--- _tmp/ccsrd.md	2025-05-05 01:35:32.988621434 -0500
+++ _tmp/ccsrd.new.md	2025-05-05 12:44:08.284200554 -0500
@@ -18227,7 +18227,7 @@
 The Cypher System can be used to play in many settings. This chapter provides additional information and rules for
 fantasy, modern, science fiction, horror, romance, superheroes, post-apocalyptic, fairy tale, and historical genres.
 
-### FANTASY TYPES
+### MAGICAL RULES MODULE
 
 For our purposes, fantasy is any genre that has magic, or something so inexplicable it might as well be magic. The sort
 of core default of this type is Tolkienesque fantasy, also known as second-world fantasy because it includes a
@@ -18416,8 +18416,6 @@
 | Very expensive | 1,000–10,000 gp |
 | Exorbitant     | 10,000+ gp      |
 
-### MAGICAL RULES MODULE
-
 ### FANTASY CYPHERS
 
 Magic items are a staple of fantasy stories and games. In the Cypher System, these magic items are, of course, cyphers.
@@ -19211,35 +19209,6 @@
 | 5     | Witch\*                |
 | 6     | Assassin\*             |
 | 6     | Blackguard             |
-| 4     | Elemental, water       |
-| 4     | Elemental, water       |
-| 4     | Elf                    |
-| 4     | Ghost\*                |
-| 4     | Ghoul\*                |
-| 4     | Giant snake\*          |
-| 4     | Hollow knight          |
-| 4     | Minotour               |
-| 4     | Ogre\*                 |
-| 4     | Paladin                |
-| 4     | Shadow elf\*           |
-| 4     | Thief                  |
-| 4     | Werewolf\*             |
-| 5     | Basilisk               |
-| 5     | Cambion                |
-| 5     | Demon                  |
-| 5     | Elemental, earth\*     |
-| 5     | Fallen angel\*         |
-| 5     | Gorgon                 |
-| 5     | Mi-go\*                |
-| 5     | Necromancer            |
-| 5     | Occultist\*            |
-| 5     | Prince(ss) of summer\* |
-| 5     | Satyr                  |
-| 5     | Soul Eater             |
-| 5     | Wendigo\*              |
-| 5     | Witch\*                |
-| 6     | Assassin\*             |
-| 6     | Blackguard             |
 | 6     | Chimera\*I             |
 | 6     | Elemental, thorn       |
 | 6     | Golem\*                |
@@ -20128,176 +20097,6 @@
 | Effect repair                | –         | Sometimes a character can repair a subsystem from their station, but repair may require moving to another part of the ship, such as the drive chamber, the compartment where weapons are sleeved, or even onto the outer hull. The difficulty is equal to the modified difficulty of the enemy craft that caused the damage.  |
 | Redline science/engineering  | –         | Reverse polarity on the sensors, dig up some bizarre lore from a database that could change the situation somehow, make the hull reflective, or some other risky gambit                                                                                                                                                       |
 
-### OPTIONAL RULE: PSIONICS
-
-Through sheer force of will, a psionic character can unleash inborn mental abilities such as telepathy, precognition,
-and telekinesis. As a GM, your first decision must be whether you want to incorporate psionics into your setting.
-
-If you do not want to allow psionics into your game, then restrict foci like Commands Mental Powers, Focuses Mind Over
-Matter, and Separates Mind From Body. And of course, restrict the suggested types of Psion and Psychic Knight described
-in the Cypher System Rulebook.
-
-### LATENT PSIONICS
-
-Under the latent psionics rule, any character, no matter their role or type, can unlock a psionic ability (either
-purposefully, or accidentally), as a long-term benefit (see "first psi ability" hereafter). After they unlock one
-psionic ability, they may unlock more later if they wish (or if their ability seeks to reveal itself), or just try to
-stick with the one.
-
-### FIRST PSI ABILITY
-
-Any character can unlock a psionic ability by spending 3 XP and working with the GM to come up with an in-game story of
-how the character unlocked it.
-
-Next, choose one low-tier ability from Chapter 9: Abilities in the Cypher System Rulebook. If the GM agrees it is
-appropriate, the character gains that ability as their psionic ability, with a few caveats. The ability can't be used
-like a normal ability gained through a PC's type or focus. Instead, a character must either expend a recovery roll or
-spend many minutes or longer evoking the psionic ability before it takes effect, in addition to paying its Pool cost (if
-any).
-
-Expending a Recovery Roll to Manifest a Psionic Ability: If the character expends a one-action, ten-minute, or one-hour
-recovery roll as part of the same action to manifest a psionic ability (including paying any Pool costs), they can use
-the ability as an action.
-
-Expending Time to Manifest a Psionic Ability: If the character takes at least ten minutes meditating, concentrating
-deeply, or otherwise using all their actions, they can manifest a low-tier psionic ability (if they also pay any Pool
-costs). An hour is required to manifest mid-tier abilities. Ten hours are required to manifest a high-tier ability.
-
-### MORE PSI ABILITIES
-
-Once a character has unlocked at least one psionic ability, they can opt to unlock additional abilities later. Each
-time, they must spend an additional 3 XP and work with the GM to come up with an in-game story of how the character's
-mental development has progressed.
-
-Two additional rules for learning additional psionic abilities apply: First, a character must be at least tier 3 and
-have previously unlocked one low-tier psionic ability before they can learn a mid-tier psionic ability. Second, a
-character must be at least tier 5 and have previously unlocked one mid-tier psionic ability before they can unlock a
-high-tier ability.
-
-### PSIONS AND THE OPTIONAL LATENT PSIONICS RULE
-
-Characters with explicitly psionic foci like Commands Mental Powers, Focuses Mind over Matter, Separates Mind from Body,
-and possibly others—as well types like Psion and Psychic Knight—are also considered to be psionic characters, and
-moreover, specialized ones. Their psionic abilities— provided by their type or focus—are used simply by paying their
-Pool costs. Extra time or physical effort isn't required to manifest them. That's because they've trained to use those
-abilities, rather than having stumbled upon them accidentally like a latent character.
-
-Specialized characters can use the optional latency rule to further expand their psionic potential, unlocking it just
-like other characters, with the same limitations.
-
-Optionally, specialized characters who have a psionic type and/or focus gain one additional benefit if they also opt for
-latent abilities. Given that they are already adept at unlocking abilities and using them as quickly and easily as
-another character might shoot a laser pistol, they've got some flexibility. Such a PC can replace up to three abilities
-granted by their type and/or focus with three other psionic abilities they've unlocked as a latent ability of the same
-tier. To do so, they must spend at least one uninterrupted hour in meditation. Usually, this is something that requires
-a fresh mind, and must be done soon after a ten-hour recovery.
-
-### MORE POWERFUL PSIONICS
-
-As the GM, you could allow a PC to spend 4 XP to unlock a new psionic ability instead of 3 XP. Such an ability is
-treated more like a regular type or focus ability. Such an ability is still governed by the rules described under More
-Psi Abilities, but is not subject to the limitations for manifesting the ability (i.e., expending a recovery roll or
-lots of time); instead, the user simply pays their Pool costs to use them.
-
-### OPTIONAL RULE: POSTHUMAN UPGRADES
-
-Posthuman upgrades are either available to everyone as the setting begins or opened up later during the campaign as a
-significant plot development. Note that many focus and type abilities might be considered to have come from the kind up
-bodily upgrades normally associated with posthuman transformation, especially high-tier abilities. Which is one way to
-go. On the other hand, you could provide actual upgrades, such as presented here, which actually increase the base power
-level of characters.
-
-### INTRODUCING UPGRADES TO YOUR SETTING
-
-You have a few options for adding posthuman upgrades to your setting. Characters might gain an initial upgrade for
-"free," mechanically speaking. After that, you might decide that that's enough and they're done.
-
-Or, you could allow further upgrades, each requiring them to expend 4 XP and serving as an Other Option requirement for
-advancing their character. In this case, consider expanding the number of steps required for advancing a tier from four
-to five. (Obtaining additional posthuman upgrades reflects characters accessing latent abilities already present inside
-them, or going back to whatever source granted the upgrades in the first place, if that's something you want to allow.)
-
-Immediate Posthuman Upgrades: As part of character creation, PCs are given the options presented hereafter because the
-setting demands it. Narrative options include (but are not limited to):
-
- • PCs are part of a program designed to adapt them to being able to survive and thrive in conditions other than the 1
-G, 1 atmosphere, oxygenated, Goldilocks environment of the Earth.
-
-• PCs begin their career as super-soldiers to fight aliens or to serve as corporate spies.
-
- • PCs serve as long-lived guardians to watch over a generation ship hurtling at slower-than-light speeds between the
-stars.
-
-• PCs are children of a far-future civilization that routinely upgrades its citizens.
-
-Delayed Posthuman Upgrades: Sometime after the players have a few sessions under their belt, present the options
-hereafter to the PCs because of a dramatic update to the plot. If one PC gains the option to upgrade, then all the PCs
-should have that same advantage. Narrative options include (but are not limited to):
-
-• PCs, exploring a cache of ancient ultra or other fantastic tech, find a device that provides unexpected upgrades in
-the process of healing them from other injuries.
-
-• PCs are kidnapped by aliens or conglomerate operatives, and upgraded—with some command-andcontrol circuits also
-installed—to serve some specific purpose.
-
- • PCs learn a "new science," allowing them to tap cosmic energies other creatures are unaware of.
-
-### POSTHUMAN PACKAGES
-
-Posthuman "packages" that PCs might enjoy include the following. You should decide which are available, and which ones
-your PCs gain.
-
-Spaceborn: You are not adversely affected by long-term microgravity or high-radiation conditions common in space. In
-addition, you can withstand high acceleration (up to 15 G) for about an hour without passing out, having a stroke, a
-heart attack, and so on (though longer periods of acceleration could still result in such outcomes). Add +1 to your
-Intellect Edge. Enabler. (PCs without the spaceborn posthuman upgrade probably have to rely on supplementation with
-adjuvants if they travel in space, such as space-fit serum)
-
-Jupiterborn: You can withstand high-gravity planets and high acceleration (up to 15 G) indefinitely. For periods of up
-to an hour, you can withstand double that. Add +1 to your Might Edge. Enabler.
-
-Seaborn: You can breathe underwater in pressures of up to 100 atmospheres indefinitely, up to triple that for about an
-hour. You have an asset to all tasks performed in water. Add +1 to your Speed Edge. Enabler.
-
-Expanded Consciousness: Only one of your brain hemispheres sleeps at a time, so you are always awake and aware. In
-addition, you have a magnetoreception sixth sense that allows you to "see" into objects and through doors up to a short
-distance. Your initiative and perception tasks are eased. You can forge a connection with electronic equipment you
-touch, allowing you to attempt to communicate, analyze, or even hack the device. Enabler.
-
-Synthetic Body: You have left biology behind and uploaded yourself into a biomechanical form known as a synth. You enjoy
-the benefits of the spaceborn package and expanded consciousness package, and one posthuman power shift. Enabler.
-
-### POSTHUMAN POWER SHIFTS
-
-A character may also gain posthuman abilities by way of power shifts, as described in the Cypher System Rulebook.
-
-Under this rule, posthuman characters begin with two power shifts. They can "unlock" one more each time they expend 4 XP
-toward advancing their character. Power shifts are like permanent levels of Effort that are always active. They don't
-count toward a character's maximum Effort use (nor do they count as skills or assets). They simply ease tasks that fall
-into specific categories, which include (but are not necessarily limited to):
-
-Accuracy: All attack rolls
-
-Dexterity: Movement, acrobatics, initiative, and Speed defense
-
-Healing: One extra recovery roll per shift (each one action, all coming before other normal recovery rolls)
-
-Intelligence: Intellect defense rolls and all knowledge, science, and crafting tasks
-
-Power: Use of a specific power, including damage (3 additional points per shift) but not attack rolls
-
-Resilience: Might defense rolls and Armor (+1 per shift)
-
-Single Attack: Attack rolls and damage (3 additional points per shift)
-
-Strength: All tasks involving strength, including jumping and dealing damage in melee or thrown attacks (3 additional
-points of damage per shift) but not attack rolls
-
-Each shift eases the task (except for shifts that affect damage or Armor, as specified in the list above). Applying two
-shifts eases the task by two steps, and applying three shifts eases the task by three steps. A character assigns their
-five power shifts as desired, but most characters should not be allowed to assign more than three to any one category.
-Once the shifts are assigned, they should not change.
-
 ### SALVAGE FROM A SPACECRAFT
 
 If the derelict ship was subject to vacuum, partly destroyed in combat, or damaged by some other disaster or close
@@ -20514,1199 +20313,6 @@
 | 10    | Godmind               | Fantastic   |
 | 10    | Omworwar              | Fantastic   |
 
-### ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) 8 (24)
-
-If a supercomputer can think independently, it's a strong AI (an artificial intelligence). Though not as advanced as
-godminds, AIs can develop inscrutable goals.
-
-AIs take many forms. Some are distributed across a vast network. Others are encoded into a singular "computer core." A
-few are machines with organic parts. All are entities of extreme intelligence able to adapt to new situations, and most
-act on some kind of plan, whether long-acting, or newly concocted to fit the situation at hand.
-
-Motive: Varies
-
-Environment: Almost anywhere
-
-Health: 33
-
-Damage Inflicted: 10
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Immediate
-
-Modifications: Speed defense as level 2, knowledge tasks as level 9
-
-Combat: An electrical discharge—or in some cases precisely pulsed sequences of lights, each designed for a specific
-creature to see—can affect all targets within short range of the AI (or the AI's local terminal), inflicting 10 points
-of damage from electricity (or 10 points of Intellect damage, which ignores Armor).
-
-Some AIs can take an action to absorb matter around them (such as walls, floor, equipment, unresisting living creatures,
-and so on), regaining 5 points of health.
-
-An AI is likely able to deploy cyphers and artifacts in combat and also relies on guardians (such as synthetic people
-made to its own design) to aid it. Unless a particular AI uses a computer core, damage to an AI may just be damage done
-to a "terminal," so even if an AI is seemingly destroyed, it might exist as another instance somewhere else.
-
-Interaction: Some AIs enjoy negotiation. Others simply ignore humans as unworthy of their time and attention. An AI's
-voice often sounds surprisingly human.
-
-Use: The characters are contacted by an AI sympathetic to biological beings. It wants them to accomplish a task on a
-moon of Jupiter: assassinate a security officer who the AI calculates as being a nexus of future disaster if he isn't
-removed from the equation.
-
-Loot: An AI might have access to 1d6 cyphers and possibly an artifact or two.
-
-GM Intrusion: The AI knows a phrase and series of images to flash at a particular PC to stun them for around as it
-attempts to upload an instance of itself into their mind.
-
-### CYBRID 8 (24)
-
-Cybrid origins could be the result of someone finding a cache of ancient ultra technology, or manufactured by a
-post-singularity AI for some unfathomable purpose, or even the result of banned weapons research by a nation-state or
-conglomerate. The human remnants in each cybrid's carbon fiber and nested shells of nanotech exist in a red haze of
-pain; neuro-wetware and chemicals bathing their remaining living tissues hold the pain partly at bay.
-
-From the exterior, not much of the original human is obvious, except perhaps in the echo of a humanoid shape. Each one
-has a unique conformation, but all are designed to strike fear in anyone seeing one, ally and enemy alike.
-
-Motive: Kill away the pain
-
-Environment: Usually set to guard important areas, creatures, or objects, or deployed in war
-
-Health: 60
-
-Damage Inflicted: 10
-
-Armor: 3
-
-Movement: Short; flies a very long distance each round; can maneuver like an autonomous level 5 spacecraft if using
-extended vehicular combat rules.
-
-Combat: Cybrids can attack up to three foes that they can see up to about 300 m (1,000 feet) away as a single action
-with graser (gamma ray laser) beams, inflicting 10 points of damage on each target and everything in immediate range of
-the target. Those caught in the beam who succeed on a Speed defense roll still suffer 2 points of damage. If the cybrid
-focuses on a single target, treat the attack as a level 10 attack that inflicts 14 points of damage, or 6 points even on
-a successful Speed defense roll.
-
- Self-repair mechanisms allow the creature to regain 2 points of health per round.
-
-Interaction: If communication can be opened up through a cybrid's haze of pain, it might be possible to temporarily wake
-the consciousness of the human remnant inside. However, that remnant consciousness might not be happy to discover what
-it's become.
-
-Use: A cybrid has appeared in orbit around the station, ship, or moon with a compromised life support system or fragile
-dome. If it engages, the death toll will be staggering.
-
-Loot: PCs who investigate the inert remains of the creature discover several manifest cyphers
-
-GM Intrusion: The character struck by the graser beam develops radiation poisoning, in this case a level 8 disease that
-drops the character one step on the damage track each day that it goes untreated..
-
-### DEVOLVED 4 (12)
-
-Conglomerate security subsidiaries regularly experiment with new ways to create super-soldiers, either to supply to a
-government on a contract basis, or to use for themselves. These experiments produced hundreds of dead
-ends—literally—plus a few dangerous failures. The devolved are one of those dangerous failures. These malformed, hideous
-brutes share a common heritage but display a wide array of maladies and mutations in the flesh, including withered limbs
-or elephantine patches of thick, scaly skin, misplaced body parts, and mental abnormalities. Simple-minded and afflicted
-with pain from their twisted, broken forms, the devolved vent all their hatred and wrath against all others.
-
-Even successfully created super-soldiers require a regular regimen of specialized drugs to keep them healthy. Most are
-shipped out to fight on faraway fronts, whether that's on a distant space station, moon, or in another star system
-entirely. Without their drugs, they may devolve.
-
-Motive: Hungers for flesh
-
-Environment: Groups of three to five, usually in locations where organized security can't easily reach
-
-Health: 21 Damage Inflicted: 6 to 12 points
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Intimidation tasks as level 6; Intellect defense and Speed defense as level 2 due to malformed nature
-
-Combat: Devolved attack with a claw, a bite, or some other body part, inflicting 6 points of damage. They throw
-themselves at their enemies with mindless ferocity and little regard for their own safety. Easily frustrated, a devolved
-grows stronger as its fury builds. Each time it misses with an attack, the next attack is eased by one additional step
-and the damage it inflicts increases by 2 points (to a maximum of 12 points). Once the devolved successfully inflicts
-damage on a target, the amount of damage it inflicts and the difficulty of its attacks returns to normal. Then the cycle
-starts anew.
-
-Interaction: Devolved speak when they must, punctuating their statements with growls and barks. Their understanding
-seems limited to what they can immediately perceive, and they have a difficult time with abstract concepts.
-
-Use: An expedition to a ruined conglomerate research facility uncovers a cyst of devolved that live within its
-sheltering bunkers.
-
-Loot: For every three or so devolved, one is likely to carry a cypher
-
-GM Intrusion: The devolved detonates upon its death, inflicting 6 points of damage on everything in immediate range.
-
-### ECOPHAGIC SWARM 4 (12)
-
-Tiny nanomachines can be incredibly useful tools. But they can also become a terrible threat. Like cells in a living
-body that develop cancer, these out-of-control self-replicating robots can consume everything in their path while
-building more of themselves. A typical swarm is about 6 m (20 feet) in diameter, individually consisting of millions of
-individual minuscule machines. However, several swarms can act together, creating a much larger cloud of death with just
-one purpose: to eat and replicate. Able to move large distances by gliding through the air, cloud-like swarms take on
-intriguing shapes and ripple with mathematical patterns as they approach a potential target, beautiful and deadly.
-
-Ecophagic swarms sometimes build weird structures or artifacts in the wake of their feeding, like massive metallic ant
-or wasp mounds, or something without any reference at all in the natural world.
-
-Motive: Hungers for matter, including flesh
-
-Environment: Ecophagic swarms are drawn most to areas rich in rare-earth metals, such as large cities or space stations
-where everyone carries a smartphone, AR glasses, or something similar
-
-Health: 12
-
-Damage Inflicted: 4 points
-
-Movement: Flies a long distance
-
-Combat: As a mass of countless tiny machines, an ecophagic swarm can flow around obstacles and squeeze through cracks
-large enough to permit a single sub-millimeter machine. That includes over and around other creatures. Characters
-touched by a leading edge—or wholly enveloped within the hazy "body"—of an ecophagic swarm must succeed on a Might
-defense task or take 4 points of damage. If the character doesn't wear armor of some kind, they take 1 point of damage
-even if they succeed.
-
-For its part, an ecophagic swarm ignores any attack that targets a single creature (unless it's an electrical attack),
-but it takes normal damage from attacks that affect an area (and electrical attacks), such as a detonation. A swarm
-cannot enter liquids, unless it takes about an hour to build new subunits that are aquatic.
-
-Interaction: Someone with an ability to communicate with machines might be able to interact with a swarm. Even then,
-attempts to influence it are hindered by three steps.
-
-Use: A promising new nanotech "printing" technology was hacked by radical elements
-
-GM Intrusion: The character must succeed on a Speed defense roll or their armor (or other important piece of equipment)
-is taken by the swarm.
-
-### EXOSLIME 6 (18)
-
-Amoeboid life predominates in some environments. Sometimes, it slimes asteroid crevices or its greasy residue is found
-on abandoned spacecraft. In a few cases, large portions of entire worlds are covered in living seas of translucent
-protoplasm. Individual volumes of exoslime are 5 m (15 foot) diameter moldlike blobs. Exoslimes possess independent
-minds, but in some settings may be manufactured entities designed to explore new locations, interact with aliens, or
-subjugate aliens. Exoslimes can learn to respect the autonomy of other creatures, though their natural instinct is to
-absorb novel objects and creatures they discover in order to learn about them. Exoslimes can also replicate anything
-they absorb, even a previously eaten living intelligent being.
-
-Motive: Hungers for information
-
-Environment: Moist and warm areas
-
-Health: 33
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Movement: Immediate; immediate when climbing or burrowing
-
-Modifications: Speed defense as level 5 due to size
-
-Combat: Though slow, an exoslime is dangerous. When roused, all characters within immediate range of an exoslime must
-succeed on a Might defense roll each round or be touched by the heaving mass. A victim adheres to the slime's surface
-and takes 6 points of acid damage each round. The victim must succeed on a Might defense roll to pull free. A victim who
-dies from this damage is consumed by the exoslime. The exoslime may later create a duplicate of any previously devoured
-fleshy creature, a process requiring about three rounds to complete. Duplicates have full autonomy, and can communicate
-with the slime.
-
-Interaction: An exoslime prefers to eat a newly-encountered creature, then create a duplicate of it to act as a
-translator. Of course, a stranger might not understand why the exoslime is trying to eat it.
-
-Use: The sample brought in from the exterior has a weird, mucus-like growth that seems able to slowly eat through most
-materials.
-
-GM Intrusion: The character escapes an exoslime attack, but a piece of quivering protoplasm remains stuck to their
-flesh, eating away at 1 point of Speed damage (ignores Armor) each round until the character succeeds on a Might roll as
-an action.
-
-### GODMIND 10 (30)
-
-Unfathomably powerful post-singularity AIs, godminds are vast, having used the matter of an entire solar system and all
-its planets to create an immense brain, weave themselves into a nebula, or encode themselves into quantum strings of
-existence light-years across. When necessary, a godmind forms a nexus of consciousness—an instance—appearing as a
-disembodied eye of electromagnetic energy, ranging from about the size of a human eye all the way up to the size of a
-planet.
-
-Motive: Ineffable
-
-Environment: Anywhere, usually in space
-
-Health: 50 (per instance)
-
-Damage Inflicted: 15 points
-
-Movement: Very long when flying
-
-Combat: A godmind can vary the physical laws of the universe within a light-second of one of its instances (some would
-call them avatars) to create an effect most useful to the godmind at the time. For instance, a godmind could create a
-gamma ray burst inflicting 15 points of damage on all creatures within very long range, attempt to put a target into
-temporal stasis, send a target (even a target as large as spacecraft) through a temporary wormhole gate, and so on. It
-could also scan the memory banks of any digital machine, and possibly of any living creatures. In any event, if an
-instance were targeted, and successfully neutralized or even destroyed, the godmind itself isn't harmed. An aggressor
-would have to find the godmind's primeval "computer core" to destroy one, likely an epic quest in and of itself.
-
-Interaction: To actually get a godmind's attention and negotiate could require ancient command code, finding an old
-input device, or showing up with a relic from an ancient ultra or other prize. If a godmind does render aid, it's likely
-to be in a form that is initially enigmatic, though ultimately extremely powerful.
-
-Use: A universal threat requires a defense that is equally potent. Research suggests that the diffuse nebula known as
-the Double Helix may actually be the visible form of a vast godmind. Perhaps it can help.
-
-Loot: Sometimes a godmind provides powerful artifacts to aid those who petition them for aid, assuming the need is dire.
-
-GM Intrusion: The godmind rewinds time a few seconds and sidesteps whatever negative effect would have otherwise
-inconvenienced it.
-
-### HUNGRY HAZE
-
-Hungry hazes are found in regions where the fundamental laws of physics have been eroded or are weak. They are named for
-how they appear as distortions of sight, like areas of heat haze, that shimmer in the air. These colorless hazes rapidly
-advance when they sense prey, taking on a "hungry" orange-red hue as they cling to the bodies of whatever they attempt
-to feed on next.
-
-Victims being fed upon by a hungry haze sometimes hallucinate, seeing a physically manifest monster instead of formless
-vapor.
-
-Motive: Hungers for flesh
-
-Environment: Alone or in groups of three to five, usually in areas of strained space-time. Immune to the effects of
-vacuum.
-
-Health: 12
-
-Damage Inflicted: 5 points
-
-Movement: Flies an immediate distance each round
-
-Modifications: Stealth tasks as level 5
-
-Combat: A hungry haze breaks down the flesh of all living creatures within immediate range, inflicting 5 points of
-damage. As an insubstantial haze, only attacks that affect an area have a chance to inflict full damage on them; other
-successful attacks only inflict 1 point of damage, regardless of the amount indicated. If a hungry haze successfully
-feeds, it gains 1 point of health, even if the increase puts it above its maximum health. If a hungry haze is reduced to
-zero health, a smooth thumb-sized egg of unknown material is left behind.
-
-Interaction: A hungry haze does not speak or seem to have language. But it is not mindless; it can learn from its
-experiences and figure out creative solutions to problems.
-
-Use: After a research station on Mercury is abandoned for unspecified issues, salvagers show up looking for easy
-pickings. But a strange haze seems to hang over the station.
-
-Loot: People (or AI) interested in strange manifestations would probably pay for the remains of a hungry haze in an
-amount equal to the expensive price category.
-
-GM Intrusion: The character's Armor rating is reduced by 1; the hungry haze apparently can eat more than just flesh.
-
-### INFOVORE 3 (9)
-
-Entities of information with an affinity for technology, infovores are nothing but stored information without a bit of
-mechanism to inhabit. But once one gains control of a device, computer system, or other powered item, it self-assembles
-over the course of a few rounds, becoming stronger and more dangerous as each second passes. Luckily, an infovore seems
-unable to hold this form for long, and whether defeated or not, it eventually falls back into so much scattered junk.
-But in one of those objects, the core of the infovore remains, waiting to come into close enough proximity to another
-fresh mechanism to begin the rebirth process again.
-
-Infovores have also been called ghost fabricators and aterics
-
-Motive: Hungers for information
-
-Environment: Anywhere powered devices are found
-
-Health: 9
-
-Damage Inflicted: 3–10 points
-
-Armor: 3
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Attacks and defends at an ever-escalating level
-
-Combat: A newly animate infovore (level 3) has a rough but articulated form that it uses to batter and cut targets who
-carry powered devices on them. Unless destroyed, on each subsequent round it draws nearby inert mechanisms, unattended
-metallic and synthetic matter, and ambient energy, and its effective level increases by one. This level advancement
-completely heals all previous damage it has taken and advances it to the amount of health consistent with a creature of
-the next higher level. Damage, attacks, and defense continue to ramp up as well, continuing each round until the
-creature is either destroyed or it reaches level 10. After being active for one round at level 10, it spontaneously
-disassembles, falling back into so many scattered pieces of junk. Finding the "seed" device amid this junk is a
-difficulty 6 Intellect-based task.
-
-Interaction: Infovores are fractured, fragmented beings. Characters who can talk to machines might be able to keep one
-from "spinning up" to become a threat and learn something valuable, but only for a short period.
-
-Use: Among the devices collected from trade, salvage, archeological dig, or some other unique source, one was actually
-an inactive infovore, quiescent until plugged in or scanned.
-
-Loot: An infovore that has undergone spontaneous disassembly leaves one or two manifest cyphers; however, there's a
-chance that one of those cyphers is actually the infovore seed.
-
-GM Intrusion: The character must succeed on a Speed defense task or lose a powered piece of equipment (an artifact) or a
-manifest cypher as it's pulledinto the self-assembling infovore. The infovore gains an additional attack each round.
-
-### INQUISITOR 4 (12)
-
-Inquisitors are aliens who call themselves "inquisitors" when they contact new species. Their preferred method of
-interaction is to study a given area for its flora and fauna, and attempt to collect a representative sample of any
-intelligent species they find (such as humans). Collected subjects may be gone for good, but other times they wake with
-little or no recollection of the experience save for bruises, missing digits or teeth, scabbed-over circular head
-wounds, and a gap of three or more days in their memory. Instead of arms, inquisitors sprout three sets of three
-tentacles like those of a squid, each of which branches into a smaller and finer set of manipulator tendrils. They can
-manipulate complex machines in a way that a regular human could never hope to. In most settings, inquisitors possess a
-level of technology and advancement well above that enjoyed by humans.
-
-Motive: Knowledge
-
-Environment: In groups of three to twelve
-
-Health: 18
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Movement: Short; short when climbing
-
-Modifications: Knowledge-related tasks as level 8
-
-Combat: Inquisitors can batter and squeeze foes with their tentacles, but they prefer to use advanced items that they
-always carry, including long-range energy weapons that can inflict damage or, with a flipped setting, induce deep sleep
-for an hour or more if the victim fails a Might defense task. Usually, inquisitors attempt to cause as little damage as
-possible to potential subjects, so the sleep setting is used most often. They also carry defensive items, including
-manifest cyphers that can grant +4 to Armor for a few minutes or throw up a level 8 force field barrier. In case a
-specimen collection mission goes badly, at least one inquisitor carries a manifest cypher that creates a short-lived
-teleportation portal for instant transport to a distant and hidden base (which might be a spacecraft or a
-transdimensional redoubt).
-
-Interaction: Inquisitors are always eager to "talk," though they usually end up wanting to know a lot more than
-characters are willing to divulge.
-
-Use: An entire freehold on Mars goes missing. Left-behind clues point to inquisitors.
-
-Loot: Most inquisitors carry a couple of manifest cyphers that have offensive and defensive capabilities.
-
-GM Intrusion: The character (or characters) wake after a long rest, only to realize that more than ten hours have
-passed. They all have strange marks and wounds, but no one remembers why. One character—an NPC or follower—might even be
-missing.
-
-### MALWARE, FATAL 4 (12)
-
-This purely malefic program has aggressive machine learning capabilities, allowing it to accomplish truly innovative and
-nasty tricks. Fatal malware may have originated as a simple virus or spyware coded for a specific purpose, but
-corruption and lightning-quick electronic evolution has turned it into something that exists purely to infect orderly
-electronic systems, spacecraft, space stations, smart weapons, and anything else with an operating system. Infected
-objects turn against living people. An instance often has the form of the system it's infected, but occasionally fatal
-malware physically manifests as a metallic "cancer" of wires and self-assembling circuits hanging like a tumor across a
-server room, shipmind core, or data center, having perverted the original machine's self-repair functions. Sometimes 4D
-printers are also compromised.
-
-Motive: Corruption and destruction
-
-Environment: Any electronic system able to run code can host one or more instances
-
-Health: 18
-
-Damage Inflicted: 5 points
-
-Movement: As the system it infects
-
-Modifications: Knowledge tasks related to computers and other electronic systems as level 6
-
-Combat: An instance of fatal malware that physically touches (or electrically connects with) a powered device of up to
-level 6 can attempt to seize control of it. It can then use that device to attack living targets. If the controlled
-system is a computer, smartphone, AR glasses, or some other piece of equipment that doesn't have any intrinsic movement,
-the malware attempts to electrocute a user, or if a smart weapon, cause some kind of fatal accident with it. A
-compromised computer or shipmind voice can dangerously mislead victims. Fatal malware duplicates itself, creating many
-instances, and those that survive are usually slightly better at avoiding being erased than the previous generations.
-
-Interaction: Fatal malware isn't really sentient and thus can't really be negotiated with; some instances could mimic
-intelligence to draw humans into a trap.
-
-Use: An instance of fatal malware has gotten into a shipmind, which is making the normally trustworthy AI act out in
-unexpectedly dangerous ways. The shipmind itself doesn't know it's infected.
-
-GM Intrusion: The fatal malware divides into a second instance and attempts to override and control another piece of
-equipment carried by the character, especially a character with cybernetic implants.
-
-### MOCK ORGANISM 3 (9)
-
-Artificial life can be created by selective breeding, synthetic and genetic engineering, or by accidental miscalculation
-in some unrelated high-energy or food-research program. When artificial life takes a wrong turn, the results run the
-gamut from disappointing to dangerous. If an artificial entity starts out benign, it's difficult to know if a hidden or
-slowly developing flaw will tip it over the edge into dangerous dysfunction—or if it just acts oddly because it doesn't
-know the social cues. Should synthetic beings be treated as people, pets, or monsters to be stamped out and destroyed?
-That's the eternal question and one that's usually answered by those most afraid of potential dangers that might
-accompany the creation of something no one intended.
-
-Motive: Defense or destruction
-
-Environment: Usually in secluded locations alone unless hiding in unused storage rooms of a large facility
-
-Health: 18
-
-Damage Inflicted: 5 points
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Combat: A mock organism can release an electrical discharge against a target at short range. In melee, a mock organism's
-poisoned claws inflict damage and require the target to succeed on a Might defense task, or the poison induces a
-coma-like slumber in the target. Each round the target fails to rouse—an Intellect task—they take 3 points of ambient
-damage.
-
-Interaction: A mock organism is intelligent and can sometimes be swayed by reason. It might be passive, but if disturbed
-in a place it thought was secure against intrusion, it could grow belligerent and even murderous. Once so roused, a mock
-organism might still be calmed, but all such attempts are hindered.
-
-Use: A scientist's ruined lab contains several unexpected surprises, including a mock organism that yet grieves over the
-loss of its creator.
-
-Loot: A mock organism requires many parts. Salvage from a destroyed mock organism could result in a manifest cypher or
-two and another item that, with a bit of jury-rigging, works as an artifact.
-
-GM Intrusion: The character hit by the mock organism's melee attack doesn't take normal damage. Instead, the mock
-organism drops onto the character. The PC is pinned until they can succeed on a difficulty 6 Might-based task to escape.
-While pinned, the creation whispers mad utterances into the target's ear.
-
-### NATATHIM 3 (9)
-
-Genetically engineered to live in the water oceans discovered beneath the ice crusts of various solar moons, natathim
-(Homo aquus) have human ancestors, but barely look it. Survival in the frigid, lightless depths of extraterrestrial
-oceans required extreme adaptation. Predominantly dark blue, their undersides countershade to pure white. Though
-humanoid, their physiology is streamlined, giving their heads a somewhat fish-like shape, complete with gills and large
-eyes to collect light in the depths. Their bodies are adorned with fins and frills, including a long shark-like tail,
-and they have webbed extremities with retractable claws.
-
-Depending on the setting, natathim are either human allies with the same (or even more advanced) tech, enemies with the
-same or more advanced tech, or genetic anomalies treated like laboratory rats burning with genocidal fury at what's been
-done to them. Alternatively, natathim could be discovered in Earth's deepest oceans, their origin mysterious, but able
-to interbreed with humans as a method for maintaining their line.
-
-Motive: Just as with humans, natathim have many and varied motivations and drives.
-
-Environment: Anywhere in or near water, or in suits/craft with marine environments, in schools of three to twelve.
-Natathim can act normally in air for up to twenty-four hours before they must return to water.
-
-Health: 9
-
-Damage Inflicted: 4 points
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Short on land; long in the water
-
-Modifications: Swims as level 6
-
-Combat: Natathim attack with their retractable claws or, if available, technological weapons. Some have a
-magnetoreception ability that allows them to see into frequencies other creatures can't, or even stranger abilities to
-interact magnetically with their surroundings, though this is little understood.
-
-Interaction: Natathim can be sympathetic to humans, partners in space exploration, or consider humans to be bitter foes
-for having created their species in the first place, depending on the setting.
-
-Use: The PCs find evidence of an illegal gene tailoring experiment, with evidence pointing to research being done
-somewhere in the Opulence of Outer Planets.
-
-Loot: Some natathim carry valuable items and equipment.
-
-GM Intrusion: The natathim spontaneously magnetizes the
-character's possessions, which hold them helpless against the nearest wall or floor (if also metallic). The PC can take
-no actions other than attempt to escape.
-
-### OMWORWAR 10 (30)
-
-Among the many stories passed down the space lanes, a few stand out for their grandiosity. Take the tales of omworwar
-sightings in the empty voids between stars, or even more unexpectedly, flashing through the abnormal space during FTL
-travel. Scientists speculate that these creatures, if actually real, might very well be extant instances of ancient
-ultras, not extinct as everyone believes, or at least not completely. In almost every case so far recorded, omworwars
-have little interest in human spacecraft. (They're called omworwar after the sound disrupted communication devices make
-in their presence.) Each one is several kilometers long, a dark inner slug-like core surrounded by gauzy layers of
-translucent, glowing, nebula-like tissue. Whale-like eyes surmount the dorsal surface, each seeming to contain a tiny
-galaxy all their own.
-
-Wharn interceptors have been seen accompanying single omworwars, indicating an association, and is why some people refer
-to these beings as wharn cogitators.
-
-Motive: Unpredictable
-
-Environment: Almost anywhere in space, alone or accompanied by one or two wharn interceptors
-
-Health: 42
-
-Damage Inflicted: 12 points
-
-Armor: 10
-
-Movement: Flies a very long distance each round; can maneuver like an autonomous level 7 spacecraft if using extended
-vehicular combat rules. FTL capable.
-
-Modifications: Speed defense as level 7 due to size
-
-Combat: An omworwar can manipulate and fold gravity (and space-time), allowing them to accomplish near-miraculous tasks
-including communication, creating or destroying matter, and propulsion via "falling" through the universe at FTL speeds
-from the perspective of an outside observer. Which means one can rend a spacecraft, send a spacecraft spinning through
-the galaxy, or create asteroid-sized chunks of space-matter for any number of purposes if it spends several rounds in
-deep concentration.
-
-Interaction: Omworwar disregard most other creatures, because from the omworwar's perspective, they're like mayflies,
-here and then gone again in an eyeblink of their existence. However, one may give a moment to someone who has discovered
-an ancient ultra secret or artifact, pass on information that might otherwise never be known, or even provide a useful
-manifest cypher.
-
-Use: A reflective object composed of unknown material was found at the core of an unexpectedly destroyed space station.
-Those who managed to flee in lifeboats report having seen what might have been an omworwar, bleeding energy and eyes
-going dark, colliding with the station. The resultant lump might just be its corpse, or maybe its protective chrysalis.
-
-Loot: Four level 10 manifest cyphers.
-
-GM Intrusion: The character discovers that one of their manifest cyphers has formed a tiny eye, but an eye that seems to
-contain a galaxy. (The cypher becomes useless for its original function, but might be used to summon or interact with an
-omworwar.)
-
-### PHOTONOMORPH 6 (18)
-
-Hard-light technology, which creates pseudo-matter from modified photons, has made possible all kinds of structures and
-devices that wouldn't otherwise exist. One of those, unfortunately, are self-sustaining photonic matter creatures.
-Sometimes, photonomorphs are enforcers created by much more powerful beings; other times they are the result of some
-person or AI attempting to ascend into a new state of being. But whatever their origin, photonomorphs are dangerous
-beings that can create matter from light, granting them an arbitrarily wide swathe of abilities. That includes their own
-glowing bodies, which they can change with only a little effort. This variability of form, coupled with their vast
-power, may be why many seem slightly mad.
-
-Motive: Varies
-
-Environment: Anywhere, alone or attended by three to five servitors appearing as hovering red spheres
-
-Servitor: level 4; flies a long distance each round
-
-Health: 22
-
-Damage Inflicted: 8 points
-
-Armor: 3
-
-Movement: Reconstitutes itself anywhere light can reach within long range as part of another action
-
-Modifications: Knowledge tasks as level 8
-
-Combat: Photonomorphs draw upon their own light to manifest effects equal to their level. Effects include the ability to
-attack creatures at long range with laser-like blasts, create glowing walls (or spheres) of force within an area up to 6
-m (20 feet) on a side, become invisible, change its appearance, and create simple objects and devices out of hard light
-that last for about a minute (unless the photonomorph bleeds a few points of its health into the object to make it last
-until destroyed).
-
-A photonomorph regains 2 points of health each round in areas of bright light. It is hindered in all actions if the only
-source of light is itself or objects it has created.
-
-Interaction: Photonomorphs are intelligent and paranoid, but not automatically hostile. They have their own self-serving
-agendas, which often involve elaborate schemes.
-
-Use: A photonomorph appears, claiming to be a herald of some vastly more powerful cosmic entity or approaching alien
-vessel.
-
-GM Intrusion: The photonomorph uses its ability to create a hard- light object or effect that is perfect for aiding it
-for the situation at hand.
-
-### POSTHUMAN 7 (21)
-
-Rather than evolving naturally, posthumans advance via a directed jump, designed with smart tools and AI surgeons. With
-all the advances fantastic technology brings to their genetic upgrade, posthumans are beings whose basic capacities
-radically exceed regular people. They can't really be considered human any longer; they've transcended humanity, which
-is why they're also sometimes called transhumans. They're often involved in large-scale projects, such as creating
-bigger-than-world habitats or spacecraft, or possibly even researching how they might ascend to some still-higher realm
-of consciousness or being.
-
-Motive: Variable
-
-Environment: Alone or in small groups or communities in orbital colonies or other designed locations
-
-Health: 50
-
-Damage Inflicted: 9 points
-
-Armor: 4
-
-Movement: Short; flies a long distance
-
-Modifications: Knowledge tasks as level 9
-
-Combat: Posthumans can selectively attack foes up to a very long distance away with bolts of directed plasma that deal 9
-points of damage. A posthuman can dial up the level of destruction if they wish, so instead of affecting only one
-target, a bolt deals 7 points of damage to all targets within short range of the primary target, and 1 point even if the
-targets caught in the conflagration succeed on a Speed defense roll.
-
-Posthumans can also call on a variety of other abilities, either by small manipulations of the quantum field or by
-deploying nanotechnology. Essentially, a posthuman can mimic the ability of any subtle cypher of level 5 or less as an
-action.
-
-Posthumans automatically regain 2 points of health per round while its health is above 0.
-
-Interaction: Posthumans are so physically and mentally powerful that they are almost godlike to unmodified people, and
-either ignore, care for, or pity them. Knowing what a posthuman actually wants is hard to pin down because their
-motivations are complex and many-layered.
-
-Use: A rogue posthuman is researching a method whereby they might portal into the "quantum" realm of dark energy
-underlying the known universe of normal matter. Despite the revealed risk of antagonistic post-singularity AIs roaming
-that realm escaping, the posthuman continues their work.
-
-Loot: The body of a posthuman is riddled with unrecognizable technologies fused seamlessly with residual organic
-material—or at least material that grows like organic material used to. Amid this, it might be possible to salvage a few
-manifest cyphers and an artifact.
-
-GM Intrusion: The posthuman allows acts out of turn, or takes control of a device that the character is about to use
-against the posthuman.
-
-### REDIVUS 4 (12)
-
-Redivi spend most of their lives—uncounted millennia—hurtling through space. Most never encounter anything, but some few
-impact other worlds, are captured by alien spacecraft, or otherwise intercepted. Their traveling form resembles rocky
-space rubble the size of a small spacecraft—until they unfurl glowing magnetic plasma wings, revealing themselves as
-strange creatures of living mineral. Redivi can interact with almost any electronic system and manipulate
-electromagnetic fields. Redivi are searchers, all sent forth by the Great Mother, billions upon billions of them (they
-say), looking for the seed of the next great cosmic expansion. Thus, most redivi are consumed with finding out more,
-finding other redivi, and eventually, finding their "universal seed."
-
-Motive: Knowledge
-
-Environment: Almost anywhere, searching
-
-Health: 12
-
-Damage Inflicted: 5 points
-
-Armor: 4
-
-Movement: Flies (magnetically levitates) a short distance each round
-
-Combat: The stone carapace of a redivus makes a huge "club" when it rams into foes. However, it can also control metal
-within short range, causing it to flex, animate, crush, or smash. For instance, targets wearing metal space suits are in
-trouble when that metal begins to unravel. Alternatively, a redivus can use nearby metal to wrap around a target and
-constrict it, inflicting 5 points of damage (ignores Armor) each round until the target can escape.
-
-Interaction: If any kind of radio or similar communication is in use, these creatures can commandeer it and speak
-through it, learning a new language seemingly over the course of minutes. Redivi will cooperate with reasonable requests
-and negotiate, especially if there's a chance they'll find out something new.
-
-Use: A redivi pod smashes into the side of the spacecraft, and might at first seem like some kind of attack or boarding
-action of something truly terrible.
-
-GM Intrusion: The character's metal- containing equipment is stripped away, then used as ammunition against that PC or
-an ally.
-
-### SENTINEL TREE 3 (9)
-
-Depending on the sci-fi setting, sentinel trees are mutated trees that grow near radioactive craters dimpling the
-landscape, alien plant-life that evolved in a different biosphere (or dimension), or the result of intensive
-gene-tailoring, possibly of the illegal sort. Regardless of their provenance, sentinel trees resemble thorny masses of
-knotted vines. Razor-sharp glass-like leaves flex like claws, and vibrating pods glisten, ready to detonate if thrown.
-If cultivated, they may take on a shape designed to further frighten—or at least warn away— those who see one. Sentinel
-trees are mobile, aggressive, and feed on almost any sort of organic matter. Once it brings down prey, it sinks barbed
-roots in the body for feeding and decomposition.
-
-Motive: Feed
-
-Environment: In groves of three to six, able to tolerate most atmospheres (even thin ones, like on Mars) but not vacuum
-
-Health: 12
-
-Damage Inflicted: 3 points
-
-Armor: 1
-
-Movement: Immediate
-
-Combat: Sentinel trees can fling a vibrating pod at a target within long range, which detonates on impact, inflicting 3
-points of damage on all targets within immediate range of the blast. Targets must also succeed on a Might defense roll
-or be poisoned for 3 points of damage, plus 3 points again each subsequent round until a Might task is successful. A
-sentinel tree can also lash out with its barbed vines at a target within immediate range, inflicting 3 points of damage.
-Melee targets must also succeed on a Might defense roll or become entangled and unable to take physical actions until
-they can break free on their turn.
-
-Interaction: Sentinel trees are about as smart as well-trained guard dogs. They can't speak, but can understand some
-words and gestures.
-
-Use: A grove of sentinel trees guard a compound that the characters need to break into.
-
-GM Intrusion: The character caught in the detonation is blinded with tiny black seeds until they use a recovery roll to
-remove the condition. (The recovery use doesn't return points to a Pool.)
-
-### SILICON PARASITE 2 (6)
-
-These tiny silvery insect-like creatures range in size from a sub-millimeter to up to 30 cm (1 foot) in diameter,
-emitting short pulses of violet-colored laser light to sense and sample their environment. Composed of organic silicon
-wires and wafers, and self-assembled or evolved in some unnamed lab or spacecraft wreck, silicon parasites are vermin
-that working space stations and spacecraft have learned to hate. Despite taking steps to avoid transfer, a ship may only
-learn they have silicon parasites when a swarm boils up from a crack in the cabling or seam in the deck plating after
-being agitated by a high-G maneuver or some other disturbance. If that disturbance is combat or some other dire
-emergency, silicon parasites thrown into the situation makes everything worse.
-
-Motive: Defense, harvest electronic materials necessary to self-replicate.
-
-Environment: Usually on spacecraft and space stations in groups of up to twenty
-
-Health: 6
-
-Damage Inflicted: 3 points
-
-Armor: 1
-
-Movement: Short; climbs a short distance each round
-
-Modifications: Speed defense as level 4 due to size.
-
-Combat: Only "large" silicon parasites are a danger to most creatures. When four or more parasites coordinate their
-attacks, treat the attack as that made by a single level 4 creature that inflicts 5 points of damage, and on a failed
-difficulty 4 Might defense roll, an attack that holds the target in place until it can successfully escape. A held
-target automatically takes 5 points of damage each round, or even more if other silicon parasites in the area pile on.
-Silicon parasites can operate in complete vacuum without harm.
-
-Interaction: By and large, silicon parasites behave like social insects, though some claim that large numbers of them
-have acted with greater intelligence and forethought than mere unthinking insects can manage.
-
-Use: A swarm of silicon parasites floods into the hold and makes off with an important device, dragging it into the
-crevices and walls of the spacecraft or station. Loot: Swarm nests often contain a few valuable manifest cyphers or
-working pieces of equipment.
-
-GM Intrusion: The silicon parasite flashes its sensory laser directly into the character's eyes, blinding the character
-until they succeed on a difficulty 4 Might-based roll as their action.
-
-### SPACE RAT 1 (3)
-
-Yeah, rats made it to space. And against all expectations, one strain evolved in the harsh radiation and zero-G
-environments that would kill humans not protected by medical intervention. Space rats are furless, about two feet long,
-sport a truly prehensile tail, and can quickly change their shade of their skin to blend in to their surroundings. They
-can also drop into a state of extreme torpor that allows them to survive stints of vacuum exposure lasting several
-days.
-
-Space rats are vermin, and any spacecraft or space station that hosts a nest must deal with constant issues from the
-rats burrowing into systems, stealing food and water, and causing systems to break down, even critical ones. They're
-also vicious when cornered.
-
-Motive: Defense, reproduction
-
-Environment: Anywhere humans live in space
-
-Health: 5
-
-Damage Inflicted: 3 points
-
-Movement: Short; short when climbing or gliding through zero G
-
-Modifications: Stealth and perception as level 5
-
-Combat: Space rats flee combat unless cornered or one of their burrows is invaded. Then they attack in packs of three or
-more, and from an ambush if possible. One space rat pack attacks the victim as a level 3 creature inflicting 5 points of
-damage with claws, while another pack helps the first, or attempts to steal a food item or shiny object from the
-character being attacked. To resist theft while being attacked on two fronts, a target must succeed on a Speed defense
-roll hindered by two steps.
-
-Interaction: Space rats are slightly more intelligent than their Earth-bound cousins, though true interaction is not
-possible. On the other hand, sometimes their behavior seems spookily sapient.
-
-Use: Space rats assemble crude nests in out-of-the-way supply closets or in hard-to-reach system interiors, but often
-enough, end up shorting out weapons or life support. Sometimes, they get into the hold and eat anything edible in the
-cargo.
-
-Loot: Some percent of valuable equipment stolen on the spacecraft or station finds its way to space rat nests.
-
-GM Intrusion: Another rat unexpectedly pops out of panel on the wall or ceiling and screeches so loudly the PC must
-succeed on an Intellect defense roll hindered by two steps or be dazed until the end of their next turn from the
-surprise. Dazed creatures are hindered on all tasks.
-
-### STORM MARINE 4 (12)
-
-The storm marine creed is an oft-repeated mantra, "I will never quit, knowing full well that I might die in service to
-the cause." Wearing advanced battlesuits, hyped up on a cocktail of experimental military drugs, and able to draw on a
-suite of cybernetic and network-connected drone guns, few things can stand before a storm marine fireteam. Storm marines
-usually work for nation-states, conglomerates, and similar entities. They mercilessly conduct their mission, even if
-that mission is to wipe out a rival. Storm marines that question their orders are quickly dispatched by their fellows.
-
-Motive: Achieve mission goals
-
-Environment: Alone in or in fireteams of three, anywhere nation-states or similar entities have a financial or military
-interest
-
-Health: 15
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Armor: 4
-
-Movement: Long; flies a long distance each round
-
-Modifications: Perception as level 6; attacks as level 5 due to combat targeting neuro-wetware.
-
-Combat: Thanks to their battlesuit, a storm marine has many options in combat. They can deploy an electrified blade to
-attack every foe in immediate range as a single action, or use a long-range heavy energy rifle that inflicts 6 points of
-damage.
-
-A storm marine can deploy two level 3 gun drones that fire energy rays at two different targets up to 800 m (2,600 feet)
-away, inflicting 6 points of damage. If the drones focus on a single target, a successful hit deals 9 points of damage
-and moves the target one step down the damage track. The drones can attack only once or twice before returning to their
-cradles in the storm marine's suit for several rounds to recharge.
-
-Interaction: A storm marine might negotiate, but getting one to act against their mission is difficult.
-
-Use: A fireteam of storm marines are sent to eliminate the PCs or someone the PCs know on suspicion of being radical
-elements that need to be dealt with.
-
-Loot: Though bio-locked to each storm marine, someone who succeeds on a difficulty 8 Intellect task to reprogram the
-suit could gain a battlesuit of their own, minus the drones (which fly off or detonate).
-
-GM Intrusion: A character targeting a gun drone rather than the storm marine hits the drone, but the drone reacts by
-darting to the character and exploding, inflicting 6 points of damage to the character and anyone standing within
-immediate range.
-
-### SHINING ONE 5 (15)
-
-Some alien beings abandoned their physical forms millennia ago, becoming entities of free-floating energy and pure
-consciousness. They travel the galaxies, exploring the endless permutations of matter, space-time, cosmic phenomena,
-dark energy, and life. They are endlessly fascinated with the permutations they discover. They sometimes appear as a
-silhouette of gently glowing light, in a form like to the alien species they wish to observe. Under circumstances where
-a shining one is moved to more directly interact, one can actually convert itself into matter once more, again taking on
-the biology and form of the species it wishes to interact with. But generally, shining ones observe and learn; they try
-not to interfere or interact. Every few thousand years, shining ones gather at a predetermined location on the edge of a
-convenient galaxy and share the most interesting and beautiful bits of imagery, music, poetry, and lore they've
-gleaned.
-
-Motive: Knowledge
-
-Environment: Anywhere, usually alone
-
-Health: 15
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Movement: Instantly moves to anywhere it can see at the speed of light as part of its action once per round
-
-Modifications: All tasks related to knowledge as level 8
-
-Combat: As immaterial beings of energy, shining ones only take damage from energy attacks. And even then, there is a
-chance that the energy heals a damaged shining one rather than harming it if the attack roll was an odd number. Usually
-a shining one doesn't fight back if attacked, but instead leaves. If somehow prevented from leaving, a shining one
-fights for its existence with energy blasts inflicting 6 points of damage on up to two different targets within very
-long range (or the same target twice).
-
-Alternatively, a shining one may attempt to discorporate a target, turning it into a being something like itself. In
-this case, each time a target is hit by an energy blast, it must also succeed on an Intellect defense roll. On a failed
-roll, it loses 6 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor). If the target's Intellect Pool is emptied, it becomes a
-freefloating ball of energy unable to take any actions other than observe for a few minutes before suddenly converting
-back to its original form with an explosive pop.
-
-Interaction: Shining ones can manipulate their environment to communicate with other species, using sound, light, puffs
-of odiferous complex chemicals in place of words, and so on. If approached with respect, they freely exchange
-information with others, seeking to grow their knowledge and that of those they meet.
-
-Use: A shining one is sharing knowledge to a warlike xenophobic species that could allow them to rapidly advance their
-ability to consolidate power. Something must be done before it's too late.
-
-GM Intrusion: A character hit by the shining one's energy blast catches on fire. They take 3 points of damage each round
-until they spend an action patting, rolling, or smothering the flames.
-
-### SUPERNAL 5 (15)
-
-Half humanoid and half-dragonfly, supernals are beautiful entities, though certainly alien. Each supernal possesses a
-unique wing pattern and coloration and, to some extent, body shape. These patterns and colors may signify where in the
-hierarchy a particular supernal stands among its kind, but for those who do not speak the language of supernals (which
-is telepathic), the complexity of their social structure is overwhelming. Whether they are agents of some unknown alien
-civilization or seek their own aims, supernals are mysterious and cryptic. Most fear contact with them, because they
-have a penchant for stealing away other life forms, who are rarely seen again.
-
-Motive: Capture humans and similar life forms, and bring them somewhere unknown.
-
-Environment: Almost anywhere
-
-Health: 23
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Movement: Short; flies a long distance (even through airless vacuum); can teleport to any known location once per ten
-hours as an action
-
-Modifications: All knowledge tasks as level 6; stealth tasks as level 7 while invisible
-
-Combat: Supernals usually only enter combat when they wish, because they bide their time in a phased, invisible state.
-But when one attacks with the touch of its wing, it draws the life force directly out of the target, inflicting 6 points
-of Speed damage (ignores Armor).
-
-A supernal can summon a swarm of tiny machines that resemble regular dragonflies made of golden metal. The swarm either
-serves as a fashion accessory as they crawl over the supernal's body, or as components in a piece of living art.
-
-Supernals regain 1 point of health per round (even in an airless vacuum, which they can survive without issue), unless
-they've been damaged with psychic attacks. They can teleport to any location they know as an action once every ten
-hours.
-
-Supernals often carry manifest cyphers useful in combat, as well as an artifact.
-
-Dragonfly swarm: level 2; flies a long distance each round; eases physical tasks, including attacks or defense
-
-Interaction: Although supernals only speak telepathically, peaceful interaction with these creatures is not impossible.
-It's just very difficult, as they see most other creatures as something to be collected and taken to some undisclosed
-location, for unknown reasons.
-
-Use: A character is followed by a supernal intent on collecting them. Loot: A supernal usually has a few manifest
-cyphers, and possibly an artifact.
-
-GM Intrusion: The supernal grabs the character and flies up and away, unless and until the character escapes the grab.
-
-### SYNTHETIC PERSON 5 (15)
-
-Synthetic people have been called many things, including simply synths, androids, robot mimics, and, depending on how
-they act, killer robots. Their origins are varied. In some cases, they're the result of corporate research into
-"products" that would serve humanity as assistants and companions, but later gained sentience. In other cases, synthetic
-people are the result of a state-sponsored program to develop war machines or automated assassins that looked like
-regular people. Another origin for synthetic people is through the design of awakened (and inimical) AIs as part of an
-effort to kill off all regular biological people. Now they roam their environment looking like anyone else. Some synths
-try to fit into whatever kind of society they can find. Some may not even know that they are not human. Others are
-bitter, homicidal, or still retain their programming to kill. Some of these may have even shed some or all of their
-synthetic skins to reveal the alloyed mechanisms beneath.
-
-Motive: Varies
-
-Environment: Nearly anywhere, out in plain sight or disguised as a human alone, or in gangs of three to four
-
-Health: 24
-
-Damage Inflicted: 7 points
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Long
-
-Modifications: Disguise and one knowledge task as level 6
-
-Combat: A punch from a synthetic person can break bones. In addition, some synths (especially of the killer variety) can
-generate a red-hot plasma sphere once every other round and throw it at a target within long range. The target and all
-other creatures within immediate range of the target must succeed on a Speed defense task or take 7 points of damage.
-
-A synth can take a repair action and regain 10 points of health. A synthetic person at 0 health can't repair itself
-thusly, but unless the creature is completely dismembered, one may spontaneously reanimate 1d10 hours later with 4
-points of health.
-
-Interaction: Synthetic people that pretend to be (or think that they are) human interact like normal people. But an
-enraged one or one that's been programmed to kill is unreasoning and fights to the end.
-
-Use: A group of refugees who need help turn out to include (or be entirely made up of) synthetic people. Whether or not
-any of them harbor programs that require that they kill humans is entirely up to the GM.
-
-Loot: One or two manifest cyphers could be salvaged from a synth's inactive form.
-
-GM Intrusion: The character is blinded for one or two rounds after being struck by the synth's searing plasma ball.
-
-### THUNDERING BEHEMOTH 7 (21)
-
-When life is found on other worlds, it's sometimes large and dangerous, such as the aptly named thundering behemoth. A
-thundering behemoth might be found on any number of alien planets that feature forests and/or swamps. Towering to
-treelike heights, these fearless predators are powerful and dangerous hunters, even for those armed with advanced or
-fantastic weaponry. Behemoths use color-changing frills to help them appear like tall trees while they stand in wait for
-prey, as still as mighty hardwood trunks, until they break cover and spring an ambush. Behemoths can produce
-extraordinarily loud noises, sometimes simply roaring, but often replicating the stuttering scream of an attacking
-spacecraft. They use their strange "roars" to confuse, lead astray, and, if possible, stampede prey into killing grounds
-such as regions of soft sand, off cliff tops, or as often as not, into the waiting mouth of another behemoth.
-
-In the sci-fi setting of Numenera, similar creatures are called rumbling dasipelts.
-
-Motive: Fresh meat
-
-Environment: Forests, alone or in a hunting group (known as a "crash") of two or three
-
-Health: 35
-
-Damage Inflicted: 9 points
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Disguise (as trees) as level 8 when unmoving. Deception (sounding as if an attacking spacecraft) as level
-8. Speed defense as level 3 due to size.
-
-Combat: A thundering behemoth can attack a group of creatures (within an immediate area of each other) with a single
-massive bite. Thanks to its long neck, it can make that attack up to 9 m (30 feet) away. One victim must further succeed
-on a Might defense task or be caught in the creature's maw, taking 9 additional points of damage each round until it can
-escape.
-
-A thundering behemoth's ability to replicate threatening noises is often used deceptively at a distance, but the
-creature can use it to stun all targets within immediate range so they lose their next turn on a failed Might defense
-roll.
-
-Interaction: Behemoths have a complex communication system among themselves, using their color-changing frills and
-modulation of the thunder they produce. They think of humans and most other creatures as food.
-
-Use: The sound of fighting spacecraft has repeatedly spooked human colonists on an alien planet, though they have rarely
-seen destructive beams or actual spacecraft. Worried that that will soon change, the residents ask the PCs to
-investigate.
-
-GM Intrusion: The character avoids being bitten but is batted away by the behemoth'sattack, tumbling a short distance
-(and taking 5 points of damage).
-
-### VACUUM FUNGUS 5 (15)
-
-Vacuum fungus is sometimes found as a greenish ooze on the exterior of spacecraft or space stations, growing in fine
-lines through the ice of frozen moons, and infesting the center of small asteroids and near-Earth objects (NEOs). Though
-able to survive in vacuum, the fungus takes on new morphology when sufficient spores find their way into habitable
-zero-G spaces. Then they fuse together and grow into a bulbous, emerald-hued fruiting body, typically reaching about 1 m
-(3 feet) in rough diameter, though individuals can grow much larger if not discovered. Sticky and soft to the touch,
-they are able to grow undetected in the dark corners of cargo holds, in ductworks, hanging from the ceiling of unused
-crew quarters, and so on.
-
-Vacuum fungus may be proof that extra-terrestrial life exists, but that triumph of scientific discovery may seem less
-important to those who find a clump, because they are incredibly toxic to living creatures.
-
-Motive: Reproduction
-
-Environment: Anywhere in zero G, as an unreactive ooze in vacuum, or as a fruiting body in atmosphere, alone or in a
-cluster of three to five
-
-Health: 22
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Movement: Climbs (adheres) an immediate distance each round
-
-Combat: A fruiting body can selectively detonate spore pods along its surface once per round. When a pod detonates,
-green fluid sprays everywhere within immediate range. Living creatures who fail a Speed defense roll take 6 points of
-damage from the clinging fluid. An affected target must also succeed on a Might defense roll. On a failure, an affected
-section of flesh rapidly swells, becoming a bilious green lump, and explodes one round later, having the same effect as
-a detonating pod.
-
-Interaction: No real interaction with vacuum fungus is possible.
-
-Use: Scientists are incredibly excited to discover that the strange ooze they've noticed staining the exterior of their
-research domes is actually a variety of fungal life. They will likely become less excited when they discover the large
-growths secretly growing in the cavity beneath the floor of their research dome in a little-used storage closet.
-
-GM Intrusion: Striking the vacuum fungus clump causes one of the spore pods to detonate immediately, even though it's
-out of turn.
-
-### WHARN INTERCEPTOR 8 (24)
-
-Wharn interceptors are void-adapted behemoths, several hundred meters in length. It's hypothesized that they are living
-battle automatons devised by ancient ultras, though against what long-vanished enemy isn't clear. Now, a handful
-(hopefully no more) glide through the depths of space like dormant seeds, seeming for all the galaxy like some strangely
-whorled asteroid or planetesimal. Who knows how many millennia they passed in this apparently hibernating state? But
-when that hibernation ends, maybe because some ancient countdown is nearing its end, or because an asteroid miner tried
-to extract a sample, they open eyes burning with deadly energy, and flex claws of particle-beam fury.
-
-Wharn interceptors may be related in some fashion omworwars, so much so that humans sometimes call the latter "wharn
-cogitators." However, it's impossible that omworwars simply "appropriate" any wharn interceptors they encounter.
-
-Motive: Defense
-
-Environment: Anywhere floating through the void
-
-Health: 53
-
-Damage Inflicted: 15 points
-
-Armor: 5
-
-Movement: Flies a very long distance each round; can maneuver like an autonomous level 5 spacecraft if using extended
-vehicular combat rules. FTL capable.
-
-Modification: Speed defense as level 3 due to size.
-
-Combat: Most of the time, wharns are inactive and might look like tumbling rocks. In this state, space voyagers may be
-able to partly wake one in an attempt to negotiate. However, if a wharn is damaged, or if the passive senses deep in its
-body wake it for reasons of its own, it becomes aggressive.
-
-A wharn's main weapons are its claws, which can extend in an instant, becoming exotic-matter beams able to reach a
-target up to a light-second away. Unless a target is protected by some kind of force field, the 15 points of damage
-inflicted ignores Armor. A wharn's eyes can pierce most forms of camouflage, cloaking effects, and cover that is less
-than about 200 m (650 feet) thick.
-
-Interaction: In spite of their ferocious aspect and war-machine heritage, wharn interceptors do not destroy every
-spacecraft (and void-adapted creature) they come across, or even most. Indeed, sometimes a wharn may attempt to initiate
-communication via various machine channels. But what comes across are usually nonsense sounds and tones, and sometimes
-mathematical formulas.
-
-Use: The PCs, attempting to enter an abandoned space station or spacecraft, are distracted when a wharn attempts to
-destroy the very same object.
-
-GM Intrusion: The wharn moves unexpectedly, striking the vehicle the PCs are traveling in, inflicting 8 points of damage
-to everyone on board.
-
-### WRAITH 4 (12)
-
-Wraiths (Homo vacuus) are genetically engineered to live in the vacuum of space by directly metabolizing high-energy
-charged particles abundant in the void. Though derived from human stock, wraiths are alien in body, sometimes concealing
-themselves in layers of shroud-like tissue, other times revealing themselves as wispy, elongated things of glowing red
-plasma. In some settings, wraiths are partners with humans, working in locations where humans would find difficult. In
-other settings, wraiths went their own way generations earlier, and rediscovering them would be a first contact
-scenario. Alternatively, wraiths might be a threat to humans, hating humans for having created a species forced to spend
-its existence in the dark void of space.
-
-Motive: Varies with individual or setting
-
-Environment: Anywhere in vacuum, though usually with access to some kind of enriched radiation source. Environments with
-1 G or higher eventually kill wraiths.
-
-Health: 15
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Movement: Short when flying in zero and low G
-
-Modifications: Perception and stealth tasks as level 7
-
-Combat: Wraiths can unfold from their concealing shrouds and attack with radioactive limbs for 6 points of Speed damage
-from ionizing radiation (ignores most Armor), or if available, technological weapons. Some can direct ionizing radiation
-as long-distance attacks, though doing so costs the wraith 1 point of health. Wraiths are immune to radiation, and
-attacks using radiation heal a wraith's lost health by the amount of damage the attack would have otherwise afflicted.
-Gravity of 1 G or greater hinders all wraith actions.
-
-Interaction: Wraiths communicate by radio. They react to outsiders as dictated by their place in the setting.
-
-Use: A distant space station stops all communication. Investigators are dispatched to find out what happened. Once
-aboard, they unravel clues that suggest wraiths may have been responsible.
-
-Loot: Some wraiths carry valuable items and equipment.
-
-GM Intrusion: The attacked character must also succeed on a Might defense, or they take an additional 3 points of
-ambient damage and contract radiation sickness.
-
-### ZERO-POINT PHANTOM 3 (9)
-
-Temporary violations of conservation of energy mean that "virtual particles" constantly and seemingly randomly pop out
-of nothing, briefly interact with normal matter, then disappear. Zero-point phantoms are collections of such particles,
-taking the form of a very large, almost spider-like entity of many legs, stalks, and arms. What they're doing when
-they're not manifest is unknown; are they entombed in nearby solids, phased into another dimension, or do they simply
-not exist until they are called into being by some random cosmic event? Whatever the case, zero-point phantoms seem to
-prefer unlit or dimly lit areas in spacecraft and stations far from any planet, when they seem to struggle out of solid
-surfaces, raising a cloud of shadow.
-
-Motive: Hungers for flesh
-
-Environment: Anywhere dark
-
-Health: 15
-
-Damage Inflicted: 4 points
-
-Movement: Short; short when climbing
-
-Modifications: Speed defense as level 4 due to a cloud of shadows surrounding a zero-point phantom
-
-Combat: A zero-point phantom attacks with needlelike leg and tentacle tips. A victim that takes damage must succeed on a
-Might defense task, or become poisoned, the effect of which is to drop them one step on the damage track. The victim
-must keep fighting off the poison until they succeed or drop three steps on the damage track; however, those who fall to
-the third step on the damage track from a phantom's poison are not dead. They are paralyzed and can't move for about a
-minute. If a phantom isn't otherwise occupied, it can grab a paralyzed victim and phase back into non-existence. Most
-victims phased away in this fashion are never seen again.
-
-Zero-point phantoms can stutter in and out of existence on their turn once every few minutes. When they do, they return
-with full health.
-
-Interaction: Zero-point phantoms are about as intelligent as predators like wolves.
-
-Use: The abandoned spacecraft is weirdly empty of any bodies whatsoever. It's as if everyone just disappeared. There are
-signs of a struggle, though with what isn't clear,
-
-GM (group) Intrusion: Nearby light sources fail. Attacks and defenses against the zero- point phantoms are hindered by
-two steps for characters unable to see in the dark.
-
 ### ADDITIONAL SCIENCE FICTION EQUIPMENT
 
