Chapter Six: Supernatural

“Miss?”

I cough and look up from the sand.

He stands there in a pair of cotton pants and a windbreaker, a baseball cap pulled over his head. The same short frame, the same intense eyes. But something is missing.

Something is different.

“Are you alright? He asks in a timid voice. “I’ll go call an ambulance.”

I clench my hands in the wet sand and stare up at him, shaking my head.

An expression passes over his face, wide-eyed, amazed. The look of recognition. The look I am waiting for.

“You?” He murmurs, completely stunned.

“This is between us!” I snarl, and launch myself at him.

He’s taken completely by surprise and falls to the ground, dazed. I land on top of him and here the whoosh as air is pumped out of his lungs. He gasps for breath. I move my face close to his and stare into his eyes with hatred. I want him to see that hatred. I want him to understand that I will outlive him. His eyes lock with mine in terror.

“You’re even smaller than when we last met!” I spit. He gasps as I cover his mouth with mine, forcing it open with my tongue, letting the stream of gold rise up out of me and into his throat. His scream is burnt up. Gold breaks through his fragile neck, through his cheeks. I hear his brain start to boil.

He is dead too soon.

I love L.A. People there live in a fantasy world, a world of dreams and images. For the most part, it is the refuge of people who live their lives as illusions because they fear the judgement of others. They worship everything from underwear billboards to crystals, to Hollywood movie stars. And of course, they worship money. Great vaults of it printed against the value of shining metal dug out of the ground. They don’t realize a war is coming and that none of these gods will save them from it.

L.A. has been a comfort to me since the night I killed that man and gave his body to the Pacific. Despite what you might think about me, I do feel guilt when I take an innocent life. These days, it doesn’t seem like our kind can avoid it. But we do try. We know humans are victims of the darkness within.

I reflect on the shadows that gathered around the young man, his last thoughts spilling out as light, then bruising, dimming, growing black. His name was Carl Piper. He was an actor. He wanted to make it big and to be remembered for all time. He knew me from pictures in his family’s archives, from old wives tales passed down each generation in his family. Like all of the males in his family line, he dreamed of me.

He was not responsible for the curse his ancestor placed on me. That was his last dying thought, after he realized how real those wives tales were. He was the last of an only child.

He had no idea that the curse died with him. At least I think it did.

I buried the boy’s body with the gold coin and a pile of rocks into the ocean.

I have to admit that King whose money I took made a good effort to overcome my prophecy. He was never remembered, but he passed his Bright Blood on and became Immortal.

At least, for a little while.

Introduction

This chapter supplies further background on the world of “Immortal: Millennium”, and it is aimed mainly (but not exclusively, of course) to Chroniclers who are running their Chronicles in the “Immortal: Millennium” Unisystem™ format, since that, without the information contained in the WitchCraft setting, there will be serious gaps. In here, there will be given detailed (but by no means exhaustive) information concerning the allies and enemies of the Himsati Immortals, as well as a description of the mysterious Abzulim – whose loyalties and agenda are unknown to everyone but themselves. Knowledge concerned the Immortal Sanctuaries is included as well, as is a preview of a possible future of the Himsati, who, after finally defeating the Enemy, find themselves facing a far larger threat than the Sanguinary: the rise of the Mad God Leviathan – with the description of the Himsati Immortals in the world of Armageddon™.

Mantles

“Mantle” is the designation given by Immortals to enormous Sanctuaries, whose size can easily compete with that of most of the metropolis of our world. There are few more than a dozen of these otherworldly kingdoms, whose appearance and physical laws are entirely subject to the will and imagination of the mantle’s Maker (for more info concerning Makers see p. xx). Within these mystical worlds survive the last remnants of Immortals and their worshippers, islands of magic and wonder, hidden from the harsh glare of neon-lit human civilization.

Each Court maintains a mantle that serves as their stronghold. Individual members of each Court, if they are lucky enough to spawn a half-human Maker capable of creating a mantle, have their own private Sanctuaries as well.

The Rules of Mantle Reality

Opposite to the normal Sanctuaries, which require enormous amounts of Essence to be created (Mystery Codex, p. 183-184), Mantles are built on any reality the Maker can imagine, without extra effort. Usually the rules are more or less the same: Gravity pulls down, the sun travels over the sky, the air is breathable, etc. However, particularly brilliant or mad Makers may alter the rules of reality to suit their whim. Some are so focused that even after their deaths, parts of the mantle continued to exist with a life of its own. However, nothing created in a mantle can be removed from that mantle, even if moved through a gateway directly into another mantle – these objects or beings are, after all, only thoughts given form by the Maker, although objects and living creatures from the outside can be brought in and out without a problem. While in their own Mantles, Makers cannot be mystically or mentally controlled. They can be coerced, assuming they have a dependency or are unsure of the boundaries of their own power.

