Corruption and Faith
Corruption is the process by which the Dark Gods wear away at the mind of an individual, slowly getting their hooks into the body, mind and soul in order to twist it to their purpose. Perhaps the most tragic thing about Corruption is that all but the most steely-souled individual can be twisted purely by the presence of the energies of the Warp or one of its denizens.
Corruption Tracks
Corruption in Death Unto Darkness is represented by the Corruption Track, a track written for each PC and provided in advance of an event. There are five “levels” of effect cards, in ascending severity. The levels of Corruption are:
Brushed > Touched > Marked > Tempted > Overwhelmed
The first three levels, from Brushed to Marked, are represented by personalised roleplaying effects that represent how the Warp is twisting an individual to its whims. No PC starts innocent of the Warp, and begin the game Brushed due to the prevalent presence of its creeping corruption.
The game team will email your personalised Corruption cards to you prior to each event you play. You must print these yourself and bring them to the event.
Becoming Corrupted
PCs can advance along their corruption tracks up to Tempted in one of three ways:
- You hear the Your Soul is Tested! cue from a monster or a member of the Game Team, or by a written instruction in the game environment.
- The trait Faith and Fire renders you immune to this call; you do not need to spend Willpower, but should roleplay appropriately resisting the corrupting influence of the Warp.
- You choose to increase your Corruption level because your character has been exposed to something of the Warp - for example they have come into physical contact with a Daemon, strayed close to a Psykic ritual going awry, or stared too long at an arcane ritual. We trust our players to recognise the corrupting influence of Chaos and increase their level appropriately, according to the particular vulnerabilities and protections of their Inquisition agent.
- Your character chooses give in to the temptations of the Warp. You immediately advance to the Tempted level and may make free use of any Boons. Doing this immediately ends all ongoing negative effects including Madness, lower levels of Corruption and other dramatic effects - but not Bloodied or Near Death or any lost Willpower, Endurance or Supplies.
However, without attention being drawn to it by others, most characters will not be aware they are corrupted. The personality shifts associated with it are designed to act as cues to others that something is wrong with a character so they may take action. Unless it is identified by others, corruption is rarely something that a character is aware is happening to them unless it comes with visual manifestations. As such it should usually only be with the aid or guidance of others that they seek cleansing by an Exorcist.
Temptations of the Warp
The Tempted level represents that a character has drawn the notice of the Dark Gods. While they may not IC comprehend it, the gift-bringing whispers they hear come from the Warp. Rather than negative effects, the Tempted level provides one or several uses of a boon.
A character who uses one of these boons is considered to have Embraced Chaos. This has no immediate effect; however, should you be Exorcised, you must suffer The Emperor’s Judgement.
If a character gives in to temptation and voluntarily advances to the Tempted level from Brushed or Touched, they are considered to have Embraced Chaos even before they have made use of any Boons.
The Emperor’s Judgement
While the taint effects of Brushed to Marked can be contained by (albeit somewhat traumatic) not permanently damaging Exorcism, a character who has Embraced Chaos must face the God-Emperor’s disdain.
A character who is facing The Emperor’s Judgement has their endurance halved for the remainder of the event and is assigned a penance, a pattern of behaviour they must follow in order to remain protected against the warp decided by the Exorcist. Should they willingly fail to follow this penance or deliberately break it then they gain one use of their Tempted boon and immediately become Overwhelmed.
Embracing Chaos and becoming Overwhelmed
A character that continues to Embrace Chaos by using the boons of their corruption track will eventually become Overwhelmed. Your Overwhelmed card is sealed and hidden but represents your character opening their mind to the warp and letting it in - knowingly or not.
A character who is Tempted cannot become Overwhelmed simply by further exposure to Warp phenomena or eldritch sights; they must choose to Embrace Chaos before they are truly Damned.
Choosing to become Overwhelmed by Corruption is likely to be a terminal decision for your character. If their state is discovered by other PCs or loyal Imperial NPCs, they are likely to be subdued and arrested or executed. A character who is Overwhelmed is usually not considered subject to the protections of the Player Character Conflict rules. It may be possible for an Exorcism to be performed on an Overwhelmed character, but the process will very likely kill the subject - even while saving their soul.
Faith and Fire
A character that purchases the Faith and Fire trait replaces their Corruption cards with Faith cards and becomes immune to the call Your Soul is Tested. Like Corruption tracks, these cards are custom-written tracks which represent the trials and boons of fanatical devotion to the God-Emperor.
This is a trait that represents utter and total devotion to one's faith. Where Corruption is a comfortable path, ending with rewards that will lead (according to the Imperium) to damnation, walking in Faith brings pain and suffering.
Oaths
At the Marked level of a character's Faith and Fire track they must swear an Oath to the God-Emperor that they must then enact. These offer no benefit for the character, as they are acts of sacrifice. The Preacher Oaths offer some ideas for the level of impediment a character might place on themselves in order to fulfill their oaths - ideally oaths should be specific: for example, enduring some kind of personal sacrifice or swearing to defeat a specific individual.
How this oath plays out depends on the nature of the oath. A melee character whose oath is, for example, sacrificing the use of their dominant arm may be expected to do so until the Saturday of the next Campaign Event (numbered DuD events). If a character were to literally carve their arm from their body as a demonstration of their faith, it would likely fulfill the oath there and then (though replacing the limb at the game with a bionic would probably void the sacrifice). We recommend considering the consequences you are physically and mentally willing to roleplay and physrep when considering your Oath. Such demonstrations of faith are often rewarded then with miraculous displays of the power of Faith, but are often then followed by the angry backlash of the Dark Gods.
Consequences of Faith
Characters with Faith and Fire upon completion of their Oath receive two things, a Miracle representing the God-Emperor's reward for their sacrifices in service to Him and a Curse representing their actions drawing the attention and ire of the Dark Gods or some other foe. The Game Team have likely pre-written an appropriate Miracle for your character, but you can always ask a member of the game team if they have an idea for an appropriate miracle in the heat of the moment. Their Curse only comes into effect after they perform their Miracle and is given to you in a sealed envelope.
Unlike Corruption, a character can never choose to increase their level of Faith willingly - there are no shortcuts with Faith. Instead, each level of Faith will be marked with a specific requirement for progressing to the next level which represents a form of suffering or trial which the the Faithful much undergo before progressing.
Faith and Fire is only available to those who worship the God-Emperor but Unique Traits representing different expressions of Faith if approved by the Game Team are likely to follow a similar format.
The Aftermath
The Inquisition has a number of methods to aid its Agents who have been afflicted by the horrors of the Warp - penance, Exorcism, spiritual purges and various forms of ritual cleansing.
At the end of an event, it is assumed that your character has an opportunity to restore their soul to a healthy state. You may reset your Corruption level completely between mainline events. This is to be decided by the player - the game team will not dictate the narrative of how your character recovers (we are always happy to give suggestions, but they will be no more than that).
However, we also recognise that players might enjoy incorporating a permanent RP effect into their character. For this reason, you are free to decide that your character's soul is not restored following the game, and continue roleplaying a level of Corruption. In some cases, this may also be the basis of a very valid Scar, if you want to add a spiritual one into your character.
If you have Faith and Fire, you cannot reset or reduce your level between events. You may choose to abandon your faith: you get the trait slot back, and the Chaos Gods will reward you far more handsomely than those who have not walked the path - for your soul is stronger, and will make a far finer reward when you go to them.