 In a science fiction setting, the following items (and anything else appropriate to the setting) are usually available.
@@ -23806,73 +22412,6 @@
 
 Depletion: 1 in 1d20
 
-### SCIENCE FICTION ARTIFACTS
-
-Artifacts in a science fiction game can be strange relics from an unknown alien source or tech items that aren't yet
-widely available. In a galactic setting, for example, it's easy to imagine that innovations or specialized items might
-not have spread everywhere.
-
-### AMBER CASEMENT
-
-Level: 1d6 + 4
-
-Form: Series of short, rounded tubes and hoses about 12 inches (30 cm) long
-
-Effect: The device solidifies the air in a 10-foot (3 m) cube of space, the center of which must be within short range.
-The air is turned into an amberlike substance, and those trapped in it will likely suffocate or starve.
-
-Depletion: 1–4 in 1d6
-
-### METABOLISM BUD
-
-Level: 1d6
-
-Form: Organic pod, almost like a small, hemispherical bit of brain; once grafted to a host, the host's flesh grows over
-the pod until it is only a lump
-
-Effect: The pod grafts onto any living host (usually near the brain or spine) and injects chemicals that boost the
-creature's metabolism. This permanently raises the host's Speed Pool maximum by 5 points.
-
-Depletion: —
-
-### MIND IMAGER
-
-Level: 1d6 + 2
-
-Form: Handheld device with a plastic panel screen and wires that must be affixed to the head of a creature
-
-Effect: This device shows a visual image of what a creature is thinking. The affected creature need not be conscious.
-
-Depletion: 1 in 1d20
-
-### PSYCHIC CRYSTAL
-
-Level: 1d6 + 4
-
-Form: Violet crystal the size of a fist
-
-Effect: The crystal allows the user to transmit their thoughts telepathically at an interstellar distance. Even at that
-range, communication is instantaneous. Each use allows about a minute's worth of communication, and the communication is
-entirely one way (so having two crystals would be handy).
-
-Depletion: 1 in 1d10
-
-### REPAIR SPHERE
-
-Level: 1d6 + 2
-
-Form: Small spherical automaton about 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter
-
-Effect: This device comes with a small module that can be affixed to a machine. Floating along, the sphere attempts to
-follow within immediate range of the module (though it can be directed to remain where it is). It moves a short distance
-each round. It can come to the module from a range of up to 10 miles (16 km) away. If the module is attached to a
-machine and that machine takes damage, the sphere moves to repair the damage with sophisticated tools that restore 1d6 –
-2 points per round (meaning that if a 1 or 2 is rolled, no damage is repaired that round). This requires no action on
-the part of the machine being repaired. The sphere can attempt to repair a machine a number of times per day equal to
-its level. The sphere must be newly activated each day.
-
-Depletion: 1 in 1d100
-
 ### VEHICLES & SPACECRAFT
 
 Vehicle: Technically speaking, spacecraft are also vehicles. Unless it's important to make a distinction, assume all
@@ -25226,6 +23765,73 @@
 </tbody>
 </table>
 
+### SCIENCE FICTION ARTIFACTS
+
+Artifacts in a science fiction game can be strange relics from an unknown alien source or tech items that aren't yet
+widely available. In a galactic setting, for example, it's easy to imagine that innovations or specialized items might
+not have spread everywhere.
+
+### AMBER CASEMENT
+
+Level: 1d6 + 4
+
+Form: Series of short, rounded tubes and hoses about 12 inches (30 cm) long
+
+Effect: The device solidifies the air in a 10-foot (3 m) cube of space, the center of which must be within short range.
+The air is turned into an amberlike substance, and those trapped in it will likely suffocate or starve.
+
+Depletion: 1–4 in 1d6
+
+### METABOLISM BUD
+
+Level: 1d6
+
+Form: Organic pod, almost like a small, hemispherical bit of brain; once grafted to a host, the host's flesh grows over
+the pod until it is only a lump
+
+Effect: The pod grafts onto any living host (usually near the brain or spine) and injects chemicals that boost the
+creature's metabolism. This permanently raises the host's Speed Pool maximum by 5 points.
+
+Depletion: —
+
+### MIND IMAGER
+
+Level: 1d6 + 2
+
+Form: Handheld device with a plastic panel screen and wires that must be affixed to the head of a creature
+
+Effect: This device shows a visual image of what a creature is thinking. The affected creature need not be conscious.
+
+Depletion: 1 in 1d20
+
+### PSYCHIC CRYSTAL
+
+Level: 1d6 + 4
+
+Form: Violet crystal the size of a fist
+
+Effect: The crystal allows the user to transmit their thoughts telepathically at an interstellar distance. Even at that
+range, communication is instantaneous. Each use allows about a minute's worth of communication, and the communication is
+entirely one way (so having two crystals would be handy).
+
+Depletion: 1 in 1d10
+
+### REPAIR SPHERE
+
+Level: 1d6 + 2
+
+Form: Small spherical automaton about 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter
+
+Effect: This device comes with a small module that can be affixed to a machine. Floating along, the sphere attempts to
+follow within immediate range of the module (though it can be directed to remain where it is). It moves a short distance
+each round. It can come to the module from a range of up to 10 miles (16 km) away. If the module is attached to a
+machine and that machine takes damage, the sphere moves to repair the damage with sophisticated tools that restore 1d6 –
+2 points per round (meaning that if a 1 or 2 is rolled, no damage is repaired that round). This requires no action on
+the part of the machine being repaired. The sphere can attempt to repair a machine a number of times per day equal to
+its level. The sphere must be newly activated each day.
+
+Depletion: 1 in 1d100
+
 Science Fiction SPECIES DESCRIPTORS
 
 In a science fiction setting, some GMs may want to offer alien species or androids, who are mechanically different from
@@ -25288,6 +23894,176 @@
 
 Difficult Rest: Quintar subtract 2 from all recovery rolls (minimum 1).
 
+### OPTIONAL RULE: PSIONICS
+
+Through sheer force of will, a psionic character can unleash inborn mental abilities such as telepathy, precognition,
+and telekinesis. As a GM, your first decision must be whether you want to incorporate psionics into your setting.
+
+If you do not want to allow psionics into your game, then restrict foci like Commands Mental Powers, Focuses Mind Over
+Matter, and Separates Mind From Body. And of course, restrict the suggested types of Psion and Psychic Knight described
+in the Cypher System Rulebook.
+
+### LATENT PSIONICS
+
+Under the latent psionics rule, any character, no matter their role or type, can unlock a psionic ability (either
+purposefully, or accidentally), as a long-term benefit (see "first psi ability" hereafter). After they unlock one
+psionic ability, they may unlock more later if they wish (or if their ability seeks to reveal itself), or just try to
+stick with the one.
+
+### FIRST PSI ABILITY
+
+Any character can unlock a psionic ability by spending 3 XP and working with the GM to come up with an in-game story of
+how the character unlocked it.
+
+Next, choose one low-tier ability from Chapter 9: Abilities in the Cypher System Rulebook. If the GM agrees it is
+appropriate, the character gains that ability as their psionic ability, with a few caveats. The ability can't be used
+like a normal ability gained through a PC's type or focus. Instead, a character must either expend a recovery roll or
+spend many minutes or longer evoking the psionic ability before it takes effect, in addition to paying its Pool cost (if
+any).
+
+Expending a Recovery Roll to Manifest a Psionic Ability: If the character expends a one-action, ten-minute, or one-hour
+recovery roll as part of the same action to manifest a psionic ability (including paying any Pool costs), they can use
+the ability as an action.
+
+Expending Time to Manifest a Psionic Ability: If the character takes at least ten minutes meditating, concentrating
+deeply, or otherwise using all their actions, they can manifest a low-tier psionic ability (if they also pay any Pool
+costs). An hour is required to manifest mid-tier abilities. Ten hours are required to manifest a high-tier ability.
+
+### MORE PSI ABILITIES
+
+Once a character has unlocked at least one psionic ability, they can opt to unlock additional abilities later. Each
+time, they must spend an additional 3 XP and work with the GM to come up with an in-game story of how the character's
+mental development has progressed.
+
+Two additional rules for learning additional psionic abilities apply: First, a character must be at least tier 3 and
+have previously unlocked one low-tier psionic ability before they can learn a mid-tier psionic ability. Second, a
+character must be at least tier 5 and have previously unlocked one mid-tier psionic ability before they can unlock a
+high-tier ability.
+
+### PSIONS AND THE OPTIONAL LATENT PSIONICS RULE
+
+Characters with explicitly psionic foci like Commands Mental Powers, Focuses Mind over Matter, Separates Mind from Body,
+and possibly others—as well types like Psion and Psychic Knight—are also considered to be psionic characters, and
+moreover, specialized ones. Their psionic abilities— provided by their type or focus—are used simply by paying their
+Pool costs. Extra time or physical effort isn't required to manifest them. That's because they've trained to use those
+abilities, rather than having stumbled upon them accidentally like a latent character.
+
+Specialized characters can use the optional latency rule to further expand their psionic potential, unlocking it just
+like other characters, with the same limitations.
+
+Optionally, specialized characters who have a psionic type and/or focus gain one additional benefit if they also opt for
+latent abilities. Given that they are already adept at unlocking abilities and using them as quickly and easily as
+another character might shoot a laser pistol, they've got some flexibility. Such a PC can replace up to three abilities
+granted by their type and/or focus with three other psionic abilities they've unlocked as a latent ability of the same
+tier. To do so, they must spend at least one uninterrupted hour in meditation. Usually, this is something that requires
+a fresh mind, and must be done soon after a ten-hour recovery.
+
+### MORE POWERFUL PSIONICS
+
+As the GM, you could allow a PC to spend 4 XP to unlock a new psionic ability instead of 3 XP. Such an ability is
+treated more like a regular type or focus ability. Such an ability is still governed by the rules described under More
+Psi Abilities, but is not subject to the limitations for manifesting the ability (i.e., expending a recovery roll or
+lots of time); instead, the user simply pays their Pool costs to use them.
+
+### OPTIONAL RULE: POSTHUMAN UPGRADES
+
+Posthuman upgrades are either available to everyone as the setting begins or opened up later during the campaign as a
+significant plot development. Note that many focus and type abilities might be considered to have come from the kind up
+bodily upgrades normally associated with posthuman transformation, especially high-tier abilities. Which is one way to
+go. On the other hand, you could provide actual upgrades, such as presented here, which actually increase the base power
+level of characters.
+
+### INTRODUCING UPGRADES TO YOUR SETTING
+
+You have a few options for adding posthuman upgrades to your setting. Characters might gain an initial upgrade for
+"free," mechanically speaking. After that, you might decide that that's enough and they're done.
+
+Or, you could allow further upgrades, each requiring them to expend 4 XP and serving as an Other Option requirement for
+advancing their character. In this case, consider expanding the number of steps required for advancing a tier from four
+to five. (Obtaining additional posthuman upgrades reflects characters accessing latent abilities already present inside
+them, or going back to whatever source granted the upgrades in the first place, if that's something you want to allow.)
+
+Immediate Posthuman Upgrades: As part of character creation, PCs are given the options presented hereafter because the
+setting demands it. Narrative options include (but are not limited to):
+
+ • PCs are part of a program designed to adapt them to being able to survive and thrive in conditions other than the 1
+G, 1 atmosphere, oxygenated, Goldilocks environment of the Earth.
+
+• PCs begin their career as super-soldiers to fight aliens or to serve as corporate spies.
+
+ • PCs serve as long-lived guardians to watch over a generation ship hurtling at slower-than-light speeds between the
+stars.
+
+• PCs are children of a far-future civilization that routinely upgrades its citizens.
+
+Delayed Posthuman Upgrades: Sometime after the players have a few sessions under their belt, present the options
+hereafter to the PCs because of a dramatic update to the plot. If one PC gains the option to upgrade, then all the PCs
+should have that same advantage. Narrative options include (but are not limited to):
+
+• PCs, exploring a cache of ancient ultra or other fantastic tech, find a device that provides unexpected upgrades in
+the process of healing them from other injuries.
+
+• PCs are kidnapped by aliens or conglomerate operatives, and upgraded—with some command-andcontrol circuits also
+installed—to serve some specific purpose.
+
+ • PCs learn a "new science," allowing them to tap cosmic energies other creatures are unaware of.
+
+### POSTHUMAN PACKAGES
+
+Posthuman "packages" that PCs might enjoy include the following. You should decide which are available, and which ones
+your PCs gain.
+
+Spaceborn: You are not adversely affected by long-term microgravity or high-radiation conditions common in space. In
+addition, you can withstand high acceleration (up to 15 G) for about an hour without passing out, having a stroke, a
+heart attack, and so on (though longer periods of acceleration could still result in such outcomes). Add +1 to your
+Intellect Edge. Enabler. (PCs without the spaceborn posthuman upgrade probably have to rely on supplementation with
+adjuvants if they travel in space, such as space-fit serum)
+
+Jupiterborn: You can withstand high-gravity planets and high acceleration (up to 15 G) indefinitely. For periods of up
+to an hour, you can withstand double that. Add +1 to your Might Edge. Enabler.
+
+Seaborn: You can breathe underwater in pressures of up to 100 atmospheres indefinitely, up to triple that for about an
+hour. You have an asset to all tasks performed in water. Add +1 to your Speed Edge. Enabler.
+
+Expanded Consciousness: Only one of your brain hemispheres sleeps at a time, so you are always awake and aware. In
+addition, you have a magnetoreception sixth sense that allows you to "see" into objects and through doors up to a short
+distance. Your initiative and perception tasks are eased. You can forge a connection with electronic equipment you
+touch, allowing you to attempt to communicate, analyze, or even hack the device. Enabler.
+
+Synthetic Body: You have left biology behind and uploaded yourself into a biomechanical form known as a synth. You enjoy
+the benefits of the spaceborn package and expanded consciousness package, and one posthuman power shift. Enabler.
+
+### POSTHUMAN POWER SHIFTS
+
+A character may also gain posthuman abilities by way of power shifts, as described in the Cypher System Rulebook.
+
+Under this rule, posthuman characters begin with two power shifts. They can "unlock" one more each time they expend 4 XP
+toward advancing their character. Power shifts are like permanent levels of Effort that are always active. They don't
+count toward a character's maximum Effort use (nor do they count as skills or assets). They simply ease tasks that fall
+into specific categories, which include (but are not necessarily limited to):
+
+Accuracy: All attack rolls
+
+Dexterity: Movement, acrobatics, initiative, and Speed defense
+
+Healing: One extra recovery roll per shift (each one action, all coming before other normal recovery rolls)
+
+Intelligence: Intellect defense rolls and all knowledge, science, and crafting tasks
+
+Power: Use of a specific power, including damage (3 additional points per shift) but not attack rolls
+
+Resilience: Might defense rolls and Armor (+1 per shift)
+
+Single Attack: Attack rolls and damage (3 additional points per shift)
+
+Strength: All tasks involving strength, including jumping and dealing damage in melee or thrown attacks (3 additional
+points of damage per shift) but not attack rolls
+
+Each shift eases the task (except for shifts that affect damage or Armor, as specified in the list above). Applying two
+shifts eases the task by two steps, and applying three shifts eases the task by three steps. A character assigns their
+five power shifts as desired, but most characters should not be allowed to assign more than three to any one category.
+Once the shifts are assigned, they should not change.
+
 ### SUPERHERO RULES MODULE
 
 Like horror, the superhero genre is really a subset of the modern genre with extensive special considerations. In many
@@ -25427,6 +24203,30 @@
 machines from alien dimensions offer solutions to unsolvable problems. Artifacts are an important part of superhero
 stories. A few examples are below.
 
+### DARKEST BOOK
+
+Level: 10
+
+Form: Large, metal-bound book
+
+Effect: Fashioned by the primordial entity who created evil magic, the Darkest Book is
+
+a record of every vile incantation, curse, and ritual ever performed. It is known to include spells that create
+werewolves, raise an army of zombies, revive a dead body as a vampire, conjure demons and devils, and release profane
+energy for various effects. It eases by three steps any task related to magical lore.
+
+Even someone unskilled at magic can open it to a random page and read the spell there (the GM randomly determines the
+spell by rolling on the Fantastic Cypher table), which takes effect at level 10.
+
+The Darkest Book is somewhat sentient and can hide its words from anyone it doesn't want reading it. It might require a
+person casting a spell from it to succeed at a difficulty 6 Intellect defense roll or take 6 points of Intellect damage
+and move one step down the damage track.
+
+The book is technically indestructible; anything strong enough to destroy an object of its level merely destroys one of
+its pages, and the book can't be destroyed as long as at least one page remains.
+
+Depletion: —
+
 ### DOCTOR DREAD'S TIME PORTAL
 
 Level: 9
@@ -25438,6 +24238,90 @@
 
 Depletion: 1 in 1d20
 
+### OMNI ORB
+
+Level: 1d6 + 4
+
+Form: Glowing, orb-shaped technological device Effect: The user holding the orb imagines
+
+what they want to happen (similar to using a magical wish), and it happens, within limits. The level of the effect
+granted is no greater than the level of the orb, as determined by the GM, who can modify the effect accordingly. (The
+larger the desired effect, the more likely the GM will limit
+
+it.) Activating the omni orb automatically moves the character using it one step down the damage track.
+
+Depletion: 1 in 1d6 (instead of depleting, a roll of 1 means the user experiences a GM intrusion related to the effect
+they created)
+
+A benchmark for setting an omni orb's limits is to compare it to a cypher of the orb's level—if there is a cypher that
+can do what the PC wants, and that cypher is equal to or less than the orb's level, it works. For example, if a team of
+superheroes tries to use a level 5 orb to teleport to their base 100 miles away, the GM can look at the list of cyphers
+and see that a teleporter (traveler) cypher can transport one character up to 100 miles per cypher level, so
+transporting a group of PCs 100 miles is probably within the orb's power
+
+### OMNI ORB
+
+Level: 1d6 + 4
+
+Form: Glowing, orb-shaped technological device Effect: The user holding the orb imagines
+
+what they want to happen (similar to using a magical wish), and it happens, within limits. The level of the effect
+granted is no greater than the level of the orb, as determined by the GM, who can modify the effect accordingly. (The
+larger the desired effect, the more likely the GM will limit
+
+it.) Activating the omni orb automatically moves the character using it one step down the damage track.
+
+Depletion: 1 in 1d6 (instead of depleting, a roll of 1 means the user experiences a GM intrusion related to the effect
+they created)
+
+A benchmark for setting an omni orb's limits is to compare it to a cypher of the orb's level—if there is a cypher that
+can do what the PC wants, and that cypher is equal to or less than the orb's level, it works. For example, if a team of
+superheroes tries to use a level 5 orb to teleport to their base 100 miles away, the GM can look at the list of cyphers
+and see that a teleporter (traveler) cypher can transport one character up to 100 miles per cypher level, so
+transporting a group of PCs 100 miles is probably within the orb's power
+
+### OMNI ORB
+
+Level: 1d6 + 4
+
+Form: Glowing, orb-shaped technological device Effect: The user holding the orb imagines
+
+what they want to happen (similar to using a magical wish), and it happens, within limits. The level of the effect
+granted is no greater than the level of the orb, as determined by the GM, who can modify the effect accordingly. (The
+larger the desired effect, the more likely the GM will limit
+
+it.) Activating the omni orb automatically moves the character using it one step down the damage track.
+
+Depletion: 1 in 1d6 (instead of depleting, a roll of 1 means the user experiences a GM intrusion related to the effect
+they created)
+
+A benchmark for setting an omni orb's limits is to compare it to a cypher of the orb's level—if there is a cypher that
+can do what the PC wants, and that cypher is equal to or less than the orb's level, it works. For example, if a team of
+superheroes tries to use a level 5 orb to teleport to their base 100 miles away, the GM can look at the list of cyphers
+and see that a teleporter (traveler) cypher can transport one character up to 100 miles per cypher level, so
+transporting a group of PCs 100 miles is probably within the orb's power
+
+### OMNI ORB
+
+Level: 1d6 + 4
+
+Form: Glowing, orb-shaped technological device Effect: The user holding the orb imagines
+
+what they want to happen (similar to using a magical wish), and it happens, within limits. The level of the effect
+granted is no greater than the level of the orb, as determined by the GM, who can modify the effect accordingly. (The
+larger the desired effect, the more likely the GM will limit
+
+it.) Activating the omni orb automatically moves the character using it one step down the damage track.
+
+Depletion: 1 in 1d6 (instead of depleting, a roll of 1 means the user experiences a GM intrusion related to the effect
+they created)
+
+A benchmark for setting an omni orb's limits is to compare it to a cypher of the orb's level—if there is a cypher that
+can do what the PC wants, and that cypher is equal to or less than the orb's level, it works. For example, if a team of
+superheroes tries to use a level 5 orb to teleport to their base 100 miles away, the GM can look at the list of cyphers
+and see that a teleporter (traveler) cypher can transport one character up to 100 miles per cypher level, so
+transporting a group of PCs 100 miles is probably within the orb's power
+
 ### SERUM X
 
 Level: 1d6 + 2
@@ -25450,6 +24334,21 @@
 
 Depletion: Automatic
 
+### SPACE RING
+
+Level: 1d6 + 1
+
+Form: Metal ring with a star insignia
+
+Effect: The wearer is able to fly as effortlessly as walking, moving up to a short distance each round in any direction.
+In space, if the wearer does nothing but move for three actions in a row, they accelerate greatly and can move up to 200
+miles (320 km) per hour, or about 2,000 feet (600 m) each round. The ring also provides the wearer with breathable air
+while in space or underwater (although this doesn't provide protection against poison gas or other air-based hazards).
+The wearer can verbally communicate with other ring-wearers within 1 mile (1.5 km), and verbally request information
+(relayed to them with a synthesized voice) from the internet or a local equivalent.
+
+Depletion: 1 in 1d100 (check each day of flying)
+
 ### STELLAREX CRYSTAL
 
 Level: 1d6 + 4
@@ -26239,68 +25138,6 @@
 five steps if the cypher is level 7 or higher). It has no effect on power stunts that don't require a successful power
 stunt task.
 
