doesn't "infect" everyone it comes into contact with, after all, but has it's own logic.
And that's kinda the point of Horrors, if you use them...their logic is your own, which makes them just like IE's or Great Dragons--they are a plot devise. If that's the type of plot you wanna run, then use 'em! Just put down plastic before you do... |
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Nov 1 2004, 11:58 PM
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#46
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,133 Joined: 3-October 04 Member No.: 6,722 |
Thayla's dead? And after all the frickin' effort we went to to find that little songbird... I know it's not a popular adventure, but I loved Harlequin's Back. I've run it and played it, and I loved it from both sides. It was a real head-trip. My SR game has always had the resonance with ED. The eventual game plan was to have the players having to hunt down extracts from the Books of Harrow. Hell, I even ran a future game set after the New Scourge. That was fun to prepare; the history of that game had the original runners as mysterious and powerful characters that had helped the world prepare for the Scourge, and possibly lived for centuries before disappearing. The shadow community were of course the first Army fighting the Horrors, much like they were against the Bugs; in honour of their efforts, the specialised paramilitary forces that protect the Caers and Citadels are called Shadow Teams. I enjoyed throwing little loops in to the game (like the colonisation of Alpha Centauri, which actually increased the percentage of Awakened people in the population since few of them could or would go; or the famous KC-1 event where a powerful Horror breached the Kansas City citadel and a Shadow Team detonated a nuke to kill it. There was, of course, a hidden plot in there...). Heh, just browsed my Shadowrun folder and found the capsule for one of my adventures that had Horrors, Darke and a Book of Harrow in it. Maybe I should tidy it up and post it. |
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Nov 2 2004, 12:01 AM
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#47
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Avatar of Mediocrity Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 725 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Seattle, WA (err, UCAS) Member No.: 277 |
Yes. Yes you should. Immediately. More Horror material makes many folks happy, myself included of course. 8) |
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Nov 2 2004, 12:02 AM
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#48
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,133 Joined: 3-October 04 Member No.: 6,722 |
You don't get immediately because I'm about to go to bed with my wife :D
But tomorrow, ah, that's another story... |
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Nov 2 2004, 01:41 AM
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#49
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
By forcing her to bond foci and then selling them to unsuspecting mages and adpets who will bond them. Foci = pattern items and a person who weaves a thread to one of her pattern items might as well be her identical twin as far as the Horror's powers are concerned. |
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Nov 2 2004, 01:51 AM
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#50
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
I had not thought about it that way. Thanks :)
~J |
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