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. All PCs start innocent of the Warp, and only become Brushed the first time they are exposed to its corruption.

Becoming Corrupted

PCs can advance along their corruption tracks up to Tempted in one of two ways:

• You are instructed to increase your Corruption level as part of a verbal cue given by a monster or a member of the Game Team, or by a written instruction in the game environment.

• 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.

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.

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. 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.

Characters with Faith will also be issued with an Overwhelmed card, representing the promised ‘reward’ for staying true to their path. This reward may be double-edged, as the Dark Gods recognise those blessed by the Emperor and target them for their particular ttentions.

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 Threshold which represents a form of suffering or trial which the the Faithful much undergo before progressing.

Note that, while this section on Faith -presumes- worship of the God Emperor, alternative focuses of Faith can be discussed with the game team.