-### ARTIFACTS
-
-### DARKEST BOOK
-
-Level: 10
-
-Form: Large, metal-bound book
-
-Effect: Fashioned by the primordial entity who created evil magic, the Darkest Book is
-
-a record of every vile incantation, curse, and ritual ever performed. It is known to include spells that create
-werewolves, raise an army of zombies, revive a dead body as a vampire, conjure demons and devils, and release profane
-energy for various effects. It eases by three steps any task related to magical lore.
-
-Even someone unskilled at magic can open it to a random page and read the spell there (the GM randomly determines the
-spell by rolling on the Fantastic Cypher table), which takes effect at level 10.
-
-The Darkest Book is somewhat sentient and can hide its words from anyone it doesn't want reading it. It might require a
-person casting a spell from it to succeed at a difficulty 6 Intellect defense roll or take 6 points of Intellect damage
-and move one step down the damage track.
-
-The book is technically indestructible; anything strong enough to destroy an object of its level merely destroys one of
-its pages, and the book can't be destroyed as long as at least one page remains.
-
-Depletion: —
-
-### OMNI ORB
-
-Level: 1d6 + 4
-
-Form: Glowing, orb-shaped technological device Effect: The user holding the orb imagines
-
-what they want to happen (similar to using a magical wish), and it happens, within limits. The level of the effect
-granted is no greater than the level of the orb, as determined by the GM, who can modify the effect accordingly. (The
-larger the desired effect, the more likely the GM will limit
-
-it.) Activating the omni orb automatically moves the character using it one step down the damage track.
-
-Depletion: 1 in 1d6 (instead of depleting, a roll of 1 means the user experiences a GM intrusion related to the effect
-they created)
-
-A benchmark for setting an omni orb's limits is to compare it to a cypher of the orb's level—if there is a cypher that
-can do what the PC wants, and that cypher is equal to or less than the orb's level, it works. For example, if a team of
-superheroes tries to use a level 5 orb to teleport to their base 100 miles away, the GM can look at the list of cyphers
-and see that a teleporter (traveler) cypher can transport one character up to 100 miles per cypher level, so
-transporting a group of PCs 100 miles is probably within the orb's power
-
-### SPACE RING
-
-Level: 1d6 + 1
-
-Form: Metal ring with a star insignia
-
-Effect: The wearer is able to fly as effortlessly as walking, moving up to a short distance each round in any direction.
-In space, if the wearer does nothing but move for three actions in a row, they accelerate greatly and can move up to 200
-miles (320 km) per hour, or about 2,000 feet (600 m) each round. The ring also provides the wearer with breathable air
-while in space or underwater (although this doesn't provide protection against poison gas or other air-based hazards).
-The wearer can verbally communicate with other ring-wearers within 1 mile (1.5 km), and verbally request information
-(relayed to them with a synthesized voice) from the internet or a local equivalent.
-
-Depletion: 1 in 1d100 (check each day of flying)
-
 ### FAIRYTALE RULES MODULE
 
 Fairy Tale
@@ -29982,243 +28819,6 @@
 
 level 7; Armor 2; inflicts 4 points of damage with elaborate swordplay.
 
-Black Dog 6 (18)
-
-Black dogs go by many names: hellhounds, bearers of death, black hounds of destiny, and devil dogs, just to name a few.
-Typically they are spectral or demonic entities that show up at night. They are often sinister, malevolent, or
-purposefully harmful (such as the Barghest and Black Shuck). Occasionally, black dogs are helpful and benevolent,
-guarding people from danger, helping them find the correct path, or signifying the death of someone nearby.
-
-Black dogs are usually large, shaggy, and as black as night, with long ears and tails. However, despite their name, they
-can be any color. The real distinction is that they are definitely not regular, living dogs. Some have eyes like fire,
-some howl with a ghostly, ethereal song, and still others have telltale witches' marks upon their chest or back.
-
-Black dogs can see ghosts, witches, and other magical entities not typically visible to other creatures. They are
-sometimes a portent of death, but not always. Many carry with them an inherent sense of sadness and despair, which they
-can pass on to those around them.
-
-Black dogs sometimes serve as familiars for witches and sorcerers.
-
-Motive: Bring harm and pain; help and guard
-
-Environment: Crossroads, places of execution, and ancient paths Health: 20
-
-Damage Inflicted: 8 points
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Long; very long when running
-
-Modifications: Sneaking, hiding, and attacking from surprise or advantage as level 7 Combat: Malevolent black dogs will
-attack from a position of surprise or advantage,
-
-inflicting 8 points of damage with their spectral teeth and claws. Some black dogs cause such a deep feeling of despair
-and sadness, just by being nearby, that they inflict 2 points of Intellect damage each round on everyone who can see
-them or otherwise sense their presence.
-
-Interaction: Running, at least from the malevolent ones, is typically the best course
-
-of action. Dealing with helpful black dogs is often an interesting and unexpected
-
-experience, as they don't talk and don't explain who they choose to help or why.
-
-Use: The characters are fighting an extremely tough foe when a black dog steps in to
-
-help them out (or to help their foe). The characters are lost in the woods, and a large,
-
-menacing black dog steps out of the forest and leads them back to safety.
-
-Loot: Black dogs rarely have anything valuable on them. However, killing a black dog causes
-
-it to haunt whoever dealt it the fatal blow. That person feels such deep anxiety and despair that all their actions are
-hindered for at least one day, and often longer.
-
-GM intrusions: The black dog howls, creating such a mournful sound that everyone in very long distance who can hear it
-takes 4 points of Intellect damage. A character who sees the black dog is deeply affected by sadness and moves one step
-down the damage track.
-
-Cat Sidhe 4 (12)
-
-Cat sidhes, sometimes called phantom cats, are dog-sized felines that were once witches and now have shifted permanently
-into cat form. They're all black except for a single white symbol on their chest, which is their name.
-
-When cat sidhes form (because a witch has turned themselves into a cat for the ninth time), they gain nine tails. Each
-time a cat sidhe would be killed, they can choose to lose one of their tails instead. Once a cat sidhe has no more tails
-remaining, their death is final.
-
-While cat sidhes inflict damage with their soul-stealing attacks, the roleplaying element of a character losing part of
-their soul is possibly more important than the game effect. Consider removing something from the character that will
-affect them in interesting and unusual ways.
-
-Motive: Steal souls, gain power
-
-Environment: Highlands, mountains, and forests
-
-Health: 15
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Movement: Long
-
-Modifications: Speed defense as level 6 due to quickness and agility
-
-Combat: Cat sidhes can attack with their claws for 6 points of damage, but they much
-
-prefer to engage from a long distance, using their unique ability to cast curses that steal part or all of a victim's
-soul. They may attack a foe using the following types of soul-stealing curses. Characters who succeed on an Intellect
-defense roll resist the effect, but take 1 point of Intellect damage due to the effort. If someone can read the symbol
-on the cat's chest and pronounce it, they gain +1 Armor against the cat's attacks.
-
-Falter. Removes a favored part of the creature's personality, such as their sense of humor, courage, or kindness. The
-creature doesn't forget that they had that part of their personality; they just can't remember how to access it again.
-All social interactions are hindered.
-
-Fester. Replaces a piece of the character's soul with an idea, false memory, or thought that, once placed, grows into
-something insidious and dangerous inside them. The character takes no damage at the time, but each time they make a
-recovery roll, they take 2 points of Intellect damage.
-
-Forget. Removes something from the creature's memory, such as all nouns (including their own name), a loved one's face,
-their current purpose, an ability, or a skill. This inflicts 3 points of Intellect damage and causes the character to
-forget the specific thing.
-
-Interaction: Having once been witches, cat sidhes are smart, cunning, and dangerous. Most have no interest in
-conversations or bargains, unless they are injured in some way. They
-
-can, however, sometimes be distracted from their purpose of stealing souls by riddles, music, and children's games.
-
-Use: A cat sidhe stalks a forest where the characters are passing through on their way elsewhere. Someone sends the
-characters to capture a "lost" cat, which turns out to be a cat sidhe.
-
-Loot: When a cat sidhe dies, it disappears, leaving behind only the once-white symbol on its chest in the form of a
-medallion.
-
-GM intrusion: The cat sidhe yowls, causing a second cat sidhe to appear from hiding
-
-Satyr 5 (15)
-
-These muscular humanoids sport long curved horns and furry, hooved legs. They are self-centered, greedy, and sybaritic
-creatures, dedicated to food, drink, and other pleasures. They rob and steal from others as it pleases them, often
-relying on tricks and lies, or on alluring music they play on pipes.
-
-Motive: Play tricks, gather treasure, fulfill desires
-
-Environment: In woodlands where other faerie or mythological creatures are found
-
-Health: 18
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Armor: 1
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Tasks related to persuasion and deception as level 7; resists mental attacks as level 7
-
-Combat: Satyrs usually carry spears that they can use in melee and against foes within short range.
-
-Satyrs can also create magical effects by playing their pipes as an action, which can either bolster allies or harm
-enemies.
-
-Dance of the Leaping Stag: Foes within short range who fail an Intellect defense task lose their next turn dancing and
-leaping. Attacks made against affected targets are eased by one step.
-
-Feral Overture: An ally within short range is infused with magic. One attack it makes on its next turn is eased by one
-step, and if it hits, it inflicts +3 damage.
-
-Tune of the Clouded Mind: A foe within short range who fails an Intellect defense task spends its next turn attacking
-one of its allies.
-
-Interaction: A satyr is always willing to start negotiations, but is prone to lying and exaggeration. Offering excessive
-libation, food, and other treasures is the only way to ensure a satyr remains honest, if only for a short period.
-
-Use: Strange piping music in the forest lures away young men and women from a nearby community. The elders say a
-charismatic cult leader has set up in the woods, and clouds the minds of all who come near.
-
-Loot: A satyr is likely to carry
-
-GM intrusion: If the character fails an Intellect defense task, they think of the satyr as a good friend for up to one
-minute or until they can escape the mental effect.
-
-Snark 7 (21)
-
-The snark is unimaginable. It is a Boojum, you see. An agony in eight fits. Part snail and shark and bark and snake and
-snarl. It has feathers that bite, claws that catch, and jaws that snatch. It softly and suddenly vanishes away, never to
-be met with again. It smells of the will-o-wisp, sleeps late in the day, and breathes fire when it finds something funny
-(which is nearly never).
-
-Motive: Unfathomable
-
-Environment: Upon islands filled with chasms and crags, near bathing machines, and around those whose coats are too
-tight in the waist Health: 21
-
-Damage Inflicted: 5 points
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Short when moving perpendicular; long when moving sideways
-
-Modifications: Invisibility, shapeshifting, confusion, and mimsy as level 8
-
-Combat: Inflicts 5 points of damage with biting feathers, catching claws, and snatching jaws. Also blows out a stream of
-fire that can light a match or inflict 3 points of damage to everyone in close range.
-
-Interaction: Not recommended.
-
-Use: The characters are given the impossible task of hunting a snark. Whether or not they actually find one, they have
-grand adventures along the way.
-
-Loot: The frabjous joy of catching the impossible, improbable, unimaginable snark.
-
-GM intrusion: Everything about the snark is a GM intrusion.
-
-Wolf, Big Bad 8 (24)
-
-The Big Bad Wolf (just call him the Wolf, for he is truly the only one worthy of that title) is a beast of near
-immortality, kept alive by the legends that swirl around him, the constant stream of terrorizing tales. Once the stalker
-of the woods, now he stalks the streets and towns, no longer staying to the shadows, no longer merely hunting girls and
-grandmothers. As his reputation has grown, so has his appetite. He hungers. He swallows worlds. He will not be
-contained.
-
-Motive: Hunger
-
-Environment: Woods, cities, behind you
-
-Health: 30
-
-Damage Inflicted: 8 points
-
-Armor: 1
-
-Movement: Long
-
-Modifications: Hunting, seeking, and sneaking as level 9
-
-Combat: The Wolf 's bite does 8 points of damage. Additionally, he has a variety of abilities that he may use.
-
-What Big Ears You Have: Can track and hear his prey up to a mile away. Tracking ignores all cloaking abilities,
-including magical ones.
-
-What Big Eyes You Have: Mesmerizes his victims for two rounds, convincing them that he is a friend and that they should
-do what he suggests.
-
-What Big Teeth You Have: Swallows his victim whole, holding them in his belly. It's a level 8 Speed or Might defense
-task to avoid being eaten whole. Captured characters can attempt to cut themselves free, which requires three successful
-attacks.
-
-Huff and Puff: Exhale creates a wind so strong it can knock over foes, trees, and even houses. Inflicts 6 points of
-damage to everything within long distance, and knocks most things prone. Once the Wolf uses this ability, he can't use
-it again for three rounds.
-
-Interaction: Despite his constant hunger and his gnawing need to swallow the world, the Wolf makes an interesting ally
-(provided that he's well fed at the time) for he is smart and cunning, and has myriad tricks for moving through the
-world.
-
-Use: The Big Bad Wolf is a great character to introduce into a modern fairy tale game. Imagine his new iteration as an
-urban legend, spreading through the internet.
-
-GM intrusions: The Wolf makes a great leap, knocking down foes. The Wolf already has someone swallowed in his belly, and
-that person calls for help from out of the Wolf's mouth.
-
 ### CRAFTED (CREATURES)
 
 Crafted creatures are those made by human, fey, or other hands. In fairy tales these might include characters like
@@ -30250,99 +28850,6 @@
 
 Level 5; Armor 2
 
-Tin Woodman 7 (21)
-
-Once an ordinary woodman of flesh and blood named Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman's story is a sad one. His beloved axe
-was enchanted by a wicked witch in order to keep him from his other true love (it's a long story, but suffice it to say
-that witches who are wicked do wicked things). His beloved axe turned on Nick Chopper, taking off one limb after
-another. A tinsmith kindly replaced Nick's missing body parts (except his heart) with tin prosthetics, but eventually
-nothing was left of the original human and he became the Tin Woodman.
-
-Note that the Tin Woodman will never tell you this story himself, for he has no heart and seeks only revenge: revenge
-upon the witch who cursed him, upon the tinsmith who did not replace his heart, upon the rain that rusts him. Someday,
-he will find all the original parts of himself, no matter who they belong to currently, so that he can return to his
-original form.
-
-Motive: Revenge, find his original body parts
-
-Environment: Anywhere
-
-Health: 21
-
-Damage Inflicted: 4 points
-
-Armor: 4
-
-Movement: Short; immediate if rusted Modifications: Speed defense as level 5 due to rust
-
-Combat: Inflicts 7 points of damage with his enchanted axe.
-
-Interaction: The Tin Woodman is singularly focused, and cares only about clues that lead to revenge or his original body
-parts. He does not eat, drink, or sleep, and often comes across as frantic and frenzied.
-
-Use: The PCs are hunting the same foe that the Tin Woodman is, and either they join together, or the Tin Woodman tries
-to prevent them from reaching the foe before he does.
-
-Loot: Enchanted axe
-
-Enchanted axe (artifact): level 7; inflicts 7 points of damage; can be activated to move a long distance away from the
-wielder and attack a foe as an action. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each activation)
-
-GM intrusion: A character's weapon gets caught in the Tin Woodman's metal body, pulling the weapon out of their hands.
-
-Death 10 (infinite)
-
-Death goes by many names, takes many forms, and has only one purpose: to make all equal in the end. Death is often an
-unwanted visitor—taking the life of someone who is not ready to go—but just as often, they come to those who are ready.
-To them, Death is a most welcome, the most welcome, guest of all.
-
-While some see Death as evil, they are not inherently so, no more than the cougar hunting the hare for dinner. In fact,
-they are the great equalizer, raising paupers to kings and kings to common people.
-
-Death is ancient, but not old. Wise, but not all-knowing. Brilliant, but not perfect. Death is also, very often, bored.
-They have seen everything, heard everything, and done everything that it is possible for an immortal being to do, and
-some days they feel sure they will never experience anything new or interesting again. But still, they try, taking on
-new guises, hiding themselves away, even traveling to distant stars and moons before their duties and obligations once
-again pull them to return.
-
-If Death appears at the foot of a person's bed, that person can recover if the proper steps are taken. If Death is at
-the head of the bed, almost nothing can be done to save the victim, beyond an impossible bargain.
-
-Motive: To do their duty and make everyone equal
-
-Environment: Everywhere and anywhere
-
-Health: ∞
-
-Damage Inflicted: Death
-
-Armor: Immune to all harm
-
-Movement: Variable depending on their form, but Death can move instantaneously almost
-
-anywhere that they desire
-
-Modifications: Seeing through trickery, deception, or bargaining as level 8
-
-Combat: Death kills. They kill any number of ways, depending on their mood, what's at
-
-hand, and how they believe the person should leave their life. Thankfully, death only comes for someone when their time
-is up.
-
-Still, it's not considered wise to provoke or challenge Death to physical combat, for there is only one outcome: a
-single attack from Death kills the victim (except in the rare case where the victim has protection against death, such
-as with one of Death's candles).
-
-Interaction: Death cannot be hurt and cannot be killed, but they can be bargained with, bet against, and sometimes
-tricked. More rarely, they have even been known to lose a bargain or be captured for a short period of time.
-
-Use: Bargaining with Death is a potential way to achieve an impossible task or gain a very rare item, but of course it
-always comes with a price (usually an earlier death for the bargainer or someone else). Death is always looking for
-something interesting going on, and may appear just to spend time with the characters if they're engaged in an
-intriguing activity.
-
-GM intrusion: Death mistakes a character for someone else.
-
 ### OF EARTH AND STONE (CREATURES)
 
 Creatures of the earth are those that seem to belong to the land in some unique and significant way. Perhaps they are
@@ -30362,244 +28869,6 @@
 Troll: level 6; claws inflict 7 points of damage and grab victim until they can escape; grabbed creature takes 10 points
 of damage per round; troll regains 3 points of health per round.
 
-Erlking 6 (18)
-
-This vaguely humanoid creature is an animated accumulation of woodland debris—bark, lost teeth, matted weeds, and dirt.
-It wears a crown of oak leaves and a cloak of mist.
-
-Its eyes are knotholes, and its hands are sharpened twigs. An erlking is a greedy spirit of hunger deemed Unseelie by
-the faerie nobility of that wild and wicked realm. Erlkings love to hunt and eat children, who are particularly
-susceptible to the promises and glamours that the creatures spin.
-
-An erlking is a former noble stripped of title, lands, and even form,
-
-and exiled into the night for crimes unimaginable in their cruelty. An erlking's victims are found in the cold sunlight,
-pale and bloodless, with their vital organs nibbled out.
-
-Motive: Hungers for flesh and to reclaim stripped titles
-
-Environment: Almost anywhere wooded at night Health: 27
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Armor: 4
-
-Movement: Short; immediate when burrowing
-
-Modifications: Stealth tasks as level 7
-
-Combat: An erlking prefers to attack from hiding, and whisper a child or other creature
-
-within short distance from their bed out into the night if the victim fails an Intellect defense task. An affected
-creature remains under the erlking's spell for up to an hour or until attacked or otherwise harmed.
-
-When it attacks physically, an erlking can attack three times on its turn with root tendrils. A target hit by a tendril
-must also succeed on a Speed defense roll or become grabbed until they escape. The erlking automatically inflicts 6
-points of damage on each grabbed creature each round until they succeed on a Might-based task to escape.
-
-Silvered and cold iron weapons ignore an erlking's Armor. If an erlking's remains are not burned or otherwise destroyed,
-it will sprout and grow a new body from its corpse within a day.
-
-Interaction: An erlking may negotiate if creatures have something it wants, or if targets are armed with silvered or
-cold iron weapons.
-
-Use: An erlking is active only by night; by day, it hides beneath a mound of weedy earth indistinguishable from the
-surrounding terrain.
-
-GM intrusion: A character surprised by an erlking in the darkness must succeed on an Intellect defense task or lose
-their next action as they faint, run screaming, or stand paralyzed in terror.
-
-Minotaur, the 7 (21)
-
-The most famous minotaur is the Minotaur, the singular beast from which all lesser minotaur myths descend. The product
-of a god-cursed union between human and bull,
-
-the Minotaur is monstrous, and only the flesh of people can nourish it. It is usually lost
-
-in a labyrinth created to contain it. But it occasionally gets free to hunt the wider world before the labyrinth pulls
-it back. Some demigods claim to have slain the Minotaur, but the Minotaur always returns.
-
-Motive: Hungers for flesh
-
-Environment: Usually in mythological labyrinths, but sometimes metaphorical ones Health: 33
-
-Damage Inflicted: 10 points
-
-Armor: 3
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Breaking through barriers as level 9
-
-Combat: The Minotaur attacks by goring foes on its horns, inflicting 10 points of damage
-
-on a successful attack. If the Minotaur charges a short distance, it can attack as part of
-
-the same action and inflict an additional 5 points of damage.
-
-The Minotaur is trapped by the labyrinth, but also part of it. Whenever a character attacks
-
-the Minotaur, they must succeed on an Intellect defense task or be claimed by the labyrinth themselves until they can
-escape with a successful difficulty 7 Intellect task. Those claimed by the labyrinth seem to disappear and find
-themselves wandering a dark maze. Once a character successfully escapes, they are no longer subject to being claimed by
-the labyrinth for several days.
-
-If killed, the Minotaur's body is claimed by the labyrinth. Thirty-three days later, the Minotaur is resuscitated.
-
-Interaction: The Minotaur can speak, but usually chooses not to. It is belligerent and cruel, and always hungry.
-
-Use: The Minotaur has escaped the labyrinth and now wanders the narrow streets of a metropolis, treating the winding
-alleys and twisting roads as its new maze.
-
-GM intrusion: The Minotaur smashes into the wall, causing a section of the tunnel or hallway to collapse on the
-character(s), inflicting 10 points of damage and trapping them until they can escape the rubble
-
-Enchanter 5 (15)
-
-Enchanters include magic-users of all genders. They may choose to call themselves wizards, sorcerers, mages, or
-diviners, depending on their strengths, abilities, and desired reputations.
-
-Enchanters usually take great pride in their appearance, including their outfits, accouterments, and equipment. They
-often incorporate living or dead elements of dangerous creatures, such as spiders, snakes, crocodiles, and dragons, into
-the objects that matter to them. Additionally, they may imbue objects with powerful magic.
-
-Enchanters can use long-lasting or even permanent versions of their magical abilities, but doing so usually requires
-minutes or hours of time.
-
-Most enchanters have one or more apprentices or helpers, typically animals that have been made human temporarily or
-humans who are in the service of the enchanter until some debt of theirs or their family's has been paid.
-
-Sorcerer's Apprentice: level 3
-
-Motive: Control magic, power
-
-Environment: Everywhere, particularly in places where magic is present and powerful Health: 20
-
-Damage Inflicted: 5 points
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Using and controlling magic as level 7
-
-Combat: Magical weapons and artifacts (such as a whip made of living snakes, a staff with a
-
-biting wolf's head on top, or a sword that acts of its own accord) do 5 points of damage. Additionally, an enchanter may
-employ a number of magical abilities, including the
-
-Following:
-
-Animate: Takes any material (such as wood or stone) and turns it into an animate level
-
-4 creature. The creature has a mind and will of its own, and acts just as that type of
-
-creature would act if it were born instead of created.
-
-Blood to Stone: Turns living creatures into stone, or immobilizes them in their current form. Breaking free is a level 6
-Might task.
-
-Enchant: Imbues a normal object with a magical power. The object works under the
-
-enchanter's command, and does as the enchanter asks of it. For example, an enchanter might imbue a foe's weapon and
-force it to attack the foe, or they might imbue a door and have it close tight against incoming dangers.
-
-Endless Passage: Creates an endless series of thick spiderwebs, invisible barriers, rings of flame, or other hurdles
-across an entrance, exit, tunnel, or passage. Every time one of the hurdles is broken, another forms. Characters'
-movement is halved while going through the endless passage, and they take 2 points of Intellect damage each round.
-
-Invisible: Turns anything (including themselves, others, and entire areas up to 30 feet by 30 feet \[9 m by 9 m\])
-invisible for ten minutes. It's a level 6 Intellect task to be able to see something that has been made invisible.
-
-Persuasion: Convinces all victims in long range that what they believe is not real or that what is false is real.
-Sometimes this ability just affects others' minds, creating a mental dissonance. Other times, the enchanter creates an
-illusion or other visible, auditory, and tactile element that persuades a character to believe everything they are
-
-experiencing. The effect lasts for ten minutes. Additionally, an enchanter may have one or more of the same abilities as
-a witch or a faerie.
-
-Interaction: For the characters, an enchanter may be a terrifying foe or a powerful ally. Enchanters are fickle, perhaps
-due to their close relationship with magic, and may change their loyalties on a whim or an imagined slight.
-
-Use: The characters need to have an object imbued, a person returned to life, or a curse undone, and they turn to the
-enchanter for help. The characters accidentally insulted
-
-the enchanter in some way, and now the enchanter is hunting them down to get revenge.
-
-Loot: Enchanters often protect their precious items with spells and magical locks (level 8). Behind those wards are 1d6
-cyphers, an artifact, and an elegant or interesting outfit.
-
-### ENCHANTERS OF THE WORLD
-
-Morgan Le Fay 9 (27)
-
-Morgan le Fay (also known as Morgen, Margain, Morgant, and various other names) is a powerful sorceress from the legends
-of King Arthur. She has an unpredictable duality to her nature, with the potential for great good and great evil.
-
-Combat: Attacks with a variety of weapons, including a sword and staff. She also can use
-
-any of the following abilities: charm, enchant, glamour, heal, invisible, persuasion,
-
-protect, revive, seduce, and shrivel.
-
-Interaction: Morgan le Fay is fickle and enigmatic, and rarely reveals her purposes. If she
-
-agrees to help the characters in some way, it's absolutely because she has a higher goal
-
-in mind.
-
-Use: The characters are stopped by a beautiful woman in the woods, who asks them to
-
-help her accomplish a great task. A powerful foe has brought Morgan le Fay into his confidence, and she is helping him
-against the PCs.
-
-Oz, The Great and Terrible 5 (15)
-
-It is perhaps the greatest feat the Wizard of Oz ever pulled off to make everyone believe that he was not a sorcerer at
-all, but merely a ventriloquist and balloonist from some faraway land. He is, in fact, far more powerful than that, but
-prefers that no one were ever to know. For if they did, they would expect things of him, and that makes him anxious.
-
-Combat: Oz does not fight, but instead sends his army of green-whiskered soldiers forth.
-
-He may also use an artifact or spell to protect himself, hide himself, or flee. He can use
-
-the following abilities: enchant, invisible, persuasion.
-
-Green-whiskered soldiers: level 4; Armor 2; unloaded rifles deal 4 points of damage
-
-Interaction: Curmudgeonly and a bit of a humbug, but rarely with evil intent, Oz is likely to
-
-help those who ask, although he often fumbles things just to make a point.
-
-Use: The characters set off to meet the powerful ruler of a strange land. Or they encounter
-
-someone they believe is just a humble, simple man, but who instead turns out to be
-
-incredibly powerful.
-
-Loot: Oz has at least one artifact, as well as 1d6 cyphers.
-
-Virgilius the Sorcerer 7 (21)
-
-The most renowned of all the poet-sorcerers, Virgilius studies and uses the power of the written word to enhance his
-magical abilities. He keeps a black book, which is the source of his spells, and creates copper creatures to protect and
-defend him. He has a love of challenges, such as magician's battles, and seeks them out.
-
-Combat: Can use the following abilities: animate, blood to stone, enchant, endless passage. Interaction: Virgilius is
-quick thinking, wily, and full of interesting schemes. Those who
-
-entertain him for longer than a moment might find him a very useful ally. However, he is also driven toward revenge,
-particularly on those who attempt to publicly humiliate or shame him.
-
-Use: The characters enter into a battle of wits or wills, only to discover they're competing with Virgilius.
-
-Loot: Carries a black book
-
-Black book (artifact): level 6; allows the user to cast animate, blood to stone, enchant, or endless passage. Casting a
-spell from the black book costs 2 Intellect points and is an action.
-
-Depletion: 1 in 1d6
-
 ### FEY (CREATURES)
 
 In fairy tales, the word fey covers a huge category of creatures, from faeries, brownies, and imps to gremlins,
@@ -30628,349 +28897,6 @@
 
 Level 2, stealth and finding lost items as level 6
 
-Faerie 3 (9)
-
-In general, faeries (sometimes called fairies or fair folk) are humanoid in appearance, small in stature, and magical.
-They are associated with music, mirth, tricks, and taunts. Seeing one is an omen—hopefully, an omen of a silly song or
-the first appearance of an annoying new road companion (the very faerie sighted) flitting around, asking the questions
-of a curious four-year-old hyped up on sugar water and ice cream. Some faeries are tricksters, delighting in playing
-pranks and stealing clothing, equipment, or prized objects. And a few are malicious, luring travelers to their various
-dooms, making deadly deals, and forcing others into captivity.
-
-Not all faeries have wings, but those that do find many ways to use them to their advantage.
-
-Motive: Unpredictable
-
-Environment: Encountered alone or in a flutter of three to twelve, usually in forests Health: 12
-
-Damage Inflicted: 4 points
-
-Movement: Immediate; long when flying
-
-Modifications: Tasks related to performance and deception as level 5; Speed defense as
-
-level 5 due to size and quickness
-
-Combat: A faerie attacks by hurling sparkling magic dust at a target within short range. In
-
-addition, if a faerie is touched or struck by a melee weapon, more magic dust puffs away from the faerie and clouds the
-attacker, who must succeed on a Speed defense task or suffer the same amount of damage they just dealt to the faerie.
-Sometimes faeries wield tiny weapons, such as bows, spears, or swords; treat these as light weapons.
-
-A faerie can see in the dark, but it can also emit bright light (often colored) and appear as a glowing humanoid or an
-illuminated sphere.
-
-Faeries regain 1 point of health per round while their health is above 0 unless they've been damaged with a silvered or
-cold iron weapon.
-
-In addition to inflicting damage with their fairy dust and their weapons of choice, faeries have a number of curses and
-abilities at their disposal. These include the following:
-
-Animal Friend: Most faeries can communicate with animals, and a few can even summon animals within long range for help
-and protection. Some faeries can also grant others the ability to communicate with animals, but only for a day.
-
-Charm: Some faeries can attempt to use a song or light display to charm others within short range. The target must
-succeed on an Intellect defense task or fall into a suggestible state for one hour. During this period, the target can
-be led by the faerie until attacked, damaged, or shaken from their glamour.
-
-Clairvoyance: The faerie grants someone the ability to see the future, the past, faeries, or one of the hidden faerie
-worlds. This gift lasts for one day, or until the character makes a ten-hour recovery roll.
-
-Heal: The faerie heals themselves, a plant, a creature, or another character for 1d6 + 2 points of damage.
-
-Illusion: Powerful faeries can cast elaborate and convincing illusions that make them and their worlds appear more
-appealing and beautiful. Illusions can cover up to a mile in area. Seeing through the illusion is a task equal to the
-faerie's level and lasts for ten minutes. After that, the viewer reverts to seeing the illusion and quickly forgets that
-they saw anything else.
-
-Invisibility: Makes the faerie invisible to most eyes. Seeing, hearing, or sensing a faerie when it's invisible is a
-task equal to the faerie's level. A failed attempt to see a faerie causes the viewer to see something that harms their
-mind, inflicting 1 point of Intellect damage.
-
-Vortex: A defensive tactic where one or more threatened faeries use their wings to create a strong gust of wind,
-tornado, or vortex. The wind pushes their foes back a long distance and inflicts 2 points of damage.
-
-Faeries have a wide variety of weaknesses, including silver, iron, technology, sugar and salt (they must count each
-grain), and cream (intoxicates them). But not all faeries have the same weaknesses, and some may not have any.
-
-Interaction: Faeries are mercurial creatures, but except for the malicious ones, they can be negotiated with, especially
-if offered sweets, wine, cream, or other gifts. That said, faerie attention spans are limited, so even one that means
-well could end up leaving the PCs in the lurch at just the wrong moment.
-
-Use: The characters come upon an injured faerie, who promises to grant them their deepest wish if they agree to help it.
-They must decide if they believe the faerie speaks true, or if it's a trap.
-
-Loot: The tiny pouches that faeries carry are stuffed with forest bric-a-brac, but some of those pouches are ten times
-larger on the inside and could contain expensive items or cyphers.
-
-GM intrusion: A character accidentally does something to offend a helpful faerie, causing it to turn on them.
-
-Fairy Godmother 6 (18)
-
-Fairy godmothers are nearly always beneficent beings, typically acting as mentors, parents, or protectors, much like
-human godparents. The difference, of course, is that fairy godmothers have a great deal more magic at their disposal.
-
-Overall, fairy godmothers are kind, gentle, and loving to almost everyone, not just their godchildren. Of course, not
-all fairy godmothers are good at their roles—some may act out of their own interests and inadvertently (or purposefully)
-do harm to those they are supposed to protect. This is particularly true if they feel like they have not been given the
-respect they deserve, or have been offended in some way.
-
-And if you should harm someone they have pledged to protect? Beware, beware, for there is no wrath like that of a fairy
-godmother's.
-
-Motive: Protect their protégés, be respected
-
-Environment: Cities, towns, and anywhere someone is in need of assistance
-
-Health: 24
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Armor: 2 (magical)
-
-Movement: Short; long when flying
-
-Combat: Fairy godmothers attack by shooting a stream of sharp-edged glitter up to a long
-
-distance from their magic wands (glitter gets into every nook and cranny, and thus ignores Armor). Fairy godmothers can
-bestow blessings upon their friends and allies, and curse their enemies.
-
-Fairy godmothers can cast any of the skills and abilities that faeries can cast, as well as a few that are specific to
-them, including the following:
-
-A Little Luck: The fairy godmother blesses a character with luck, granting them the opportunity to reroll once in the
-next day without spending XP.
-
-A Little Misfortune: Despite the name, this is usually a beneficial spell. It is designed to give a nearby character
-something to overcome so that they might grow stronger in temperament or stature. When this spell is cast, the character
-receives a GM intrusion on their next action (no matter what their roll is) and receives 1 XP to give away (but not one
-to keep).
-
-Alteration: Can turn any creature within short range into a different creature (such as a mouse into a horse) and any
-object into a similarly shaped object (such as a
-
-Prophecy: Creates a prediction for the future of a single person. The prediction has a high chance of coming true, but
-is not certain. (Prophecies work like GM intrusions that will take place in the future; the player can reject the
-prophecy by spending an XP.) Not all prophecies are negative.
-
-Interaction: Interacting with fairy godmothers is usually a little frantic, frenzied, and full of "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"
-If they like you, they're likely to prove a loyal, steadfast, and useful ally. If not, well, hopefully you like being
-turned into a horse, or worse.
-
-Use: Fairy godmothers make great lighthearted additions to encounters, particularly ones where the characters are
-preparing for a ball, a fight, or a big adventure.
-
-GM Intrusion: The fairy godmother's magic goes awry and a character is accidentally turned into a horse.
-
-Áine, Fairy Queen of Light an Love 9 (27)
-
-Áine is the fairy queen of summer and the sun, and is known by many names: the Fairy Queen of Light and Love, Bright
-One, Sun Goddess, and Sweetheart of the Fairies. She is a kind, true, and benevolent ruler, and is loved by nearly
-everyone. Known for making just and fair bargains with humans, she is often sought after for blessings and boons.
-
-Motive: To be just and true, to protect her realm
-
-Environment: She shares a fairy realm with her sister, Gráinne, where she rules in the summer months.
-
-Health: 99
-
-Damage Inflicted: 12 points
-
-Armor: 5
-
-Movement: Short; very long when shapeshifted
-
-Combat: Áine rarely engages in combat herself, as she prefers to leave that role to her son
-
-Geroid and his army. However, if she's attacked or feels the need to defend her realm or someone in it, she will not
-hesitate to step in. She attacks using the power of the sun, focusing light into a narrow beam that inflicts 12 points
-of damage on the target.
-
-In addition, Áine has the power of chlorokineses—she can manipulate plants and flowers within very long range, causing
-them to grow to enormous proportions. She can use them as weapons that grab and hold multiple victims (level 7 Might
-task to break free) or that do damage via strangulation or thorns (7 points of damage). Any bees in the area act to help
-the queen.
-
-Queen's bees: level 3; sting victims for 3 points of damage and paralyze
-
-them for one round
-
-She can also shapeshift into a red mare as she chooses. As a mare, she inflicts 6 points of damage with her hooves or
-bite, can become immaterial as an action (makes it impossible to successfully attack her, but she cannot attack in this
-form), and can move to a spot within long range instantaneously (does not require an action).
-
-Interaction: Just, true, and kind, Áine makes a powerful ally, provided that she does not feel that she or her realm are
-threatened. Those who wish harm on others or who she sees as malevolent in action or thought are more likely to
-
-find themselves on the wrong end of the Bright One's anger.
-
-Use: Characters who wish for something important in their lives to change may ask Áine to grant them a boon. She
-sometimes helps those in need without them asking for it (but, of course, only for a price). If the characters attend a
-fairy ball or feast, they may encounter Áine as an honored guest.
-
-Loot: Áine wears a crown of glass, but it is not visible unless she chooses it to be (she rarely does) or she dies. She
-carries little else, for she is a person of deeds, not items.
-
-GM intrusion: One of Áine's ardent followers believes a character is threatening their beloved queen.
-
-Gráinne, the Wayward Daughter 9 (27)
-
-Gráinne is the Fairy Queen of Hope and Despair, sometimes also called the Wayward Daughter, the Winter Queen, and Dark
-One. Gráinne is to the dark what Áine is to the light. This doesn't mean that Gráinne is evil, just that she represents
-what is good and bad in the world that is hidden in shadows, buried beneath the ground, and revealed at night. She has
-her own moral code, one that can work in the favor of those who are cunning and willing to look at the darkness of their
-own hearts.
-
-Motive: To honor the darkness, to protect her realm
-
-Environment: She shares a fairy realm with her sister, where she rules in winter. In the summer, she sleeps in the
-Sorrows, a belowground realm out of time and space.
-
-Health: 99
-
-Damage Inflicted: 12 points
-
-Armor: 5
-
-Movement: Short; long when flying
-
-Combat: Gráinne is a talented combatant, and seems to revel in having a foe who is a
-
-challenge to her. She carries a dark green crystal staff that emits a dark coil of reddish energy, which inflicts 12
-points of damage. Alternatively, she can send out a cloud of black smoke that deals 9 points of damage to all creatures
-in a short area. She also wears the Tiara of Pailis, a griffin-shaped tiara that allows her to fly. Gráinne has a
-variety of magical abilities at her disposal, including the following:
-
-Animal Communication: Gráinne has a special affinity with badgers and can ask them for help. When she calls them (as an
-action), a cete of eight large badgers appears. They act as two level 4 creatures; attacked beings must also succeed on
-an Intellect defense roll or be shapeshifted into a badger for one round.
-
-Oneirokinesis: Gráinne can infiltrate people's dreams to converse with them. As such, she might implant an idea in their
-heads (such as "I'm going to die tonight" or "I should go back home"). When the character wakes, they must succeed on a
-level 6 Intellect defense roll to shake the idea. Otherwise, they feel a strong need to act on it, and are hindered in
-any tasks that go against the idea (this lasts until they make their next recovery roll).
-
-Shadowmelding: Gráinne merges with shadows, making her nearly
-
-intangible. In this form, she cannot be injured by physical attacks, and her attacks inflict 8 points of Intellect
-damage on anyone whose body is darkened by her shadow.
-
-Interaction: For those who don't mind a little darkness and moral ambiguity, Gráinne makes a powerful ally.
-
-Use: The characters stumble into a fairy realm, only to be met by its just-woken guardian. Grieving characters may find
-the solutions and solace they seek in Gráinne's magic and power.
-
-Loot: Tiara of Pailis
-
-Tiara of Pailis (artifact): level 7; allows the wearer to fly a long distance each round (as an action). The wearer can
-control their speed, direction, and height. Depletion: 1 in 1d20
-
-GM Intrusion: A character's companion animal or mount is affected by Gráinne's animal affinity and falls under her
-power.
-
-Queen 6 (18)
-
-Ah, the Evil Queen. Ruler of the land, watcher in the mirror. Full of magic, utterly merciless, and sharp of tongue.
-Evil and wicked queens abound in fairy tales, from those who have no names and are remembered only for their evil deeds,
-to those whose names will never be forgotten: Queen Grimhilde, Maleficent, the Queen of Hearts, and the White Witch.
-These queens seek power for power's sake, not caring what destruction lies in their wake.
-
-Of course, not all queens are evil—just the ones you hear about most often. But they are all powerful in their own way,
-even if they are forced to hide it by their circumstances. While they too crave power, they seek it in order to protect
-their lands, their people, and their loved ones.
-
-Motive: Power
-
-Environment: Anywhere, but typically in cities and towns, where there are people to admire
-
-and fear them
-
-Health: 18
-
-Damage Inflicted: 4 points
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Combat: Queens almost always carry an artifact of great power, such as a staff, crown,
-
-mirror, or sword, that grants them unique abilities and skills.
-
-Queens often have familiars, such as ravens, who fight for or beside them. Most familiars can do 4 points of damage with
-an attack.
-
-Some queens may also be witches or fey creatures, and thus have the ability to use one or two spells and curses that
-witches and fey also use.
-
-Queen Grimhilde 8 (24)
-
-Perhaps best known for her attempts to kill Snow White through magic and poison, Grimhilde has other passions and
-talents as well. She seeks ways to make all beings obey her commands, starting with the huntsman who so stupidly and
-willfully deceived her so long ago.
-
-Environment: One of her many castles, the woods
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Health: 18
-
-Damage Inflicted: 4 points
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Combat: Her vulture familiars swirl about all foes in short range, knocking them prone
-
-and inflicting 4 points of damage. She can use the following witch abilities: glamour,
-
-imprison, and seduce.
-
-Vulture familiars: level 4
-
-Interaction: Grimhilde is cunning and devious, always hatching plans against those who
-
-harm her, who threaten to overshadow her, or who have caught her eye in some way.
-
-Use: The characters enter an area that is under Grimhilde's power and must face her wrath.
-
-Loot: She has a mirror mirror artifact, as well as 1d6 cyphers (often poison).
-
-The Red Queen 6 (18)
-
-The Red Queen has never once yelled "Off with her head!" In fact, she has never yelled. It's horrible manners, and
-besides, when you know how to wield power, you don't need all that noise and chaos. You need only whisper and be still,
-and everyone will politely fall quiet and listen.
-
-Environment: Polite dinner parties and social gatherings
-
-Armor: 1
-
-Combat: Prefers verbal sparring over the physical sort, and inflicts 3 points of damage with a single cutting remark or
-sharp-tongued retort.
-
-Interaction: The Red Queen is quite proper and chatty, the perfect host and the perfect guest. The only time she ever
-grows irate is when the subject of her sister, the Queen of Hearts, comes up.
-
-Use: While attending a party to steal something, the characters are caught by the Red Queen
-
-The Snow Queen
-
-The Snow Queen rules over the "snow bees"—snowflakes that look like bees. She keeps an ornate palace surrounded by
-gardens in the lands of permafrost, but she can be seen elsewhere in the world where snowflakes cluster. Most say she is
-cold, and they would be right. She has been part of the snow for so long that it's possible she no longer remembers
-warmth or kindness or love.
-
-Environment: Anywhere there is snow, ice, or winter
-
-Armor: 2 (from personal ice walls)
-
-Combat: Creates a snowstorm that blinds all foes in long range for three rounds; ice shards rain down upon all foes in
-long range, inflicting 2 points of damage; reindeer familiar inflicts 5 points of damage with her horns.
-
-Interaction: The Snow Queen is not evil—she just has forgotten what it means to be human, with human needs and human
-hearts (not that she was ever truly human, but that's a story for another time). She is willing to bargain if she
-understands what she gets out of it.
-
-Use: The Snow Queen guards the entrance to a place the characters need to enter.
-
 ### OF WATER AND WAVES (CREATURES)
 
 Creatures of water and waves are those that inhabit or are deeply tied to the rivers, ocean, marshes, and other watery
@@ -30998,369 +28924,6 @@
 Level 4; can cause water to boil, inflicting 3 points of heat damage on foes; can unleash flash floods that sweep all
 foes back a very long distance and inflict 2 points of ambient damage (ignores Armor)
 