Creating a Mantle

To create a mantle, the Maker must have a Willpower rating of 5 or superior, and must have one mortal and one Immortal parent – i.e. being a Bright Blood (refer to p. xx for more on Bright Bloods). “Pure” Bright Bloods (of two mortal parents) can never be Makers A Maker must possess a “virgin” shard of the Sanguinary, one that has never invaded a host, and it must be of a good size. Obviously, such a relic is an incredibly rare find. The shard is (usually) affixed to the forehead and is this forced contact between the two that stimulates the shard to alter reality according to the will of the Maker. This control over the shard is constant as long as there is physical contact with it. The complexity of the Mantle created by the Maker depends on his Willpower.

Willpower: Creations:

5 A small reality up to the size of an estate, with flora and weather (a Mantle this size is usually known as a Sanctuary).

6 A region up to the size of a city, with flora, fauna and weather

7+ A mantle up to the size of a country, flora, fauna, intelligent beings capable of independent interaction with themselves and outsiders.

At the edge of the Maker’s range, the mantle joins the real world so subtly that walking from one to the other usually gives no warning. Furthermore, the Maker can make barriers that keep people out of the Mantle or trapped inside.

Maintenance

Once created a mantle must be maintained by a Maker. They need not be the same Makers as those who created the mantle in the first place, but those who take over must have a thorough understanding of the mantle’s physical laws and aesthetics or they will unwittingly change the mantle. If a mantle is left without a Maker—usually because of his death or escape—the mantle’s reality will usually only be sustained for only a short time, if a new Maker does not replace the former.

Multiple Makers

Makers can work together to create even more lavish mantles. They can also maintain a more unique reality as each Maker supervises a large region for himself. Makers sometimes pass the time by competing with one another in the mantle, each creating a more complex and interesting reality. This can lead to problems when the competition becomes too serious and divisions in the mantle’s reality occur.

Friends of Old

Bright Bloods

All believers and followers of the Immortals are driven by their ideals, but most can only countermeasure the mundane, mortal forces of the Sanguinary. There are others however, who have a power in them, the same Light that beckons an Immortal toward transcendence or burns agonizingly in the mind of the Sanguinary and its servants. These special humans are known as the Bright Bloods, and they are spiritual people, whether they realize it or not, as their faith grants them supernatural powers: their blood can melt a shard into nothingness. The spark in their eyes causes pain to dark creatures and remoulds the bodies of Immortals who venture too close. Like their human brethren, the Bright Bloods are a mystery to the Immortals, their origin and future uncertain. They are wild cards that will inevitably be played out in the final war.

Incarnation: Bright Bloods continually reincarnate when they die, and in the next life can remember who they once were, even become that person again. Eventually the Bright Blood (much like an Immortal) awakens to the fact that he was once someone else, and now is again. The process tends to strip away much of the current personality and skills of the existing character, as he slowly makes his way towards being who he once was. This process is gauged by a rating known as Incarnation Points. Incarnation Points function exactly the same way that Fugue does for an Immortal, and Bright Bloods have Incarnation Triggers just like Immortals have Fugue Triggers. When a Bright Blood critically fails an Incarnation Test (which works the same way as a Fugue Test) he gains another Incarnation Point. Along with this, three skill levels that the character possesses are converted into skill levels from his previous incarnation (that the current incarnation does not possess already). The character may spend memory or experience to buy back the lost skill levels, however. Simply put, each time the Bright Blood touches upon his previous incarnation, it encroaches on his new self, slowly wiping it out. If the Incarnation Points ever reach 20, any remaining skill levels that the previous incarnation did not have are reduced to two levels each, and the lost skill levels are added to any skills that the current incarnation doesn’t have but the previous one did. The current incarnation ceases to exist and the previous incarnation is once again alive, but with vague memories of the incarnation he just supplanted, as well as a few skills.

