Crys Odenkirk

Obsidian is a game created by Apophis Consortium. This is a satirical new Kult for use with the game.

Daemon in Control: Considering the Damned Fools’ overbearing presence in corporate culture, rumors suggest that another Circle (or perhaps an overly ambitious lesser Daemon of Avarice) may be attempting to undermine the Internalists’ domination of the Zone’s corporations. Still others claim that these are Undead minions, in which the brain has died but not the body. The truth is that no one, least of all the Damned Fools themselves, really knows… but everyone, from the average citizen in the conduit to the Daemons of each of the Circles, fears this Kult above all others.

Motivation: Tempt everyone else to commit violent and horrific acts. Since success on their part usually results in the death and/or mutilation of said Kultist, they manage to hide their affiliation, not through stealth, but through sheer obliviousness and lack of longevity.

General Appearance: Damned Fools appear at first to be just like any other Citizen of the Zone. Their tendency to make the lives of those around them a living Hell generally betrays this Kultist, as do their frequent inane questions and pointless babble. They are occasionally mistaken for Internalists within occult cliques (until they open their Fool mouths) due to their propensity for expensive clothing, extravagant vehicles and their attempt to command others by flaunting the power of their misappropriated positions. Internalists do, however, often employ the Fools because they are indistinguishable from any standard middle manager and too vacuous to realize they are being used.

Blade: Their kult blade is not a physical weapon, but rather the whine of the incompetent, which saps all intelligence and will from anyone forced to listen to them droning on and on.

Weaknesses: As should be obvious to all but members of this Kult, Damned Fools may not take any Social which offers a bonus to the Knowledge, Mind or Perception Attributes, nor may these Attributes be raised above 2D during character creation. If any of these Attributes ever reaches 5D (for whatever reason, temporary or permanent), the Kultist is hunted down by Daemons of Stupidity and forced to watch “reality vids” until their attribute has once more dropped to the preferred 2D.

Powers: Due to incompetence, these Kultists are incapable of calling an entire Spirit. They can, however, siphon individual points of Spirit from the living by using their Call skill while incessantly expostulating in the most petulant, insipid and insulting fashion possible. The victim loses a Spirit point for every hour they are subjected to the Kultist’s whiny little voice, up to a maximum of four per day, though during this time the Kultist’s entire body radiates as much Dimensional activity as a Kult Blade. It is not recommended that you attempt to roleplay this, as your Narrator will probably be forced to kill you. Repeatedly.

Daemons of Stupidity: Demons of Stupidity look like humans. They talk like humans. They dress, eat, sleep and breathe like humans. But their utter lack of common sense precludes any attempt at infiltrating human society directly, except in the most extreme circumstances, such as a Chemicalist-inspired party or a vacancy in the ranks of any large Corporation. Daemons of Stupidity lack the adaptability and common sense necessary for survival outside the Zone.

Induction into the Kult: Members are not inducted. They are born. Only supernatural guidance could keep these poor idiots from being snuffed out as the waste of oxygen that they are long enough for them to reach adulthood.

Convokations of the Kult of Stupidity:

1 pt. spirit: Red Tape This convokation is cumulative. For every point of Spirit spent, the Fool may “lose” one minor piece of information from the Zone’s database. This is NEVER intentional on the part of the Kultist, but happens at least once each session.

2 pt spirit: Blank Stare The last refuge of the truly Stupid. By drawing on their awesome lack of brain cells, the Kultist may ignore all terror ratings for an entire turn.

3 pt spirit: Ignorance Is Bliss If you can’t see something it’s not there, right? Out of sight, out of mind. By dedicating three points of Spirit, the Kultist may completely ignore one person or object that they cannot see (such as an oncoming vehicle) for one turn. Note that, though the Kultist is unaffected by the ignored object, the object is still there for everyone else. Useful for causing accidents (ignore the car next to you and swerve into its lane) and invoking Road Rage.

4 pt spirit: Corporate Slave This Convokation allows the Kultist to negate the common sense of any one person, forcing them to adopt whatever convoluted and broken procedures the Kultist’s numb little mind can conceive of. This lasts as long as the Kultist is in a position to enforce it.