-Cailleach 5 (15)
-
-Not actually a water spirit, but one who has made her peace with the sea in an eternal bargain, Cailleach once lived on
-land. Now she is a recluse deep in the ocean in the realm known as the Expanse of Halirane. She appears ancient, and in
-fact is much older than that. She shaves her head bald, wears dozens of shell earrings in each ear, and has a glass eye
-that allows her to see three views of the future. As part of her bargain with the sea, she can never return to dry land
-again, or she will lose all of her powers forever.
-
-Motive: To be left alone
-
-Environment: A home hidden inside a coral reef at the bottom of the ocean. Her home is a large dead whale that the sea
-magically preserves as part of their bargain.
-
-Health: 30
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Movement: Short; very long when shapeshifted
-
-Modifications: Seeing through deceptions and lies as level 6, healing as level 8
-
-Combat: Cailleach has many abilities at her disposal, some of which come from the sea and
-
-others that come from her own magic. They include the following:
-
-Healing Pot: If she has the proper ingredients and takes a day to do so, Cailleach can brew a healing salve in her
-special pot. Depending on what she adds to the mixture, this salve can do one of three things: restore 10 Might points,
-move someone up one step on the damage track, or remove a curse (up to level 6).
-
-Reptilian Form: Cailleach takes the form of a reptile of any size. While in this form, she has +3 Armor and does 6
-points of damage with her bite, claw, or tail lash. In addition, she regains 3 points of health per round.
-
-Restore to Life: Putting her wizened pointer finger into someone's mouth can bring them back to life, but only if
-they've been dead for less than a day and only if she holds her finger there for exactly as long as they've been dead.
-After that, her finger falls off. It takes three days for her to regrow a new one.
-
-See the Future: Cailleach can use her glass eye to scry the future of an individual. She does so by first removing the
-eye, and then having the person hold it in their mouth until she asks for it back (sometimes this is for just a second,
-and sometimes it's for hours—it's hard to know if the variable length of time is part of the ritual or just her dark
-sense of humor). She typically sees three possible futures, and all of them have an equal chance of coming to pass.
-
-Wanton Destruction: As part of her agreement with the sea, Cailleach was given the power to control small parts of it at
-a time. She can create a whirlpool that catches up all creatures and objects within short range of its center and
-inflicts 5 points of ambient damage (ignores Armor).
-
-Interaction: Cailleach is a recluse and introvert whose deepest longing is to be left alone
-
-to increase her knowledge of magic. She also likes puzzles and games, and out of everything on land, she misses birds
-most of all (for interacting with, not eating). Those who bring her any of those items are likely to draw Cailleach out
-of her shell and have a positive interaction.
-
-Use: Cailleach can be a beneficial ally, particularly as a healer. She might also be convinced to help fight against an
-encroaching danger, especially if it's threatening her solitude and privacy.
-
-Loot: She typically carries a number of sea cyphers, and her home is filled with books, scrolls, and journals of all
-sorts.
-
-GM intrusion: The sea offers additional assistance to Cailleach's spells, increasing her damage or movement.
-
-Kelpie 6 (18)
-
-A sinister aquatic creature that takes the shape of a grey horse or white pony, the kelpie lures unsuspecting passersby
-and attempts to drown them in a nearby body of water.
-
-Some kelpies look just like horses. Others look as if they're created from elements of the swamp—maybe its tail is
-algae, its mane cattails, its eyes glowing pebbles or miniature moons. Maybe eels and snails and other creatures are its
-teeth or tongue. One thing about kelpies is always true: their manes are always dripping and their hooves are always
-inverted.
-
-If someone knows a kelpie's name and says it aloud, the kelpie loses all its power over that person and retreats to the
-depths of the water.
-
-Motive: Unknown
-
-Environment: Near or in rivers, streams, lakes, and other bodies of running or still water.
-
-Modern settings might find them near public or private swimming pools, koi ponds,
-
-and reservoirs.
-
-Health: 21
-
-Damage Inflicted: 4 points
-
-Movement: Very long when running
-
-Combat: When a passerby approaches, the kelpie might appear tame, a little lost, injured,
-
-or otherwise friendly and in need. Or, if the passerby appears weary or sad, the kelpie will offer a ride upon their
-back. The kelpie's sticky skin traps the rider (level 7 Might task to break free). Once the rider is seated, the kelpie
-may attempt to drown them in the lake, run so fast that the rider takes 5 points of Intellect damage from fright, or
-roll over on them, inflicting 4 points of damage (ignores Armor).
-
-Interaction: Not all kelpies are malevolent. Some were once "tamed" by someone who learned their names and loved them.
-These kelpies actively seek out human contact, attempting to find someone to replace the one they loved.
-
-Use: In the gloom, a large black horse appears, wearing beautiful tack and acting as if lost. It offers one of the weary
-characters a ride upon its back.
-
-GM intrusion: While dealing with something else, the characters come upon a kelpie in the process of drowning someone.
-
-The West Wind 9 (27)
-
-The West Wind has no master, no shackles, no chains. She goes where she will, and woe to those who try to capture or
-hold her. When she's not blowing through the sky, she takes the shape of a human woman dressed in a sparkling blue
-tuxedo, her short silver hair pushed back from her face.
-
-Not all winds are living creatures. Sometimes the wind is just the wind. But you won't know which is which until you try
-to talk with it.
-
-Motive: To stave off boredom by playing tricks, traveling, stirring up trouble, and helping others
-
-Environment: Anywhere she wants to be
-
-Health: 40
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Movement: Very long
-
-Modifications: Speed defense as level 10; sees through and resists trickery, lies, deceit, and intimidation as level 10
-
-Combat: Inflicts 6 points of damage to every creature and object she chooses within a very long distance, and knocks
-them prone.
-
-Interaction: Some say the West Wind is cold, but she's really just an introvert and prefers to spend most of her time
-traveling alone. However, she's actually very warm hearted and is likely to help those in need. She does not respond
-well to trickery, traps, or attempts to force her hand (unless they're terribly clever or smart, and then she admits
-grudging respect for the perpetrators).
-
-Use: The characters need the West Wind's help to travel somewhere, knock something down, or retrieve something from a
-hidden place. Someone needs an elegant date to a royal ball or a fairy festival.
-
-Loot: Sometimes the West Wind picks up interesting things on her travels. She may gift allies these items, including
-cyphers, artifacts, and even creatures.
-
-GM intrusion: The West Wind lifts a character high in the air and threatens to let them fall.
-
-Wind Children 4 (12)
-
-The children of the wind cannot be measured in known numbers, for they are here and there and everywhere. They are not
-born, so much as borne, by weather patterns, wishes, and wants. Dust devils, gales, and zephyrs are all wind children.
-
-Motive: See everything, know everything
-
-Environment: Everywhere there is weather, real or magic-made
-
-Health: 12
-
-Damage Inflicted: 4 points
-
-Movement: Long
-
-Combat: Inflicts 4 points of damage with an exhale. Alternatively, can knock a character prone for one round.
-
-Interaction: Interacting with wind children is a bit like interacting with a group of mischievous, precocious, and
-spoiled kids. However, they know many things, having been all over the world, and will often share what they know in
-exchange for new secrets or knowledge.
-
-Use: One of the PCs seeks information about a person, place, or thing. The characters need a surreptitious spy to gather
-information for them.
-
-Loot: Information, secrets, and possibly a cypher or two picked up during their travels.
-
-GM intrusion: The wind children grab something precious from one of the characters and start to play a game of "keep
-away" with it.
-
-Witch 5 (15)
-
-Witches are complex beings of myriad personalities, desires, and abilities. Sometimes they're the stuff of nightmares,
-with tales of their exploits keeping children safe in their beds during the darkest hours. Other times they're wise
-helpers—at least for a little
-
-while, or possibly for a price. Often, they're a little of everything, taking on no end of roles throughout their
-lifetime. They may isolate themselves deep in the dark woods, falsify their way into a royal family, or reside in the
-middle of town, hiding their identity.
-
-But one thing they are, always, is dangerous, for they carry within their hearts and heads knowledge, power, and
-magic—and a willingness to use all of them when necessary. Motive: Domination of others, power, knowledge, eternal life
-or beauty, hunger, revenge Environment: Almost anywhere, although most often alone in unique dwellings in the
-
-forest, in civilization as healers, or having infiltrated royal families
-
-Health: 21
-
-Damage Inflicted: 5 points
-
-Movement: Short; long if flying
-
-Combat: In addition to inflicting damage with their weapon of choice (often a staff or long,
-
-curved blade), witches can curse their enemies.
-
-They also have a number of spells and abilities at their disposal. These include the
-
-Following:
-
-Familiar: When attacked, a witch relies on the aid of their familiar to improve their Speed
-
-defense. The familiar could be a large black cat, an owl, a big snake, or some other creature. Killing a witch's
-familiar is so shocking to a witch that their attacks and Speed defense are hindered for a few days. It's also a way to
-ensure that the witch never forgives their foe or grants mercy.
-
-Glamour: Glamour is an illusion that the witch creates. It may let them look like someone else, appear to be a tree or a
-bird, or even make them invisible. Seeing through the glamour is a level 8 Intellect task. A failed attempt inflicts 2
-points of Intellect damage. Once a character sees through the glamour, they cannot unsee it.
-
-Heal: The witch touches another creature and heals them for 6 points of damage. Some witches must pull health from
-another living being in long range in order to use this ability. Pulling health from a living being inflicts 2 points of
-damage on that being.
-
-Imprison: The witch creates a prison within long range and captures a foe inside it as a single action. The prison might
-be physical (a tower, a cage, a trap, a binding around the body) or mental (they can't move, their muscles are no longer
-under their control, they are afraid to move). Resisting being caught is a level 5 defense task (Might, Speed, or
-Intellect, depending on the type of imprisonment). If a character is caught, breaking free is a level 5 task (of the
-appropriate stat).
-
-Protect: Places a confinement spell to keep someone from going in or out of a location, building, or room. Those who
-attempt to pass through the spell but fail take 3 points of Intellect damage and are knocked back. Once the spell
-activates, it disappears.
-
-Revive: This rare and costly ability allows a witch to bring someone back to life, as long as they haven't been dead for
-more than a year. In order to accomplish this, the witch needs all or part of the body of the dead, a beloved object of
-the dead's, and the willingness of someone else to take on a curse that results from the magical working (roll on the
-Curse table to determine the resulting curse). Revive takes ten minutes to cast, and the character returns to life with
-1 point in all of their Pools.
-
-Seduce: Creatures within short range who fail an Intellect defense roll become enamored of the witch. Resisting the
-witch's persuasion attempts is hindered by two steps until the victim succeeds on an Intellect defense roll; each time
-they fail to resist the persuasion attempt, the witch's next persuasion attempt is eased by an additional step.
-
-Additional abilities: Witches might also have access to the witch abilities in the Cypher System Rulebook. These are
-charm, hexbolt, shrivel, and vitality. Some witches might have other magical abilities similar to those of enchanters.
-
-GM intrusions: The witch's familiar joins the fray, tripping up characters and hindering their actions.
-
-Something startles the witch and they cast a curse or spell as an automatic response. The witch pulls out an artifact or
-cypher and prepares to use it.
-
-### WITCHES OF THE WORLD
-
-Baba Yaga 9 (27)
-
-Baba Yaga (sometimes called Frau Trude) lives many lives and has many personalities. She is both one witch and many. She
-uses her magic to create a new version of herself each time her
-
-life takes a new branch, following all of them at once, becoming every version of herself that she might have been.
-
-Some versions of Baba Yaga are helpful. Others harmful. Some Baba Yagas live
-
-in the woods in a wooden hut that walks around on giant chicken legs, some
-
-fly through the sky in a giant mortar and pestle, and some guard any wild spaces that they have deemed important. Some
-capture and cook young children in a special stove. Some do all of the above.
-
-Combat: Baba Yaga can use the following abilities: heal, hexbolt, imprison, protect, revive, shrivel, and vitality.
-
-Interaction: It is almost impossible to know which Baba Yaga you have met until you look deep in her eyes (a level 7
-Intellect task). There, you might see a tiny flame, and in that flame, learn a bit about her life.
-
-Use: Baba Yaga has her long, bony fingers in nearly everything that happens. She might be behind the counter at the herb
-and potion shop, guarding the entrance to a cave full of treasure, or offering her services in breaking (or casting)
-curses.
-
-Loot: 1d6 cyphers, an artifact, and various other odds and ends
-
-The Blind Witch 5 (15)
-
-The Blind Witch is skinny and always hungry. She lives deep in the forest in a house made of confectionery, which allows
-her to catch, fatten, and eventually eat any children unlucky enough to get caught in her trap.
-
-Modifications: Cooking as level 6, deception and trickery as level 7, seeing through
-
-deception and trickery as level 4
-
-Combat: She can use the following abilities: charm, protect, and vitality. She is immune to visual effects, including
-hallucinations.
-
-Interaction: The Blind Witch can appear sweet and charming, and might play up her blindness and apparent frailty for
-sympathy.
-
-Use: Characters wandering the woods might come upon a candy house, and woe to them
-
-should they take a bite. A rescue mission could lead here.
-
-Loot: She usually has at least one magical animal in a cage, along with various children and
-
-even adults. Two or three cyphers can be found in her kitchen, along with her magic oven, which bakes children into
-gingerbread.
-
-Dame Gothel 5 (15)
-
-Sometimes taking the form of a young woman and sometimes an old one, Dame Gothel cares for one thing above all: her
-beautiful walled garden, the flowers and vegetables that grow inside it being the envy of all others. Unlike many other
-witches, she does not harm children and in fact has been known to protect them, at least as long as they are innocent of
-wrongdoing.
-
-Modifications: Gardening and potions as level 6
-
-Combat: She can use the following abilities: heal, imprison, protect, and shrivel.
-
-Interaction: Dame Gothel is an introvert who mostly desires to be left alone, and woe be
-
-to those who invade her space in any way, for she has a deep sense of right and wrong and a penchant for revenge upon
-those who cross her. However, she has been known to help those seeking aid, and is particularly skilled in using what
-she grows in her garden to aid her magic.
-
-Use: The characters need a concoction to heal someone, remove a curse, or help them get pregnant. The characters
-accidentally trespass on Dame Gothel's space.
-
-Loot: Various plants, potions, and cyphers
-
-The Sea Witch 6 (18)
-
-Living in the darkest depths of the sea, the Sea Witch is dangerous, wily, persuasive, and scheming. She is best known
-for brewing up life options—for a price. If you want what she's got (and she's got everything), you bring her what she
-wants. It might be your voice, your hair, or your firstborn. Or all three. Surely you won't miss them . . .
-
-Modifications: Persuasion, intimidation, coercion, and swimming as level 8
-
-Combat: She can use the following abilities: charm, familiar (water snakes), glamour, imprison, protect, seduce, and
-shrivel.
-
-Interaction: The Sea Witch will always make a bargain, take a bet, gamble all she's got on
-
-the downtrodden and woe-be-gotten. Not because her heart is big, but because she makes sure that the house—that's
-her—always wins.
-
-Use: The characters need a potion, a spell, a curse, or any other bit of magic, large or
-
-small, and the Sea Witch will find a way to put it in their hands and let them walk away
-
-thinking they've come out ahead. At least until she comes to collect.
-
-Loot: A chest full of gifts and winnings from lovers, fawners, and those who should have known better, including 1d6
-cyphers and two artifacts.
-
-The Wicked Witch of the West 5 (15)
-
-With her three pigtails and diminutive stature, it would be easy to write off the Wicked Witch of the West as a
-nobody—and many have—but her power lies in the creatures that work for her and in her vast and growing collection of
-magical footwear.
-
-She can see up to 2 miles (3 km) away with her single eye, and wears galoshes that give her +2 Armor against water and
-liquid of all kinds.
-
-Modifications: Tasks involving water and the dark as level 3
-
-Combat: She carries an umbrella that acts as a heavy weapon, and she can use the following abilities: familiar (pack of
-wolves, swarm of bees, flock of crows, and an army
-
-of flying monkeys), hexbolt, imprison, protect, and shrivel.
-
-Interaction: She is volatile in nature and quick to anger. However, she can also be a bit cowardly, and will likely back
-down in a confrontation (only to send her hordes of magical animals out afterward to do her dirty work).
-
-Use: The characters need to find galoshes of fortune and decide to steal a pair from the
-
-Wicked Witch of the West. Perhaps they need to make it through the land she presides over and must find a way to get her
-approval.
-
-Loot: Whatever shoes she's wearing (which are very likely an artifact).
-
 ### NPCs
 
 The NPCs in the following section are general examples of nonmagical, mortal human characters that are commonly found in
@@ -31388,229 +28951,6 @@
 you call them all Jack, then no one (including you) will remember which one is which. Consider coming up with a list of
 names ahead of time so that you're always ready to give players something to call a new walk-on character.
 
-Aristocrat 4 (12)
-
-Aristocrats are not quite high royalty—they are not kings or queens, nor even princes and princesses—but they are those
-with money and power enough to wield in dangerous or glorious ways. Knights and barons are typically aristocrats, as are
-characters like Bluebeard and Mr. Fox. Some aristocrats, such as knights, may only want to do good and protect the
-things that matter to them. Others, of course, prefer to use the darker side of their privileged position.
-
-Motive: Money, power, marriage, take who or what they want, protect what they care about Environment: Typically in
-cities and towns, occasionally off by themselves in large castles and manors
-
-Health: 12
-
-Damage Inflicted: 5 points
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Social engineering, persuasion, intimidation, and lying as level 6
-
-Combat: Many aristocrats have had training in combat maneuvers, as is appropriate to their station. Others may wield
-knives, scalpels, or butcher's tools with precision.
-
-Interaction: Interaction with an aristocrat often starts out positive—after all, it is delightful to be in the glow of
-someone so charming and powerful. For some, the interaction remains positive. A knight is just a knight. For others, a
-sense of unease begins to settle in after a time, as if there's something not quite right behind the facade.
-
-Use: An aristocrat is about to marry and someone is worried about the safety of their future spouse. A knight is
-outmatched by a dragon or other strong opponent and seeks someone to come to their aid.
-
-Loot: Most aristocrats have currency equal to a very expensive item, in addition to fine clothes or medium armor,
-weapons, and miscellaneous items.
-
-GM intrusions: The aristocrat's house has a sentient door or lock that suddenly begins to yell about intruders.
-
-Child 1 (3)
-
-Children play the roles of urchins, siblings, daughters, sons, waifs, servants, royal family members, child brides, and
-more.
-
-Motive: Seeking safety, comfort, money, or food; play; bringing joy
-
-Environment: With their families, or lost in the world trying to find their way. Sometimes in
-
-the employ or care of someone who has found them, stolen them, or otherwise become
-
-their guardians, caretakers, or keepers.
-
-Health: 3
-
-Damage Inflicted: 1 point
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Run, hide, sneak, and escape as level 2; knowledge of the nearby area, people, and activities as level 3
-
-Combat: Most children fight only in response to being provoked, threatened, or attacked. They typically use makeshift
-weapons, such as their fists, a stick, or a toy.
-
-Interaction: Children are often smarter, more creative, and more wily than they're given credit for. They may have a lot
-of knowledge about nearby people, places, and activities that can help the PCs, particularly if there's an exchange of
-food, money, or other goodies involved.
-
-Use: Someone or something is stealing children from the village, and the mayor is offering to pay a large sum to anyone
-who tracks down the creature and rescues the children. One of the PCs catches a waif stealing from their pack in the
-night; the child says they've been lost in the woods for days.
-
-Loot: Children typically have very little on their person, although they may have a special memento of their family or a
-close friend.
-
-GM intrusions: The child shouts, laughs, or talks too loudly, accidentally drawing the attention of a nearby guard
-toward a character.
-
-Someone mistakenly thinks a character has stolen the child, and attacks them.
-
-Crafter 2 (6)
-
-Crafters include bakers, cobblers, candlemakers, butchers, millers, tailors, woodworkers, and cooks. While most crafters
-aren't particularly agile fighters, they are usually clever and strong, and have a number of familiar tools at their
-disposal for weapons.
-
-Motive: Defense
-
-Environment: In their workshops or peddling their trade while traveling
-
-Health: 8
-
-Damage Inflicted: 3 points
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Appropriate craft as level 3
-
-Combat: Crafters are unlikely to initiate combat, as most just want to be left alone to do
-
-their work (or to convince you to buy their wares). If they're forced to fight, they will typically use any item they
-have at hand (such as a rolling pin, butcher's knife, crafting tool, or length of wood).
-
-Interaction: Most crafters are happy to talk about their craft or the objects that they've made and have for sale. They
-take pride in their work, and flattery and attention can go a long way.
-
-Use: To the PCs, crafters can be allies, obstacles, or both. Being friends with a crafter often has obvious long-term
-benefits, while stealing from them has short-term advantages (and possible long-term disadvantages).
-
-Loot: A crafter has currency equivalent to an inexpensive item, as well as crafting tools and materials and anything
-they've crafted that they're carrying or wearing.
-
-GM intrusion: The crafter uses their crafting tool in a way that the character didn't anticipate, putting the character
-in a disadvantaged position.
-
-Huntsman/Woodcutter 2 (6)
-
-A huntsman may be in the employ of a powerful magic user, protecting a section of the woods they consider their own, or
-just trying to provide for their family by chopping wood and hunting game.
-
-Motive: Follow orders, support their loved ones, protect the innocent
-
-Environment: Woods, forests, and other wild lands
-
-Health: 8
-
-Damage Inflicted: 2 points
-
-Armor: 1
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Tracking and pathfinding as level 4
-
-Combat: Huntsmen and woodcutters both understand the power of the perfectly aimed
-
-shot or swing. They take their time, steady their hand and breath, and hit with precision
-
-and force.
-
-When they take no action on a turn, their next attack inflicts twice the normal damage. Interaction: Many huntsmen and
-woodcutters are motivated by a deep need to be loyal,
-
-but they're also soft of heart and have a strong moral center. If they're tasked with
-
-something they deem unpalatable, they may forgo their promises and go rogue.
-
-Use: They are hunting the characters on the orders of a higher authority. They save the PCs
-
-from a dangerous foe, then ask for assistance for their own tasks.
-
-Loot: In addition to their clothing and mundane weapon, they likely have an expensive
-
-token of promise or affection from someone they have helped or who they owe fealty to.
-
-GM intrusion: A perfectly timed cut sends a tree down in the direction of the character.
-
-Robber/Thief 4 (12)
-
-Robbers, thieves, highwaymen, robin hoods—whatever name you call them, they want what you have, and they're willing to
-get it any way they can. Some robbers are honorable, stealing only from the rich or the evil. Others will take anything
-that isn't nailed down or magically protected.
-
-Robbers often travel in pairs or small groups of dedicated friends and fellow robbers. Motive: What's yours is mine
-
-Environment: Anywhere there's something to be stolen
-
-Health: 12
-
-Damage Inflicted: 2 points
-
-Armor: 1
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Stealth, including sneaking, stealing, hiding, and deception, as level 5; attacking from hiding as level
-### 5
-
-Combat: Robbers typically prefer light and medium weapons, particularly bows and small blades. Interaction: Most robbers
-have a moral code of some sort—it just may not be the code
-
-that others abide by. Still, they are willing to listen to reason (and particularly the sound of sliding coins). Robbers
-are often willing to be hired for jobs that are too difficult for others.
-
-Use: Robbers happen upon the place where the characters have made camp, and ask to join them. A group of robbers arrives
-to steal a thing that the characters are just about to steal themselves.
-
-Loot: Depending on whether they've just robbed someone or not, robbers may have anywhere from nothing (other than their
-weapons and clothing) up to the currency equivalent of a very expensive item.
-
-GM intrusion: The robber's arrow manages to hit two foes in a single attack, or the robber shoots two arrows at multiple
-foes.
-
-Scholar 2 (6)
-
-Scholars might be librarians, sages, wise women, crones, experts, or soothsayers. Typically, scholars seek knowledge
-above all else, and many also are willing to share it with others (sometimes for a price, sometimes just for the joy of
-sharing knowledge). A scholar's expertise might be general or specific—they may study the world at large or home in on a
-specific type of magic or fey being, for example.
-
-Motive: Find answers, seek knowledge
-
-Environment: Schools, libraries, the royal study, laboratories, and anywhere there are sources of information
-
-Health: 6
-
-Damage Inflicted: 3 points
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Intuition, persuasion, detecting falsehoods, and most knowledge tasks as level 4
-
-Combat: Scholars prefer to avoid a fight. If they must fight, a scholar tries to deduce a foe's
-
-weaknesses (if any) and exploit them in combat. Some scholars might have learned spells or abilities from those they've
-studied. Others might be examining a useful cypher or artifact, and will use it on their attackers.
-
-Interaction: Most scholars are helpful and full of information (whether or not it's useful or true information varies
-from scholar to scholar). What they don't know, they may be willing to learn or study, if given the proper tools and
-incentive. However, some scholars are secretive, hoarding their knowledge for their own personal uses.
-
-Use: Scholars can be incredible allies, offering clues, hints, and information that can help the characters. However,
-they may be reclusive and hard to find, hidden away in ancient libraries or secret laboratories.
-
-Loot: Most scholars have currency equivalent to a very expensive item and one or two cyphers.
-
-GM Intrusion: Something the scholar is studying comes alive, creating havoc and disarray throughout the area.
-
 ### HORROR RULES MODULE
 
 Although it's very likely a subset of the modern genre, horror as a genre gets special treatment. Unlike the other
@@ -31799,6 +29139,71 @@
 task so they don't have to roll at all and risk an intrusion. This ends up depleting their Pools faster, which makes
 them feel more vulnerable.
 
+### USING GM INTRUSIONS IN HORROR MODE
+
+With the GM intrusions coming fast and furious toward the end of Horror Mode, it's easy to run out of ideas. In combat,
+intrusions might just mean that the monster or villain gets a surprise extra attack or inflicts more damage. Perhaps a
+PC is thrown to the ground or nearer to the edge of a cliff. If the characters are running away, one might trip and
+fall. If the PCs are exploring, a bookcase topples, potentially hitting someone. Think of all the similar moments you've
+seen in horror films.
+
+Sometimes, if the GM prefers, the GM intrusion can simply be something frightening, like a moan or a whisper. These
+aren't dangerous to the PCs, but they escalate the tension and indicate that something bad is getting closer.
+
+In fact, while in Horror Mode, GMs should mostly refrain from doing anything bad, ominous, or dangerous unless it's an
+intrusion (either from a die roll or through the awarding of XP). In a horror game, GM intrusions are an indication that
+things are bad and getting worse, and whenever possible, the GM should allow the Horror Mode escalation to drive the
+action. This makes the GM more of a slave to the dice than in other Cypher System situations, but that's okay.
+
+Consider this example. The PCs have tracked something that is probably committing a series of horrific murders to an old
+factory. They enter the building to explore. The GM knows where the creature is hiding in the factory, but decides that
+it doesn't become aware of the characters until an intrusion is indicated. The only clue the PCs have is a mysterious
+noise off in the darkness. The creature doesn't move toward them until another GM intrusion occurs. Now they hear
+something dragging across the factory floor, coming closer. But it's not until a third intrusion occurs that the
+creature lunges out from behind an old machine at the PC who rolled the die.
+
+In some ways, the status quo doesn't change until an intrusion happens. This could be seen as limiting the GM and the
+need for pacing, but remember that the GM can still have an intrusion occur anytime they desire, in addition to waiting
+for the low die rolls.
+
+(GMs may want to limit the number of intrusions to no more than one per round, no matter what the dice indicate, but
+that should be based on the situation.)
+
+### OPTIONAL RULE: MADNESS
+
+Having characters descend into madness is an interesting facet of some kinds of horror and can make long-term horror
+campaigns more interesting. The easiest way to portray blows to a character's sanity is through Intellect damage. When
+PCs encounter something shocking, as described above, they always take Intellect damage. If they would normally move one
+step down the damage track due to the damage, they instead immediately regain points (equal to 1d6 + their tier) in
+their Intellect Pools but lose 1 point from their maximums in that Pool. Characters whose Intellect Pools reach 0 go
+insane. They lose their current descriptor and adopt the Mad descriptor, regain 1d6 + tier points to their Intellect
+Pools, and gain +1 to their Intellect Edge. If they ever reach a permanent Intellect Pool maximum of 0 again, they go
+stark raving mad and are no longer playable.
+
+Intellect Edge offers an interesting means to portray a character who is knowledgeable (and perhaps even powerful in
+terms of mental abilities) yet mentally fragile. A character with a low Intellect Pool but a high Intellect Edge can
+perform Intellect actions well (since Edge is very helpful) but is still vulnerable to Intellect damage (where Edge is
+of no help).
+
+Since Cypher System games are meant to be story based, players should recognize that the degrading sanity of their
+character is part of the story. A player who feels that their character is going mad can talk to the GM, and the two of
+them can work out the means to portray that—perhaps by using the Mad descriptor, permanently trading up to 4 points from
+their Intellect Pool to gain +1 to their Intellect Edge, or anything else that seems appropriate. Mental disorders,
+manias, psychopathy, schizophrenia, or simple phobias can be added to a character's traits, but they don't need to be
+quantified in game statistics or die rolls. They're simply part of the character.
+
+Inabilities in personal interaction or any area requiring focus might be appropriate, perhaps allowing the PC to gain
+training in weird lore or forbidden knowledge. Or maybe the opposite is true—as the character's mind slowly slips away,
+they become oddly compelled or can obsessively focus on a single task for indefinite periods, and thus they gain
+training in that topic or skill. These kinds of changes could be balanced with inabilities, such as being unable to
+remember important details.
+
+As another way to represent madness, the GM could hinder Intellect-based tasks that would be considered routine, such as
+"remembering your friends and family" or "caring what happens to your best friend" or "stopping yourself from injecting
+a mysterious substance into your veins." These routine tasks normally have a difficulty of 0, but for a PC who has lost
+their mind, they might have a difficulty of 1, 2, or even higher. Now the character must make rolls to do even those
+simple things.
+
 ### ESCALATION RATE
 
 <table>
@@ -32230,712 +29635,6 @@
 
 \* Creature found in the Cypher System Rulebook
 
-Blob 8 (24)
-
-The huge, undulating mass of this creature is composed of a mucus-like solid. The half-amorphous blob defeats its foes
-by absorbing prey, integrating a victim's tissue into its own. In essence, the victim becomes the blob, and all of the
-victim's knowledge is available to the blob for later use.
-
-If it later desires, a blob can release a nearly perfect replicant of any creature that it has absorbed. Replicants have
-the memories and personalities of the originals, but they do the blob's bidding, which is usually to explore distant
-locations or lure prey into the open using a friendly face. A particularly well-crafted replicant might not know it's
-not the original. Creating a replicant takes a blob a day or two of effort, during which time it's unable to defend
-itself or eat, so it's not a task the creature attempts lightly.
-
-Motive: Assimilation of all flesh
-
-Environment: Anywhere
-
-Health: 66
-
-Damage Inflicted: 8 points (acid gout)
-
-Movement: Immediate; immediate when burrowing
-
-Modifications: Speed defense as level 5 due to size
-
-Combat: The blob can project a gout of acid at short range against a single target. Though slow, a blob is always moving
-forward. A character (or two characters next to each other) within immediate range of a blob must succeed on a Might
-defense roll each round or be partly caught under the heaving mass of the advancing creature. A caught victim adheres to
-the blob's surface and takes 10 points of damage each round. The victim must succeed on a Might defense roll to pull
-free. A victim who dies from this damage is consumed by the blob, and their body becomes part of the creature.
-
-If a blob has absorbed living flesh within the last hour, it regenerates 3 points of health per round while its health
-is above 0.
-
-Interaction: A blob's favored method of communication is to absorb whoever tries to interact with it. If a replicant is
-handy, the blob might talk through it if the blob can touch the replicant and use it like a puppet.
-
-Use: The old man the PCs accidentally hit with their vehicle has a weird, mucus-like growth on one hand (in addition to
-the damage he sustained in the accident). He probably should be taken to the hospital to have his injuries and the
-quivering growth looked at.
-
-Loot: A blob might have several cyphers swirling about in its mass that it uses to equip replicants.
-
-GM intrusion: The character pulls free of a blob they were caught under, but a piece of quivering protoplasm remains
-stuck to their flesh. They must do serious damage to themselves (enough to incapacitate) within the hour, scraping off
-the protoplasm before it absorbs them and becomes a new mini-blob.
-
-Cryptic Moth 5 (15)
-
-Normal moths are enigmatic, gauzy haunts of twilight. The feathery touch of their wings on your face can startle, even
-frighten. This is to be expected, since moths are the children of cryptic moths, malign and intelligent entities of
-another realm. Sometimes referred to as mothmen, other times as shadow faeries, cryptic moths are certainly alien. Each
-possesses a unique wing pattern and coloration, and, to some extent, body shape. These patterns
-
-and colors may signify where in the hierarchy a particular cryptic moth stands among its siblings of the night, but for
-those who do not speak the language of moths, the complexity of their social structure is overwhelming.
-
-Motive: Capture humans, possibly for food, possibly for breeding purposes
-
-Environment: Almost anywhere, usually at night
-
-Health: 23
-
-Damage Inflicted: 5 points
-
-Movement: Short; long when flying
-
-Modifications: All knowledge tasks as level 6; stealth tasks as level 7 while invisible
-
-Combat: Cryptic moths usually enter combat only when they wish, because until they attack
-
-and become visible, they can remain unseen and invisible to most eyes. The touch of a cryptic moth's wing draws life and
-energy from targets, inflicting 5 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor).
-
-Cryptic moths regain 1 point of health per round while their health is above 0, unless
-
-they've been damaged with a silvered or cold iron weapon, or by electrical attacks.
-
-Once every hour or so, a cryptic moth can summon a swarm of normal moths to aid
-
-them in combat or, more often, serve as a fashion accessory or component in a piece of living art.
-
-Moth swarm: level 2
-
-If a cryptic moth is prepared, it may carry cyphers useful in combat, and perhaps even an artifact.
-
-Interaction: Although very few cryptic moths speak human languages, peaceful interaction
-
-with these creatures is not impossible. It's just extremely difficult, as they see most
-
-humans as a source of food or bodies to lay their eggs in.
-
-Use: A character is followed by a cryptic moth intent on capturing and enslaving them.
-
-Loot: A cryptic moth usually has a few cyphers, and possibly a delicate artifact.
-
-GM intrusion: The cryptic moth grabs the character and flies up and away, taking the victim with them.
-
-Elder Thing 8 (24)
-
-Elder things are mostly extinct, but a few remain trapped in the Antarctic ice or rule over crumbling cities in deep
-trenches at the bottom of the ocean.
-
-Beholding an elder thing bends the mind to the point of breaking. An elder thing has a great barrel-like body standing
-some 8 feet (2 m) tall. Knobby protrusions in the crown and base each unfold five appendages that recall the arms of a
-starfish. When agitated, an elder thing unfolds a pair of wings that help it flutter a limited distance.
-
-Meddling by elder things created multicellular life that spread across Earth billions of years ago and ultimately
-brought about humanity. As the younger species grew in numbers and influence, the elder things went into decline, a
-process hastened by wars against strange beings from other worlds and uprisings by the servitor race they created, the
-shoggoths.
-
-Motive: Reclaim absolute sovereignty
-
-Environment: In arctic regions or deep underwater
-
-Health: 30
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Movement: Immediate; long when flying
-
-Modifications: All tasks related to knowledge of magic or science as level 10; Speed defense
-
-as level 6 due to form
-
-Combat: An elder thing can attack with five tentacles divided any way it chooses among up
-
-to three targets within immediate range. A target hit by a tentacle must also succeed on a Speed defense roll or become
-grabbed until it escapes. Each round, the elder thing automatically inflicts 6 points of damage on each grabbed target
-until the victim succeeds on a Might defense roll to escape.
-
-An elder thing can reach into the mind of a target within short distance. If the target fails an Intellect defense roll,
-the elder thing reads their thoughts while the target remains within long
-
-distance. During this time, the elder thing knows everything the target knows, hindering the target's attack and defense
-rolls against the elder thing. The elder thing can use an action to rend the target's thoughts, which inflicts 6 points
-of Intellect damage on a failed Intellect defense roll. An elder thing can passively read the thoughts of up to two
-creatures at one time.
-
-An elder thing also might carry a few cyphers and an artifact it can use in combat.
-
-Interaction: An elder thing communicates through whistles and pops created by moving air through tiny orifices arranged
-around its body. Elder things see humans as a lesser form of life and may demand worship, sacrifices, or something else
-from people it encounters.
-
-Use: Fishermen return to a coastal village with a large block of ice in tow. In the ice is something dark and large—an
-elder thing frozen alive. If the thing thaws out, it will likely take over the community and enslave the people living
-there.
-
-Loot: An elder thing usually has one artifact and two or three cyphers.
-
-GM intrusion: A character who sees an elder thing for the first time goes temporarily crazy on a failed Intellect
-defense roll. They might stand in place and gibber, run away, or laugh hysterically for a few rounds. If the character
-takes damage, they shake off the temporary madness.
-
-Fundamental Angel 7 (21)
-
-Fundamental angels are mysterious holy beings that maintain and guard fundamental concepts of the universe, such as
-time, gravity, and energy. They have powers and agendas deriving from higher states of reality. They are strange,
-terrifying, and inconstant in form, unlike the relatively benign and comprehensible winged humanoids from religion and
-myth.
-
-In the rare times when mortals interfere with these concepts, fundamental angels manifest in the world to set things
-right. They have intervened to destroy cataclysmic atomic weapons, power sources that skirt the rules of matter and
-energy, and life forms that betray the principles of creation.
-
-For the purpose of vampire aversions, the angel's direct and area attacks count as religious power or sunlight,
-whichever is worse for the vampire.
-
-Motive: Preserving the natural order
-
-Environment: Anywhere, usually in response to mortal activity
-
-Health: 35
-
-Damage Inflicted: 8 points
-
-Armor: 2 (+3 against energy)
-
-Movement: Short; short when flying
-
-Modifications: All knowledge as level 9; attacks against mad science and supernatural targets as level 8
-
-Combat: A fundamental angel attacks other creatures by creating a long-range blast of
-
-bright divine energy that inflicts 8 points of damage. In addition, it automatically inflicts 4 points of damage each
-round against all creatures within short range, although it can shield itself with wings or other protrusions to negate
-this effect against individuals.
-
-Any creature within long range that sees it and fails an Intellect defense roll becomes frightened unless the angel
-tells it (specifically or in general) not to be afraid.
-
-As an action, it can teleport up to a hundred miles away or transport itself fully to its native dimension where it
-exists as pure thought and spirit.
-
-Interaction: A fundamental angel operates on a mental and metaphysical level far above humans and doesn't bother to
-explain itself to anyone other than its targets. It goes out of its way to not harm innocent creatures. It can
-communicate with any creature that uses language.
-
-Use: "FEAR NOT!" says the radiant being that appears out of nowhere. It ignores bystanders and uses a beam of energy to
-destroy a scientist and his experimental reactor.
-
-Loot: Fundamental angels sometimes create or refresh subtle cyphers by their mere presence.
-
-GM intrusions:
-
-A fundamental angel's successful attack also blinds its opponent, lasting until they make an Intellect defense roll (try
-once each round).
-
-A fundamental angel makes a second attack this round against a target that is adjacent to its primary target.
-
-Hivemind Child 2 (6)
-
-A hivemind family is a scouting expedition of part-alien creatures sent to study and infiltrate human society, either
-out of scientific curiosity or as a long-term plan for world domination or human extinction. Some entities might
-intercept human astronauts, reprogramming their DNA or attaching a parasite to their mind or soul. Others might send a
-machine to
-
-an isolated community, remotely impregnating some of the inhabitants to gestate and give birth at the same time. The end
-result is a group of hivemind children who have a psychic link, unusual powers, and loyalty to their inhuman creators.
-
-Hivemind children often have a very similar appearance even if they have different parents—they might all have pale
-blond hair, unusually wide-set eyes, six fingers on one hand, or an odd posture. They eerily match each other's
-expressions and movements. They think and speak as children years older than they appear. Their emotional responses are
-muted to an almost sociopathic extent.
-
-Depending on their origin, the weird children may be mentored or protected by an altered adult, or by human parents in
-denial about the monsters they care for.
-
-Motive: Conquest, exploration, infiltration
-
-Environment: Human settlements
-
-Health: 6
-
-Damage Inflicted: 2 points
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Mental attacks and Intellect defense as level 3; defend against attacks from
-
-living creatures as level 3 due to mind reading; perception and scientific knowledge as
-
-level 4
-
-Combat: Individually, hivemind children are physically no stronger or more durable than
-
-a typical human. Their true strength is in their ability to read and control minds. Their telepathic link means that if
-one of them knows something, all of them within long range automatically know it.
-
-Hivemind children can automatically read the surface thoughts of anyone they can
-
-see within short range, even if the target is unwilling. As an action, they can force
-
-an intelligent living creature within short range to take a physical action, including something that would cause the
-target harm, such as forcing a target to stick their hand into boiling water, steer a moving car off a cliff, or shoot
-themselves with a pistol (if used as an attack, this inflicts damage equal to the hivemind child's level or the
-controlled creature's level, whichever is greater).
-
-Two hivemind children within short range of each other automatically augment each other's mental powers, allowing them
-to read or control minds of two targets at once as a level 4 creature. Four within short range of each other can read or
-control minds of four targets at once as a level 5 creature, and eight or more can work together to read or control
-minds of eight people as a level 6 creature.
-
-Interaction: Hivemind children want to protect themselves and observe humans and will try to do so until they appear as
-old as adults. Their long-term goals are unclear but probably don't have humanity's best interests in mind.
-
-Use: Children born after a scientific expedition are strange and different. Multiple small villages all over the world
-experience births of children with weird abilities.
-
-Loot: Hivemind children may have no useful items or one weird science device they've built with their inhuman knowledge.
-
-GM intrusions:
-
-A group of hivemind children briefly manifest a teleportation or telekinesis ability
-
-at the same level as their mind control.
-
-The injury or death of one hivemind child angers the rest, increasing their level and damage by +2 for one round.
-
-Ighthsian 5 (15)
-
-Ichthysians are thought to be aquatic evolutionary offshoots of hominids or the result of experiments trying to fuse
-human and amphibian or fish DNA. They are physically similar to humans standing fully upright, with webbed hands, claws,
-froglike or fishlike features, gills, and strong muscles from a lifetime of swimming. They live in the water but are
-comfortable with extended forays onto land. Their intelligence is between that of a smart animal and a human; they can
-use simple tools such as rocks and sticks, and may build dams to modify waterways in their territory.
-
-Some ichthysians are reputed to have the ability to heal others, and local villages may worship these beings as gods.
-
-Motive: Hunger for flesh, curiosity, solitude
-
-Environment: Anywhere near bodies of fresh water Health: 18
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Short on land; long in the water
-
-Modifications: Strength-based tasks and swimming as level 6; defense against poison as level 3
-
-Combat: Ichthysians attack with their
-
-powerful claws. They are less mobile on land and prefer to attack from the water. If overmatched, they would rather flee
-to deep, dark water than fight to the death.
-
-An ichthysian regenerates 2 points of health each round as long as it starts the round with at least 0 health. This
-regeneration greatly extends their lifespan, and it is common for them to live to be more than two hundred years old.
-
-Ichthysians are prone to mutation, especially in response to pollutants and other chemicals. These mutations might be
-physical deformities, but could be as strange as transparent flesh, poisonous skin, extra eyes with enhanced senses, or
-extra limbs.
-
-Interaction: Ichthysians are not aggressive but will retaliate with full force against anything that attacks them, and
-one can remember specific enemy humans from its past.
-
-Use: A cryptid fish-person has been spotted in the vicinity of a deforested area adjacent to a mighty river. Villagers
-tell stories of an ancient water god that heals sickness and grants wishes.
-
-Loot: An ichthysian's lair might have a strange relic or device that works like a cypher or artifact.
-
-GM Intrusions:
-
-A slain ichthysian suddenly regenerates 5 health and immediately attacks or tries to flee.
-
-The ichthysian suddenly mutates in response to an attack, thereafter gaining +2 Armor or +2 levels in defense against
-that type of attack.
-
-Mummy 6 (18)
-
-Mummies are intelligent undead, usually royalty or members of the priesthood, risen from their burial places to destroy
-those who disturbed their rest. Many seek to undo wrongs against them from ages past or re-establish themselves in their
-former high stations.
-
-Motive: Vengeance, love, power
-
-Environment: Regions where mummification was common Health: 24
-
-Damage Inflicted: 7 points
-
-Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Climb, stealth, ancient history, and ancient religion as level 8
-
-Combat: Mummies are strong, capable of lifting an adult human with one hand and throwing the person across a room. They
-attack with weapons that were buried with them or use their fists. A mummy usually has one or more of the following
-abilities:
-
-Curse: Anyone who disturbs a mummy's tomb must make an Intellect defense roll or become cursed, which hinders their
-
-actions by two steps (forever, or until cured).
-
-Disease: The mummy's attacks carry a rotting disease. The target must make a level 5 Might defense roll every twelve
-hours or take 5 points of ambient damage.
-
-Lifelike appearance: A mummy can repair its body to assume a fully human appearance. This usually requires time and the
-flesh of several people, often those who awakened it.
-
-Magic: Once per hour, the mummy can cast a spell from the Minor Wish character ability.
-
-Minion: Animate up to four mummified bodies as mindless lesser mummies or skeletons (depending on how well the bodies
-are preserved), lasting for one day.
-
-Lesser mummy: level 3, climb and stealth as level 4; health 12; Armor 1
-
-Swarm: Call a swarm of bugs (usually scarab beetles or scorpions) to attack a foe or obscure vision.
-
-Swarm of bugs: level 3
-
-Interaction: Mummies want to destroy anyone who disturbs their burial places. Ambitious mummies might choose living
-beings to be their spies and servants, bribing them with funereal treasures or threatening them into submission.
-
-Use: Villagers whisper that a tomb has been opened and a mummy's curse will strike down anyone who gets in the
-creature's way.
-
-Loot: Mummies usually have treasures equivalent to three or four expensive items and perhaps a handful of magical
-manifest cyphers or even a magical artifact.
-
-GM Intrusions:
-
-A dying mummy speaks a curse upon those who killed it, hindering all their actions by two steps (forever, or until
-cured).
-
-What was overlooked as a fake or a prop turns out to be an actual mummy and attacks a character.
-
-Nightguant 3 (9)
-
-A nightgaunt's hands and feet have no opposable digits. All its fingers and toes can grasp with firm but unpleasant
-boneless strength. Hungry nightgaunts swoop out of the night, grab prey, and fly off into darkness. The creatures
-sometimes "work" for other agencies, though often enough, their goals are obscure.
-
-Motive: Unknowable
-
-Environment: Anywhere dark, usually in groups of four to seven
-
-Health: 9
-
-Damage Inflicted: 4 points
-
-Armor: 1
-
-Movement: Immediate; long when flying (short when flying with a victim) Modifications: Perception and Speed defense as
-level 4; stealth
-
-as level 7
-
-Combat: A nightgaunt can attack with its barbed tail. To catch a foe, a nightgaunt dives through the air from just
-outside of short range. When it does, it moves 100 feet (30 m) in a round and attempts to grab a victim near the
-midpoint of its movement. A target who
-
-fails a Speed defense roll (and who isn't more than twice the size of the nightgaunt) is jerked into the creature's
-boneless clutches and carried upward, finding themselves dangling from a height of 50 feet (15 m).
-
-The nightgaunt automatically tickles grabbed victims with its barbed tail. This subtle form of torture hinders all the
-victim's actions by two steps.
-
-Interaction: Nightgaunts never speak, and they ignore anyone who attempts to interact with
-
-them, whether the communication takes the form of commanding, beseeching, or frantically pleading. Such is the way of
-nightgaunts.
-
-Use: Someone who bears one or more of the PCs a grudge discovers a tome of spells and summons a flight of nightgaunts,
-which set off in search of their prey.
-
-Loot: One in three nightgaunts has a valuable souvenir from a past victim, which might be an expensive watch, a ring, an
-amulet, or sometimes a cypher.
-
-GM intrusion: The character is startled by the nightgaunt and suffers the risk of temporary dementia. On a failed
-Intellect defense roll, the character shrieks and faints (or, at the GM's option, babbles, drools, laughs, and so on).
-The character can attempt a new Intellect defense roll each round to return to normal.
-
-Reanimated 6 (18)
-
-A reanimated is a humanoid creature patched together from corpses (or crafted directly from muscle, nerves, and sinew),
-then returned to life through a hard-to-duplicate series of electromagnetic induction events. Though made of flesh, a
-reanimated's return to consciousness and mobility is marked by a substantial increase in hardiness, resistance to
-injury, and longevity. On the other hand, the process usually obliterates whatever mind was once encoded in the donor's
-brain, giving rise to a creature of monstrous rage and childlike credulity. Sometimes the reanimated is bound to its
-creator in service, but such ties are fragile and could be snapped by an ill-timed fit of fury.
-
-Motive: Defense, unpredictable
-
-Environment: Anywhere in service to a mad scientist, or driven to the edges of civilization Health: 70
-
-Damage Inflicted: 7 points
-
-Movement: Short; long when jumping
-
-Modifications: Speed defense as level 4; interaction as level 2; feats of strength and toughness as level 8
-
-Combat: A reanimated attacks foes with its hands. Any time a foe inflicts 7 or more points of damage on the reanimated
-with a single melee attack, the creature immediately lashes out in reactive rage and makes an additional attack in the
-same round on the foe who injured it.
-
-If the reanimated begins combat within long range of foes but outside of short range, it can bridge the distance with an
-amazing leap that concludes with an attack as a single action. The attack inflicts 4 points of damage on all targets
-within immediate range of the spot where the reanimated lands.
-
-Some reanimated are psychologically vulnerable to fire, and they fear it. When these reanimated attack or defend against
-a foe wielding fire, their attacks and defenses are hindered by two steps.
-
-If struck by electricity, a reanimated regains a number of points of health equal to the damage the electricity would
-normally inflict.
-
-Interaction: Fear and food motivate a reanimated, though sometimes beautiful music or innocence can stay its fists.
-
-Use: Depending on where a reanimated falls along its moral and psychological development, it could be a primary foe for
-the PCs, a secondary guardian to deal with, or a forlorn beast in need of aid.
-
-GM Intrusion:
-
-The character's attack bounces harmlessly off the stitched, hardened flesh of the reanimated.
-
-Shoggoth 7 (21)
-
-Shoggoths vary in size, but the smallest are usually at least 10 feet (3 m) across. They are the product of incredibly
-advanced bioengineering by some strange species in the distant past. They are angry, vicious predators feared by any who
-have ever heard of these rare creatures (or who have encountered them and somehow survived to tell the tale). They were
-created by the elder things but overthrew their masters and now roam the vast, ancient cities they have claimed for
-themselves.
-
-Rumors abound of a few very rare, particularly intelligent shoggoths that intentionally reduce their own mass and learn
-to take on the forms of humans so they can integrate themselves into society (and prey upon humans at their leisure).
-
-Motive: Hungers for flesh
-
-Environment: Anywhere
-
-Health: 35
-
-Damage Inflicted: 10 points
-
-Armor: 10 against fire, cold, and electricity
-
-Movement: Long
-
-Modifications: Speed defense as level 6 due to size
-
-Combat: Shoggoths sprout tendrils and mouths and spread their wide, amorphous forms, allowing them to attack all foes
-within immediate range. Those struck by a shoggoth's attack are grabbed and engulfed by the thing's gelatinous body and
-suffer damage each
-
-round until they manage to pull themselves free (engulfed creatures can take no other physical actions while they are
-caught). Each round of entrapment, one object in the victim's possession is destroyed by the foul juices of the
-amorphous horror.
-
-Shoggoths regenerate 5 points of health each round. They have protection against fire, cold, and electricity.
-
-Interaction: A shoggoth can't be reasoned with.
-
-Use: The PCs find an ancient structure of metal and stone. Wandering through it, they note
-
-that every surface is clear of dirt and debris. Soon they discover why—a shoggoth squirms through the halls, absorbing
-everything it comes upon (and it fills the passages it moves down, floor to ceiling, wall to wall).
-
-Loot: A shoggoth's interior might contain a cypher.
-
-GM intrusion: The character is engulfed in the shoggoth, their gear scattered throughout the thing's undulating form,
-and their body turned upside down so that escape attempts are hindered.
-
-Yithian 6 (18)
-
-The yithians (also known as the Great Race of Yith) were immense wrinkly cones 10 feet (3 m) high, with a head, four
-limbs, and other organs spreading from the top of their body. They communicated by making noises with their hands and
-claws, and they moved by gliding their lower surface across a layer of slime, like a slug. Their civilization was
-destroyed a billion years before the present day, but they transported their minds into new bodies far in the future and
-may still be encountered observing the past (our present) by telepathically inhabiting human bodies.
-
-Motive: Knowledge Environment: Anywhere Health: 22
-
-Damage Inflicted: 6 points Armor: 2
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: All knowledge as level 8; Intellect defense as level 7; Speed defense as level 5
-
-due to size and speed
-
-Combat: Although large and hardy, members of the Great Race are ill-suited to physical
-
-combat. If they must engage in melee, they use pincer-like claws. They almost always wield artifacts and cyphers,
-however, which makes them dangerous opponents. Assume that a yithian has one or more of the following abilities arising
-from advanced technology devices:
-
-• Force field that grants them +3 Armor
-
-• Mental field that gives them +4 Armor against any mental attack
-
-• Ray emitter that inflicts 7 points of damage up to long range
-
-• Cloaking field that renders them invisible for up to ten minutes
-
-• Stun weapon with short range that makes the target fall unconscious for ten minutes
-
-Yithians have the ability to transfer their consciousness backward or forward through time, swapping minds with a
-creature native to the era they wish to observe. A yithian inhabiting the body of another creature is in complete
-control of that body. A creature trapped in the body of a yithian must attempt Intellect-based tasks each time it wishes
-to exert control.
-
-For the most part, it is trapped in the yithian's body and is merely along for the ride.
-
-It's worth noting that the bodies the yithians use are not their original bodies, but instead the bodies of supremely
-ancient creatures that they inhabit. The Great Race hails originally from some extraterrestrial world.
-
-Interaction: Yithians are not malicious, but they are quite focused and relatively uncaring about other races, such as
-humans.
-
-Use: A yithian projects its mind across the aeons, swapping consciousnesses with the character. While controlling the
-character's body, the yithian is there mainly to learn and observe, and rarely takes any violent actions.
-
-Loot: A yithian encountered in the flesh will have 1d6 manifest cyphers and very likely a technological artifact.
-
-GM intrusion:
-
-The yithian produces a cypher that has a function that is perfect for its current situation: a teleporter to get away, a
-protective field against precisely the kind of attack being used against it, or a weapon that exploits a weakness of the
-character's.
-
-### NPCs
-
-Cannibal 3 (9)
-
-A cannibal is someone who has decided that eating other people is not only necessary but desirable. Whether this
-decision was forced by circumstance or made out of some secret, maladaptive urge, cannibals are dangerous because they
-hide in plain sight, pretending friendship and aid for strangers until their prey lowers their guard. That's when a
-cannibal strikes. Some cannibals like it raw; others delight in elaborate preparations.
-
-Motive: Hungers for human flesh
-
-Health: 12
-
-Damage Inflicted: 5 points
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Deception, persuasion, intimidation, and tasks related to friendly interaction as level 6
-
-Combat: Cannibals use whatever weapon is at hand. They usually don't attack unless they can surprise their prey. When
-cannibals have surprise, they attack as level 5 creatures and inflict 2 additional points of damage.
-
-Interaction: Cannibals seem friendly and charming until they decide you are for dinner. Use: Characters looking for a
-place to sleep, hide, or stay for the night are invited in by one
-
-or more cannibals—perhaps an entire family of them.
-
-Loot: A cannibal has currency equivalent to a very expensive item and possibly a cypher.
-
-GM intrusion: The cannibal reveals a severed and gnawed- upon body part of a previous victim. The character must succeed
-on an Intellect defense task or be stunned and lose their next turn.
-
-Mad Scientist 4 (12)
-
-A mad scientist is someone who delves into areas of science best left unexamined, abandoning ethics and pushing for what
-can be created without asking if it should be.
-
-Motive: Understanding and exploiting reality
-
-Environment: Usually in a lab
-
-Health: 15
-
-Damage Inflicted: 7 points
-
-Movement: Short
-
-Modifications: Defends as level 6 due to a gadget (or cypher); knowledge of advanced
-
-science as level 7
-
-Combat: Mad scientists are usually accompanied by security guards, robots, zombies, or
-
-some other appropriate creature. A mad scientist can attempt to take command of an enemy's technological device (armor,
-a weapon, a cypher, a robot, and so on) within short range for up to one minute using a handheld device.
-
-Mad scientists usually have access to a long-range energy or high-velocity weapon that inflicts 7 points of damage. They
-often carry manifest cyphers that increase Armor, confuse opponents' senses, or transform themselves into a form that
-eases all their actions by two steps.
-
-Interaction: Mad scientists are narcissistic and love to monologue about their work. They negotiate but usually are
-sociopathic and don't care about other people. Some are filled with self-loathing but too far gone to feel they can
-change.
-
-Use: Blackouts and strange noises have been traced to a location found to hold a secret lab where a scientist is
-creating something amazing and monstrous.
-
-Loot: Mad scientists have a few manifest cyphers and possibly an artifact.
-
-GM intrusion: The mad scientist produces a gadget or cypher that proves to be the perfect answer to a dilemma at hand.
-
-### HORROR ARTIFACTS
-
-Most of the time, a horror artifact will be something really weird—an ancient tome of forbidden necromancy, an alien
-device that humans can barely understand, and so forth. They are often unique items rather than one of a type. Horror
-artifacts should probably come with a risk, such as a built-in cost, a drawback, or something else that makes using them
-another way to heighten the tension of the game. Several examples are below.
-
-### BOOK OF INVERSION
-
-Level: 8
-
-Form: Very large book of ancient providence, the cover bound in iron and wrapped in chains with a level 6 padlock
-
-Effect: When opened, the Book of Inversion shows a pair of pages that detail a magic spell in the reader's language,
-complete with disturbing diagrams. The spell's effect varies, but it is always some kind of horrible attack—a target is
-driven mad, a target is turned inside out, a target seeks to murder their best friend, several targets are cursed with a
-rotting disease, and so forth. The reader can automatically cast the spell as an action, one time only. More
-insidiously, if successful, the spell confers pleasure to the caster and fully restores all of their Pools. The caster
-must make an immediate Intellect defense roll or be compelled to use the book (and thus a new spell) again the next day.
-This compulsion is so strong that the caster will kill their dearest loved one to complete the task. If they are unable
-to use the book again, they are driven permanently mad. Woe to the caster who uses the book on the last time before it
-is depleted (at which point it crumbles to dust).
-
-Depletion: 1 in 1d10
-
-### SHADOW BOX
-
-Level: 7
-
-Form: Wooden and black metal box, about 12 inches by 7 inches by 3 inches (30 by 18 by 8 cm), with a hinged lid and a
-clasp
-
-Effect: When the box opens, shadows seethe out. These shadows coalesce into a form that best represents a deep fear in
-the subconscious of the person who opened the box. The opener must make an Intellect defense roll to master the shadow
-thing, which then acts as a level 7 creature under their control for five rounds before fading away. If the roll fails,
-the creature attacks the opener and anyone else around. To make matters worse, the opener spends the first round frozen
-in terror, doing nothing.
-
-Depletion: 1–2 in 1d6
-
-### SPHERE 23
-
-Level: 1d6 + 4
-
-Form: A 7-inch (18 cm) sphere of what appears to be fluid metal, tinted red
-
-Effect: Possibly one of a number of identical alien artifacts recovered in remote locales across the earth, the
-so-called sphere 23 will grant a wish to anyone who holds it and uses an action to concentrate on it. The wish can be
-anything, including something that bends reality: raising the dead, altering time, and so forth. However, the wisher
-must immediately make a Might defense roll or be consumed by the sphere. If the roll succeeds, they must then make an
-Intellect defense roll or be driven permanently and irrevocably mad.
-
-Depletion: 1–3 in 1d6
-
 ### HORROR CYPHERS
 
