Corruption and Faith: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 10:47, 17 January 2024

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.

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-Corruption is the ever-present temptation faced by characters to call upon the dark things beyond the veil of reality, things that whisper promises of power in their dreams, or just beyond hearing. Corruption cards offer great powers unique to the character’s nature, but for the price of the slow moral degradation of the character’s soul until it is finally twisted towards some dark purpose of the chaos gods.
+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.
-There are five levels of Corruption, representing increasingly severe states of the characters soul. The cards are read in the following order:
+=== Corruption Tracks ===
-'''Tempted''' > '''Brushed''' > '''Touched''' > '''Marked''' > '''Overwhelmed'''
+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:
-You should look over the first four cards in advance, to plan how you might roleplay them when they are activated; the final Overwhelmed card should only be read when it becomes applicable. The standard anatomy of the card looks like this:
+'''Brushed > Touched > Marked > Tempted > Overwhelmed'''
-[[File:Corruption Card.png]]
+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.'''
-=== Descending into Corruption ===
-The process of becoming corrupted is the slow degradation of the soul as a result of personal choices, and exposure to what is commonly referred to as ‘Blight’. The methods by which you can increase in corruption are as follows:
-* The first and easiest way to increase your Corruption is to use the ‘Corruption Power’ on your card. Doing this ‘cues’ you to increase your corruption. If you look at the ‘cue’ section on your corruption card you will see the number of cues it takes to increase you to the next level of corruption.
+=== Becoming Corrupted ===
-* The cue '''[Target(s)] I test thee''' can be resisted by expending a single point of Willpower, however, if you have no Willpower remaining you gain a '''Blight card''' and '''increase your Corruption one full Level (e.g. Brushed→ Touched)'''. In certain situations failing to resist this can have far worse consequences.
+PCs can advance along their corruption tracks up to '''Tempted''' in one of three ways:
-*Sometimes, in a moment of true desperation you might want to use a power from a higher level than you are currently on. In these moments you can '''Beseech the Warp for Aid''' by willingly reaching out to the powers beyond the veil of reality, you may advance to that corruption level and access that power. Be aware there is no going back from this kind of advance, a character who actively beseeches the Dark Gods for aid ''cannot'' actively seek redemption (see below) from corruption. To do this is to invite PvP as the only way to actively save the soul of a character who has gone down this path, involves exorcisms so intense they often kill the individual. The common method for this is burning at the stake. After you have '''Beseeched the Warp for Aid''', and used the power, you should seek out a Ref for additional consequences.
+*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 [[Willpower_Traits#Faith_and_Fire|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.
-* The most common method of being Corrupted is being exposed to [[Blight]]. The first and easiest way to receive this is to walk into an area tainted with warp energies, a Ref will inform you that the area you are entering is '''Blighted''' in some way, at which point you have two choices, you can choose to not continue and turn back in fear of the reality warping energies, or you can continue, and receive a '''Blight card'''. If you possess willpower you can spend a point of it to resist the effect, '''however''' you will not get this point back until the end of the next combat scene. Regardless of whether or not you resist the Blight effect this is treated exactly the same as a cue for your Corruption as if you had used a power as above, once.
+*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.
-Sometimes Blight will not be announced by a Ref and instead will be signposted by a prop with a Chaos Star marking it
+*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.
-[[File:Chaos Star.png]]
+'''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.
-Should a character interact with this prop (i.e. deliberately use, study, or handle beyond the point where you realise it is marked) they should treat it as if they had been exposed to Blight as above. Objects marked in this way cannot be destroyed without a Ref.
+=== Temptations of the Warp ===
-Sometimes Blight will be so powerful or your actions will be so damning that a Ref will instruct you to go to a certain level on your Corruption track as a result.
+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'''.
-=== Damnation Milestones ===
+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.
-While Corruption can be cured by acts of Redemption (see below) the act of reaching high levels of corruption leaves permanent wounds upon a character’s soul. These ‘milestones’ are activated the first time a character reaches a certain Corruption level, and they are permanently in effect for the remainder of the campaign thereafter:
-* Your soul becomes '''Blackened''' the first time you become '''Marked by Corruption''', from this point on every time you receive a '''Blight''' effect you treat it as '''two cues''' for the purpose of increasing your corruption level, rather than one.