Creating a Bright Blood Character: Bright Blood characters start with 25 points to distribute among their Primary Attributes, 20 Points in Qualities and up to 10 Points in Drawbacks, and 35 points in Skills, but cannot normally buy Natures or Serenades nor can they have the Gift, Sight, Tao-Chi, Disciplines of the Flesh or Divine Miracles. A Bright Blood also begins the game with 20 Memory Points and 1 Incarnation Point. For every incarnation beyond that that the Bright Blood takes, he gains another 10 Memory Points (and adds +1 point to his Incarnation Rating).

Bright Blood Abilities: Bright Bloods do not normally have Himsatis, nor do they play Serenades. What they do have is Faith. Each level in the Faith trait costs 4 character points up to level 5; afterwards, each level costs 7 points.

Per each Faith level, the can give up to two Essence Points and add them to their physical Attributes for the remainder of a scene. Essence Points spent thus only return after 8 hours of sleep, however. Furthermore, the Bright Blood may resist any kind of metaphysical powers by making a Resisted Test using his Willpower + Faith rating against the opponent’s test. If the Bright Blood manages to have a higher success level, then he manages to cancel the effect by unweaving the Essence Matrix before the spell is activated (on the good side, no Dispel Tasks are necessary). Should this power be used against a Himsati Immortal, and if the Bright Blood manages to have at least two Success Levels above the result of the Immortal, then he may choose to put a Curse on her (see Appendix 2, for ideas on Curses) – the higher the difference between the two test is, the more serious the Curse will be, and the longer it will last. When using Essence defensively (see WitchCraft p. 199), the Bright Blood uses his Faith rating as Channelling Level.

Playing a Bright Blood: Bright Bloods see Immortals as objects of worship just like other believers. But some Bright Bloods develop close ties and friendships with these gods, knowing that they are something more than mortal themselves. A few rare Bright Bloods impress their Immortal counterparts so that they are made Immortal themselves. Others turn down this offer, preferring to find the long road of life the mortal way.

Bright Bloods stand out in a crowd. Most Bright Bloods have trouble (especially in the beginning) accepting that they are different, and many either shut themselves out of society or leave it completely. There are some, however, which manage to turn their special talents to the benefit of themselves and, hopefully, those around them. These can rise up to become extremely powerful and important people. Others prefer the quiet of anonymity, working for their Immortal masters.

Makers

Makers are children born of mortal and Immortals. They are Bright Bloods, and automatically have all the traits and abilities inherent to them. However, they are something more: the ability that sets Makers apart from all other beings is the form their particular form of faith takes. At the lowest level, Maker faith can create a dimensional rift into a small reality limited only by their imagination. At the highest level, this dimensional space can have almost limitless boundaries. These abilities are discussed in the section on Mantles.

Makers are as long-lived as their Bright Blood brethren. They can also breed with one another, or a Bright Blood, and create other Makers. Some Immortals so far removed from the mortal experience to even consider mortal humans a civilized species, often imprison and forcibly breed new generations of Makers to maintain their precious mantles. Maker revolutions are woefully common among these enslaved populations. Once they realize they have absolute control over the reality of the mantle, it can no longer hold them. If they escape, they usually die in a few years in the mortal world, unable to adapt to an inflexible reality.

Recruiting Makers: A Maker population is the vital key to creating and maintaining a mantle. Unless an Immortal creates a sincere relationship with a mortal and they willingly mate to create a Maker child, this step inevitably requires some distasteful coordination: enslavement of Makers in the mortal world or rape of a mortal. The latter option is distasteful to almost all Immortals, mainly because a child born of such a union invariably has psychological problems that insinuate themselves into the reality matrix of the mantles they create. The very best means of gaining a viable Maker is for him to be born out of a consenting, loving union. Such a child, guided to his or her duties from birth can form stable, brilliant realities vital for the survival of Immortals.

The Face of the Enemy

The Sanguinary and the Corrupted

The origins of the Sanguinary are ambiguous to Immortals. Records left behind, particularly of the mad ravings of the Abzulim Samiel are lost, and remembered only by a secretive few. The Sanguinary smashed into the Earth 65 million years ago. Some think this collision occurred simply chance, while others believe the Sanguinary guided itself here, perhaps finding it a perfect breeding ground to increase its power. Immortals do not know what the Sanguinary looked like before its fall to earth, though Abzulim legend holds that it was unbearably beautiful and sparkled like a million gems set on fire. A famous raving of Samiel:

Whatever its primary form was, after shattering, the Sanguinary’s consciousness was scattered through all the shards of its body. The shards were vessels of instinct and the Sanguinary’s identity was trapped in a single shard, known as the Red Shard. This shard later formed a seed around which the first attempt to reincarnate the Sanguinary was made. The resulting embryo was found by Immortals before it could awaken, and smashed.