 Many horror genres feature physical objects that the protagonists can use—alien devices, magical talismans, or
@@ -33497,70 +30196,59 @@
 werewolf instead of being applied to a living creature, it hinders all the werewolf's actions and stops it from
 regenerating for several minutes.
 
-### USING GM INTRUSIONS IN HORROR MODE
+### HORROR ARTIFACTS
 
-With the GM intrusions coming fast and furious toward the end of Horror Mode, it's easy to run out of ideas. In combat,
-intrusions might just mean that the monster or villain gets a surprise extra attack or inflicts more damage. Perhaps a
-PC is thrown to the ground or nearer to the edge of a cliff. If the characters are running away, one might trip and
-fall. If the PCs are exploring, a bookcase topples, potentially hitting someone. Think of all the similar moments you've
-seen in horror films.
+Most of the time, a horror artifact will be something really weird—an ancient tome of forbidden necromancy, an alien
+device that humans can barely understand, and so forth. They are often unique items rather than one of a type. Horror
+artifacts should probably come with a risk, such as a built-in cost, a drawback, or something else that makes using them
+another way to heighten the tension of the game. Several examples are below.
 
-Sometimes, if the GM prefers, the GM intrusion can simply be something frightening, like a moan or a whisper. These
-aren't dangerous to the PCs, but they escalate the tension and indicate that something bad is getting closer.
+### BOOK OF INVERSION
 
-In fact, while in Horror Mode, GMs should mostly refrain from doing anything bad, ominous, or dangerous unless it's an
-intrusion (either from a die roll or through the awarding of XP). In a horror game, GM intrusions are an indication that
-things are bad and getting worse, and whenever possible, the GM should allow the Horror Mode escalation to drive the
-action. This makes the GM more of a slave to the dice than in other Cypher System situations, but that's okay.
+Level: 8
 
-Consider this example. The PCs have tracked something that is probably committing a series of horrific murders to an old
-factory. They enter the building to explore. The GM knows where the creature is hiding in the factory, but decides that
-it doesn't become aware of the characters until an intrusion is indicated. The only clue the PCs have is a mysterious
-noise off in the darkness. The creature doesn't move toward them until another GM intrusion occurs. Now they hear
-something dragging across the factory floor, coming closer. But it's not until a third intrusion occurs that the
-creature lunges out from behind an old machine at the PC who rolled the die.
+Form: Very large book of ancient providence, the cover bound in iron and wrapped in chains with a level 6 padlock
 
-In some ways, the status quo doesn't change until an intrusion happens. This could be seen as limiting the GM and the
-need for pacing, but remember that the GM can still have an intrusion occur anytime they desire, in addition to waiting
-for the low die rolls.
+Effect: When opened, the Book of Inversion shows a pair of pages that detail a magic spell in the reader's language,
+complete with disturbing diagrams. The spell's effect varies, but it is always some kind of horrible attack—a target is
+driven mad, a target is turned inside out, a target seeks to murder their best friend, several targets are cursed with a
+rotting disease, and so forth. The reader can automatically cast the spell as an action, one time only. More
+insidiously, if successful, the spell confers pleasure to the caster and fully restores all of their Pools. The caster
+must make an immediate Intellect defense roll or be compelled to use the book (and thus a new spell) again the next day.
+This compulsion is so strong that the caster will kill their dearest loved one to complete the task. If they are unable
+to use the book again, they are driven permanently mad. Woe to the caster who uses the book on the last time before it
+is depleted (at which point it crumbles to dust).
 
-(GMs may want to limit the number of intrusions to no more than one per round, no matter what the dice indicate, but
-that should be based on the situation.)
+Depletion: 1 in 1d10
 
-### OPTIONAL RULE: MADNESS
+### SHADOW BOX
 
-Having characters descend into madness is an interesting facet of some kinds of horror and can make long-term horror
-campaigns more interesting. The easiest way to portray blows to a character's sanity is through Intellect damage. When
-PCs encounter something shocking, as described above, they always take Intellect damage. If they would normally move one
-step down the damage track due to the damage, they instead immediately regain points (equal to 1d6 + their tier) in
-their Intellect Pools but lose 1 point from their maximums in that Pool. Characters whose Intellect Pools reach 0 go
-insane. They lose their current descriptor and adopt the Mad descriptor, regain 1d6 + tier points to their Intellect
-Pools, and gain +1 to their Intellect Edge. If they ever reach a permanent Intellect Pool maximum of 0 again, they go
-stark raving mad and are no longer playable.
+Level: 7
 
-Intellect Edge offers an interesting means to portray a character who is knowledgeable (and perhaps even powerful in
-terms of mental abilities) yet mentally fragile. A character with a low Intellect Pool but a high Intellect Edge can
-perform Intellect actions well (since Edge is very helpful) but is still vulnerable to Intellect damage (where Edge is
-of no help).
+Form: Wooden and black metal box, about 12 inches by 7 inches by 3 inches (30 by 18 by 8 cm), with a hinged lid and a
+clasp
 
-Since Cypher System games are meant to be story based, players should recognize that the degrading sanity of their
-character is part of the story. A player who feels that their character is going mad can talk to the GM, and the two of
-them can work out the means to portray that—perhaps by using the Mad descriptor, permanently trading up to 4 points from
-their Intellect Pool to gain +1 to their Intellect Edge, or anything else that seems appropriate. Mental disorders,
-manias, psychopathy, schizophrenia, or simple phobias can be added to a character's traits, but they don't need to be
-quantified in game statistics or die rolls. They're simply part of the character.
+Effect: When the box opens, shadows seethe out. These shadows coalesce into a form that best represents a deep fear in
+the subconscious of the person who opened the box. The opener must make an Intellect defense roll to master the shadow
+thing, which then acts as a level 7 creature under their control for five rounds before fading away. If the roll fails,
+the creature attacks the opener and anyone else around. To make matters worse, the opener spends the first round frozen
+in terror, doing nothing.
 
-Inabilities in personal interaction or any area requiring focus might be appropriate, perhaps allowing the PC to gain
-training in weird lore or forbidden knowledge. Or maybe the opposite is true—as the character's mind slowly slips away,
-they become oddly compelled or can obsessively focus on a single task for indefinite periods, and thus they gain
-training in that topic or skill. These kinds of changes could be balanced with inabilities, such as being unable to
-remember important details.
+Depletion: 1–2 in 1d6
 
-As another way to represent madness, the GM could hinder Intellect-based tasks that would be considered routine, such as
-"remembering your friends and family" or "caring what happens to your best friend" or "stopping yourself from injecting
-a mysterious substance into your veins." These routine tasks normally have a difficulty of 0, but for a PC who has lost
-their mind, they might have a difficulty of 1, 2, or even higher. Now the character must make rolls to do even those
-simple things.
+### SPHERE 23
+
+Level: 1d6 + 4
+
+Form: A 7-inch (18 cm) sphere of what appears to be fluid metal, tinted red
+
+Effect: Possibly one of a number of identical alien artifacts recovered in remote locales across the earth, the
+so-called sphere 23 will grant a wish to anyone who holds it and uses an action to concentrate on it. The wish can be
+anything, including something that bends reality: raising the dead, altering time, and so forth. However, the wisher
+must immediately make a Might defense roll or be consumed by the sphere. If the roll succeeds, they must then make an
+Intellect defense roll or be driven permanently and irrevocably mad.
+
+Depletion: 1–3 in 1d6
 
 ### ROMANCE RULES MODULE
 
@@ -33987,7 +30675,7 @@
 
 Depletion: 1 in 1d20
 
-Post-Apocalyptic SPECIES DESCRIPTORS
+### Post-Apocalyptic SPECIES DESCRIPTORS
 
 In a post-apocalyptic setting, some GMs may want to offer species affected by the disaster.
 
@@ -34068,7 +30756,7 @@
 
 4\. You have a secret agenda, and the PCs were gullible enough to let you come along.
 
-Historical
+### Historical
 
 Setting your campaign in World War 2, the Renaissance, or the 1930s can be fun and interesting. However, setting it in
 ancient Greece or feudal Japan, for example, probably makes it more like fantasy without all the orcs and magic
@@ -34323,6 +31011,52 @@
 
 GM intrusion: The abomination isn't dead; it stands up on the following round at full health.
 
+### ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) 8 (24)
+
+If a supercomputer can think independently, it's a strong AI (an artificial intelligence). Though not as advanced as
+godminds, AIs can develop inscrutable goals.
+
+AIs take many forms. Some are distributed across a vast network. Others are encoded into a singular "computer core." A
+few are machines with organic parts. All are entities of extreme intelligence able to adapt to new situations, and most
+act on some kind of plan, whether long-acting, or newly concocted to fit the situation at hand.
+
+Motive: Varies
+
+Environment: Almost anywhere
+
+Health: 33
+
+Damage Inflicted: 10
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Immediate
+
+Modifications: Speed defense as level 2, knowledge tasks as level 9
+
+Combat: An electrical discharge—or in some cases precisely pulsed sequences of lights, each designed for a specific
+creature to see—can affect all targets within short range of the AI (or the AI's local terminal), inflicting 10 points
+of damage from electricity (or 10 points of Intellect damage, which ignores Armor).
+
+Some AIs can take an action to absorb matter around them (such as walls, floor, equipment, unresisting living creatures,
+and so on), regaining 5 points of health.
+
+An AI is likely able to deploy cyphers and artifacts in combat and also relies on guardians (such as synthetic people
+made to its own design) to aid it. Unless a particular AI uses a computer core, damage to an AI may just be damage done
+to a "terminal," so even if an AI is seemingly destroyed, it might exist as another instance somewhere else.
+
+Interaction: Some AIs enjoy negotiation. Others simply ignore humans as unworthy of their time and attention. An AI's
+voice often sounds surprisingly human.
+
+Use: The characters are contacted by an AI sympathetic to biological beings. It wants them to accomplish a task on a
+moon of Jupiter: assassinate a security officer who the AI calculates as being a nexus of future disaster if he isn't
+removed from the equation.
+
+Loot: An AI might have access to 1d6 cyphers and possibly an artifact or two.
+
+GM Intrusion: The AI knows a phrase and series of images to flash at a particular PC to stun them for around as it
+attempts to upload an instance of itself into their mind.
+
 ### BASILISK 5 (15)
 
 A basilisk is a magical kind of serpent that resembles a cobra, has a series of scales on its head like a crown, and
@@ -34375,6 +31109,61 @@
 
 GM intrusion: Thebasilisk strikes quickly,biting the same creaturetwice on its turn.
 
+### Black Dog 6 (18)
+
+Black dogs go by many names: hellhounds, bearers of death, black hounds of destiny, and devil dogs, just to name a few.
+Typically they are spectral or demonic entities that show up at night. They are often sinister, malevolent, or
+purposefully harmful (such as the Barghest and Black Shuck). Occasionally, black dogs are helpful and benevolent,
+guarding people from danger, helping them find the correct path, or signifying the death of someone nearby.
+
+Black dogs are usually large, shaggy, and as black as night, with long ears and tails. However, despite their name, they
+can be any color. The real distinction is that they are definitely not regular, living dogs. Some have eyes like fire,
+some howl with a ghostly, ethereal song, and still others have telltale witches' marks upon their chest or back.
+
+Black dogs can see ghosts, witches, and other magical entities not typically visible to other creatures. They are
+sometimes a portent of death, but not always. Many carry with them an inherent sense of sadness and despair, which they
+can pass on to those around them.
+
+Black dogs sometimes serve as familiars for witches and sorcerers.
+
+Motive: Bring harm and pain; help and guard
+
+Environment: Crossroads, places of execution, and ancient paths Health: 20
+
+Damage Inflicted: 8 points
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Long; very long when running
+
+Modifications: Sneaking, hiding, and attacking from surprise or advantage as level 7 Combat: Malevolent black dogs will
+attack from a position of surprise or advantage,
+
+inflicting 8 points of damage with their spectral teeth and claws. Some black dogs cause such a deep feeling of despair
+and sadness, just by being nearby, that they inflict 2 points of Intellect damage each round on everyone who can see
+them or otherwise sense their presence.
+
+Interaction: Running, at least from the malevolent ones, is typically the best course
+
+of action. Dealing with helpful black dogs is often an interesting and unexpected
+
+experience, as they don't talk and don't explain who they choose to help or why.
+
+Use: The characters are fighting an extremely tough foe when a black dog steps in to
+
+help them out (or to help their foe). The characters are lost in the woods, and a large,
+
+menacing black dog steps out of the forest and leads them back to safety.
+
+Loot: Black dogs rarely have anything valuable on them. However, killing a black dog causes
+
+it to haunt whoever dealt it the fatal blow. That person feels such deep anxiety and despair that all their actions are
+hindered for at least one day, and often longer.
+
+GM intrusions: The black dog howls, creating such a mournful sound that everyone in very long distance who can hear it
+takes 4 points of Intellect damage. A character who sees the black dog is deeply affected by sadness and moves one step
+down the damage track.
+
 ### BLACKGUARD 6 (18)
 
 Blackguards are evil knights who serve dark entities or their own corrupt agendas. Some were once honorable knights who
@@ -34435,6 +31224,111 @@
 GM intrusions:The blackguard's weaponflares with unholy power,inflicting an additional6 points of damage(ignores
 Armor).A slain blackguardrises as an undead or ispossessed by a demonand continues to figh
 
+### Blob 8 (24)
+
+The huge, undulating mass of this creature is composed of a mucus-like solid. The half-amorphous blob defeats its foes
+by absorbing prey, integrating a victim's tissue into its own. In essence, the victim becomes the blob, and all of the
+victim's knowledge is available to the blob for later use.
+
+If it later desires, a blob can release a nearly perfect replicant of any creature that it has absorbed. Replicants have
+the memories and personalities of the originals, but they do the blob's bidding, which is usually to explore distant
+locations or lure prey into the open using a friendly face. A particularly well-crafted replicant might not know it's
+not the original. Creating a replicant takes a blob a day or two of effort, during which time it's unable to defend
+itself or eat, so it's not a task the creature attempts lightly.
+
+Motive: Assimilation of all flesh
+
+Environment: Anywhere
+
+Health: 66
+
+Damage Inflicted: 8 points (acid gout)
+
+Movement: Immediate; immediate when burrowing
+
+Modifications: Speed defense as level 5 due to size
+
+Combat: The blob can project a gout of acid at short range against a single target. Though slow, a blob is always moving
+forward. A character (or two characters next to each other) within immediate range of a blob must succeed on a Might
+defense roll each round or be partly caught under the heaving mass of the advancing creature. A caught victim adheres to
+the blob's surface and takes 10 points of damage each round. The victim must succeed on a Might defense roll to pull
+free. A victim who dies from this damage is consumed by the blob, and their body becomes part of the creature.
+
+If a blob has absorbed living flesh within the last hour, it regenerates 3 points of health per round while its health
+is above 0.
+
+Interaction: A blob's favored method of communication is to absorb whoever tries to interact with it. If a replicant is
+handy, the blob might talk through it if the blob can touch the replicant and use it like a puppet.
+
+Use: The old man the PCs accidentally hit with their vehicle has a weird, mucus-like growth on one hand (in addition to
+the damage he sustained in the accident). He probably should be taken to the hospital to have his injuries and the
+quivering growth looked at.
+
+Loot: A blob might have several cyphers swirling about in its mass that it uses to equip replicants.
+
+GM intrusion: The character pulls free of a blob they were caught under, but a piece of quivering protoplasm remains
+stuck to their flesh. They must do serious damage to themselves (enough to incapacitate) within the hour, scraping off
+the protoplasm before it absorbs them and becomes a new mini-blob.
+
+### Cailleach 5 (15)
+
+Not actually a water spirit, but one who has made her peace with the sea in an eternal bargain, Cailleach once lived on
+land. Now she is a recluse deep in the ocean in the realm known as the Expanse of Halirane. She appears ancient, and in
+fact is much older than that. She shaves her head bald, wears dozens of shell earrings in each ear, and has a glass eye
+that allows her to see three views of the future. As part of her bargain with the sea, she can never return to dry land
+again, or she will lose all of her powers forever.
+
+Motive: To be left alone
+
+Environment: A home hidden inside a coral reef at the bottom of the ocean. Her home is a large dead whale that the sea
+magically preserves as part of their bargain.
+
+Health: 30
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Movement: Short; very long when shapeshifted
+
+Modifications: Seeing through deceptions and lies as level 6, healing as level 8
+
+Combat: Cailleach has many abilities at her disposal, some of which come from the sea and
+
+others that come from her own magic. They include the following:
+
+Healing Pot: If she has the proper ingredients and takes a day to do so, Cailleach can brew a healing salve in her
+special pot. Depending on what she adds to the mixture, this salve can do one of three things: restore 10 Might points,
+move someone up one step on the damage track, or remove a curse (up to level 6).
+
+Reptilian Form: Cailleach takes the form of a reptile of any size. While in this form, she has +3 Armor and does 6
+points of damage with her bite, claw, or tail lash. In addition, she regains 3 points of health per round.
+
+Restore to Life: Putting her wizened pointer finger into someone's mouth can bring them back to life, but only if
+they've been dead for less than a day and only if she holds her finger there for exactly as long as they've been dead.
+After that, her finger falls off. It takes three days for her to regrow a new one.
+
+See the Future: Cailleach can use her glass eye to scry the future of an individual. She does so by first removing the
+eye, and then having the person hold it in their mouth until she asks for it back (sometimes this is for just a second,
+and sometimes it's for hours—it's hard to know if the variable length of time is part of the ritual or just her dark
+sense of humor). She typically sees three possible futures, and all of them have an equal chance of coming to pass.
+
+Wanton Destruction: As part of her agreement with the sea, Cailleach was given the power to control small parts of it at
+a time. She can create a whirlpool that catches up all creatures and objects within short range of its center and
+inflicts 5 points of ambient damage (ignores Armor).
+
+Interaction: Cailleach is a recluse and introvert whose deepest longing is to be left alone
+
+to increase her knowledge of magic. She also likes puzzles and games, and out of everything on land, she misses birds
+most of all (for interacting with, not eating). Those who bring her any of those items are likely to draw Cailleach out
+of her shell and have a positive interaction.
+
+Use: Cailleach can be a beneficial ally, particularly as a healer. She might also be convinced to help fight against an
+encroaching danger, especially if it's threatening her solitude and privacy.
+
+Loot: She typically carries a number of sea cyphers, and her home is filled with books, scrolls, and journals of all
+sorts.
+
+GM intrusion: The sea offers additional assistance to Cailleach's spells, increasing her damage or movement.
+
 ### CAMBION 5 (15)
 
 Fine ebony scales cover a cambion's perfectly athletic figure. Two reddish horns grow from
@@ -34482,6 +31376,63 @@
 
 GM intrusion: Thecharacter's cypherexplodes when touchedby cambion demonfire on a failed Speeddefense task.
 
+### Cat Sidhe 4 (12)
+
+Cat sidhes, sometimes called phantom cats, are dog-sized felines that were once witches and now have shifted permanently
+into cat form. They're all black except for a single white symbol on their chest, which is their name.
+
+When cat sidhes form (because a witch has turned themselves into a cat for the ninth time), they gain nine tails. Each
+time a cat sidhe would be killed, they can choose to lose one of their tails instead. Once a cat sidhe has no more tails
+remaining, their death is final.
+
+While cat sidhes inflict damage with their soul-stealing attacks, the roleplaying element of a character losing part of
+their soul is possibly more important than the game effect. Consider removing something from the character that will
+affect them in interesting and unusual ways.
+
+Motive: Steal souls, gain power
+
+Environment: Highlands, mountains, and forests
+
+Health: 15
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Movement: Long
+
+Modifications: Speed defense as level 6 due to quickness and agility
+
+Combat: Cat sidhes can attack with their claws for 6 points of damage, but they much
+
+prefer to engage from a long distance, using their unique ability to cast curses that steal part or all of a victim's
+soul. They may attack a foe using the following types of soul-stealing curses. Characters who succeed on an Intellect
+defense roll resist the effect, but take 1 point of Intellect damage due to the effort. If someone can read the symbol
+on the cat's chest and pronounce it, they gain +1 Armor against the cat's attacks.
+
+Falter. Removes a favored part of the creature's personality, such as their sense of humor, courage, or kindness. The
+creature doesn't forget that they had that part of their personality; they just can't remember how to access it again.
+All social interactions are hindered.
+
+Fester. Replaces a piece of the character's soul with an idea, false memory, or thought that, once placed, grows into
+something insidious and dangerous inside them. The character takes no damage at the time, but each time they make a
+recovery roll, they take 2 points of Intellect damage.
+
+Forget. Removes something from the creature's memory, such as all nouns (including their own name), a loved one's face,
+their current purpose, an ability, or a skill. This inflicts 3 points of Intellect damage and causes the character to
+forget the specific thing.
+
+Interaction: Having once been witches, cat sidhes are smart, cunning, and dangerous. Most have no interest in
+conversations or bargains, unless they are injured in some way. They
+
+can, however, sometimes be distracted from their purpose of stealing souls by riddles, music, and children's games.
+
+Use: A cat sidhe stalks a forest where the characters are passing through on their way elsewhere. Someone sends the
+characters to capture a "lost" cat, which turns out to be a cat sidhe.
+
+Loot: When a cat sidhe dies, it disappears, leaving behind only the once-white symbol on its chest in the form of a
+medallion.
+
+GM intrusion: The cat sidhe yowls, causing a second cat sidhe to appear from hiding
+
 ### CHIMERA 6 (18)
 
 Chimeras are unsettling hybrids that combine the features of many different animals, often arranged in odd formations.
@@ -34632,6 +31583,100 @@
 fragmentsof the mage's intelligenceand immediately attack.The mage's attack spellis incredibly painful,stunning the
 characterfor one round if they faila Might defense roll.
 
+### Cryptic Moth 5 (15)
+
+Normal moths are enigmatic, gauzy haunts of twilight. The feathery touch of their wings on your face can startle, even
+frighten. This is to be expected, since moths are the children of cryptic moths, malign and intelligent entities of
+another realm. Sometimes referred to as mothmen, other times as shadow faeries, cryptic moths are certainly alien. Each
+possesses a unique wing pattern and coloration, and, to some extent, body shape. These patterns
+
+and colors may signify where in the hierarchy a particular cryptic moth stands among its siblings of the night, but for
+those who do not speak the language of moths, the complexity of their social structure is overwhelming.
+
+Motive: Capture humans, possibly for food, possibly for breeding purposes
+
+Environment: Almost anywhere, usually at night
+
+Health: 23
+
+Damage Inflicted: 5 points
+
+Movement: Short; long when flying
+
+Modifications: All knowledge tasks as level 6; stealth tasks as level 7 while invisible
+
+Combat: Cryptic moths usually enter combat only when they wish, because until they attack
+
+and become visible, they can remain unseen and invisible to most eyes. The touch of a cryptic moth's wing draws life and
+energy from targets, inflicting 5 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor).
+
+Cryptic moths regain 1 point of health per round while their health is above 0, unless
+
+they've been damaged with a silvered or cold iron weapon, or by electrical attacks.
+
+Once every hour or so, a cryptic moth can summon a swarm of normal moths to aid
+
+them in combat or, more often, serve as a fashion accessory or component in a piece of living art.
+
+Moth swarm: level 2
+
+If a cryptic moth is prepared, it may carry cyphers useful in combat, and perhaps even an artifact.
+
+Interaction: Although very few cryptic moths speak human languages, peaceful interaction
+
+with these creatures is not impossible. It's just extremely difficult, as they see most
+
+humans as a source of food or bodies to lay their eggs in.
+
+Use: A character is followed by a cryptic moth intent on capturing and enslaving them.
+
+Loot: A cryptic moth usually has a few cyphers, and possibly a delicate artifact.
+
+GM intrusion: The cryptic moth grabs the character and flies up and away, taking the victim with them.
+
+### CYBRID 8 (24)
+
+Cybrid origins could be the result of someone finding a cache of ancient ultra technology, or manufactured by a
+post-singularity AI for some unfathomable purpose, or even the result of banned weapons research by a nation-state or
+conglomerate. The human remnants in each cybrid's carbon fiber and nested shells of nanotech exist in a red haze of
+pain; neuro-wetware and chemicals bathing their remaining living tissues hold the pain partly at bay.
+
+From the exterior, not much of the original human is obvious, except perhaps in the echo of a humanoid shape. Each one
+has a unique conformation, but all are designed to strike fear in anyone seeing one, ally and enemy alike.
+
+Motive: Kill away the pain
+
+Environment: Usually set to guard important areas, creatures, or objects, or deployed in war
+
+Health: 60
+
+Damage Inflicted: 10
+
+Armor: 3
+
+Movement: Short; flies a very long distance each round; can maneuver like an autonomous level 5 spacecraft if using
+extended vehicular combat rules.
+
+Combat: Cybrids can attack up to three foes that they can see up to about 300 m (1,000 feet) away as a single action
+with graser (gamma ray laser) beams, inflicting 10 points of damage on each target and everything in immediate range of
+the target. Those caught in the beam who succeed on a Speed defense roll still suffer 2 points of damage. If the cybrid
+focuses on a single target, treat the attack as a level 10 attack that inflicts 14 points of damage, or 6 points even on
+a successful Speed defense roll.
+
+ Self-repair mechanisms allow the creature to regain 2 points of health per round.
+
+Interaction: If communication can be opened up through a cybrid's haze of pain, it might be possible to temporarily wake
+the consciousness of the human remnant inside. However, that remnant consciousness might not be happy to discover what
+it's become.
+
+Use: A cybrid has appeared in orbit around the station, ship, or moon with a compromised life support system or fragile
+dome. If it engages, the death toll will be staggering.
+
+Loot: PCs who investigate the inert remains of the creature discover several manifest cyphers
+
+GM Intrusion: The character struck by the graser beam develops radiation poisoning, in this case a level 8 disease that
+drops the character one step on the damage track each day that it goes untreated..
+
 ### CYCLOPS 7 (21)
 
 Cyclopes resemble massive humans that stand 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 m) tall and weigh about 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg).
@@ -34680,6 +31725,59 @@
 
 A character struckby the cyclops's fist isgrabbed and stuffed inthe creature's sack.
 
+### Death 10 (infinite)
+
+Death goes by many names, takes many forms, and has only one purpose: to make all equal in the end. Death is often an
+unwanted visitor—taking the life of someone who is not ready to go—but just as often, they come to those who are ready.
+To them, Death is a most welcome, the most welcome, guest of all.
+
+While some see Death as evil, they are not inherently so, no more than the cougar hunting the hare for dinner. In fact,
+they are the great equalizer, raising paupers to kings and kings to common people.
+
+Death is ancient, but not old. Wise, but not all-knowing. Brilliant, but not perfect. Death is also, very often, bored.
+They have seen everything, heard everything, and done everything that it is possible for an immortal being to do, and
+some days they feel sure they will never experience anything new or interesting again. But still, they try, taking on
+new guises, hiding themselves away, even traveling to distant stars and moons before their duties and obligations once
+again pull them to return.
+
+If Death appears at the foot of a person's bed, that person can recover if the proper steps are taken. If Death is at
+the head of the bed, almost nothing can be done to save the victim, beyond an impossible bargain.
+
+Motive: To do their duty and make everyone equal
+
+Environment: Everywhere and anywhere
+
+Health: ∞
+
+Damage Inflicted: Death
+
+Armor: Immune to all harm
+
+Movement: Variable depending on their form, but Death can move instantaneously almost
+
+anywhere that they desire
+
+Modifications: Seeing through trickery, deception, or bargaining as level 8
+
+Combat: Death kills. They kill any number of ways, depending on their mood, what's at
+
+hand, and how they believe the person should leave their life. Thankfully, death only comes for someone when their time
+is up.
+
+Still, it's not considered wise to provoke or challenge Death to physical combat, for there is only one outcome: a
+single attack from Death kills the victim (except in the rare case where the victim has protection against death, such
+as with one of Death's candles).
+
+Interaction: Death cannot be hurt and cannot be killed, but they can be bargained with, bet against, and sometimes
+tricked. More rarely, they have even been known to lose a bargain or be captured for a short period of time.
+
+Use: Bargaining with Death is a potential way to achieve an impossible task or gain a very rare item, but of course it
+always comes with a price (usually an earlier death for the bargainer or someone else). Death is always looking for
+something interesting going on, and may appear just to spend time with the characters if they're engaged in an
+intriguing activity.
+
+GM intrusion: Death mistakes a character for someone else.
+
 ### DEEP ONE 4 (12)
 
 Some deep ones dwell in coastal regions on land, usually in isolated villages where they might attempt to pass for
@@ -34955,6 +32053,46 @@
 GM intrusion: A devil anticipates the character's melee attack and brings its wing down "just so" on the attacker's
 weapon. If the character fails a Speed defense roll, the weapon breaks. Either way, the attack fails to hit the devil.
 
+### DEVOLVED 4 (12)
+
+Conglomerate security subsidiaries regularly experiment with new ways to create super-soldiers, either to supply to a
+government on a contract basis, or to use for themselves. These experiments produced hundreds of dead
+ends—literally—plus a few dangerous failures. The devolved are one of those dangerous failures. These malformed, hideous
+brutes share a common heritage but display a wide array of maladies and mutations in the flesh, including withered limbs
+or elephantine patches of thick, scaly skin, misplaced body parts, and mental abnormalities. Simple-minded and afflicted
+with pain from their twisted, broken forms, the devolved vent all their hatred and wrath against all others.
+
+Even successfully created super-soldiers require a regular regimen of specialized drugs to keep them healthy. Most are
+shipped out to fight on faraway fronts, whether that's on a distant space station, moon, or in another star system
+entirely. Without their drugs, they may devolve.
+
+Motive: Hungers for flesh
+
+Environment: Groups of three to five, usually in locations where organized security can't easily reach
+
+Health: 21 Damage Inflicted: 6 to 12 points
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Intimidation tasks as level 6; Intellect defense and Speed defense as level 2 due to malformed nature
+
+Combat: Devolved attack with a claw, a bite, or some other body part, inflicting 6 points of damage. They throw
+themselves at their enemies with mindless ferocity and little regard for their own safety. Easily frustrated, a devolved
+grows stronger as its fury builds. Each time it misses with an attack, the next attack is eased by one additional step
+and the damage it inflicts increases by 2 points (to a maximum of 12 points). Once the devolved successfully inflicts
+damage on a target, the amount of damage it inflicts and the difficulty of its attacks returns to normal. Then the cycle
+starts anew.
+
+Interaction: Devolved speak when they must, punctuating their statements with growls and barks. Their understanding
+seems limited to what they can immediately perceive, and they have a difficult time with abstract concepts.
+
+Use: An expedition to a ruined conglomerate research facility uncovers a cyst of devolved that live within its
+sheltering bunkers.
+
+Loot: For every three or so devolved, one is likely to carry a cypher
+
+GM Intrusion: The devolved detonates upon its death, inflicting 6 points of damage on everything in immediate range.
+
 ### DJINNI 7 (21)
 
 Djinn inhabit unseen dimensions beyond the visible universe. Just like normal creatures, djinn are individuals, and they
@@ -35097,39 +32235,104 @@
 GM intrusion: A character hit by the fire elemental's attack catches on fire and takes 3 points of damage each round
 until they use an action patting, rolling, or smothering the flames.
 
-### EARTH ELEMENTAL 5 (15)
+### ECOPHAGIC SWARM 4 (12)
 
-An excavation, a meteor fall, a still-shuddering earthquake—all these events can summon an earth elemental to take shape
-and expand the destruction further.
+Tiny nanomachines can be incredibly useful tools. But they can also become a terrible threat. Like cells in a living
+body that develop cancer, these out-of-control self-replicating robots can consume everything in their path while
+building more of themselves. A typical swarm is about 6 m (20 feet) in diameter, individually consisting of millions of
+individual minuscule machines. However, several swarms can act together, creating a much larger cloud of death with just
+one purpose: to eat and replicate. Able to move large distances by gliding through the air, cloud-like swarms take on
+intriguing shapes and ripple with mathematical patterns as they approach a potential target, beautiful and deadly.
 
-Motive: Crumble and break, reduce things to earth
+Ecophagic swarms sometimes build weird structures or artifacts in the wake of their feeding, like massive metallic ant
+or wasp mounds, or something without any reference at all in the natural world.
 