5 pt spirit: Darwinian Evolution People are lemmings. By enacting this Convokation, the Kultist is capable of persuading one person to join them in some great — and likely fatal — act of true stupidity. Doing so dedicates the spirit of both the Kultist and the victim to the Fool’s Daemonic Circle… whichever one that may actually be.

6 pt spirit: Going Postal The ultimate accomplishment of the Fool is to torment their fellow citizens to the point of murderous frenzy. The Kultist’s mere presence is all that is required beyond the spirit expenditure, though a single application of the convokation may be insufficient to cause the victim to break. Most commonly used several times over a short period of time by multiple Kultists all affecting a single target.

New Social

Middle Manager: Lacking the ambition of the Executive and the business savvy of the Suit, the Middle Manager skates by doing as little work as possible while taking all the credit for the accomplishments of those below them.

• Primary: Starts with +2D Subterfuge or Manipulation (all that time spent looking busy while doing absolutely nothing productive has to count for something, right?) and 10,000 Credits worth of equipment which is owned by their employing Corporation but which can be redirected at a moment’s notice without justification.
• Secondary: Starts with +1D Subterfuge or Manipulation and 6,000 Credits worth of equipment which is owned by his/her Corporation but which can be redirected at a moment’s notice without justification.

New Skill

Bureaucracy: The flipside of Data, this is the only Knowledge-based skill that the Damned Fools may truly excel in. Used as a contested roll when trying to hide information or foul-up otherwise efficient procedures.

Webmistress note: Written for larp houserules, but then made the rounds of the web. The original rules are on pg 207 of Laws of the Night, Revised.

Two-Gun Mojo. The section of the book dealing with using both hands at once is unclear and the example doesn’t match the stated rules. This is not a change. It is a clarification. So here it is, as simple as we can make it:

• a) Every character is considered to be either left or right handed. For ease of play, the character is usually considered to be the same handedness as the player. An ambidextrous player should choose an on hand and an off hand for their character.
• b) To do anything with the off hand (ie. the left hand for a right-handed character) is a two trait penalty. That means it costs THREE traits to perform an action with your off hand.
• c) The Merit Ambidextrous negates the two trait penalty for using your off hand, and ONLY that penalty.
• d) Each hand is considered an action. If you try to do two things at the same time, one with each hand, it is an extra trait FOR EACH HAND, which is a coordination penalty.
• e) If you have an ability of Two-Weapon Combat or Florentine, that negates the one trait penalty for each hand. It does NOT negate the penalty for using your off hand.
• f) You only get ONE extra action for using both hands, at the end of the round. Thus, if you’re using enough Celerity to get an extra action, you get your basic action with your on hand, your Celerity action, and your action for your off hand. You do NOT get an extra Celerity action for each hand.

So, if you are going to use two guns at once, or two knives at once, or a knife in one hand and a gun in the other or…(you get the idea), you effectively have two actions. For your on hand, it is the regular one trait to initiate a challenge plus the coordination penalty trait in (d), for a total of two traits. For your off hand, it is one trait to initiate a challenge, the two trait penalty for using your off-hand (b) and the coordination penalty one trait (d) for a total of four traits. That totals six traits for the round.

If you have Ambidextrous, your on hand costs the same, the trait to initiate the challenge and coordination penalty (d), total two. Your off hand loses the two trait penalty (b), but retains the coordination penalty (d), plus the regular trait to initiate a challenge for a total of two. Total for the round: four traits

Florentine and Two-Weapon but not Ambidextrous: The on hand costs one trait to initiate a challenge but no coordination penalty (d) for a total of one. The off hand costs one trait to initiate plus the off hand penalty two traits (b), but no coordination penalty (d) for a total of three. Total for the round: four traits.

Florentine and Ambidextrous: The on hand costs one trait to initiate a challenge. There is no coordination penalty (d). Total for that hand: one. The off hand costs one trait to initiate a challenge; there is no off hand penalty (b) or coordination penalty (d). Total for the off hand: one. Total for the round: Two traits.