This would have annihilated the Sanguinary if its consciousness had not interfaced with the minds of proto-humans of the time. Little more than a vague nightmare itself, it floated, greatly weakened. As time passed and its consciousness began to coalesce, humanity became more industrious. Human civilization was born. All the while the Immortals thought the Sanguinary had been destroyed completely. For most of human civilization, the Sanguinary remained little more than a force rather than a clearly defined personality. Human aggression, greed and other dark personality traits were exacerbated by its presence in the dream state. Its servants sensed Its presence and were driven to accomplish the goals of the Shards without real contact with the Sanguinary Itself. All toiled for Its eventual rebirth of mind and body.

The Sanguinary is the ultimate enemy — like any other Mad God, the Sanguinary is alien, unknowable, and without remorse or compassion. Its goal is the reunification of all its scattered parts, which means obtaining all the Vocci in all Immortals, as well as all the Shards that lay dormant, waiting to enter a living host. This reunification will also absorb the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of the Immortal host, destroying them utterly. For the Immortals, the Sanguinary represents more than just absolute death, it means complete oblivion.

The Progeny

In the dim past, a new generation of beings, mostly human, became infected with more of the Sanguinary’s Shards. Without aeons of strength and experience to protect them against the Sanguinary, these individuals quickly came fully under Its spell.

Today, these Progeny are the strong-arm of the Sanguinary: they act as lieutenants in control of the ravenous Droves who, left without strong leadership, would destroy themselves. The Progeny are known by their whispering. Any progeny who speaks out loud carries the resonance of lost and stolen souls, alerting Immortals to its corruption (this translates by a ripple in the flows of Essence which can be felt in a city-radius. Himsati Immortals feeling this ripple can make a Difficult Perception Test – if they pass, they can pinpoint it with entire precision).

The Progeny are Immortals in all respects but one – they have given up their spirits in sacrifice to the Sanguinary (i.e. they have no own Willpower rating). Only by draining Essence Points from humans (which are lost permanently, unless bought back with Experience), can the Progeny replenish their spirit (each 5 stolen Essence Points give 1 point to the Willpower rating – and it only lasts for 1 day per 5 stolen points). Immortals can sense this theft, however, in a city-block radius, and known instinctively that the Progeny is nearby. As long as a member of the Progeny contains this stolen Essence he can create a Serenade (though his true nature is revealed when this occurs, and it will bring all the Immortals within the city running).

Because they rape mortals for their Essence, the Progeny are usually horribly cursed beyond belief. Bizarre occurrences or inhumane or sociopathic behaviour in a city are often the sign that a Progeny has entered it.

Because the Progeny are individuals, their statistics are not provided here, as they can be of any power level, social strata or description. They are the worst enemies of Immortals because they are nothing more than their dark reflecting, and that was proven by the Great Betrayal of 1999, when many Immortals, succumbed to the Sanguinary’s temptations and turned traitor.

Becoming One of the Progeny: The Progeny grow their ranks through birth and adoption. “Birth” refers to infecting a promising human with a Shard of the Sanguinary. Once the Shard takes hold and the Sanguinary thoroughly drains the spirit of the newborn, the new member is considered a Progeny. The process takes about a week.

“Adoption” is the Progeny’s policy of recruiting Immortals into the family from the Perpetual Society. Their targets are usually either Immortals who fear the final war, or ones who are so tired of life they are willing to give up the struggle against the Sanguinary for the promise of eventual oblivion. Still others are seduced with promises of power in the new world order of the Sanguinary that is to come. Once selected, the adopted gives up his Willpower to the Progeny, who, in turn, feeds it to the Sanguinary. The adoption process is excruciatingly painful and difficult and can take months.

The vast majority of Progeny have human Himsatis, but can possess natures borrowed from other types as well. If the Progeny belongs to a larger family (see Droves, below), he shares a perfect telepathic link with higher-ranking Progeny in the same family. There is no range or limit to this link, and the lower-ranking Progeny can hide nothing from his superiors.

Devourers

The Sanguinary’s ultimate goal is assimilation of its body back into itself. Over the millennia, the Sanguinary has found itself to be much more powerful when it assimilated Shards with imprinted life experience on Vocci. This is why it does not simply assimilated raw shards of Itself.