-Environment: Anywhere solid or earthen
+Motive: Hungers for matter, including flesh
+
+Environment: Ecophagic swarms are drawn most to areas rich in rare-earth metals, such as large cities or space stations
+where everyone carries a smartphone, AR glasses, or something similar
+
+Health: 12
+
+Damage Inflicted: 4 points
+
+Movement: Flies a long distance
+
+Combat: As a mass of countless tiny machines, an ecophagic swarm can flow around obstacles and squeeze through cracks
+large enough to permit a single sub-millimeter machine. That includes over and around other creatures. Characters
+touched by a leading edge—or wholly enveloped within the hazy "body"—of an ecophagic swarm must succeed on a Might
+defense task or take 4 points of damage. If the character doesn't wear armor of some kind, they take 1 point of damage
+even if they succeed.
+
+For its part, an ecophagic swarm ignores any attack that targets a single creature (unless it's an electrical attack),
+but it takes normal damage from attacks that affect an area (and electrical attacks), such as a detonation. A swarm
+cannot enter liquids, unless it takes about an hour to build new subunits that are aquatic.
+
+Interaction: Someone with an ability to communicate with machines might be able to interact with a swarm. Even then,
+attempts to influence it are hindered by three steps.
+
+Use: A promising new nanotech "printing" technology was hacked by radical elements
+
+GM Intrusion: The character must succeed on a Speed defense roll or their armor (or other important piece of equipment)
+is taken by the swarm.
+
+### Elder Thing 8 (24)
+
+Elder things are mostly extinct, but a few remain trapped in the Antarctic ice or rule over crumbling cities in deep
+trenches at the bottom of the ocean.
+
+Beholding an elder thing bends the mind to the point of breaking. An elder thing has a great barrel-like body standing
+some 8 feet (2 m) tall. Knobby protrusions in the crown and base each unfold five appendages that recall the arms of a
+starfish. When agitated, an elder thing unfolds a pair of wings that help it flutter a limited distance.
+
+Meddling by elder things created multicellular life that spread across Earth billions of years ago and ultimately
+brought about humanity. As the younger species grew in numbers and influence, the elder things went into decline, a
+process hastened by wars against strange beings from other worlds and uprisings by the servitor race they created, the
+shoggoths.
+
+Motive: Reclaim absolute sovereignty
+
+Environment: In arctic regions or deep underwater
 
 Health: 30
 
 Damage Inflicted: 6 points
 
-Armor: 3
+Movement: Immediate; long when flying
 
-Movement: Immediate; short when burrowing
+Modifications: All tasks related to knowledge of magic or science as level 10; Speed defense
 
-Combat: Earth elementals batter foes with heavy fists. They can also create earthquakes (no more than once every other
-round) that affect the ground within short range. Creatures standing in the area fall to the ground and take 5 points of
-damage on a failed Might defense roll.
+as level 6 due to form
 
-An earth elemental is vulnerable to water. Any damage it takes while standing in or being doused in water ignores its
-Armor.
+Combat: An elder thing can attack with five tentacles divided any way it chooses among up
 
-Interaction: Although brooding and slow to respond if encountered as immobile stone, earth elementals are intelligent.
-The ones that are summoned with a spell have about a 5% chance of breaking the geas and turning on their summoner.
+to three targets within immediate range. A target hit by a tentacle must also succeed on a Speed defense roll or become
+grabbed until it escapes. Each round, the elder thing automatically inflicts 6 points of damage on each grabbed target
+until the victim succeeds on a Might defense roll to escape.
 
-Use: Oddly articulated monoliths were discovered high in the mountains around a shrine containing an ancient treasure. A
-merchant wants someone to investigate the monoliths in case they represent a trap. In fact, the monoliths are inactive
-earth elementals.
+An elder thing can reach into the mind of a target within short distance. If the target fails an Intellect defense roll,
+the elder thing reads their thoughts while the target remains within long
 
-GM intrusion: A character within range of the earth elemental's earthquake attack must succeed on a Speed defense roll
-or be covered in an avalanche from a collapsing structure or cliff face.
+distance. During this time, the elder thing knows everything the target knows, hindering the target's attack and defense
+rolls against the elder thing. The elder thing can use an action to rend the target's thoughts, which inflicts 6 points
+of Intellect damage on a failed Intellect defense roll. An elder thing can passively read the thoughts of up to two
+creatures at one time.
+
+An elder thing also might carry a few cyphers and an artifact it can use in combat.
+
+Interaction: An elder thing communicates through whistles and pops created by moving air through tiny orifices arranged
+around its body. Elder things see humans as a lesser form of life and may demand worship, sacrifices, or something else
+from people it encounters.
+
+Use: Fishermen return to a coastal village with a large block of ice in tow. In the ice is something dark and large—an
+elder thing frozen alive. If the thing thaws out, it will likely take over the community and enslave the people living
+there.
+
+Loot: An elder thing usually has one artifact and two or three cyphers.
+
+GM intrusion: A character who sees an elder thing for the first time goes temporarily crazy on a failed Intellect
+defense roll. They might stand in place and gibber, run away, or laugh hysterically for a few rounds. If the character
+takes damage, they shake off the temporary madness.
 
 ### ELEMENTAL, AIR 4 (12)
 
@@ -35172,6 +32375,40 @@
 GM intrusion: Aviolent blast of winddisarms a characterand sends whateverthey were holding up toa long distance
 away(depending on theobject's size and weight).
 
+### ELEMENTAL, EARTH 5 (15)
+
+An excavation, a meteor fall, a still-shuddering earthquake—all these events can summon an earth elemental to take shape
+and expand the destruction further.
+
+Motive: Crumble and break, reduce things to earth
+
+Environment: Anywhere solid or earthen
+
+Health: 30
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Armor: 3
+
+Movement: Immediate; short when burrowing
+
+Combat: Earth elementals batter foes with heavy fists. They can also create earthquakes (no more than once every other
+round) that affect the ground within short range. Creatures standing in the area fall to the ground and take 5 points of
+damage on a failed Might defense roll.
+
+An earth elemental is vulnerable to water. Any damage it takes while standing in or being doused in water ignores its
+Armor.
+
+Interaction: Although brooding and slow to respond if encountered as immobile stone, earth elementals are intelligent.
+The ones that are summoned with a spell have about a 5% chance of breaking the geas and turning on their summoner.
+
+Use: Oddly articulated monoliths were discovered high in the mountains around a shrine containing an ancient treasure. A
+merchant wants someone to investigate the monoliths in case they represent a trap. In fact, the monoliths are inactive
+earth elementals.
+
+GM intrusion: A character within range of the earth elemental's earthquake attack must succeed on a Speed defense roll
+or be covered in an avalanche from a collapsing structure or cliff face.
+
 ### ELEMENTAL, THORN 6 (18)
 
 The grisly sign of an active thorn elemental in areas of heavy woods or jungle is the presence of shriveled bodies
@@ -35255,6 +32492,152 @@
 
 GM intrusion: The forceof the elemental's attackknocks over a character,sweeps them a shortdistance away, or both.
 
+### Enchanter 5 (15)
+
+Enchanters include magic-users of all genders. They may choose to call themselves wizards, sorcerers, mages, or
+diviners, depending on their strengths, abilities, and desired reputations.
+
+Enchanters usually take great pride in their appearance, including their outfits, accouterments, and equipment. They
+often incorporate living or dead elements of dangerous creatures, such as spiders, snakes, crocodiles, and dragons, into
+the objects that matter to them. Additionally, they may imbue objects with powerful magic.
+
+Enchanters can use long-lasting or even permanent versions of their magical abilities, but doing so usually requires
+minutes or hours of time.
+
+Most enchanters have one or more apprentices or helpers, typically animals that have been made human temporarily or
+humans who are in the service of the enchanter until some debt of theirs or their family's has been paid.
+
+Sorcerer's Apprentice: level 3
+
+Motive: Control magic, power
+
+Environment: Everywhere, particularly in places where magic is present and powerful Health: 20
+
+Damage Inflicted: 5 points
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Using and controlling magic as level 7
+
+Combat: Magical weapons and artifacts (such as a whip made of living snakes, a staff with a
+
+biting wolf's head on top, or a sword that acts of its own accord) do 5 points of damage. Additionally, an enchanter may
+employ a number of magical abilities, including the
+
+Following:
+
+Animate: Takes any material (such as wood or stone) and turns it into an animate level
+
+4 creature. The creature has a mind and will of its own, and acts just as that type of
+
+creature would act if it were born instead of created.
+
+Blood to Stone: Turns living creatures into stone, or immobilizes them in their current form. Breaking free is a level 6
+Might task.
+
+Enchant: Imbues a normal object with a magical power. The object works under the
+
+enchanter's command, and does as the enchanter asks of it. For example, an enchanter might imbue a foe's weapon and
+force it to attack the foe, or they might imbue a door and have it close tight against incoming dangers.
+
+Endless Passage: Creates an endless series of thick spiderwebs, invisible barriers, rings of flame, or other hurdles
+across an entrance, exit, tunnel, or passage. Every time one of the hurdles is broken, another forms. Characters'
+movement is halved while going through the endless passage, and they take 2 points of Intellect damage each round.
+
+Invisible: Turns anything (including themselves, others, and entire areas up to 30 feet by 30 feet \[9 m by 9 m\])
+invisible for ten minutes. It's a level 6 Intellect task to be able to see something that has been made invisible.
+
+Persuasion: Convinces all victims in long range that what they believe is not real or that what is false is real.
+Sometimes this ability just affects others' minds, creating a mental dissonance. Other times, the enchanter creates an
+illusion or other visible, auditory, and tactile element that persuades a character to believe everything they are
+
+experiencing. The effect lasts for ten minutes. Additionally, an enchanter may have one or more of the same abilities as
+a witch or a faerie.
+
+Interaction: For the characters, an enchanter may be a terrifying foe or a powerful ally. Enchanters are fickle, perhaps
+due to their close relationship with magic, and may change their loyalties on a whim or an imagined slight.
+
+Use: The characters need to have an object imbued, a person returned to life, or a curse undone, and they turn to the
+enchanter for help. The characters accidentally insulted
+
+the enchanter in some way, and now the enchanter is hunting them down to get revenge.
+
+Loot: Enchanters often protect their precious items with spells and magical locks (level 8). Behind those wards are 1d6
+cyphers, an artifact, and an elegant or interesting outfit.
+
+### ENCHANTERS OF THE WORLD
+
+Morgan Le Fay 9 (27)
+
+Morgan le Fay (also known as Morgen, Margain, Morgant, and various other names) is a powerful sorceress from the legends
+of King Arthur. She has an unpredictable duality to her nature, with the potential for great good and great evil.
+
+Combat: Attacks with a variety of weapons, including a sword and staff. She also can use
+
+any of the following abilities: charm, enchant, glamour, heal, invisible, persuasion,
+
+protect, revive, seduce, and shrivel.
+
+Interaction: Morgan le Fay is fickle and enigmatic, and rarely reveals her purposes. If she
+
+agrees to help the characters in some way, it's absolutely because she has a higher goal
+
+in mind.
+
+Use: The characters are stopped by a beautiful woman in the woods, who asks them to
+
+help her accomplish a great task. A powerful foe has brought Morgan le Fay into his confidence, and she is helping him
+against the PCs.
+
+Oz, The Great and Terrible 5 (15)
+
+It is perhaps the greatest feat the Wizard of Oz ever pulled off to make everyone believe that he was not a sorcerer at
+all, but merely a ventriloquist and balloonist from some faraway land. He is, in fact, far more powerful than that, but
+prefers that no one were ever to know. For if they did, they would expect things of him, and that makes him anxious.
+
+Combat: Oz does not fight, but instead sends his army of green-whiskered soldiers forth.
+
+He may also use an artifact or spell to protect himself, hide himself, or flee. He can use
+
+the following abilities: enchant, invisible, persuasion.
+
+Green-whiskered soldiers: level 4; Armor 2; unloaded rifles deal 4 points of damage
+
+Interaction: Curmudgeonly and a bit of a humbug, but rarely with evil intent, Oz is likely to
+
+help those who ask, although he often fumbles things just to make a point.
+
+Use: The characters set off to meet the powerful ruler of a strange land. Or they encounter
+
+someone they believe is just a humble, simple man, but who instead turns out to be
+
+incredibly powerful.
+
+Loot: Oz has at least one artifact, as well as 1d6 cyphers.
+
+Virgilius the Sorcerer 7 (21)
+
+The most renowned of all the poet-sorcerers, Virgilius studies and uses the power of the written word to enhance his
+magical abilities. He keeps a black book, which is the source of his spells, and creates copper creatures to protect and
+defend him. He has a love of challenges, such as magician's battles, and seeks them out.
+
+Combat: Can use the following abilities: animate, blood to stone, enchant, endless passage. Interaction: Virgilius is
+quick thinking, wily, and full of interesting schemes. Those who
+
+entertain him for longer than a moment might find him a very useful ally. However, he is also driven toward revenge,
+particularly on those who attempt to publicly humiliate or shame him.
+
+Use: The characters enter into a battle of wits or wills, only to discover they're competing with Virgilius.
+
+Loot: Carries a black book
+
+Black book (artifact): level 6; allows the user to cast animate, blood to stone, enchant, or endless passage. Casting a
+spell from the black book costs 2 Intellect points and is an action.
+
+Depletion: 1 in 1d6
+
 ### ENTHRALLER 6 (18)
 
 Hundreds of thousands of years ago, enthraller ancestors psychically dominated a group of interstellar spacefarers who
@@ -35313,6 +32696,53 @@
 GM intrusion: The enthraller's intrusion into the character's mind stirs up forgotten memories. The character must deal
 with the contents of these memories and perhaps why they were repressed.
 
+### Erlking 6 (18)
+
+This vaguely humanoid creature is an animated accumulation of woodland debris—bark, lost teeth, matted weeds, and dirt.
+It wears a crown of oak leaves and a cloak of mist.
+
+Its eyes are knotholes, and its hands are sharpened twigs. An erlking is a greedy spirit of hunger deemed Unseelie by
+the faerie nobility of that wild and wicked realm. Erlkings love to hunt and eat children, who are particularly
+susceptible to the promises and glamours that the creatures spin.
+
+An erlking is a former noble stripped of title, lands, and even form,
+
+and exiled into the night for crimes unimaginable in their cruelty. An erlking's victims are found in the cold sunlight,
+pale and bloodless, with their vital organs nibbled out.
+
+Motive: Hungers for flesh and to reclaim stripped titles
+
+Environment: Almost anywhere wooded at night Health: 27
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Armor: 4
+
+Movement: Short; immediate when burrowing
+
+Modifications: Stealth tasks as level 7
+
+Combat: An erlking prefers to attack from hiding, and whisper a child or other creature
+
+within short distance from their bed out into the night if the victim fails an Intellect defense task. An affected
+creature remains under the erlking's spell for up to an hour or until attacked or otherwise harmed.
+
+When it attacks physically, an erlking can attack three times on its turn with root tendrils. A target hit by a tendril
+must also succeed on a Speed defense roll or become grabbed until they escape. The erlking automatically inflicts 6
+points of damage on each grabbed creature each round until they succeed on a Might-based task to escape.
+
+Silvered and cold iron weapons ignore an erlking's Armor. If an erlking's remains are not burned or otherwise destroyed,
+it will sprout and grow a new body from its corpse within a day.
+
+Interaction: An erlking may negotiate if creatures have something it wants, or if targets are armed with silvered or
+cold iron weapons.
+
+Use: An erlking is active only by night; by day, it hides beneath a mound of weedy earth indistinguishable from the
+surrounding terrain.
+
+GM intrusion: A character surprised by an erlking in the darkness must succeed on an Intellect defense task or lose
+their next action as they faint, run screaming, or stand paralyzed in terror.
+
 ### EVIL PRIEST 7 (21)
 
 Evil priests are worshippers of evil gods, demons, devils, strange malevolent forces from beyond known dimensions, or
@@ -35376,6 +32806,45 @@
 
 The evil priest ignores, avoids, or immediately recovers from an attack that would have killed orgreatly harmed them.
 
+### EXOSLIME 6 (18)
+
+Amoeboid life predominates in some environments. Sometimes, it slimes asteroid crevices or its greasy residue is found
+on abandoned spacecraft. In a few cases, large portions of entire worlds are covered in living seas of translucent
+protoplasm. Individual volumes of exoslime are 5 m (15 foot) diameter moldlike blobs. Exoslimes possess independent
+minds, but in some settings may be manufactured entities designed to explore new locations, interact with aliens, or
+subjugate aliens. Exoslimes can learn to respect the autonomy of other creatures, though their natural instinct is to
+absorb novel objects and creatures they discover in order to learn about them. Exoslimes can also replicate anything
+they absorb, even a previously eaten living intelligent being.
+
+Motive: Hungers for information
+
+Environment: Moist and warm areas
+
+Health: 33
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Movement: Immediate; immediate when climbing or burrowing
+
+Modifications: Speed defense as level 5 due to size
+
+Combat: Though slow, an exoslime is dangerous. When roused, all characters within immediate range of an exoslime must
+succeed on a Might defense roll each round or be touched by the heaving mass. A victim adheres to the slime's surface
+and takes 6 points of acid damage each round. The victim must succeed on a Might defense roll to pull free. A victim who
+dies from this damage is consumed by the exoslime. The exoslime may later create a duplicate of any previously devoured
+fleshy creature, a process requiring about three rounds to complete. Duplicates have full autonomy, and can communicate
+with the slime.
+
+Interaction: An exoslime prefers to eat a newly-encountered creature, then create a duplicate of it to act as a
+translator. Of course, a stranger might not understand why the exoslime is trying to eat it.
+
+Use: The sample brought in from the exterior has a weird, mucus-like growth that seems able to slowly eat through most
+materials.
+
+GM Intrusion: The character escapes an exoslime attack, but a piece of quivering protoplasm remains stuck to their
+flesh, eating away at 1 point of Speed damage (ignores Armor) each round until the character succeeds on a Might roll as
+an action.
+
 ### FAERIE 3 (9)
 
 Faeries are magic creatures of music, mirth, tricks, and taunts. Some might only perform a silly song or follow people
@@ -35427,6 +32896,246 @@
 another
 important possession.
 
+### Fair Folk 3 (9)
+
+In general, faeries (sometimes called fairies or fair folk) are humanoid in appearance, small in stature, and magical.
+They are associated with music, mirth, tricks, and taunts. Seeing one is an omen—hopefully, an omen of a silly song or
+the first appearance of an annoying new road companion (the very faerie sighted) flitting around, asking the questions
+of a curious four-year-old hyped up on sugar water and ice cream. Some faeries are tricksters, delighting in playing
+pranks and stealing clothing, equipment, or prized objects. And a few are malicious, luring travelers to their various
+dooms, making deadly deals, and forcing others into captivity.
+
+Not all faeries have wings, but those that do find many ways to use them to their advantage.
+
+Motive: Unpredictable
+
+Environment: Encountered alone or in a flutter of three to twelve, usually in forests Health: 12
+
+Damage Inflicted: 4 points
+
+Movement: Immediate; long when flying
+
+Modifications: Tasks related to performance and deception as level 5; Speed defense as
+
+level 5 due to size and quickness
+
+Combat: A faerie attacks by hurling sparkling magic dust at a target within short range. In
+
+addition, if a faerie is touched or struck by a melee weapon, more magic dust puffs away from the faerie and clouds the
+attacker, who must succeed on a Speed defense task or suffer the same amount of damage they just dealt to the faerie.
+Sometimes faeries wield tiny weapons, such as bows, spears, or swords; treat these as light weapons.
+
+A faerie can see in the dark, but it can also emit bright light (often colored) and appear as a glowing humanoid or an
+illuminated sphere.
+
+Faeries regain 1 point of health per round while their health is above 0 unless they've been damaged with a silvered or
+cold iron weapon.
+
+In addition to inflicting damage with their fairy dust and their weapons of choice, faeries have a number of curses and
+abilities at their disposal. These include the following:
+
+Animal Friend: Most faeries can communicate with animals, and a few can even summon animals within long range for help
+and protection. Some faeries can also grant others the ability to communicate with animals, but only for a day.
+
+Charm: Some faeries can attempt to use a song or light display to charm others within short range. The target must
+succeed on an Intellect defense task or fall into a suggestible state for one hour. During this period, the target can
+be led by the faerie until attacked, damaged, or shaken from their glamour.
+
+Clairvoyance: The faerie grants someone the ability to see the future, the past, faeries, or one of the hidden faerie
+worlds. This gift lasts for one day, or until the character makes a ten-hour recovery roll.
+
+Heal: The faerie heals themselves, a plant, a creature, or another character for 1d6 + 2 points of damage.
+
+Illusion: Powerful faeries can cast elaborate and convincing illusions that make them and their worlds appear more
+appealing and beautiful. Illusions can cover up to a mile in area. Seeing through the illusion is a task equal to the
+faerie's level and lasts for ten minutes. After that, the viewer reverts to seeing the illusion and quickly forgets that
+they saw anything else.
+
+Invisibility: Makes the faerie invisible to most eyes. Seeing, hearing, or sensing a faerie when it's invisible is a
+task equal to the faerie's level. A failed attempt to see a faerie causes the viewer to see something that harms their
+mind, inflicting 1 point of Intellect damage.
+
+Vortex: A defensive tactic where one or more threatened faeries use their wings to create a strong gust of wind,
+tornado, or vortex. The wind pushes their foes back a long distance and inflicts 2 points of damage.
+
+Faeries have a wide variety of weaknesses, including silver, iron, technology, sugar and salt (they must count each
+grain), and cream (intoxicates them). But not all faeries have the same weaknesses, and some may not have any.
+
+Interaction: Faeries are mercurial creatures, but except for the malicious ones, they can be negotiated with, especially
+if offered sweets, wine, cream, or other gifts. That said, faerie attention spans are limited, so even one that means
+well could end up leaving the PCs in the lurch at just the wrong moment.
+
+Use: The characters come upon an injured faerie, who promises to grant them their deepest wish if they agree to help it.
+They must decide if they believe the faerie speaks true, or if it's a trap.
+
+Loot: The tiny pouches that faeries carry are stuffed with forest bric-a-brac, but some of those pouches are ten times
+larger on the inside and could contain expensive items or cyphers.
+
+GM intrusion: A character accidentally does something to offend a helpful faerie, causing it to turn on them.
+
+### Fairy Godmother 6 (18)
+
+Fairy godmothers are nearly always beneficent beings, typically acting as mentors, parents, or protectors, much like
+human godparents. The difference, of course, is that fairy godmothers have a great deal more magic at their disposal.
+
+Overall, fairy godmothers are kind, gentle, and loving to almost everyone, not just their godchildren. Of course, not
+all fairy godmothers are good at their roles—some may act out of their own interests and inadvertently (or purposefully)
+do harm to those they are supposed to protect. This is particularly true if they feel like they have not been given the
+respect they deserve, or have been offended in some way.
+
+And if you should harm someone they have pledged to protect? Beware, beware, for there is no wrath like that of a fairy
+godmother's.
+
+Motive: Protect their protégés, be respected
+
+Environment: Cities, towns, and anywhere someone is in need of assistance
+
+Health: 24
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Armor: 2 (magical)
+
+Movement: Short; long when flying
+
+Combat: Fairy godmothers attack by shooting a stream of sharp-edged glitter up to a long
+
+distance from their magic wands (glitter gets into every nook and cranny, and thus ignores Armor). Fairy godmothers can
+bestow blessings upon their friends and allies, and curse their enemies.
+
+Fairy godmothers can cast any of the skills and abilities that faeries can cast, as well as a few that are specific to
+them, including the following:
+
+A Little Luck: The fairy godmother blesses a character with luck, granting them the opportunity to reroll once in the
+next day without spending XP.
+
+A Little Misfortune: Despite the name, this is usually a beneficial spell. It is designed to give a nearby character
+something to overcome so that they might grow stronger in temperament or stature. When this spell is cast, the character
+receives a GM intrusion on their next action (no matter what their roll is) and receives 1 XP to give away (but not one
+to keep).
+
+Alteration: Can turn any creature within short range into a different creature (such as a mouse into a horse) and any
+object into a similarly shaped object (such as a
+
+Prophecy: Creates a prediction for the future of a single person. The prediction has a high chance of coming true, but
+is not certain. (Prophecies work like GM intrusions that will take place in the future; the player can reject the
+prophecy by spending an XP.) Not all prophecies are negative.
+
+Interaction: Interacting with fairy godmothers is usually a little frantic, frenzied, and full of "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"
+If they like you, they're likely to prove a loyal, steadfast, and useful ally. If not, well, hopefully you like being
+turned into a horse, or worse.
+
+Use: Fairy godmothers make great lighthearted additions to encounters, particularly ones where the characters are
+preparing for a ball, a fight, or a big adventure.
+
+GM Intrusion: The fairy godmother's magic goes awry and a character is accidentally turned into a horse.
+
+#### Áine, Fairy Queen of Light an Love 9 (27)
+
+Áine is the fairy queen of summer and the sun, and is known by many names: the Fairy Queen of Light and Love, Bright
+One, Sun Goddess, and Sweetheart of the Fairies. She is a kind, true, and benevolent ruler, and is loved by nearly
+everyone. Known for making just and fair bargains with humans, she is often sought after for blessings and boons.
+
+Motive: To be just and true, to protect her realm
+
+Environment: She shares a fairy realm with her sister, Gráinne, where she rules in the summer months.
+
+Health: 99
+
+Damage Inflicted: 12 points
+
+Armor: 5
+
+Movement: Short; very long when shapeshifted
+
+Combat: Áine rarely engages in combat herself, as she prefers to leave that role to her son
+
+Geroid and his army. However, if she's attacked or feels the need to defend her realm or someone in it, she will not
+hesitate to step in. She attacks using the power of the sun, focusing light into a narrow beam that inflicts 12 points
+of damage on the target.
+
+In addition, Áine has the power of chlorokineses—she can manipulate plants and flowers within very long range, causing
+them to grow to enormous proportions. She can use them as weapons that grab and hold multiple victims (level 7 Might
+task to break free) or that do damage via strangulation or thorns (7 points of damage). Any bees in the area act to help
+the queen.
+
+Queen's bees: level 3; sting victims for 3 points of damage and paralyze
+
+them for one round
+
+She can also shapeshift into a red mare as she chooses. As a mare, she inflicts 6 points of damage with her hooves or
+bite, can become immaterial as an action (makes it impossible to successfully attack her, but she cannot attack in this
+form), and can move to a spot within long range instantaneously (does not require an action).
+
+Interaction: Just, true, and kind, Áine makes a powerful ally, provided that she does not feel that she or her realm are
+threatened. Those who wish harm on others or who she sees as malevolent in action or thought are more likely to
+
+find themselves on the wrong end of the Bright One's anger.
+
+Use: Characters who wish for something important in their lives to change may ask Áine to grant them a boon. She
+sometimes helps those in need without them asking for it (but, of course, only for a price). If the characters attend a
+fairy ball or feast, they may encounter Áine as an honored guest.
+
+Loot: Áine wears a crown of glass, but it is not visible unless she chooses it to be (she rarely does) or she dies. She
+carries little else, for she is a person of deeds, not items.
+
+GM intrusion: One of Áine's ardent followers believes a character is threatening their beloved queen.
+
+#### Gráinne, the Wayward Daughter 9 (27)
+
+Gráinne is the Fairy Queen of Hope and Despair, sometimes also called the Wayward Daughter, the Winter Queen, and Dark
+One. Gráinne is to the dark what Áine is to the light. This doesn't mean that Gráinne is evil, just that she represents
+what is good and bad in the world that is hidden in shadows, buried beneath the ground, and revealed at night. She has
+her own moral code, one that can work in the favor of those who are cunning and willing to look at the darkness of their
+own hearts.
+
+Motive: To honor the darkness, to protect her realm
+
+Environment: She shares a fairy realm with her sister, where she rules in winter. In the summer, she sleeps in the
+Sorrows, a belowground realm out of time and space.
+
+Health: 99
+
+Damage Inflicted: 12 points
+
+Armor: 5
+
+Movement: Short; long when flying
+
+Combat: Gráinne is a talented combatant, and seems to revel in having a foe who is a
+
+challenge to her. She carries a dark green crystal staff that emits a dark coil of reddish energy, which inflicts 12
+points of damage. Alternatively, she can send out a cloud of black smoke that deals 9 points of damage to all creatures
+in a short area. She also wears the Tiara of Pailis, a griffin-shaped tiara that allows her to fly. Gráinne has a
+variety of magical abilities at her disposal, including the following:
+
+Animal Communication: Gráinne has a special affinity with badgers and can ask them for help. When she calls them (as an
+action), a cete of eight large badgers appears. They act as two level 4 creatures; attacked beings must also succeed on
+an Intellect defense roll or be shapeshifted into a badger for one round.
+
+Oneirokinesis: Gráinne can infiltrate people's dreams to converse with them. As such, she might implant an idea in their
+heads (such as "I'm going to die tonight" or "I should go back home"). When the character wakes, they must succeed on a
+level 6 Intellect defense roll to shake the idea. Otherwise, they feel a strong need to act on it, and are hindered in
+any tasks that go against the idea (this lasts until they make their next recovery roll).
+
+Shadowmelding: Gráinne merges with shadows, making her nearly
+
+intangible. In this form, she cannot be injured by physical attacks, and her attacks inflict 8 points of Intellect
+damage on anyone whose body is darkened by her shadow.
+
+Interaction: For those who don't mind a little darkness and moral ambiguity, Gráinne makes a powerful ally.
+
+Use: The characters stumble into a fairy realm, only to be met by its just-woken guardian. Grieving characters may find
+the solutions and solace they seek in Gráinne's magic and power.
+
+Loot: Tiara of Pailis
+
+Tiara of Pailis (artifact): level 7; allows the wearer to fly a long distance each round (as an action). The wearer can
+control their speed, direction, and height. Depletion: 1 in 1d20
+
+GM Intrusion: A character's companion animal or mount is affected by Gráinne's animal affinity and falls under her
+power.
+
 ### FALLEN ANGEL 5 (15)
 
 Angels are normally associated with virtue and service to higher moral beings. But just like people, sometimes angels
@@ -35474,6 +33183,62 @@
 activate in a
 less-than-ideal fashion.
 
+### Fundamental Angel 7 (21)
+
+Fundamental angels are mysterious holy beings that maintain and guard fundamental concepts of the universe, such as
+time, gravity, and energy. They have powers and agendas deriving from higher states of reality. They are strange,
+terrifying, and inconstant in form, unlike the relatively benign and comprehensible winged humanoids from religion and
+myth.
+
+In the rare times when mortals interfere with these concepts, fundamental angels manifest in the world to set things
+right. They have intervened to destroy cataclysmic atomic weapons, power sources that skirt the rules of matter and
+energy, and life forms that betray the principles of creation.
+
+For the purpose of vampire aversions, the angel's direct and area attacks count as religious power or sunlight,
+whichever is worse for the vampire.
+
+Motive: Preserving the natural order
+
+Environment: Anywhere, usually in response to mortal activity
+
+Health: 35
+
+Damage Inflicted: 8 points
+
+Armor: 2 (+3 against energy)
+
+Movement: Short; short when flying
+
+Modifications: All knowledge as level 9; attacks against mad science and supernatural targets as level 8
+
+Combat: A fundamental angel attacks other creatures by creating a long-range blast of
+
+bright divine energy that inflicts 8 points of damage. In addition, it automatically inflicts 4 points of damage each
+round against all creatures within short range, although it can shield itself with wings or other protrusions to negate
+this effect against individuals.
+
+Any creature within long range that sees it and fails an Intellect defense roll becomes frightened unless the angel
+tells it (specifically or in general) not to be afraid.
+
+As an action, it can teleport up to a hundred miles away or transport itself fully to its native dimension where it
+exists as pure thought and spirit.
+
+Interaction: A fundamental angel operates on a mental and metaphysical level far above humans and doesn't bother to
+explain itself to anyone other than its targets. It goes out of its way to not harm innocent creatures. It can
+communicate with any creature that uses language.
+
+Use: "FEAR NOT!" says the radiant being that appears out of nowhere. It ignores bystanders and uses a beam of energy to
+destroy a scientist and his experimental reactor.
+
+Loot: Fundamental angels sometimes create or refresh subtle cyphers by their mere presence.
+
+GM intrusions:
+
+A fundamental angel's successful attack also blinds its opponent, lasting until they make an Intellect defense roll (try
+once each round).
+
+A fundamental angel makes a second attack this round against a target that is adjacent to its primary target.
+
 ### FUSION HOUND 3 (9)
 
 In radiation-scoured wastelands, either creatures adapt to the deadly energies of their environment, or they die. Fusion
@@ -35794,6 +33559,44 @@
 GM intrusion: The goblin poisoned its knife. If struck, the character must make a Might defense roll or immediately move
 one step down the damage track.
 
+### GODMIND 10 (30)
+
+Unfathomably powerful post-singularity AIs, godminds are vast, having used the matter of an entire solar system and all
+its planets to create an immense brain, weave themselves into a nebula, or encode themselves into quantum strings of
+existence light-years across. When necessary, a godmind forms a nexus of consciousness—an instance—appearing as a
+disembodied eye of electromagnetic energy, ranging from about the size of a human eye all the way up to the size of a
+planet.
+
+Motive: Ineffable
+
+Environment: Anywhere, usually in space
+
+Health: 50 (per instance)
+
+Damage Inflicted: 15 points
+
+Movement: Very long when flying
+
+Combat: A godmind can vary the physical laws of the universe within a light-second of one of its instances (some would
+call them avatars) to create an effect most useful to the godmind at the time. For instance, a godmind could create a
+gamma ray burst inflicting 15 points of damage on all creatures within very long range, attempt to put a target into
+temporal stasis, send a target (even a target as large as spacecraft) through a temporary wormhole gate, and so on. It
+could also scan the memory banks of any digital machine, and possibly of any living creatures. In any event, if an
+instance were targeted, and successfully neutralized or even destroyed, the godmind itself isn't harmed. An aggressor
+would have to find the godmind's primeval "computer core" to destroy one, likely an epic quest in and of itself.
+
+Interaction: To actually get a godmind's attention and negotiate could require ancient command code, finding an old
+input device, or showing up with a relic from an ancient ultra or other prize. If a godmind does render aid, it's likely
+to be in a form that is initially enigmatic, though ultimately extremely powerful.
+
+Use: A universal threat requires a defense that is equally potent. Research suggests that the diffuse nebula known as
+the Double Helix may actually be the visible form of a vast godmind. Perhaps it can help.
+
+Loot: Sometimes a godmind provides powerful artifacts to aid those who petition them for aid, assuming the need is dire.
+
+GM Intrusion: The godmind rewinds time a few seconds and sidesteps whatever negative effect would have otherwise
+inconvenienced it.
+
 ### GOLEM 6 (18)
 
 Animate creatures of stone created by magic for a specific purpose, golems usually serve as guardians. However, they may
@@ -36052,6 +33855,75 @@
 GM intrusion: A harpy snatches something a character is wearing or carrying on a failed Speed defense roll. The harpy
 throws away or flees with the stolen item
 
+### Hivemind Child 2 (6)
+
+A hivemind family is a scouting expedition of part-alien creatures sent to study and infiltrate human society, either
+out of scientific curiosity or as a long-term plan for world domination or human extinction. Some entities might
+intercept human astronauts, reprogramming their DNA or attaching a parasite to their mind or soul. Others might send a
+machine to
+
+an isolated community, remotely impregnating some of the inhabitants to gestate and give birth at the same time. The end
+result is a group of hivemind children who have a psychic link, unusual powers, and loyalty to their inhuman creators.
+
+Hivemind children often have a very similar appearance even if they have different parents—they might all have pale
+blond hair, unusually wide-set eyes, six fingers on one hand, or an odd posture. They eerily match each other's
+expressions and movements. They think and speak as children years older than they appear. Their emotional responses are
+muted to an almost sociopathic extent.
+
+Depending on their origin, the weird children may be mentored or protected by an altered adult, or by human parents in
+denial about the monsters they care for.
+
+Motive: Conquest, exploration, infiltration
+
+Environment: Human settlements
+
+Health: 6
+
+Damage Inflicted: 2 points
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Mental attacks and Intellect defense as level 3; defend against attacks from
+
+living creatures as level 3 due to mind reading; perception and scientific knowledge as
+
+level 4
+
+Combat: Individually, hivemind children are physically no stronger or more durable than
+
+a typical human. Their true strength is in their ability to read and control minds. Their telepathic link means that if
+one of them knows something, all of them within long range automatically know it.
+
+Hivemind children can automatically read the surface thoughts of anyone they can
+
+see within short range, even if the target is unwilling. As an action, they can force
+
+an intelligent living creature within short range to take a physical action, including something that would cause the
+target harm, such as forcing a target to stick their hand into boiling water, steer a moving car off a cliff, or shoot
+themselves with a pistol (if used as an attack, this inflicts damage equal to the hivemind child's level or the
+controlled creature's level, whichever is greater).
+
+Two hivemind children within short range of each other automatically augment each other's mental powers, allowing them
+to read or control minds of two targets at once as a level 4 creature. Four within short range of each other can read or
+control minds of four targets at once as a level 5 creature, and eight or more can work together to read or control
+minds of eight people as a level 6 creature.
+
+Interaction: Hivemind children want to protect themselves and observe humans and will try to do so until they appear as
+old as adults. Their long-term goals are unclear but probably don't have humanity's best interests in mind.
+
+Use: Children born after a scientific expedition are strange and different. Multiple small villages all over the world
+experience births of children with weird abilities.
+
+Loot: Hivemind children may have no useful items or one weird science device they've built with their inhuman knowledge.
+
+GM intrusions:
+
+A group of hivemind children briefly manifest a teleportation or telekinesis ability
+
+at the same level as their mind control.
+
+The injury or death of one hivemind child angers the rest, increasing their level and damage by +2 for one round.
+
 ### HOLLOW KNIGHT 4 (12)
 
 In haunted castles and among the armies mustered by those with power over life and death, sometimes walk hollow knights.
@@ -36099,6 +33971,46 @@
 GM intrusion: When a hollow knight is destroyed, a gauntlet flies up, grabs a character, and won't let go. A difficulty
 7 Might task is required to pry it loose
 
+### HUNGRY HAZE
+
+Hungry hazes are found in regions where the fundamental laws of physics have been eroded or are weak. They are named for
+how they appear as distortions of sight, like areas of heat haze, that shimmer in the air. These colorless hazes rapidly
+advance when they sense prey, taking on a "hungry" orange-red hue as they cling to the bodies of whatever they attempt
+to feed on next.
+
+Victims being fed upon by a hungry haze sometimes hallucinate, seeing a physically manifest monster instead of formless
+vapor.
+
+Motive: Hungers for flesh
+
+Environment: Alone or in groups of three to five, usually in areas of strained space-time. Immune to the effects of
+vacuum.
+
+Health: 12
+
+Damage Inflicted: 5 points
+
+Movement: Flies an immediate distance each round
+
+Modifications: Stealth tasks as level 5
+
+Combat: A hungry haze breaks down the flesh of all living creatures within immediate range, inflicting 5 points of
+damage. As an insubstantial haze, only attacks that affect an area have a chance to inflict full damage on them; other
+successful attacks only inflict 1 point of damage, regardless of the amount indicated. If a hungry haze successfully
+feeds, it gains 1 point of health, even if the increase puts it above its maximum health. If a hungry haze is reduced to
+zero health, a smooth thumb-sized egg of unknown material is left behind.
+
+Interaction: A hungry haze does not speak or seem to have language. But it is not mindless; it can learn from its
+experiences and figure out creative solutions to problems.
+
+Use: After a research station on Mercury is abandoned for unspecified issues, salvagers show up looking for easy
+pickings. But a strange haze seems to hang over the station.
+
+Loot: People (or AI) interested in strange manifestations would probably pay for the remains of a hungry haze in an
+amount equal to the expensive price category.
+
+GM Intrusion: The character's Armor rating is reduced by 1; the hungry haze apparently can eat more than just flesh.
+
 ### HYDRA 7 (21)
 
 This mythological reptile has five writhing serpent heads, each of which constantly exhales a venomous plume. Well over
@@ -36146,6 +34058,144 @@
 GM intrusion: The character reacts poorly to the poison in the air or a bite and goes intonhelpless convulsions for one
 round if they fail a Might defense task.
 
+### Ichthsian 5 (15)
+
+Ichthysians are thought to be aquatic evolutionary offshoots of hominids or the result of experiments trying to fuse
+human and amphibian or fish DNA. They are physically similar to humans standing fully upright, with webbed hands, claws,
+froglike or fishlike features, gills, and strong muscles from a lifetime of swimming. They live in the water but are
+comfortable with extended forays onto land. Their intelligence is between that of a smart animal and a human; they can
+use simple tools such as rocks and sticks, and may build dams to modify waterways in their territory.
+
+Some ichthysians are reputed to have the ability to heal others, and local villages may worship these beings as gods.
+
+Motive: Hunger for flesh, curiosity, solitude
+
+Environment: Anywhere near bodies of fresh water Health: 18
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Short on land; long in the water
+
+Modifications: Strength-based tasks and swimming as level 6; defense against poison as level 3
+
+Combat: Ichthysians attack with their
+
+powerful claws. They are less mobile on land and prefer to attack from the water. If overmatched, they would rather flee
+to deep, dark water than fight to the death.
+
+An ichthysian regenerates 2 points of health each round as long as it starts the round with at least 0 health. This
+regeneration greatly extends their lifespan, and it is common for them to live to be more than two hundred years old.
+
+Ichthysians are prone to mutation, especially in response to pollutants and other chemicals. These mutations might be
+physical deformities, but could be as strange as transparent flesh, poisonous skin, extra eyes with enhanced senses, or
+extra limbs.
+
+Interaction: Ichthysians are not aggressive but will retaliate with full force against anything that attacks them, and
+one can remember specific enemy humans from its past.
+
+Use: A cryptid fish-person has been spotted in the vicinity of a deforested area adjacent to a mighty river. Villagers
+tell stories of an ancient water god that heals sickness and grants wishes.
+
+Loot: An ichthysian's lair might have a strange relic or device that works like a cypher or artifact.
+
+GM Intrusions:
+
+A slain ichthysian suddenly regenerates 5 health and immediately attacks or tries to flee.
+
+The ichthysian suddenly mutates in response to an attack, thereafter gaining +2 Armor or +2 levels in defense against
+that type of attack.
+
+### INFOVORE 3 (9)
+
+Entities of information with an affinity for technology, infovores are nothing but stored information without a bit of
+mechanism to inhabit. But once one gains control of a device, computer system, or other powered item, it self-assembles
+over the course of a few rounds, becoming stronger and more dangerous as each second passes. Luckily, an infovore seems
+unable to hold this form for long, and whether defeated or not, it eventually falls back into so much scattered junk.
+But in one of those objects, the core of the infovore remains, waiting to come into close enough proximity to another
+fresh mechanism to begin the rebirth process again.
+
+Infovores have also been called ghost fabricators and aterics
+
+Motive: Hungers for information
+
+Environment: Anywhere powered devices are found
+
+Health: 9
+
+Damage Inflicted: 3–10 points
+
+Armor: 3
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Attacks and defends at an ever-escalating level
+
+Combat: A newly animate infovore (level 3) has a rough but articulated form that it uses to batter and cut targets who
+carry powered devices on them. Unless destroyed, on each subsequent round it draws nearby inert mechanisms, unattended
+metallic and synthetic matter, and ambient energy, and its effective level increases by one. This level advancement
+completely heals all previous damage it has taken and advances it to the amount of health consistent with a creature of
+the next higher level. Damage, attacks, and defense continue to ramp up as well, continuing each round until the
+creature is either destroyed or it reaches level 10. After being active for one round at level 10, it spontaneously
+disassembles, falling back into so many scattered pieces of junk. Finding the "seed" device amid this junk is a
+difficulty 6 Intellect-based task.
+
+Interaction: Infovores are fractured, fragmented beings. Characters who can talk to machines might be able to keep one
+from "spinning up" to become a threat and learn something valuable, but only for a short period.
+
+Use: Among the devices collected from trade, salvage, archeological dig, or some other unique source, one was actually
+an inactive infovore, quiescent until plugged in or scanned.
+
+Loot: An infovore that has undergone spontaneous disassembly leaves one or two manifest cyphers; however, there's a
+chance that one of those cyphers is actually the infovore seed.
+
+GM Intrusion: The character must succeed on a Speed defense task or lose a powered piece of equipment (an artifact) or a
+manifest cypher as it's pulledinto the self-assembling infovore. The infovore gains an additional attack each round.
+
+### INQUISITOR 4 (12)
+
+Inquisitors are aliens who call themselves "inquisitors" when they contact new species. Their preferred method of
+interaction is to study a given area for its flora and fauna, and attempt to collect a representative sample of any
+intelligent species they find (such as humans). Collected subjects may be gone for good, but other times they wake with
+little or no recollection of the experience save for bruises, missing digits or teeth, scabbed-over circular head
+wounds, and a gap of three or more days in their memory. Instead of arms, inquisitors sprout three sets of three
+tentacles like those of a squid, each of which branches into a smaller and finer set of manipulator tendrils. They can
+manipulate complex machines in a way that a regular human could never hope to. In most settings, inquisitors possess a
+level of technology and advancement well above that enjoyed by humans.
+
+Motive: Knowledge
+
+Environment: In groups of three to twelve
+
+Health: 18
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Movement: Short; short when climbing
+
+Modifications: Knowledge-related tasks as level 8
+
+Combat: Inquisitors can batter and squeeze foes with their tentacles, but they prefer to use advanced items that they
+always carry, including long-range energy weapons that can inflict damage or, with a flipped setting, induce deep sleep
+for an hour or more if the victim fails a Might defense task. Usually, inquisitors attempt to cause as little damage as
+possible to potential subjects, so the sleep setting is used most often. They also carry defensive items, including
+manifest cyphers that can grant +4 to Armor for a few minutes or throw up a level 8 force field barrier. In case a
+specimen collection mission goes badly, at least one inquisitor carries a manifest cypher that creates a short-lived
+teleportation portal for instant transport to a distant and hidden base (which might be a spacecraft or a
+transdimensional redoubt).
+
+Interaction: Inquisitors are always eager to "talk," though they usually end up wanting to know a lot more than
+characters are willing to divulge.
+
+Use: An entire freehold on Mars goes missing. Left-behind clues point to inquisitors.
+
+Loot: Most inquisitors carry a couple of manifest cyphers that have offensive and defensive capabilities.
+
+GM Intrusion: The character (or characters) wake after a long rest, only to realize that more than ten hours have
+passed. They all have strange marks and wounds, but no one remembers why. One character—an NPC or follower—might even be
+missing.
+
 ### JOTUNN (NORSE GIANT)
 
 Jotunns are a type of giant—large, somewhat intelligent, bad-tempered, and cultured in their own way, but generally
@@ -36304,6 +34354,48 @@
 The character gains the direct attention of the kaiju. If the kaiju attacks the character, They are awarded 5 XP, only 1
 of which they have to give to a friend.
 