+=== The Emperor’s Judgement ===
-=== Repentance from Corruption ===
+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.
-Providing an individual does not fully give themselves to the forces of the warp, it is possible to bring back a soul from the threshold of damnation. The healing process is known as Repentance. This is the act of fortifying the soul against temptation, and punishing the weakness in the mind and body that led to the lack of willpower to resist the temptations in the first place.
-A character who is '''Marked''' or '''Overwhelmed''' by corruption is so fully under the sway of the warp that they will not actively (even if it is against character) seek repentance – rendering an Exorcist more useful, and a Priest less so. Even the most noble character’s soul can be turned, no matter if they used the powers offered to them with the most benevolent reasons. '''Marked and Overwhelmed levels may not be Repented in uptime without Ref permission, so deep are the talons in an individual's soul.'''
+A character who is facing '''The Emperor’s Judgement''' has their [[Resources|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'''.
-After suffering through an '''Ordeal''' or an '''Exorcism''' a character cannot make use of any of the powers on their Corruption cards for the rest of the event, unless they actively Beseech the Warp For Aid – at which point they may not reduce their Corruption though Ordeals or Exorcisms for the remainder of the event.
+=== Embracing Chaos and becoming Overwhelmed ===
-==== Ordeals ====
+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.
-The guiding theme of '''Ordeals''' is that a price must ALWAYS be paid by the character in some mental or physical fashion to restore the sanctity of their soul – the process of repentance is a combination of a character seeking Guidance and undergoing an Ordeal.
-The need for Guidance represents the need for a character to reach out to an individual of significant spiritual importance to guide them back to the ‘path’. A character seeking this should approach one (or more) other characters, who will serve as the ‘anchors’ who will aid them through the ordeal. Within the Imperium the figures who are trained to aid citizens suffering like this are traditionally Priests of either the Machine or Imperial Cults, which is why most branches of the Imperium have some kind of chaplaincy. It is important to believe strongly in the spiritual guidance of the other individual, and Commissars and indeed other pillars of Imperial authority might also serve the same value. There is no specific '''Trait''' required to oversee an Ordeal.
+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.
-An Ordeal represents that there is no ‘easy way’ out of ridding yourself of Blight and it should have a deep impact on the character undergoing it. Though the ordeal itself doesn't have to be performed with great fanfare (though it is allowed and encouraged to do so), you should roleplay the price paid in an obvious and distinct manner. A change should occur in the character between the moment before and after the Ordeal and it should affect the character quite deeply on either a mental or physical level, probably both.
+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.
-Though the process of the Ordeal does not have to be public or ‘shouty’ in itself, the resulting impact (mental or physical) should be shown in such a way as to be clear and distinct to other players (ritual scarification, brands, heavily impacted functioning for a number of scenes, etc.) that the character has undergone some form of suffering after which you drop your Corruption one level (i.e Marked->Touched).
+=== Faith and Fire ===
+A character that purchases the [[Willpower_Traits#Faith_and_Fire|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 ====
-==== Exorcisms ====
+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 [[Willpower_Traits#Preacher|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.
-Exorcisms are serious and dangerous situations; the forces of the warp are unkind and unwilling to be driven out when they find purchase in flesh, and skilled [[Willpower_Traits#Exorcist|Exorcists]] have to be careful of their own souls when carrying them out. The forces of the warp are as likely to strike back at the Exorcist as they are to tighten their grip on the victim the Exorcist is trying to save.
-The roleplaying guidelines for curing these conditions through exorcism generally follow those of Ordeals, but should be treated more severely – usually requiring more extreme and violent methods to drive out the Blight inside of them that cause extreme suffering (again you should remember the safety rules when performing this roleplay) and the consequences should be somewhat more obvious on the victim. The full rules for Exorcising Corruption are laid out in the Exorcism section of the rules.
+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.
+[[Category:Rules]]