By implanting a Shard into a living thing, then absorbing that thing, it will become infinitely more powerful with the sum total of other Essences. Among the Progeny exists a special, horrific group of monsters known as the Devourers. These creatures are created through the implantation of a shard into a creature genetically constructed and imbued with an assortment of Himsati natures. The result is a super-predator possessing the best traits of all predators combined.

Any Devourer can attempt to assimilate an opponent. If the opponent is cursed he makes his test with a -1 penalty per curse he has. Thus, cursed Immortals are easier to assimilate than the rest.

First the Devourer must successfully grapple the Immortal. Then, the Devourer and prey engage in an Resisted Willpower test. Each turn the Devourer wins the contest, it assimilates 1 Willpower Level from the Immortal. When it falls under 0, his Vox is drawn into the Devourer to join with its own. The Devourer will, in turn, eventually allow itself to be assimilated into the Sanguinary with its store of stolen Immortal lives. The process of assimilation is irreversible as long as the Devourer is alive. If it is ever slain, the Vocci of Immortals it has devoured are freed and may begin the process of reincarnating. If the Immortal ever wins the contest, the grapple is broken and the assimilation stops.

The Droves

As the Progeny are the supernatural servants of the Sanguinary, the Droves are the Progeny’s faithful mortal servants who have had Himsati Natures inflicted on them to turn them into beasts. Driven by hunger, the droves attack and devour any living thing they can and are the hoards making up the bulk of the Sanguinary’s armies. Droves will always be found under the domination of a Progeny, hiding in the wilderness or the wastelands of the inner cities.

Droves would be more effective if they could ignore their own burning hunger, but this disability often supplants their reasoning capability. Droves make excellent shock troops but can rarely operate in more subtle areas of the war, such as espionage and assassination.

All droves have, as a distinguishing feature, eyes which glow red under bright light. Otherwise, they come in an infinite variety of forms, with no two looking alike, as droves are not limited to mortal humans – they exist everywhere in the universe as numberless armies of alien species and even common earthly animals.

A drove can possess any Himsati Nature (see Chapter 5: Metaphysics). Their life expectancy, even without being hunted, is short due to their ravenous hunger and lust. This hunger either burns them out or causes them to fearlessly throw themselves against opponents. Others who maintain a spark of humanity often kill themselves, and others have been known to actually devour their own bodies until they die from loss of blood. The typical lifespan of a drove is measured in a handful of years.

Lesser Droves have Primary Ratings up to 5 (usually Intelligence is the lowest). Droves have no Willpower rating and up to 3 points in any Natural Himsati Natures.

Greater Droves

There are Greater Droves, creatures whose strength is great enough to control their hunger. These creatures survive for decades, growing stronger as more and more Himsati natures are heaped upon their twisted bodies. They are deadly opponents who have learned how to fight superbly. The Progeny hold them in special reserve not only to control the lesser droves, but also to carry out special missions of terror or massacre.

A Greater Drove will normally have Primary Ratings up to 7, and up to 5 points in Natural Himsati Natures.

The Abzulim: The Return of the Dragons

Few Immortals, save the original slaves, have ever met an Abzulim. The Abzulim were the original Immortals, the first generation created from the Sanguinary’s shards before it regained consciousness. They are still regarded as fantastical by most Immortals, bogeymen designed by the eldest Immortals to scare young Immortals into submission. Many of those who may have once fought with, or served, the Abzulim have either entered eternal madness or fallen to the Progeny.

Those who care to dig deep enough can find physical proof of the Abzulim, their twisted forms and the ruins of their empires. The most ancient Immortals remember them all too well. Mostly they remember the cruelty, the eyes utterly devoid of emotion and empathy, and incredible alien power. These cruel masters are returning, slowly, to Earth to regain their birthplace and the seat of their ancient empire. By all accounts, only nine Abzulim survived the slave revolts and the resulting collapse of their empire. This is probably untrue, since the universe is a vast place and there are Abzulim who, despite their air of superiority, prepared for every contingency.

For the past several thousand years, the Abzulim have lurked at the edge of the Earth. The nine survivors – called the Deepwalkers by those who remember them – have rarely set foot on Earth in that time. They prefer to work through mortal and Immortal agents, whom they reward very well indeed.