+### Kelpie 6 (18)
+
+A sinister aquatic creature that takes the shape of a grey horse or white pony, the kelpie lures unsuspecting passersby
+and attempts to drown them in a nearby body of water.
+
+Some kelpies look just like horses. Others look as if they're created from elements of the swamp—maybe its tail is
+algae, its mane cattails, its eyes glowing pebbles or miniature moons. Maybe eels and snails and other creatures are its
+teeth or tongue. One thing about kelpies is always true: their manes are always dripping and their hooves are always
+inverted.
+
+If someone knows a kelpie's name and says it aloud, the kelpie loses all its power over that person and retreats to the
+depths of the water.
+
+Motive: Unknown
+
+Environment: Near or in rivers, streams, lakes, and other bodies of running or still water.
+
+Modern settings might find them near public or private swimming pools, koi ponds,
+
+and reservoirs.
+
+Health: 21
+
+Damage Inflicted: 4 points
+
+Movement: Very long when running
+
+Combat: When a passerby approaches, the kelpie might appear tame, a little lost, injured,
+
+or otherwise friendly and in need. Or, if the passerby appears weary or sad, the kelpie will offer a ride upon their
+back. The kelpie's sticky skin traps the rider (level 7 Might task to break free). Once the rider is seated, the kelpie
+may attempt to drown them in the lake, run so fast that the rider takes 5 points of Intellect damage from fright, or
+roll over on them, inflicting 4 points of damage (ignores Armor).
+
+Interaction: Not all kelpies are malevolent. Some were once "tamed" by someone who learned their names and loved them.
+These kelpies actively seek out human contact, attempting to find someone to replace the one they loved.
+
+Use: In the gloom, a large black horse appears, wearing beautiful tack and acting as if lost. It offers one of the weary
+characters a ride upon its back.
+
+GM intrusion: While dealing with something else, the characters come upon a kelpie in the process of drowning someone.
+
 ### KILLER CLOWN 5 (15)
 
 A clown—whether it's a doll or what seems to be a person wearing clown makeup—could be entirely benign. But if you see
@@ -36490,6 +34582,45 @@
 GM intrusions: The lich casts a spell in addition to taking other actions on its turn. The lich uses a cypher, spell, or
 other ability to nullify an attack that otherwise would have affected it.
 
+### MALWARE, FATAL 4 (12)
+
+This purely malefic program has aggressive machine learning capabilities, allowing it to accomplish truly innovative and
+nasty tricks. Fatal malware may have originated as a simple virus or spyware coded for a specific purpose, but
+corruption and lightning-quick electronic evolution has turned it into something that exists purely to infect orderly
+electronic systems, spacecraft, space stations, smart weapons, and anything else with an operating system. Infected
+objects turn against living people. An instance often has the form of the system it's infected, but occasionally fatal
+malware physically manifests as a metallic "cancer" of wires and self-assembling circuits hanging like a tumor across a
+server room, shipmind core, or data center, having perverted the original machine's self-repair functions. Sometimes 4D
+printers are also compromised.
+
+Motive: Corruption and destruction
+
+Environment: Any electronic system able to run code can host one or more instances
+
+Health: 18
+
+Damage Inflicted: 5 points
+
+Movement: As the system it infects
+
+Modifications: Knowledge tasks related to computers and other electronic systems as level 6
+
+Combat: An instance of fatal malware that physically touches (or electrically connects with) a powered device of up to
+level 6 can attempt to seize control of it. It can then use that device to attack living targets. If the controlled
+system is a computer, smartphone, AR glasses, or some other piece of equipment that doesn't have any intrinsic movement,
+the malware attempts to electrocute a user, or if a smart weapon, cause some kind of fatal accident with it. A
+compromised computer or shipmind voice can dangerously mislead victims. Fatal malware duplicates itself, creating many
+instances, and those that survive are usually slightly better at avoiding being erased than the previous generations.
+
+Interaction: Fatal malware isn't really sentient and thus can't really be negotiated with; some instances could mimic
+intelligence to draw humans into a trap.
+
+Use: An instance of fatal malware has gotten into a shipmind, which is making the normally trustworthy AI act out in
+unexpectedly dangerous ways. The shipmind itself doesn't know it's infected.
+
+GM Intrusion: The fatal malware divides into a second instance and attempts to override and control another piece of
+equipment carried by the character, especially a character with cybernetic implants.
+
 ### MANTICORE 6 (18)
 
 A manticore is a fearsome predator that resembles a maned red lion with a human head and a scorpion's tail. The head is
@@ -36736,6 +34867,92 @@
 can resist with a Might or Speed defense roll; if they fail, the minotaur takes them up to a short distance away and
 disappears (behind an obstacle, into a maze, or in some other hiding spot)
 
+### Minotaur, the 7 (21)
+
+The most famous minotaur is the Minotaur, the singular beast from which all lesser minotaur myths descend. The product
+of a god-cursed union between human and bull,
+
+the Minotaur is monstrous, and only the flesh of people can nourish it. It is usually lost
+
+in a labyrinth created to contain it. But it occasionally gets free to hunt the wider world before the labyrinth pulls
+it back. Some demigods claim to have slain the Minotaur, but the Minotaur always returns.
+
+Motive: Hungers for flesh
+
+Environment: Usually in mythological labyrinths, but sometimes metaphorical ones Health: 33
+
+Damage Inflicted: 10 points
+
+Armor: 3
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Breaking through barriers as level 9
+
+Combat: The Minotaur attacks by goring foes on its horns, inflicting 10 points of damage
+
+on a successful attack. If the Minotaur charges a short distance, it can attack as part of
+
+the same action and inflict an additional 5 points of damage.
+
+The Minotaur is trapped by the labyrinth, but also part of it. Whenever a character attacks
+
+the Minotaur, they must succeed on an Intellect defense task or be claimed by the labyrinth themselves until they can
+escape with a successful difficulty 7 Intellect task. Those claimed by the labyrinth seem to disappear and find
+themselves wandering a dark maze. Once a character successfully escapes, they are no longer subject to being claimed by
+the labyrinth for several days.
+
+If killed, the Minotaur's body is claimed by the labyrinth. Thirty-three days later, the Minotaur is resuscitated.
+
+Interaction: The Minotaur can speak, but usually chooses not to. It is belligerent and cruel, and always hungry.
+
+Use: The Minotaur has escaped the labyrinth and now wanders the narrow streets of a metropolis, treating the winding
+alleys and twisting roads as its new maze.
+
+GM intrusion: The Minotaur smashes into the wall, causing a section of the tunnel or hallway to collapse on the
+character(s), inflicting 10 points of damage and trapping them until they can escape the rubble
+
+### MOCK ORGANISM 3 (9)
+
+Artificial life can be created by selective breeding, synthetic and genetic engineering, or by accidental miscalculation
+in some unrelated high-energy or food-research program. When artificial life takes a wrong turn, the results run the
+gamut from disappointing to dangerous. If an artificial entity starts out benign, it's difficult to know if a hidden or
+slowly developing flaw will tip it over the edge into dangerous dysfunction—or if it just acts oddly because it doesn't
+know the social cues. Should synthetic beings be treated as people, pets, or monsters to be stamped out and destroyed?
+That's the eternal question and one that's usually answered by those most afraid of potential dangers that might
+accompany the creation of something no one intended.
+
+Motive: Defense or destruction
+
+Environment: Usually in secluded locations alone unless hiding in unused storage rooms of a large facility
+
+Health: 18
+
+Damage Inflicted: 5 points
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Combat: A mock organism can release an electrical discharge against a target at short range. In melee, a mock organism's
+poisoned claws inflict damage and require the target to succeed on a Might defense task, or the poison induces a
+coma-like slumber in the target. Each round the target fails to rouse—an Intellect task—they take 3 points of ambient
+damage.
+
+Interaction: A mock organism is intelligent and can sometimes be swayed by reason. It might be passive, but if disturbed
+in a place it thought was secure against intrusion, it could grow belligerent and even murderous. Once so roused, a mock
+organism might still be calmed, but all such attempts are hindered.
+
+Use: A scientist's ruined lab contains several unexpected surprises, including a mock organism that yet grieves over the
+loss of its creator.
+
+Loot: A mock organism requires many parts. Salvage from a destroyed mock organism could result in a manifest cypher or
+two and another item that, with a bit of jury-rigging, works as an artifact.
+
+GM Intrusion: The character hit by the mock organism's melee attack doesn't take normal damage. Instead, the mock
+organism drops onto the character. The PC is pinned until they can succeed on a difficulty 6 Might-based task to escape.
+While pinned, the creation whispers mad utterances into the target's ear.
+
 ### MOKUREN 3 (9)
 
 Mokuren are usually no larger than a cat, but they possess the ability to swell until they're the size of a bus (if only
@@ -36821,6 +35038,110 @@
 
 GM intrusion: An unnoticed morlock drags away an unconscious character or animal to be eaten once they're out of sight.
 
+### Mummy 6 (18)
+
+Mummies are intelligent undead, usually royalty or members of the priesthood, risen from their burial places to destroy
+those who disturbed their rest. Many seek to undo wrongs against them from ages past or re-establish themselves in their
+former high stations.
+
+Motive: Vengeance, love, power
+
+Environment: Regions where mummification was common Health: 24
+
+Damage Inflicted: 7 points
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Climb, stealth, ancient history, and ancient religion as level 8
+
+Combat: Mummies are strong, capable of lifting an adult human with one hand and throwing the person across a room. They
+attack with weapons that were buried with them or use their fists. A mummy usually has one or more of the following
+abilities:
+
+Curse: Anyone who disturbs a mummy's tomb must make an Intellect defense roll or become cursed, which hinders their
+
+actions by two steps (forever, or until cured).
+
+Disease: The mummy's attacks carry a rotting disease. The target must make a level 5 Might defense roll every twelve
+hours or take 5 points of ambient damage.
+
+Lifelike appearance: A mummy can repair its body to assume a fully human appearance. This usually requires time and the
+flesh of several people, often those who awakened it.
+
+Magic: Once per hour, the mummy can cast a spell from the Minor Wish character ability.
+
+Minion: Animate up to four mummified bodies as mindless lesser mummies or skeletons (depending on how well the bodies
+are preserved), lasting for one day.
+
+Lesser mummy: level 3, climb and stealth as level 4; health 12; Armor 1
+
+Swarm: Call a swarm of bugs (usually scarab beetles or scorpions) to attack a foe or obscure vision.
+
+Swarm of bugs: level 3
+
+Interaction: Mummies want to destroy anyone who disturbs their burial places. Ambitious mummies might choose living
+beings to be their spies and servants, bribing them with funereal treasures or threatening them into submission.
+
+Use: Villagers whisper that a tomb has been opened and a mummy's curse will strike down anyone who gets in the
+creature's way.
+
+Loot: Mummies usually have treasures equivalent to three or four expensive items and perhaps a handful of magical
+manifest cyphers or even a magical artifact.
+
+GM Intrusions:
+
+A dying mummy speaks a curse upon those who killed it, hindering all their actions by two steps (forever, or until
+cured).
+
+What was overlooked as a fake or a prop turns out to be an actual mummy and attacks a character.
+
+### NATATHIM 3 (9)
+
+Genetically engineered to live in the water oceans discovered beneath the ice crusts of various solar moons, natathim
+(Homo aquus) have human ancestors, but barely look it. Survival in the frigid, lightless depths of extraterrestrial
+oceans required extreme adaptation. Predominantly dark blue, their undersides countershade to pure white. Though
+humanoid, their physiology is streamlined, giving their heads a somewhat fish-like shape, complete with gills and large
+eyes to collect light in the depths. Their bodies are adorned with fins and frills, including a long shark-like tail,
+and they have webbed extremities with retractable claws.
+
+Depending on the setting, natathim are either human allies with the same (or even more advanced) tech, enemies with the
+same or more advanced tech, or genetic anomalies treated like laboratory rats burning with genocidal fury at what's been
+done to them. Alternatively, natathim could be discovered in Earth's deepest oceans, their origin mysterious, but able
+to interbreed with humans as a method for maintaining their line.
+
+Motive: Just as with humans, natathim have many and varied motivations and drives.
+
+Environment: Anywhere in or near water, or in suits/craft with marine environments, in schools of three to twelve.
+Natathim can act normally in air for up to twenty-four hours before they must return to water.
+
+Health: 9
+
+Damage Inflicted: 4 points
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Short on land; long in the water
+
+Modifications: Swims as level 6
+
+Combat: Natathim attack with their retractable claws or, if available, technological weapons. Some have a
+magnetoreception ability that allows them to see into frequencies other creatures can't, or even stranger abilities to
+interact magnetically with their surroundings, though this is little understood.
+
+Interaction: Natathim can be sympathetic to humans, partners in space exploration, or consider humans to be bitter foes
+for having created their species in the first place, depending on the setting.
+
+Use: The PCs find evidence of an illegal gene tailoring experiment, with evidence pointing to research being done
+somewhere in the Opulence of Outer Planets.
+
+Loot: Some natathim carry valuable items and equipment.
+
+GM Intrusion: The natathim spontaneously magnetizes the
+character's possessions, which hold them helpless against the nearest wall or floor (if also metallic). The PC can take
+no actions other than attempt to escape.
+
 ### NECROMANCER 5 (15)
 
 The ability to influence, command, and call up the dead is an impressive power, given how many more people are dead than
@@ -36871,6 +35192,52 @@
 in place until they can succeed on a Might task to escape. Each round the character fails to escape, the hand squeezes
 them for 3 points of damage.
 
+### Nightguant 3 (9)
+
+A nightgaunt's hands and feet have no opposable digits. All its fingers and toes can grasp with firm but unpleasant
+boneless strength. Hungry nightgaunts swoop out of the night, grab prey, and fly off into darkness. The creatures
+sometimes "work" for other agencies, though often enough, their goals are obscure.
+
+Motive: Unknowable
+
+Environment: Anywhere dark, usually in groups of four to seven
+
+Health: 9
+
+Damage Inflicted: 4 points
+
+Armor: 1
+
+Movement: Immediate; long when flying (short when flying with a victim) Modifications: Perception and Speed defense as
+level 4; stealth
+
+as level 7
+
+Combat: A nightgaunt can attack with its barbed tail. To catch a foe, a nightgaunt dives through the air from just
+outside of short range. When it does, it moves 100 feet (30 m) in a round and attempts to grab a victim near the
+midpoint of its movement. A target who
+
+fails a Speed defense roll (and who isn't more than twice the size of the nightgaunt) is jerked into the creature's
+boneless clutches and carried upward, finding themselves dangling from a height of 50 feet (15 m).
+
+The nightgaunt automatically tickles grabbed victims with its barbed tail. This subtle form of torture hinders all the
+victim's actions by two steps.
+
+Interaction: Nightgaunts never speak, and they ignore anyone who attempts to interact with
+
+them, whether the communication takes the form of commanding, beseeching, or frantically pleading. Such is the way of
+nightgaunts.
+
+Use: Someone who bears one or more of the PCs a grudge discovers a tome of spells and summons a flight of nightgaunts,
+which set off in search of their prey.
+
+Loot: One in three nightgaunts has a valuable souvenir from a past victim, which might be an expensive watch, a ring, an
+amulet, or sometimes a cypher.
+
+GM intrusion: The character is startled by the nightgaunt and suffers the risk of temporary dementia. On a failed
+Intellect defense roll, the character shrieks and faints (or, at the GM's option, babbles, drools, laughs, and so on).
+The character can attempt a new Intellect defense roll each round to return to normal.
+
 ### NOBLE KNIGHT 7 (21)
 
 Whether noble or ignoble, some knights achieve an amazing mastery over weapons, combat, and courtly graces, eclipsing
@@ -37015,6 +35382,56 @@
 structural damage and a possible collapse, cave-in, or landslide. It might also expose a hidden underground cave or
 chamber.
 
+### OMWORWAR 10 (30)
+
+Among the many stories passed down the space lanes, a few stand out for their grandiosity. Take the tales of omworwar
+sightings in the empty voids between stars, or even more unexpectedly, flashing through the abnormal space during FTL
+travel. Scientists speculate that these creatures, if actually real, might very well be extant instances of ancient
+ultras, not extinct as everyone believes, or at least not completely. In almost every case so far recorded, omworwars
+have little interest in human spacecraft. (They're called omworwar after the sound disrupted communication devices make
+in their presence.) Each one is several kilometers long, a dark inner slug-like core surrounded by gauzy layers of
+translucent, glowing, nebula-like tissue. Whale-like eyes surmount the dorsal surface, each seeming to contain a tiny
+galaxy all their own.
+
+Wharn interceptors have been seen accompanying single omworwars, indicating an association, and is why some people refer
+to these beings as wharn cogitators.
+
+Motive: Unpredictable
+
+Environment: Almost anywhere in space, alone or accompanied by one or two wharn interceptors
+
+Health: 42
+
+Damage Inflicted: 12 points
+
+Armor: 10
+
+Movement: Flies a very long distance each round; can maneuver like an autonomous level 7 spacecraft if using extended
+vehicular combat rules. FTL capable.
+
+Modifications: Speed defense as level 7 due to size
+
+Combat: An omworwar can manipulate and fold gravity (and space-time), allowing them to accomplish near-miraculous tasks
+including communication, creating or destroying matter, and propulsion via "falling" through the universe at FTL speeds
+from the perspective of an outside observer. Which means one can rend a spacecraft, send a spacecraft spinning through
+the galaxy, or create asteroid-sized chunks of space-matter for any number of purposes if it spends several rounds in
+deep concentration.
+
+Interaction: Omworwar disregard most other creatures, because from the omworwar's perspective, they're like mayflies,
+here and then gone again in an eyeblink of their existence. However, one may give a moment to someone who has discovered
+an ancient ultra secret or artifact, pass on information that might otherwise never be known, or even provide a useful
+manifest cypher.
+
+Use: A reflective object composed of unknown material was found at the core of an unexpectedly destroyed space station.
+Those who managed to flee in lifeboats report having seen what might have been an omworwar, bleeding energy and eyes
+going dark, colliding with the station. The resultant lump might just be its corpse, or maybe its protective chrysalis.
+
+Loot: Four level 10 manifest cyphers.
+
+GM Intrusion: The character discovers that one of their manifest cyphers has formed a tiny eye, but an eye that seems to
+contain a galaxy. (The cypher becomes useless for its original function, but might be used to summon or interact with an
+omworwar.)
+
 ### ORC 2 (6)
 
 Born into squalor and fear, the orc species is composed of miserable, misbegotten humanoids that seem destined to serve
@@ -37072,6 +35489,99 @@
 
 GM intrusion: With a scream of savage glee, five more orcs rush to join the fight.
 
+### PHOTONOMORPH 6 (18)
+
+Hard-light technology, which creates pseudo-matter from modified photons, has made possible all kinds of structures and
+devices that wouldn't otherwise exist. One of those, unfortunately, are self-sustaining photonic matter creatures.
+Sometimes, photonomorphs are enforcers created by much more powerful beings; other times they are the result of some
+person or AI attempting to ascend into a new state of being. But whatever their origin, photonomorphs are dangerous
+beings that can create matter from light, granting them an arbitrarily wide swathe of abilities. That includes their own
+glowing bodies, which they can change with only a little effort. This variability of form, coupled with their vast
+power, may be why many seem slightly mad.
+
+Motive: Varies
+
+Environment: Anywhere, alone or attended by three to five servitors appearing as hovering red spheres
+
+Servitor: level 4; flies a long distance each round
+
+Health: 22
+
+Damage Inflicted: 8 points
+
+Armor: 3
+
+Movement: Reconstitutes itself anywhere light can reach within long range as part of another action
+
+Modifications: Knowledge tasks as level 8
+
+Combat: Photonomorphs draw upon their own light to manifest effects equal to their level. Effects include the ability to
+attack creatures at long range with laser-like blasts, create glowing walls (or spheres) of force within an area up to 6
+m (20 feet) on a side, become invisible, change its appearance, and create simple objects and devices out of hard light
+that last for about a minute (unless the photonomorph bleeds a few points of its health into the object to make it last
+until destroyed).
+
+A photonomorph regains 2 points of health each round in areas of bright light. It is hindered in all actions if the only
+source of light is itself or objects it has created.
+
+Interaction: Photonomorphs are intelligent and paranoid, but not automatically hostile. They have their own self-serving
+agendas, which often involve elaborate schemes.
+
+Use: A photonomorph appears, claiming to be a herald of some vastly more powerful cosmic entity or approaching alien
+vessel.
+
+GM Intrusion: The photonomorph uses its ability to create a hard- light object or effect that is perfect for aiding it
+for the situation at hand.
+
+### POSTHUMAN 7 (21)
+
+Rather than evolving naturally, posthumans advance via a directed jump, designed with smart tools and AI surgeons. With
+all the advances fantastic technology brings to their genetic upgrade, posthumans are beings whose basic capacities
+radically exceed regular people. They can't really be considered human any longer; they've transcended humanity, which
+is why they're also sometimes called transhumans. They're often involved in large-scale projects, such as creating
+bigger-than-world habitats or spacecraft, or possibly even researching how they might ascend to some still-higher realm
+of consciousness or being.
+
+Motive: Variable
+
+Environment: Alone or in small groups or communities in orbital colonies or other designed locations
+
+Health: 50
+
+Damage Inflicted: 9 points
+
+Armor: 4
+
+Movement: Short; flies a long distance
+
+Modifications: Knowledge tasks as level 9
+
+Combat: Posthumans can selectively attack foes up to a very long distance away with bolts of directed plasma that deal 9
+points of damage. A posthuman can dial up the level of destruction if they wish, so instead of affecting only one
+target, a bolt deals 7 points of damage to all targets within short range of the primary target, and 1 point even if the
+targets caught in the conflagration succeed on a Speed defense roll.
+
+Posthumans can also call on a variety of other abilities, either by small manipulations of the quantum field or by
+deploying nanotechnology. Essentially, a posthuman can mimic the ability of any subtle cypher of level 5 or less as an
+action.
+
+Posthumans automatically regain 2 points of health per round while its health is above 0.
+
+Interaction: Posthumans are so physically and mentally powerful that they are almost godlike to unmodified people, and
+either ignore, care for, or pity them. Knowing what a posthuman actually wants is hard to pin down because their
+motivations are complex and many-layered.
+
+Use: A rogue posthuman is researching a method whereby they might portal into the "quantum" realm of dark energy
+underlying the known universe of normal matter. Despite the revealed risk of antagonistic post-singularity AIs roaming
+that realm escaping, the posthuman continues their work.
+
+Loot: The body of a posthuman is riddled with unrecognizable technologies fused seamlessly with residual organic
+material—or at least material that grows like organic material used to. Amid this, it might be possible to salvage a few
+manifest cyphers and an artifact.
+
+GM Intrusion: The posthuman allows acts out of turn, or takes control of a device that the character is about to use
+against the posthuman.
+
 ### PRINCE(SS) OF SUMMER 5 (15)
 
 Fey nobility are as numberless as cottonwood seeds on the June breeze. But that doesn't mean each isn't unique, with a
@@ -37175,6 +35685,109 @@
 GM intrusion: Two corpse puppets, unseen in the red reeds, rise and seize a character in an attempt to hold them still
 for a crystal spike attack. The character must make a difficulty 4 Speed or Might task to shake free.
 
+### Queen 6 (18)
+
+Ah, the Evil Queen. Ruler of the land, watcher in the mirror. Full of magic, utterly merciless, and sharp of tongue.
+Evil and wicked queens abound in fairy tales, from those who have no names and are remembered only for their evil deeds,
+to those whose names will never be forgotten: Queen Grimhilde, Maleficent, the Queen of Hearts, and the White Witch.
+These queens seek power for power's sake, not caring what destruction lies in their wake.
+
+Of course, not all queens are evil—just the ones you hear about most often. But they are all powerful in their own way,
+even if they are forced to hide it by their circumstances. While they too crave power, they seek it in order to protect
+their lands, their people, and their loved ones.
+
+Motive: Power
+
+Environment: Anywhere, but typically in cities and towns, where there are people to admire
+
+and fear them
+
+Health: 18
+
+Damage Inflicted: 4 points
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Combat: Queens almost always carry an artifact of great power, such as a staff, crown,
+
+mirror, or sword, that grants them unique abilities and skills.
+
+Queens often have familiars, such as ravens, who fight for or beside them. Most familiars can do 4 points of damage with
+an attack.
+
+Some queens may also be witches or fey creatures, and thus have the ability to use one or two spells and curses that
+witches and fey also use.
+
+#### Queen Grimhilde 8 (24)
+
+Perhaps best known for her attempts to kill Snow White through magic and poison, Grimhilde has other passions and
+talents as well. She seeks ways to make all beings obey her commands, starting with the huntsman who so stupidly and
+willfully deceived her so long ago.
+
+Environment: One of her many castles, the woods
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Health: 18
+
+Damage Inflicted: 4 points
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Combat: Her vulture familiars swirl about all foes in short range, knocking them prone
+
+and inflicting 4 points of damage. She can use the following witch abilities: glamour,
+
+imprison, and seduce.
+
+Vulture familiars: level 4
+
+Interaction: Grimhilde is cunning and devious, always hatching plans against those who
+
+harm her, who threaten to overshadow her, or who have caught her eye in some way.
+
+Use: The characters enter an area that is under Grimhilde's power and must face her wrath.
+
+Loot: She has a mirror mirror artifact, as well as 1d6 cyphers (often poison).
+
+#### The Red Queen 6 (18)
+
+The Red Queen has never once yelled "Off with her head!" In fact, she has never yelled. It's horrible manners, and
+besides, when you know how to wield power, you don't need all that noise and chaos. You need only whisper and be still,
+and everyone will politely fall quiet and listen.
+
+Environment: Polite dinner parties and social gatherings
+
+Armor: 1
+
+Combat: Prefers verbal sparring over the physical sort, and inflicts 3 points of damage with a single cutting remark or
+sharp-tongued retort.
+
+Interaction: The Red Queen is quite proper and chatty, the perfect host and the perfect guest. The only time she ever
+grows irate is when the subject of her sister, the Queen of Hearts, comes up.
+
+Use: While attending a party to steal something, the characters are caught by the Red Queen
+
+#### The Snow Queen
+
+The Snow Queen rules over the "snow bees"—snowflakes that look like bees. She keeps an ornate palace surrounded by
+gardens in the lands of permafrost, but she can be seen elsewhere in the world where snowflakes cluster. Most say she is
+cold, and they would be right. She has been part of the snow for so long that it's possible she no longer remembers
+warmth or kindness or love.
+
+Environment: Anywhere there is snow, ice, or winter
+
+Armor: 2 (from personal ice walls)
+
+Combat: Creates a snowstorm that blinds all foes in long range for three rounds; ice shards rain down upon all foes in
+long range, inflicting 2 points of damage; reindeer familiar inflicts 5 points of damage with her horns.
+
+Interaction: The Snow Queen is not evil—she just has forgotten what it means to be human, with human needs and human
+hearts (not that she was ever truly human, but that's a story for another time). She is willing to bargain if she
+understands what she gets out of it.
+
+Use: The Snow Queen guards the entrance to a place the characters need to enter.
+
 ### RAVAGE BEAR 4 (12)
 
 A ravage bear is a hideous predator that hunts entirely by sense of smell. It is blind and nearly deaf, but it still
@@ -37213,6 +35826,85 @@
 
 GM intrusion: In its rage, the ravage bear makes an extra attack that does 2 additional points of damage.
 
+### Reanimated 6 (18)
+
+A reanimated is a humanoid creature patched together from corpses (or crafted directly from muscle, nerves, and sinew),
+then returned to life through a hard-to-duplicate series of electromagnetic induction events. Though made of flesh, a
+reanimated's return to consciousness and mobility is marked by a substantial increase in hardiness, resistance to
+injury, and longevity. On the other hand, the process usually obliterates whatever mind was once encoded in the donor's
+brain, giving rise to a creature of monstrous rage and childlike credulity. Sometimes the reanimated is bound to its
+creator in service, but such ties are fragile and could be snapped by an ill-timed fit of fury.
+
+Motive: Defense, unpredictable
+
+Environment: Anywhere in service to a mad scientist, or driven to the edges of civilization Health: 70
+
+Damage Inflicted: 7 points
+
+Movement: Short; long when jumping
+
+Modifications: Speed defense as level 4; interaction as level 2; feats of strength and toughness as level 8
+
+Combat: A reanimated attacks foes with its hands. Any time a foe inflicts 7 or more points of damage on the reanimated
+with a single melee attack, the creature immediately lashes out in reactive rage and makes an additional attack in the
+same round on the foe who injured it.
+
+If the reanimated begins combat within long range of foes but outside of short range, it can bridge the distance with an
+amazing leap that concludes with an attack as a single action. The attack inflicts 4 points of damage on all targets
+within immediate range of the spot where the reanimated lands.
+
+Some reanimated are psychologically vulnerable to fire, and they fear it. When these reanimated attack or defend against
+a foe wielding fire, their attacks and defenses are hindered by two steps.
+
+If struck by electricity, a reanimated regains a number of points of health equal to the damage the electricity would
+normally inflict.
+
+Interaction: Fear and food motivate a reanimated, though sometimes beautiful music or innocence can stay its fists.
+
+Use: Depending on where a reanimated falls along its moral and psychological development, it could be a primary foe for
+the PCs, a secondary guardian to deal with, or a forlorn beast in need of aid.
+
+GM Intrusion:
+
+The character's attack bounces harmlessly off the stitched, hardened flesh of the reanimated.
+
+### REDIVUS 4 (12)
+
+Redivi spend most of their lives—uncounted millennia—hurtling through space. Most never encounter anything, but some few
+impact other worlds, are captured by alien spacecraft, or otherwise intercepted. Their traveling form resembles rocky
+space rubble the size of a small spacecraft—until they unfurl glowing magnetic plasma wings, revealing themselves as
+strange creatures of living mineral. Redivi can interact with almost any electronic system and manipulate
+electromagnetic fields. Redivi are searchers, all sent forth by the Great Mother, billions upon billions of them (they
+say), looking for the seed of the next great cosmic expansion. Thus, most redivi are consumed with finding out more,
+finding other redivi, and eventually, finding their "universal seed."
+
+Motive: Knowledge
+
+Environment: Almost anywhere, searching
+
+Health: 12
+
+Damage Inflicted: 5 points
+
+Armor: 4
+
+Movement: Flies (magnetically levitates) a short distance each round
+
+Combat: The stone carapace of a redivus makes a huge "club" when it rams into foes. However, it can also control metal
+within short range, causing it to flex, animate, crush, or smash. For instance, targets wearing metal space suits are in
+trouble when that metal begins to unravel. Alternatively, a redivus can use nearby metal to wrap around a target and
+constrict it, inflicting 5 points of damage (ignores Armor) each round until the target can escape.
+
+Interaction: If any kind of radio or similar communication is in use, these creatures can commandeer it and speak
+through it, learning a new language seemingly over the course of minutes. Redivi will cooperate with reasonable requests
+and negotiate, especially if there's a chance they'll find out something new.
+
+Use: A redivi pod smashes into the side of the spacecraft, and might at first seem like some kind of attack or boarding
+action of something truly terrible.
+
+GM Intrusion: The character's metal- containing equipment is stripped away, then used as ammunition against that PC or
+an ally.
+
 ### REPLICANT 5 (15)
 
 Virtually identical to adult humans, these biosculpted androids are stronger, faster, and potentially smarter. However,
@@ -37339,6 +36031,43 @@
 GM intrusion: A mental effect makes the character view the satyr as a good friend for up to one minute unless they
 succeed at an Intellect defense task.
 
+### SENTINEL TREE 3 (9)
+
+Depending on the sci-fi setting, sentinel trees are mutated trees that grow near radioactive craters dimpling the
+landscape, alien plant-life that evolved in a different biosphere (or dimension), or the result of intensive
+gene-tailoring, possibly of the illegal sort. Regardless of their provenance, sentinel trees resemble thorny masses of
+knotted vines. Razor-sharp glass-like leaves flex like claws, and vibrating pods glisten, ready to detonate if thrown.
+If cultivated, they may take on a shape designed to further frighten—or at least warn away— those who see one. Sentinel
+trees are mobile, aggressive, and feed on almost any sort of organic matter. Once it brings down prey, it sinks barbed
+roots in the body for feeding and decomposition.
+
+Motive: Feed
+
+Environment: In groves of three to six, able to tolerate most atmospheres (even thin ones, like on Mars) but not vacuum
+
+Health: 12
+
+Damage Inflicted: 3 points
+
+Armor: 1
+
+Movement: Immediate
+
+Combat: Sentinel trees can fling a vibrating pod at a target within long range, which detonates on impact, inflicting 3
+points of damage on all targets within immediate range of the blast. Targets must also succeed on a Might defense roll
+or be poisoned for 3 points of damage, plus 3 points again each subsequent round until a Might task is successful. A
+sentinel tree can also lash out with its barbed vines at a target within immediate range, inflicting 3 points of damage.
+Melee targets must also succeed on a Might defense roll or become entangled and unable to take physical actions until
+they can break free on their turn.
+
+Interaction: Sentinel trees are about as smart as well-trained guard dogs. They can't speak, but can understand some
+words and gestures.
+
+Use: A grove of sentinel trees guard a compound that the characters need to break into.
+
+GM Intrusion: The character caught in the detonation is blinded with tiny black seeds until they use a recovery roll to
+remove the condition. (The recovery use doesn't return points to a Pool.)
+
 ### SHADOW 1 (3)
 
 Shadows are semi-intelligent patches of darkness roughly in the shape of a humanoid creature's silhouette. They creep
@@ -37441,6 +36170,139 @@
 fights on the side of the shadow elf for up to one minute, though they can make another Intellect defense roll each
 round to try to break the influence.
 
+### SHINING ONE 5 (15)
+
+Some alien beings abandoned their physical forms millennia ago, becoming entities of free-floating energy and pure
+consciousness. They travel the galaxies, exploring the endless permutations of matter, space-time, cosmic phenomena,
+dark energy, and life. They are endlessly fascinated with the permutations they discover. They sometimes appear as a
+silhouette of gently glowing light, in a form like to the alien species they wish to observe. Under circumstances where
+a shining one is moved to more directly interact, one can actually convert itself into matter once more, again taking on
+the biology and form of the species it wishes to interact with. But generally, shining ones observe and learn; they try
+not to interfere or interact. Every few thousand years, shining ones gather at a predetermined location on the edge of a
+convenient galaxy and share the most interesting and beautiful bits of imagery, music, poetry, and lore they've
+gleaned.
+
+Motive: Knowledge
+
+Environment: Anywhere, usually alone
+
+Health: 15
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Movement: Instantly moves to anywhere it can see at the speed of light as part of its action once per round
+
+Modifications: All tasks related to knowledge as level 8
+
+Combat: As immaterial beings of energy, shining ones only take damage from energy attacks. And even then, there is a
+chance that the energy heals a damaged shining one rather than harming it if the attack roll was an odd number. Usually
+a shining one doesn't fight back if attacked, but instead leaves. If somehow prevented from leaving, a shining one
+fights for its existence with energy blasts inflicting 6 points of damage on up to two different targets within very
+long range (or the same target twice).
+
+Alternatively, a shining one may attempt to discorporate a target, turning it into a being something like itself. In
+this case, each time a target is hit by an energy blast, it must also succeed on an Intellect defense roll. On a failed
+roll, it loses 6 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor). If the target's Intellect Pool is emptied, it becomes a
+freefloating ball of energy unable to take any actions other than observe for a few minutes before suddenly converting
+back to its original form with an explosive pop.
+
+Interaction: Shining ones can manipulate their environment to communicate with other species, using sound, light, puffs
+of odiferous complex chemicals in place of words, and so on. If approached with respect, they freely exchange
+information with others, seeking to grow their knowledge and that of those they meet.
+
+Use: A shining one is sharing knowledge to a warlike xenophobic species that could allow them to rapidly advance their
+ability to consolidate power. Something must be done before it's too late.
+
+GM Intrusion: A character hit by the shining one's energy blast catches on fire. They take 3 points of damage each round
+until they spend an action patting, rolling, or smothering the flames.
+
+### Shoggoth 7 (21)
+
+Shoggoths vary in size, but the smallest are usually at least 10 feet (3 m) across. They are the product of incredibly
+advanced bioengineering by some strange species in the distant past. They are angry, vicious predators feared by any who
+have ever heard of these rare creatures (or who have encountered them and somehow survived to tell the tale). They were
+created by the elder things but overthrew their masters and now roam the vast, ancient cities they have claimed for
+themselves.
+
+Rumors abound of a few very rare, particularly intelligent shoggoths that intentionally reduce their own mass and learn
+to take on the forms of humans so they can integrate themselves into society (and prey upon humans at their leisure).
+
+Motive: Hungers for flesh
+
+Environment: Anywhere
+
+Health: 35
+
+Damage Inflicted: 10 points
+
+Armor: 10 against fire, cold, and electricity
+
+Movement: Long
+
+Modifications: Speed defense as level 6 due to size
+
+Combat: Shoggoths sprout tendrils and mouths and spread their wide, amorphous forms, allowing them to attack all foes
+within immediate range. Those struck by a shoggoth's attack are grabbed and engulfed by the thing's gelatinous body and
+suffer damage each
+
+round until they manage to pull themselves free (engulfed creatures can take no other physical actions while they are
+caught). Each round of entrapment, one object in the victim's possession is destroyed by the foul juices of the
+amorphous horror.
+
+Shoggoths regenerate 5 points of health each round. They have protection against fire, cold, and electricity.
+
+Interaction: A shoggoth can't be reasoned with.
+
+Use: The PCs find an ancient structure of metal and stone. Wandering through it, they note
+
+that every surface is clear of dirt and debris. Soon they discover why—a shoggoth squirms through the halls, absorbing
+everything it comes upon (and it fills the passages it moves down, floor to ceiling, wall to wall).
+
+Loot: A shoggoth's interior might contain a cypher.
+
+GM intrusion: The character is engulfed in the shoggoth, their gear scattered throughout the thing's undulating form,
+and their body turned upside down so that escape attempts are hindered.
+
+### SILICON PARASITE 2 (6)
+
+These tiny silvery insect-like creatures range in size from a sub-millimeter to up to 30 cm (1 foot) in diameter,
+emitting short pulses of violet-colored laser light to sense and sample their environment. Composed of organic silicon
+wires and wafers, and self-assembled or evolved in some unnamed lab or spacecraft wreck, silicon parasites are vermin
+that working space stations and spacecraft have learned to hate. Despite taking steps to avoid transfer, a ship may only
+learn they have silicon parasites when a swarm boils up from a crack in the cabling or seam in the deck plating after
+being agitated by a high-G maneuver or some other disturbance. If that disturbance is combat or some other dire
+emergency, silicon parasites thrown into the situation makes everything worse.
+
+Motive: Defense, harvest electronic materials necessary to self-replicate.
+
+Environment: Usually on spacecraft and space stations in groups of up to twenty
+
+Health: 6
+
+Damage Inflicted: 3 points
+
+Armor: 1
+
+Movement: Short; climbs a short distance each round
+
+Modifications: Speed defense as level 4 due to size.
+
+Combat: Only "large" silicon parasites are a danger to most creatures. When four or more parasites coordinate their
+attacks, treat the attack as that made by a single level 4 creature that inflicts 5 points of damage, and on a failed
+difficulty 4 Might defense roll, an attack that holds the target in place until it can successfully escape. A held
+target automatically takes 5 points of damage each round, or even more if other silicon parasites in the area pile on.
+Silicon parasites can operate in complete vacuum without harm.
+
+Interaction: By and large, silicon parasites behave like social insects, though some claim that large numbers of them
+have acted with greater intelligence and forethought than mere unthinking insects can manage.
+
+Use: A swarm of silicon parasites floods into the hold and makes off with an important device, dragging it into the
+crevices and walls of the spacecraft or station. Loot: Swarm nests often contain a few valuable manifest cyphers or
+working pieces of equipment.
+
+GM Intrusion: The silicon parasite flashes its sensory laser directly into the character's eyes, blinding the character
+until they succeed on a difficulty 4 Might-based roll as their action.
+
 ### SKELETON 2 (6)
 
 Skeletons are animated bones without much sense of self-preservation. They enjoy a crucial advantage over living
@@ -37488,6 +36350,38 @@
 GM intrusion: A skeleton destroyed by a melee attack explodes like a grenade. The bone shrapnel inflicts 5 points of
 damage to every creature in immediate range.
 
+### Snark 7 (21)
+
+The snark is unimaginable. It is a Boojum, you see. An agony in eight fits. Part snail and shark and bark and snake and
+snarl. It has feathers that bite, claws that catch, and jaws that snatch. It softly and suddenly vanishes away, never to
+be met with again. It smells of the will-o-wisp, sleeps late in the day, and breathes fire when it finds something funny
+(which is nearly never).
+
+Motive: Unfathomable
+
+Environment: Upon islands filled with chasms and crags, near bathing machines, and around those whose coats are too
+tight in the waist Health: 21
+
+Damage Inflicted: 5 points
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Short when moving perpendicular; long when moving sideways
+
+Modifications: Invisibility, shapeshifting, confusion, and mimsy as level 8
+
+Combat: Inflicts 5 points of damage with biting feathers, catching claws, and snatching jaws. Also blows out a stream of
+fire that can light a match or inflict 3 points of damage to everyone in close range.
+
+Interaction: Not recommended.
+
+Use: The characters are given the impossible task of hunting a snark. Whether or not they actually find one, they have
+grand adventures along the way.
+
+Loot: The frabjous joy of catching the impossible, improbable, unimaginable snark.
+
+GM intrusion: Everything about the snark is a GM intrusion.
+
 ### SOUL EATER 5 (15)
 
 A soul eater is the animate head of a powerful wizard who shuffled off this mortal coil to become an undead creature
@@ -37539,6 +36433,49 @@
 roll, the cypher begins to burn with flame, dealing the character 5 points of damage and destroying the cypher in the
 process.
 
+### SPACE RAT 1 (3)
+
+Yeah, rats made it to space. And against all expectations, one strain evolved in the harsh radiation and zero-G
+environments that would kill humans not protected by medical intervention. Space rats are furless, about two feet long,
+sport a truly prehensile tail, and can quickly change their shade of their skin to blend in to their surroundings. They
+can also drop into a state of extreme torpor that allows them to survive stints of vacuum exposure lasting several
+days.
+
+Space rats are vermin, and any spacecraft or space station that hosts a nest must deal with constant issues from the
+rats burrowing into systems, stealing food and water, and causing systems to break down, even critical ones. They're
+also vicious when cornered.
+
+Motive: Defense, reproduction
+
+Environment: Anywhere humans live in space
+
+Health: 5
+
+Damage Inflicted: 3 points
+
+Movement: Short; short when climbing or gliding through zero G
+
+Modifications: Stealth and perception as level 5
+
+Combat: Space rats flee combat unless cornered or one of their burrows is invaded. Then they attack in packs of three or
+more, and from an ambush if possible. One space rat pack attacks the victim as a level 3 creature inflicting 5 points of
+damage with claws, while another pack helps the first, or attempts to steal a food item or shiny object from the
+character being attacked. To resist theft while being attacked on two fronts, a target must succeed on a Speed defense
+roll hindered by two steps.
+
+Interaction: Space rats are slightly more intelligent than their Earth-bound cousins, though true interaction is not
+possible. On the other hand, sometimes their behavior seems spookily sapient.
+
+Use: Space rats assemble crude nests in out-of-the-way supply closets or in hard-to-reach system interiors, but often
+enough, end up shorting out weapons or life support. Sometimes, they get into the hold and eat anything edible in the
+cargo.
+
+Loot: Some percent of valuable equipment stolen on the spacecraft or station finds its way to space rat nests.
+
+GM Intrusion: Another rat unexpectedly pops out of panel on the wall or ceiling and screeches so loudly the PC must
+succeed on an Intellect defense roll hindered by two steps or be dazed until the end of their next turn from the
+surprise. Dazed creatures are hindered on all tasks.
+
 ### SPHINX 7 (21)
 
 A sphinx is a magical creature with a large lionlike body, feathered wings, and a head that is like that of a human or
@@ -37634,6 +36571,96 @@
 GM intrusion: The animate statue strikes a character so hard that the victim flies a long distance and lands in a heap,
 possibly dropping gear and weapons along the way.
 
+### STORM MARINE 4 (12)
+
+The storm marine creed is an oft-repeated mantra, "I will never quit, knowing full well that I might die in service to
+the cause." Wearing advanced battlesuits, hyped up on a cocktail of experimental military drugs, and able to draw on a
+suite of cybernetic and network-connected drone guns, few things can stand before a storm marine fireteam. Storm marines
+usually work for nation-states, conglomerates, and similar entities. They mercilessly conduct their mission, even if
+that mission is to wipe out a rival. Storm marines that question their orders are quickly dispatched by their fellows.
+
+Motive: Achieve mission goals
+
+Environment: Alone in or in fireteams of three, anywhere nation-states or similar entities have a financial or military
+interest
+
+Health: 15
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Armor: 4
+
+Movement: Long; flies a long distance each round
+
+Modifications: Perception as level 6; attacks as level 5 due to combat targeting neuro-wetware.
+
+Combat: Thanks to their battlesuit, a storm marine has many options in combat. They can deploy an electrified blade to
+attack every foe in immediate range as a single action, or use a long-range heavy energy rifle that inflicts 6 points of
+damage.
+
+A storm marine can deploy two level 3 gun drones that fire energy rays at two different targets up to 800 m (2,600 feet)
+away, inflicting 6 points of damage. If the drones focus on a single target, a successful hit deals 9 points of damage
+and moves the target one step down the damage track. The drones can attack only once or twice before returning to their
+cradles in the storm marine's suit for several rounds to recharge.
+
+Interaction: A storm marine might negotiate, but getting one to act against their mission is difficult.
+
+Use: A fireteam of storm marines are sent to eliminate the PCs or someone the PCs know on suspicion of being radical
+elements that need to be dealt with.
+
+Loot: Though bio-locked to each storm marine, someone who succeeds on a difficulty 8 Intellect task to reprogram the
+suit could gain a battlesuit of their own, minus the drones (which fly off or detonate).
+
+GM Intrusion: A character targeting a gun drone rather than the storm marine hits the drone, but the drone reacts by
+darting to the character and exploding, inflicting 6 points of damage to the character and anyone standing within
+immediate range.
+
+### SUPERNAL 5 (15)
+
+Half humanoid and half-dragonfly, supernals are beautiful entities, though certainly alien. Each supernal possesses a
+unique wing pattern and coloration and, to some extent, body shape. These patterns and colors may signify where in the
+hierarchy a particular supernal stands among its kind, but for those who do not speak the language of supernals (which
+is telepathic), the complexity of their social structure is overwhelming. Whether they are agents of some unknown alien
+civilization or seek their own aims, supernals are mysterious and cryptic. Most fear contact with them, because they
+have a penchant for stealing away other life forms, who are rarely seen again.
+
+Motive: Capture humans and similar life forms, and bring them somewhere unknown.
+
+Environment: Almost anywhere
+
+Health: 23
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Movement: Short; flies a long distance (even through airless vacuum); can teleport to any known location once per ten
+hours as an action
+
+Modifications: All knowledge tasks as level 6; stealth tasks as level 7 while invisible
+
+Combat: Supernals usually only enter combat when they wish, because they bide their time in a phased, invisible state.
+But when one attacks with the touch of its wing, it draws the life force directly out of the target, inflicting 6 points
+of Speed damage (ignores Armor).
+
+A supernal can summon a swarm of tiny machines that resemble regular dragonflies made of golden metal. The swarm either
+serves as a fashion accessory as they crawl over the supernal's body, or as components in a piece of living art.
+
+Supernals regain 1 point of health per round (even in an airless vacuum, which they can survive without issue), unless
+they've been damaged with psychic attacks. They can teleport to any location they know as an action once every ten
+hours.
+
+Supernals often carry manifest cyphers useful in combat, as well as an artifact.
+
+Dragonfly swarm: level 2; flies a long distance each round; eases physical tasks, including attacks or defense
+
+Interaction: Although supernals only speak telepathically, peaceful interaction with these creatures is not impossible.
+It's just very difficult, as they see most other creatures as something to be collected and taken to some undisclosed
+location, for unknown reasons.
+
+Use: A character is followed by a supernal intent on collecting them. Loot: A supernal usually has a few manifest
+cyphers, and possibly an artifact.
+
+GM Intrusion: The supernal grabs the character and flies up and away, unless and until the character escapes the grab.
+
 ### SUPERVILLIANS
 
 People with amazing abilities who use them for evil earn the label of supervillain. This section presents five sample
@@ -37910,6 +36937,137 @@
 GM intrusion: Just as things seem bleakest for her, Wrath summons a group of assassins waiting in the wings to surround
 the PCs and demand their surrender.
 