The Soul of an Abzulim: As a race, the Abzulim overcame the limits of their own flesh long ago. They were, and still are, masters of genetics and of their own faith. Unlike the Immortals, who are victims of faith, the Abzulim use their own belief to warp themselves into useful and deadly forms. Few traces of the Abzulim’s dinosaur origins remain. They appear at turns reptilian, crystalline, elemental, mammalian, insectoid, perhaps even human. Usually they make themselves look like all these forms at once. Most are so dark that light itself dies as tiny scintillating sparks on their skin.

The defining characteristic, and perhaps the greatest weakness, of the Abzulim is their utter contempt for cooperation with others. The Abzulim define themselves as unrelated individuals, each creating itself from anonymous origins and excelling with only its own force of will. Abzulim have not bred for countless millions of years. Another characteristic of the Abzulim is their unshakeable need to enslave weaker races. Slavery, the imposition of will upon a weaker being, is the ultimate expression of power. And power is the only thing an Abzulim respects. They do not know emotions: they are calculating and logical, but their value system is built entirely around a might-makes-right ethic. Despite their unemotional mindset and brutal ideologies, the Abzulim are far from stupid. They are still some of the oldest beings in the universe, and what they may lack in quick cunning, they more than make up for with patience. They have waited a million years to return to their birthplace, therefore they are willing to devote millennia, if necessary, to re-conquer Earth.The Abzulim are immensely powerful, but their reach is not unlimited. Therefore, they need agents to work for them: there are servants of the Abzulim within the Immortal race, drawn to promises of power, or hopeless to stand against the ancient dragons. Some of these exist in the Perpetual Society as spies. Others have formed their own groups. A third of the Court of Shadow defected to the cause of returning the Abzulim to power during the Great  Betrayal.

The Deepwalkers

The nine Abzulim Warlords who survived the slave revolt that brought an end to their empire now lurk in the dominions nearest Earth. True to Abzulim philosophy, each is completely independent from the others. Each rules its own fortress, each commands its own forces, and each has its own plan to recapture Earth from the upstart Immortals.

At this point in the slow assault, Immortals do not directly deal with the Deepwalkers. Rather, they will face the Deepwalker’s servants and agents (for now). The abilities and resources available to an Abzulim agent vary from warlord to warlord. No Deepwalker has any rating below 8, and usually they are all around 10-15.

Abzulim Special Nature: The Beckoning

All Abzulim have this Nature, and may also grant it to their servants for brief periods. When it is used, the controller and the intended target make a Resisted Willpower Task. If the target rolls higher, there is no effect. If the target fails, then the he must obey the impulse given to him by the nuances of body language. Only if there is a difference in Success Levels of at least 3 levels, will his target do something that might endanger his own life. To get the target to harm himself, the difference must be of at least 5 levels.  If an actual Abzulim is using this nature, the target makes his test at with a -3 penalty to represent the sheer power and long-term use the Abzulim have had with the Beckoning.

While the Abzulim as a race invented most of the Himsati natures, the nine Deepwalkers together invented the Beckoning nature.  Truly one of the only things they have ever done together.  This nature doesn’t just cause obedience. The Abzulim routinely trigger other types of responses in their targets, including fear, lust, anger, greed, hunger and the like. It’s important to note that this nature triggers responses, it does not inspire true emotions, and to be effective, it needs to be used in the presence of its target. Once the target leaves, the responses wind down and vanish.. A target who is controlled constantly by this nature eventually becomes immune to it, as the Abzulim found out when their slaves rose up against them.

Sample Abzulim: Etrosk, the Fanged

Etrosk, also known as the dragon Fafnir, is a hoarding Abzulim Warlord, sending constructs and servants into the world to recover the last of the Abzulim greater weapons and artefacts. His dominion is already the greatest cache of Wonders and spectacular treasures gathered in one: an entire world made up of gold-sand deserts, crystal towers and gems scattered about as commonly as stones.

Etrosk’s contribution to The Beckoning was the dialect of greed. Creating a desire for money and other valuable things is the core of Etrosk and his servant’s power. The fever of greed has burned up many a mortal and Immortal alike, and fuelled wars between nations. Any object that has been handled by Etrosk emits an aura of intense value, despite its real appearance. Anyone in the presence of such an item must make the standard Beckoning resistance just as if the object were a Servant of Etrosk. Failure causes him to desire the object above all other things, and possibly kill to possess it.

Etrosk has a form that brings to mind a sinuous, serpentine T-Rex glittering with gems imbedded in every scale. He loves to gamble. Since Etrosk has no use for servants other than Immortals he may manipulate for long-term goals, he is very much a loner.