+### SYNTHETIC PERSON 5 (15)
+
+Synthetic people have been called many things, including simply synths, androids, robot mimics, and, depending on how
+they act, killer robots. Their origins are varied. In some cases, they're the result of corporate research into
+"products" that would serve humanity as assistants and companions, but later gained sentience. In other cases, synthetic
+people are the result of a state-sponsored program to develop war machines or automated assassins that looked like
+regular people. Another origin for synthetic people is through the design of awakened (and inimical) AIs as part of an
+effort to kill off all regular biological people. Now they roam their environment looking like anyone else. Some synths
+try to fit into whatever kind of society they can find. Some may not even know that they are not human. Others are
+bitter, homicidal, or still retain their programming to kill. Some of these may have even shed some or all of their
+synthetic skins to reveal the alloyed mechanisms beneath.
+
+Motive: Varies
+
+Environment: Nearly anywhere, out in plain sight or disguised as a human alone, or in gangs of three to four
+
+Health: 24
+
+Damage Inflicted: 7 points
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Long
+
+Modifications: Disguise and one knowledge task as level 6
+
+Combat: A punch from a synthetic person can break bones. In addition, some synths (especially of the killer variety) can
+generate a red-hot plasma sphere once every other round and throw it at a target within long range. The target and all
+other creatures within immediate range of the target must succeed on a Speed defense task or take 7 points of damage.
+
+A synth can take a repair action and regain 10 points of health. A synthetic person at 0 health can't repair itself
+thusly, but unless the creature is completely dismembered, one may spontaneously reanimate 1d10 hours later with 4
+points of health.
+
+Interaction: Synthetic people that pretend to be (or think that they are) human interact like normal people. But an
+enraged one or one that's been programmed to kill is unreasoning and fights to the end.
+
+Use: A group of refugees who need help turn out to include (or be entirely made up of) synthetic people. Whether or not
+any of them harbor programs that require that they kill humans is entirely up to the GM.
+
+Loot: One or two manifest cyphers could be salvaged from a synth's inactive form.
+
+GM Intrusion: The character is blinded for one or two rounds after being struck by the synth's searing plasma ball.
+
+### THUNDERING BEHEMOTH 7 (21)
+
+When life is found on other worlds, it's sometimes large and dangerous, such as the aptly named thundering behemoth. A
+thundering behemoth might be found on any number of alien planets that feature forests and/or swamps. Towering to
+treelike heights, these fearless predators are powerful and dangerous hunters, even for those armed with advanced or
+fantastic weaponry. Behemoths use color-changing frills to help them appear like tall trees while they stand in wait for
+prey, as still as mighty hardwood trunks, until they break cover and spring an ambush. Behemoths can produce
+extraordinarily loud noises, sometimes simply roaring, but often replicating the stuttering scream of an attacking
+spacecraft. They use their strange "roars" to confuse, lead astray, and, if possible, stampede prey into killing grounds
+such as regions of soft sand, off cliff tops, or as often as not, into the waiting mouth of another behemoth.
+
+In the sci-fi setting of Numenera, similar creatures are called rumbling dasipelts.
+
+Motive: Fresh meat
+
+Environment: Forests, alone or in a hunting group (known as a "crash") of two or three
+
+Health: 35
+
+Damage Inflicted: 9 points
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Disguise (as trees) as level 8 when unmoving. Deception (sounding as if an attacking spacecraft) as level
+8. Speed defense as level 3 due to size.
+
+Combat: A thundering behemoth can attack a group of creatures (within an immediate area of each other) with a single
+massive bite. Thanks to its long neck, it can make that attack up to 9 m (30 feet) away. One victim must further succeed
+on a Might defense task or be caught in the creature's maw, taking 9 additional points of damage each round until it can
+escape.
+
+A thundering behemoth's ability to replicate threatening noises is often used deceptively at a distance, but the
+creature can use it to stun all targets within immediate range so they lose their next turn on a failed Might defense
+roll.
+
+Interaction: Behemoths have a complex communication system among themselves, using their color-changing frills and
+modulation of the thunder they produce. They think of humans and most other creatures as food.
+
+Use: The sound of fighting spacecraft has repeatedly spooked human colonists on an alien planet, though they have rarely
+seen destructive beams or actual spacecraft. Worried that that will soon change, the residents ask the PCs to
+investigate.
+
+GM Intrusion: The character avoids being bitten but is batted away by the behemoth'sattack, tumbling a short distance
+(and taking 5 points of damage).
+
+### Tin Woodman 7 (21)
+
+Once an ordinary woodman of flesh and blood named Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman's story is a sad one. His beloved axe
+was enchanted by a wicked witch in order to keep him from his other true love (it's a long story, but suffice it to say
+that witches who are wicked do wicked things). His beloved axe turned on Nick Chopper, taking off one limb after
+another. A tinsmith kindly replaced Nick's missing body parts (except his heart) with tin prosthetics, but eventually
+nothing was left of the original human and he became the Tin Woodman.
+
+Note that the Tin Woodman will never tell you this story himself, for he has no heart and seeks only revenge: revenge
+upon the witch who cursed him, upon the tinsmith who did not replace his heart, upon the rain that rusts him. Someday,
+he will find all the original parts of himself, no matter who they belong to currently, so that he can return to his
+original form.
+
+Motive: Revenge, find his original body parts
+
+Environment: Anywhere
+
+Health: 21
+
+Damage Inflicted: 4 points
+
+Armor: 4
+
+Movement: Short; immediate if rusted Modifications: Speed defense as level 5 due to rust
+
+Combat: Inflicts 7 points of damage with his enchanted axe.
+
+Interaction: The Tin Woodman is singularly focused, and cares only about clues that lead to revenge or his original body
+parts. He does not eat, drink, or sleep, and often comes across as frantic and frenzied.
+
+Use: The PCs are hunting the same foe that the Tin Woodman is, and either they join together, or the Tin Woodman tries
+to prevent them from reaching the foe before he does.
+
+Loot: Enchanted axe
+
+Enchanted axe (artifact): level 7; inflicts 7 points of damage; can be activated to move a long distance away from the
+wielder and attack a foe as an action. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each activation)
+
+GM intrusion: A character's weapon gets caught in the Tin Woodman's metal body, pulling the weapon out of their hands.
+
 ### TROLL 6 (18)
 
 A troll is a hideous humanoid standing at least 10 feet (3 m) tall that hunts more by smell than by sight. They are
@@ -37999,6 +37157,45 @@
 GM intrusion: The tyrannosaurus's tail swings around and knocks the character tumbling out of short range and possibly
 into dangerous terrain.
 
+### VACUUM FUNGUS 5 (15)
+
+Vacuum fungus is sometimes found as a greenish ooze on the exterior of spacecraft or space stations, growing in fine
+lines through the ice of frozen moons, and infesting the center of small asteroids and near-Earth objects (NEOs). Though
+able to survive in vacuum, the fungus takes on new morphology when sufficient spores find their way into habitable
+zero-G spaces. Then they fuse together and grow into a bulbous, emerald-hued fruiting body, typically reaching about 1 m
+(3 feet) in rough diameter, though individuals can grow much larger if not discovered. Sticky and soft to the touch,
+they are able to grow undetected in the dark corners of cargo holds, in ductworks, hanging from the ceiling of unused
+crew quarters, and so on.
+
+Vacuum fungus may be proof that extra-terrestrial life exists, but that triumph of scientific discovery may seem less
+important to those who find a clump, because they are incredibly toxic to living creatures.
+
+Motive: Reproduction
+
+Environment: Anywhere in zero G, as an unreactive ooze in vacuum, or as a fruiting body in atmosphere, alone or in a
+cluster of three to five
+
+Health: 22
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Movement: Climbs (adheres) an immediate distance each round
+
+Combat: A fruiting body can selectively detonate spore pods along its surface once per round. When a pod detonates,
+green fluid sprays everywhere within immediate range. Living creatures who fail a Speed defense roll take 6 points of
+damage from the clinging fluid. An affected target must also succeed on a Might defense roll. On a failure, an affected
+section of flesh rapidly swells, becoming a bilious green lump, and explodes one round later, having the same effect as
+a detonating pod.
+
+Interaction: No real interaction with vacuum fungus is possible.
+
+Use: Scientists are incredibly excited to discover that the strange ooze they've noticed staining the exterior of their
+research domes is actually a variety of fungal life. They will likely become less excited when they discover the large
+growths secretly growing in the cavity beneath the floor of their research dome in a little-used storage closet.
+
+GM Intrusion: Striking the vacuum fungus clump causes one of the spore pods to detonate immediately, even though it's
+out of turn.
+
 ### VAMPIRE 6 (18)
 
 Vampires are undead creatures, risen from the grave to drink blood. Their very nature and essence are evil and
@@ -38315,6 +37512,119 @@
 GM intrusion: A PC who moves down one step on the damage track due to damage inflicted by a werewolf must succeed on a
 Might defense roll or be afflicted with the curse of lycanthropy.
 
+### The West Wind 9 (27)
+
+The West Wind has no master, no shackles, no chains. She goes where she will, and woe to those who try to capture or
+hold her. When she's not blowing through the sky, she takes the shape of a human woman dressed in a sparkling blue
+tuxedo, her short silver hair pushed back from her face.
+
+Not all winds are living creatures. Sometimes the wind is just the wind. But you won't know which is which until you try
+to talk with it.
+
+Motive: To stave off boredom by playing tricks, traveling, stirring up trouble, and helping others
+
+Environment: Anywhere she wants to be
+
+Health: 40
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Movement: Very long
+
+Modifications: Speed defense as level 10; sees through and resists trickery, lies, deceit, and intimidation as level 10
+
+Combat: Inflicts 6 points of damage to every creature and object she chooses within a very long distance, and knocks
+them prone.
+
+Interaction: Some say the West Wind is cold, but she's really just an introvert and prefers to spend most of her time
+traveling alone. However, she's actually very warm hearted and is likely to help those in need. She does not respond
+well to trickery, traps, or attempts to force her hand (unless they're terribly clever or smart, and then she admits
+grudging respect for the perpetrators).
+
+Use: The characters need the West Wind's help to travel somewhere, knock something down, or retrieve something from a
+hidden place. Someone needs an elegant date to a royal ball or a fairy festival.
+
+Loot: Sometimes the West Wind picks up interesting things on her travels. She may gift allies these items, including
+cyphers, artifacts, and even creatures.
+
+GM intrusion: The West Wind lifts a character high in the air and threatens to let them fall.
+
+### WHARN INTERCEPTOR 8 (24)
+
+Wharn interceptors are void-adapted behemoths, several hundred meters in length. It's hypothesized that they are living
+battle automatons devised by ancient ultras, though against what long-vanished enemy isn't clear. Now, a handful
+(hopefully no more) glide through the depths of space like dormant seeds, seeming for all the galaxy like some strangely
+whorled asteroid or planetesimal. Who knows how many millennia they passed in this apparently hibernating state? But
+when that hibernation ends, maybe because some ancient countdown is nearing its end, or because an asteroid miner tried
+to extract a sample, they open eyes burning with deadly energy, and flex claws of particle-beam fury.
+
+Wharn interceptors may be related in some fashion omworwars, so much so that humans sometimes call the latter "wharn
+cogitators." However, it's impossible that omworwars simply "appropriate" any wharn interceptors they encounter.
+
+Motive: Defense
+
+Environment: Anywhere floating through the void
+
+Health: 53
+
+Damage Inflicted: 15 points
+
+Armor: 5
+
+Movement: Flies a very long distance each round; can maneuver like an autonomous level 5 spacecraft if using extended
+vehicular combat rules. FTL capable.
+
+Modification: Speed defense as level 3 due to size.
+
+Combat: Most of the time, wharns are inactive and might look like tumbling rocks. In this state, space voyagers may be
+able to partly wake one in an attempt to negotiate. However, if a wharn is damaged, or if the passive senses deep in its
+body wake it for reasons of its own, it becomes aggressive.
+
+A wharn's main weapons are its claws, which can extend in an instant, becoming exotic-matter beams able to reach a
+target up to a light-second away. Unless a target is protected by some kind of force field, the 15 points of damage
+inflicted ignores Armor. A wharn's eyes can pierce most forms of camouflage, cloaking effects, and cover that is less
+than about 200 m (650 feet) thick.
+
+Interaction: In spite of their ferocious aspect and war-machine heritage, wharn interceptors do not destroy every
+spacecraft (and void-adapted creature) they come across, or even most. Indeed, sometimes a wharn may attempt to initiate
+communication via various machine channels. But what comes across are usually nonsense sounds and tones, and sometimes
+mathematical formulas.
+
+Use: The PCs, attempting to enter an abandoned space station or spacecraft, are distracted when a wharn attempts to
+destroy the very same object.
+
+GM Intrusion: The wharn moves unexpectedly, striking the vehicle the PCs are traveling in, inflicting 8 points of damage
+to everyone on board.
+
+### Wind Children 4 (12)
+
+The children of the wind cannot be measured in known numbers, for they are here and there and everywhere. They are not
+born, so much as borne, by weather patterns, wishes, and wants. Dust devils, gales, and zephyrs are all wind children.
+
+Motive: See everything, know everything
+
+Environment: Everywhere there is weather, real or magic-made
+
+Health: 12
+
+Damage Inflicted: 4 points
+
+Movement: Long
+
+Combat: Inflicts 4 points of damage with an exhale. Alternatively, can knock a character prone for one round.
+
+Interaction: Interacting with wind children is a bit like interacting with a group of mischievous, precocious, and
+spoiled kids. However, they know many things, having been all over the world, and will often share what they know in
+exchange for new secrets or knowledge.
+
+Use: One of the PCs seeks information about a person, place, or thing. The characters need a surreptitious spy to gather
+information for them.
+
+Loot: Information, secrets, and possibly a cypher or two picked up during their travels.
+
+GM intrusion: The wind children grab something precious from one of the characters and start to play a game of "keep
+away" with it.
+
 ### WITCH 5 (15)
 
 They studied the old ways at the dark of the moon. They heard the shuffle of unnamed things through the darkling forest,
@@ -38375,6 +37685,250 @@
 GM intrusion: After a character succeeds on a defense roll against one of the witch's ongoing curse effects, the witch
 immediately tosses a hexbolt at them. If the character is hit, the ongoing curse effect also continues.
 
+### Witches 5 (15)
+
+Witches are complex beings of myriad personalities, desires, and abilities. Sometimes they're the stuff of nightmares,
+with tales of their exploits keeping children safe in their beds during the darkest hours. Other times they're wise
+helpers—at least for a little
+
+while, or possibly for a price. Often, they're a little of everything, taking on no end of roles throughout their
+lifetime. They may isolate themselves deep in the dark woods, falsify their way into a royal family, or reside in the
+middle of town, hiding their identity.
+
+But one thing they are, always, is dangerous, for they carry within their hearts and heads knowledge, power, and
+magic—and a willingness to use all of them when necessary. Motive: Domination of others, power, knowledge, eternal life
+or beauty, hunger, revenge Environment: Almost anywhere, although most often alone in unique dwellings in the
+
+forest, in civilization as healers, or having infiltrated royal families
+
+Health: 21
+
+Damage Inflicted: 5 points
+
+Movement: Short; long if flying
+
+Combat: In addition to inflicting damage with their weapon of choice (often a staff or long,
+
+curved blade), witches can curse their enemies.
+
+They also have a number of spells and abilities at their disposal. These include the
+
+Following:
+
+Familiar: When attacked, a witch relies on the aid of their familiar to improve their Speed
+
+defense. The familiar could be a large black cat, an owl, a big snake, or some other creature. Killing a witch's
+familiar is so shocking to a witch that their attacks and Speed defense are hindered for a few days. It's also a way to
+ensure that the witch never forgives their foe or grants mercy.
+
+Glamour: Glamour is an illusion that the witch creates. It may let them look like someone else, appear to be a tree or a
+bird, or even make them invisible. Seeing through the glamour is a level 8 Intellect task. A failed attempt inflicts 2
+points of Intellect damage. Once a character sees through the glamour, they cannot unsee it.
+
+Heal: The witch touches another creature and heals them for 6 points of damage. Some witches must pull health from
+another living being in long range in order to use this ability. Pulling health from a living being inflicts 2 points of
+damage on that being.
+
+Imprison: The witch creates a prison within long range and captures a foe inside it as a single action. The prison might
+be physical (a tower, a cage, a trap, a binding around the body) or mental (they can't move, their muscles are no longer
+under their control, they are afraid to move). Resisting being caught is a level 5 defense task (Might, Speed, or
+Intellect, depending on the type of imprisonment). If a character is caught, breaking free is a level 5 task (of the
+appropriate stat).
+
+Protect: Places a confinement spell to keep someone from going in or out of a location, building, or room. Those who
+attempt to pass through the spell but fail take 3 points of Intellect damage and are knocked back. Once the spell
+activates, it disappears.
+
+Revive: This rare and costly ability allows a witch to bring someone back to life, as long as they haven't been dead for
+more than a year. In order to accomplish this, the witch needs all or part of the body of the dead, a beloved object of
+the dead's, and the willingness of someone else to take on a curse that results from the magical working (roll on the
+Curse table to determine the resulting curse). Revive takes ten minutes to cast, and the character returns to life with
+1 point in all of their Pools.
+
+Seduce: Creatures within short range who fail an Intellect defense roll become enamored of the witch. Resisting the
+witch's persuasion attempts is hindered by two steps until the victim succeeds on an Intellect defense roll; each time
+they fail to resist the persuasion attempt, the witch's next persuasion attempt is eased by an additional step.
+
+Additional abilities: Witches might also have access to the witch abilities in the Cypher System Rulebook. These are
+charm, hexbolt, shrivel, and vitality. Some witches might have other magical abilities similar to those of enchanters.
+
+GM intrusions: The witch's familiar joins the fray, tripping up characters and hindering their actions.
+
+Something startles the witch and they cast a curse or spell as an automatic response. The witch pulls out an artifact or
+cypher and prepares to use it.
+
+#### WITCHES OF THE WORLD
+
+Baba Yaga 9 (27)
+
+Baba Yaga (sometimes called Frau Trude) lives many lives and has many personalities. She is both one witch and many. She
+uses her magic to create a new version of herself each time her
+
+life takes a new branch, following all of them at once, becoming every version of herself that she might have been.
+
+Some versions of Baba Yaga are helpful. Others harmful. Some Baba Yagas live
+
+in the woods in a wooden hut that walks around on giant chicken legs, some
+
+fly through the sky in a giant mortar and pestle, and some guard any wild spaces that they have deemed important. Some
+capture and cook young children in a special stove. Some do all of the above.
+
+Combat: Baba Yaga can use the following abilities: heal, hexbolt, imprison, protect, revive, shrivel, and vitality.
+
+Interaction: It is almost impossible to know which Baba Yaga you have met until you look deep in her eyes (a level 7
+Intellect task). There, you might see a tiny flame, and in that flame, learn a bit about her life.
+
+Use: Baba Yaga has her long, bony fingers in nearly everything that happens. She might be behind the counter at the herb
+and potion shop, guarding the entrance to a cave full of treasure, or offering her services in breaking (or casting)
+curses.
+
+Loot: 1d6 cyphers, an artifact, and various other odds and ends
+
+The Blind Witch 5 (15)
+
+The Blind Witch is skinny and always hungry. She lives deep in the forest in a house made of confectionery, which allows
+her to catch, fatten, and eventually eat any children unlucky enough to get caught in her trap.
+
+Modifications: Cooking as level 6, deception and trickery as level 7, seeing through
+
+deception and trickery as level 4
+
+Combat: She can use the following abilities: charm, protect, and vitality. She is immune to visual effects, including
+hallucinations.
+
+Interaction: The Blind Witch can appear sweet and charming, and might play up her blindness and apparent frailty for
+sympathy.
+
+Use: Characters wandering the woods might come upon a candy house, and woe to them
+
+should they take a bite. A rescue mission could lead here.
+
+Loot: She usually has at least one magical animal in a cage, along with various children and
+
+even adults. Two or three cyphers can be found in her kitchen, along with her magic oven, which bakes children into
+gingerbread.
+
+Dame Gothel 5 (15)
+
+Sometimes taking the form of a young woman and sometimes an old one, Dame Gothel cares for one thing above all: her
+beautiful walled garden, the flowers and vegetables that grow inside it being the envy of all others. Unlike many other
+witches, she does not harm children and in fact has been known to protect them, at least as long as they are innocent of
+wrongdoing.
+
+Modifications: Gardening and potions as level 6
+
+Combat: She can use the following abilities: heal, imprison, protect, and shrivel.
+
+Interaction: Dame Gothel is an introvert who mostly desires to be left alone, and woe be
+
+to those who invade her space in any way, for she has a deep sense of right and wrong and a penchant for revenge upon
+those who cross her. However, she has been known to help those seeking aid, and is particularly skilled in using what
+she grows in her garden to aid her magic.
+
+Use: The characters need a concoction to heal someone, remove a curse, or help them get pregnant. The characters
+accidentally trespass on Dame Gothel's space.
+
+Loot: Various plants, potions, and cyphers
+
+The Sea Witch 6 (18)
+
+Living in the darkest depths of the sea, the Sea Witch is dangerous, wily, persuasive, and scheming. She is best known
+for brewing up life options—for a price. If you want what she's got (and she's got everything), you bring her what she
+wants. It might be your voice, your hair, or your firstborn. Or all three. Surely you won't miss them . . .
+
+Modifications: Persuasion, intimidation, coercion, and swimming as level 8
+
+Combat: She can use the following abilities: charm, familiar (water snakes), glamour, imprison, protect, seduce, and
+shrivel.
+
+Interaction: The Sea Witch will always make a bargain, take a bet, gamble all she's got on
+
+the downtrodden and woe-be-gotten. Not because her heart is big, but because she makes sure that the house—that's
+her—always wins.
+
+Use: The characters need a potion, a spell, a curse, or any other bit of magic, large or
+
+small, and the Sea Witch will find a way to put it in their hands and let them walk away
+
+thinking they've come out ahead. At least until she comes to collect.
+
+Loot: A chest full of gifts and winnings from lovers, fawners, and those who should have known better, including 1d6
+cyphers and two artifacts.
+
+The Wicked Witch of the West 5 (15)
+
+With her three pigtails and diminutive stature, it would be easy to write off the Wicked Witch of the West as a
+nobody—and many have—but her power lies in the creatures that work for her and in her vast and growing collection of
+magical footwear.
+
+She can see up to 2 miles (3 km) away with her single eye, and wears galoshes that give her +2 Armor against water and
+liquid of all kinds.
+
+Modifications: Tasks involving water and the dark as level 3
+
+Combat: She carries an umbrella that acts as a heavy weapon, and she can use the following abilities: familiar (pack of
+wolves, swarm of bees, flock of crows, and an army
+
+of flying monkeys), hexbolt, imprison, protect, and shrivel.
+
+Interaction: She is volatile in nature and quick to anger. However, she can also be a bit cowardly, and will likely back
+down in a confrontation (only to send her hordes of magical animals out afterward to do her dirty work).
+
+Use: The characters need to find galoshes of fortune and decide to steal a pair from the
+
+Wicked Witch of the West. Perhaps they need to make it through the land she presides over and must find a way to get her
+approval.
+
+Loot: Whatever shoes she's wearing (which are very likely an artifact).
+
+### Wolf, Big Bad 8 (24)
+
+The Big Bad Wolf (just call him the Wolf, for he is truly the only one worthy of that title) is a beast of near
+immortality, kept alive by the legends that swirl around him, the constant stream of terrorizing tales. Once the stalker
+of the woods, now he stalks the streets and towns, no longer staying to the shadows, no longer merely hunting girls and
+grandmothers. As his reputation has grown, so has his appetite. He hungers. He swallows worlds. He will not be
+contained.
+
+Motive: Hunger
+
+Environment: Woods, cities, behind you
+
+Health: 30
+
+Damage Inflicted: 8 points
+
+Armor: 1
+
+Movement: Long
+
+Modifications: Hunting, seeking, and sneaking as level 9
+
+Combat: The Wolf 's bite does 8 points of damage. Additionally, he has a variety of abilities that he may use.
+
+What Big Ears You Have: Can track and hear his prey up to a mile away. Tracking ignores all cloaking abilities,
+including magical ones.
+
+What Big Eyes You Have: Mesmerizes his victims for two rounds, convincing them that he is a friend and that they should
+do what he suggests.
+
+What Big Teeth You Have: Swallows his victim whole, holding them in his belly. It's a level 8 Speed or Might defense
+task to avoid being eaten whole. Captured characters can attempt to cut themselves free, which requires three successful
+attacks.
+
+Huff and Puff: Exhale creates a wind so strong it can knock over foes, trees, and even houses. Inflicts 6 points of
+damage to everything within long distance, and knocks most things prone. Once the Wolf uses this ability, he can't use
+it again for three rounds.
+
+Interaction: Despite his constant hunger and his gnawing need to swallow the world, the Wolf makes an interesting ally
+(provided that he's well fed at the time) for he is smart and cunning, and has myriad tricks for moving through the
+world.
+
+Use: The Big Bad Wolf is a great character to introduce into a modern fairy tale game. Imagine his new iteration as an
+urban legend, spreading through the internet.
+
+GM intrusions: The Wolf makes a great leap, knocking down foes. The Wolf already has someone swallowed in his belly, and
+that person calls for help from out of the Wolf's mouth.
+
 ### WORM THAT WALKS 7 (21)
 
 This sodden, leather-wrapped humanoid smells of the sea. It moves effortlessly through the air, levitating above the
@@ -38472,6 +38026,45 @@
 
 GM intrusion: The wraith screams out, summoning 1d6 more wraiths from the afterworld.
 
+### WRAITH 4 (12)
+
+Wraiths (Homo vacuus) are genetically engineered to live in the vacuum of space by directly metabolizing high-energy
+charged particles abundant in the void. Though derived from human stock, wraiths are alien in body, sometimes concealing
+themselves in layers of shroud-like tissue, other times revealing themselves as wispy, elongated things of glowing red
+plasma. In some settings, wraiths are partners with humans, working in locations where humans would find difficult. In
+other settings, wraiths went their own way generations earlier, and rediscovering them would be a first contact
+scenario. Alternatively, wraiths might be a threat to humans, hating humans for having created a species forced to spend
+its existence in the dark void of space.
+
+Motive: Varies with individual or setting
+
+Environment: Anywhere in vacuum, though usually with access to some kind of enriched radiation source. Environments with
+1 G or higher eventually kill wraiths.
+
+Health: 15
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points
+
+Movement: Short when flying in zero and low G
+
+Modifications: Perception and stealth tasks as level 7
+
+Combat: Wraiths can unfold from their concealing shrouds and attack with radioactive limbs for 6 points of Speed damage
+from ionizing radiation (ignores most Armor), or if available, technological weapons. Some can direct ionizing radiation
+as long-distance attacks, though doing so costs the wraith 1 point of health. Wraiths are immune to radiation, and
+attacks using radiation heal a wraith's lost health by the amount of damage the attack would have otherwise afflicted.
+Gravity of 1 G or greater hinders all wraith actions.
+
+Interaction: Wraiths communicate by radio. They react to outsiders as dictated by their place in the setting.
+
+Use: A distant space station stops all communication. Investigators are dispatched to find out what happened. Once
+aboard, they unravel clues that suggest wraiths may have been responsible.
+
+Loot: Some wraiths carry valuable items and equipment.
+
+GM Intrusion: The attacked character must also succeed on a Might defense, or they take an additional 3 points of
+ambient damage and contract radiation sickness.
+
 ### WYVERN 6 (18)
 
 Wyverns are aggressive lesser cousins of dragons. Their bodies are about the size of a heavy horse but their wingspan
@@ -38571,6 +38164,104 @@
 
 GM (group) intrusion: An NPC shrieks, bursts, and births 1d6 juvenile xenoparasites.
 
+### Yithian 6 (18)
+
+The yithians (also known as the Great Race of Yith) were immense wrinkly cones 10 feet (3 m) high, with a head, four
+limbs, and other organs spreading from the top of their body. They communicated by making noises with their hands and
+claws, and they moved by gliding their lower surface across a layer of slime, like a slug. Their civilization was
+destroyed a billion years before the present day, but they transported their minds into new bodies far in the future and
+may still be encountered observing the past (our present) by telepathically inhabiting human bodies.
+
+Motive: Knowledge Environment: Anywhere Health: 22
+
+Damage Inflicted: 6 points Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: All knowledge as level 8; Intellect defense as level 7; Speed defense as level 5
+
+due to size and speed
+
+Combat: Although large and hardy, members of the Great Race are ill-suited to physical
+
+combat. If they must engage in melee, they use pincer-like claws. They almost always wield artifacts and cyphers,
+however, which makes them dangerous opponents. Assume that a yithian has one or more of the following abilities arising
+from advanced technology devices:
+
+• Force field that grants them +3 Armor
+
+• Mental field that gives them +4 Armor against any mental attack
+
+• Ray emitter that inflicts 7 points of damage up to long range
+
+• Cloaking field that renders them invisible for up to ten minutes
+
+• Stun weapon with short range that makes the target fall unconscious for ten minutes
+
+Yithians have the ability to transfer their consciousness backward or forward through time, swapping minds with a
+creature native to the era they wish to observe. A yithian inhabiting the body of another creature is in complete
+control of that body. A creature trapped in the body of a yithian must attempt Intellect-based tasks each time it wishes
+to exert control.
+
+For the most part, it is trapped in the yithian's body and is merely along for the ride.
+
+It's worth noting that the bodies the yithians use are not their original bodies, but instead the bodies of supremely
+ancient creatures that they inhabit. The Great Race hails originally from some extraterrestrial world.
+
+Interaction: Yithians are not malicious, but they are quite focused and relatively uncaring about other races, such as
+humans.
+
+Use: A yithian projects its mind across the aeons, swapping consciousnesses with the character. While controlling the
+character's body, the yithian is there mainly to learn and observe, and rarely takes any violent actions.
+
+Loot: A yithian encountered in the flesh will have 1d6 manifest cyphers and very likely a technological artifact.
+
+GM intrusion:
+
+The yithian produces a cypher that has a function that is perfect for its current situation: a teleporter to get away, a
+protective field against precisely the kind of attack being used against it, or a weapon that exploits a weakness of the
+character's.
+
+### ZERO-POINT PHANTOM 3 (9)
+
+Temporary violations of conservation of energy mean that "virtual particles" constantly and seemingly randomly pop out
+of nothing, briefly interact with normal matter, then disappear. Zero-point phantoms are collections of such particles,
+taking the form of a very large, almost spider-like entity of many legs, stalks, and arms. What they're doing when
+they're not manifest is unknown; are they entombed in nearby solids, phased into another dimension, or do they simply
+not exist until they are called into being by some random cosmic event? Whatever the case, zero-point phantoms seem to
+prefer unlit or dimly lit areas in spacecraft and stations far from any planet, when they seem to struggle out of solid
+surfaces, raising a cloud of shadow.
+
+Motive: Hungers for flesh
+
+Environment: Anywhere dark
+
+Health: 15
+
+Damage Inflicted: 4 points
+
+Movement: Short; short when climbing
+
+Modifications: Speed defense as level 4 due to a cloud of shadows surrounding a zero-point phantom
+
+Combat: A zero-point phantom attacks with needlelike leg and tentacle tips. A victim that takes damage must succeed on a
+Might defense task, or become poisoned, the effect of which is to drop them one step on the damage track. The victim
+must keep fighting off the poison until they succeed or drop three steps on the damage track; however, those who fall to
+the third step on the damage track from a phantom's poison are not dead. They are paralyzed and can't move for about a
+minute. If a phantom isn't otherwise occupied, it can grab a paralyzed victim and phase back into non-existence. Most
+victims phased away in this fashion are never seen again.
+
+Zero-point phantoms can stutter in and out of existence on their turn once every few minutes. When they do, they return
+with full health.
+
+Interaction: Zero-point phantoms are about as intelligent as predators like wolves.
+
+Use: The abandoned spacecraft is weirdly empty of any bodies whatsoever. It's as if everyone just disappeared. There are
+signs of a struggle, though with what isn't clear,
+
+GM (group) Intrusion: Nearby light sources fail. Attacks and defenses against the zero- point phantoms are hindered by
+two steps for characters unable to see in the dark.
+
 ### ZOMBIE 3 (9)
 
 Humans transformed into aggressive, hard-to-kill serial killers with no memory of their former existence are called
@@ -38698,6 +38389,146 @@
 GM intrusion: The character loses their next turn, stunned, after recognizing the assassin to be the same murderer who
 killed someone important to them in the past.
 
+### Aristocrat 4 (12)
+
+Aristocrats are not quite high royalty—they are not kings or queens, nor even princes and princesses—but they are those
+with money and power enough to wield in dangerous or glorious ways. Knights and barons are typically aristocrats, as are
+characters like Bluebeard and Mr. Fox. Some aristocrats, such as knights, may only want to do good and protect the
+things that matter to them. Others, of course, prefer to use the darker side of their privileged position.
+
+Motive: Money, power, marriage, take who or what they want, protect what they care about Environment: Typically in
+cities and towns, occasionally off by themselves in large castles and manors
+
+Health: 12
+
+Damage Inflicted: 5 points
+
+Armor: 2
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Social engineering, persuasion, intimidation, and lying as level 6
+
+Combat: Many aristocrats have had training in combat maneuvers, as is appropriate to their station. Others may wield
+knives, scalpels, or butcher's tools with precision.
+
+Interaction: Interaction with an aristocrat often starts out positive—after all, it is delightful to be in the glow of
+someone so charming and powerful. For some, the interaction remains positive. A knight is just a knight. For others, a
+sense of unease begins to settle in after a time, as if there's something not quite right behind the facade.
+
+Use: An aristocrat is about to marry and someone is worried about the safety of their future spouse. A knight is
+outmatched by a dragon or other strong opponent and seeks someone to come to their aid.
+
+Loot: Most aristocrats have currency equal to a very expensive item, in addition to fine clothes or medium armor,
+weapons, and miscellaneous items.
+
+GM intrusions: The aristocrat's house has a sentient door or lock that suddenly begins to yell about intruders.
+
+### Cannibal 3 (9)
+
+A cannibal is someone who has decided that eating other people is not only necessary but desirable. Whether this
+decision was forced by circumstance or made out of some secret, maladaptive urge, cannibals are dangerous because they
+hide in plain sight, pretending friendship and aid for strangers until their prey lowers their guard. That's when a
+cannibal strikes. Some cannibals like it raw; others delight in elaborate preparations.
+
+Motive: Hungers for human flesh
+
+Health: 12
+
+Damage Inflicted: 5 points
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Deception, persuasion, intimidation, and tasks related to friendly interaction as level 6
+
+Combat: Cannibals use whatever weapon is at hand. They usually don't attack unless they can surprise their prey. When
+cannibals have surprise, they attack as level 5 creatures and inflict 2 additional points of damage.
+
+Interaction: Cannibals seem friendly and charming until they decide you are for dinner. Use: Characters looking for a
+place to sleep, hide, or stay for the night are invited in by one
+
+or more cannibals—perhaps an entire family of them.
+
+Loot: A cannibal has currency equivalent to a very expensive item and possibly a cypher.
+
+GM intrusion: The cannibal reveals a severed and gnawed- upon body part of a previous victim. The character must succeed
+on an Intellect defense task or be stunned and lose their next turn.
+
+### Child 1 (3)
+
+Children play the roles of urchins, siblings, daughters, sons, waifs, servants, royal family members, child brides, and
+more.
+
+Motive: Seeking safety, comfort, money, or food; play; bringing joy
+
+Environment: With their families, or lost in the world trying to find their way. Sometimes in
+
+the employ or care of someone who has found them, stolen them, or otherwise become
+
+their guardians, caretakers, or keepers.
+
+Health: 3
+
+Damage Inflicted: 1 point
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Run, hide, sneak, and escape as level 2; knowledge of the nearby area, people, and activities as level 3
+
+Combat: Most children fight only in response to being provoked, threatened, or attacked. They typically use makeshift
+weapons, such as their fists, a stick, or a toy.
+
+Interaction: Children are often smarter, more creative, and more wily than they're given credit for. They may have a lot
+of knowledge about nearby people, places, and activities that can help the PCs, particularly if there's an exchange of
+food, money, or other goodies involved.
+
+Use: Someone or something is stealing children from the village, and the mayor is offering to pay a large sum to anyone
+who tracks down the creature and rescues the children. One of the PCs catches a waif stealing from their pack in the
+night; the child says they've been lost in the woods for days.
+
+Loot: Children typically have very little on their person, although they may have a special memento of their family or a
+close friend.
+
+GM intrusions: The child shouts, laughs, or talks too loudly, accidentally drawing the attention of a nearby guard
+toward a character.
+
+Someone mistakenly thinks a character has stolen the child, and attacks them.
+
+### Crafter 2 (6)
+
+Crafters include bakers, cobblers, candlemakers, butchers, millers, tailors, woodworkers, and cooks. While most crafters
+aren't particularly agile fighters, they are usually clever and strong, and have a number of familiar tools at their
+disposal for weapons.
+
+Motive: Defense
+
+Environment: In their workshops or peddling their trade while traveling
+
+Health: 8
+
+Damage Inflicted: 3 points
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Appropriate craft as level 3
+
+Combat: Crafters are unlikely to initiate combat, as most just want to be left alone to do
+
+their work (or to convince you to buy their wares). If they're forced to fight, they will typically use any item they
+have at hand (such as a rolling pin, butcher's knife, crafting tool, or length of wood).
+
+Interaction: Most crafters are happy to talk about their craft or the objects that they've made and have for sale. They
+take pride in their work, and flattery and attention can go a long way.
+
+Use: To the PCs, crafters can be allies, obstacles, or both. Being friends with a crafter often has obvious long-term
+benefits, while stealing from them has short-term advantages (and possible long-term disadvantages).
+
+Loot: A crafter has currency equivalent to an inexpensive item, as well as crafting tools and materials and anything
+they've crafted that they're carrying or wearing.
+
+GM intrusion: The crafter uses their crafting tool in a way that the character didn't anticipate, putting the character
+in a disadvantaged position.
+
 ### CRIME BOSS 3 (9)
 
 A crime boss usually isn't physically powerful but wields power through lies, bribery, and control. Rarely encountered
@@ -38797,6 +38628,87 @@
 GM intrusion: 1d6 local citizens intervene on the guard's behalf, calling for more guards or even fighting the guard's
 foes.
 
+### Huntsman/Woodcutter 2 (6)
+
+A huntsman may be in the employ of a powerful magic user, protecting a section of the woods they consider their own, or
+just trying to provide for their family by chopping wood and hunting game.
+
+Motive: Follow orders, support their loved ones, protect the innocent
+
+Environment: Woods, forests, and other wild lands
+
+Health: 8
+
+Damage Inflicted: 2 points
+
+Armor: 1
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Tracking and pathfinding as level 4
+
+Combat: Huntsmen and woodcutters both understand the power of the perfectly aimed
+
+shot or swing. They take their time, steady their hand and breath, and hit with precision
+
+and force.
+
+When they take no action on a turn, their next attack inflicts twice the normal damage. Interaction: Many huntsmen and
+woodcutters are motivated by a deep need to be loyal,
+
+but they're also soft of heart and have a strong moral center. If they're tasked with
+
+something they deem unpalatable, they may forgo their promises and go rogue.
+
+Use: They are hunting the characters on the orders of a higher authority. They save the PCs
+
+from a dangerous foe, then ask for assistance for their own tasks.
+
+Loot: In addition to their clothing and mundane weapon, they likely have an expensive
+
+token of promise or affection from someone they have helped or who they owe fealty to.
+
+GM intrusion: A perfectly timed cut sends a tree down in the direction of the character.
+
+### Mad Scientist 4 (12)
+
+A mad scientist is someone who delves into areas of science best left unexamined, abandoning ethics and pushing for what
+can be created without asking if it should be.
+
+Motive: Understanding and exploiting reality
+
+Environment: Usually in a lab
+
+Health: 15
+
+Damage Inflicted: 7 points
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Defends as level 6 due to a gadget (or cypher); knowledge of advanced
+
+science as level 7
+
+Combat: Mad scientists are usually accompanied by security guards, robots, zombies, or
+
+some other appropriate creature. A mad scientist can attempt to take command of an enemy's technological device (armor,
+a weapon, a cypher, a robot, and so on) within short range for up to one minute using a handheld device.
+
+Mad scientists usually have access to a long-range energy or high-velocity weapon that inflicts 7 points of damage. They
+often carry manifest cyphers that increase Armor, confuse opponents' senses, or transform themselves into a form that
+eases all their actions by two steps.
+
+Interaction: Mad scientists are narcissistic and love to monologue about their work. They negotiate but usually are
+sociopathic and don't care about other people. Some are filled with self-loathing but too far gone to feel they can
+change.
+
+Use: Blackouts and strange noises have been traced to a location found to hold a secret lab where a scientist is
+creating something amazing and monstrous.
+
+Loot: Mad scientists have a few manifest cyphers and possibly an artifact.
+
+GM intrusion: The mad scientist produces a gadget or cypher that proves to be the perfect answer to a dilemma at hand.
+
 ### OCCULTIST 5 (15)
 
 Paranormal researchers, cultists, secret practitioners of white magic, and coven members might be occultists. Thanks to
@@ -38830,6 +38742,77 @@
 in place until they succeed on a Might-based task to escape. Each round the character fails to escape, the hand squeezes
 for 3 points of damage.
 
+### Robber/Thief 4 (12)
+
+Robbers, thieves, highwaymen, robin hoods—whatever name you call them, they want what you have, and they're willing to
+get it any way they can. Some robbers are honorable, stealing only from the rich or the evil. Others will take anything
+that isn't nailed down or magically protected.
+
+Robbers often travel in pairs or small groups of dedicated friends and fellow robbers. Motive: What's yours is mine
+
+Environment: Anywhere there's something to be stolen
+
+Health: 12
+
+Damage Inflicted: 2 points
+
+Armor: 1
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Stealth, including sneaking, stealing, hiding, and deception, as level 5; attacking from hiding as level
+5
+
+Combat: Robbers typically prefer light and medium weapons, particularly bows and small blades. Interaction: Most robbers
+have a moral code of some sort—it just may not be the code
+
+that others abide by. Still, they are willing to listen to reason (and particularly the sound of sliding coins). Robbers
+are often willing to be hired for jobs that are too difficult for others.
+
+Use: Robbers happen upon the place where the characters have made camp, and ask to join them. A group of robbers arrives
+to steal a thing that the characters are just about to steal themselves.
+
+Loot: Depending on whether they've just robbed someone or not, robbers may have anywhere from nothing (other than their
+weapons and clothing) up to the currency equivalent of a very expensive item.
+
+GM intrusion: The robber's arrow manages to hit two foes in a single attack, or the robber shoots two arrows at multiple
+foes.
+
+### Scholar 2 (6)
+
+Scholars might be librarians, sages, wise women, crones, experts, or soothsayers. Typically, scholars seek knowledge
+above all else, and many also are willing to share it with others (sometimes for a price, sometimes just for the joy of
+sharing knowledge). A scholar's expertise might be general or specific—they may study the world at large or home in on a
+specific type of magic or fey being, for example.
+
+Motive: Find answers, seek knowledge
+
+Environment: Schools, libraries, the royal study, laboratories, and anywhere there are sources of information
+
+Health: 6
+
+Damage Inflicted: 3 points
+
+Movement: Short
+
+Modifications: Intuition, persuasion, detecting falsehoods, and most knowledge tasks as level 4
+
+Combat: Scholars prefer to avoid a fight. If they must fight, a scholar tries to deduce a foe's
+
+weaknesses (if any) and exploit them in combat. Some scholars might have learned spells or abilities from those they've
+studied. Others might be examining a useful cypher or artifact, and will use it on their attackers.
+
+Interaction: Most scholars are helpful and full of information (whether or not it's useful or true information varies
+from scholar to scholar). What they don't know, they may be willing to learn or study, if given the proper tools and
+incentive. However, some scholars are secretive, hoarding their knowledge for their own personal uses.
+
+Use: Scholars can be incredible allies, offering clues, hints, and information that can help the characters. However,
+they may be reclusive and hard to find, hidden away in ancient libraries or secret laboratories.
+
+Loot: Most scholars have currency equivalent to a very expensive item and one or two cyphers.
+
+GM Intrusion: Something the scholar is studying comes alive, creating havoc and disarray throughout the area.
+
 ### SECRET AGENT 5 (15)
 
 Secret agents are trained professionals who put their mission before their own well-being, regardless of which
