Unfinished Aftermath
You live in the city of Virelai. The districts were drawn during the First Emergency Doctrine, back when officials still believed the problem could be solved by better boundaries. Those lines have been revised many times since, usually by a few streets, a transit spur, or a block is reclassified for reasons no one explains. The maps changes. The districts remain largely the same. Virelais didn’t invent the response system, but it refined it. Other cities adopted its language. The districts became a national standard.
You are assigned to North Coil.
North Coil is considered a containment favorable zone, dense with offices, municipal housing, data centers, and transit infrastructure. Most incidents here resolve quickly or fail to escalate at all.
Your identification marks you as an Anthropoid Variant, printed plainly, in the same typeface as your name and clearance number. Most of the time, it doesn’t matter. Clerks process your paperwork, Shopkeepers take your money and on the street, you pass for ordinary.
You’re expected to intervene when ordinary services stop being sufficient. The cost of doing so is understood to be personal. Injuries are documented. Leave is granted when possible. Certain thresholds trigger mandatory reassignment quietly, without appeal. A few responders are removed from public rotation entirely, their condition no longer compatible with the expectation of passing unnoticed.
Some responders never receive a call. Others are reassigned frequently. North Coil tends to receive new assignments first. It’s where responders learn the procedures, the cadence of the radios, the feel of the city when it resists correction but hasn’t yet become dangerous. Occasionally, someone doesn’t return. In those cases, schedules update. Call signs are retired. The organization revises its procedures and the absence is recorded as an acceptable loss.
Attibutes & Skills
All Attributes start at a minimum of 1 and max out at 5
you have 4 points to increase your attributes
PSYCHE
The thoughts in your head.
- Internal
- Cohesion (Will) - Resisting dissolution and acting “normally” under pressure
- Notice Absence (Perception) - detect what should be there
- Memory Management (Lore) - retain or alter personal recollection
ASSERTION
Your capacity to impose meaning.
- External
- Misdirection (Deception) - redirect attention, blame, or consequences
- Authority (Intimidation) - acting legitimate enough to be obeyed
- De-escalation (Persuasion) - prevent situations from escalating even unnaturally
FRAME
Your physical make up.
- Internal
- Inertia (Endurance) - continue despite contradiction
- Traversal (Athletics) - moving through unstable spaces
- Coordination (Sleight of Hand) - timing and alignment
PERMEABILITY
How much the world passes through you and letting impossible things happen to you.
- External
- Electrochemistry (Medicine)
- Conceptualization (Logic) - used to Predicting how Entropy will spread or abstract reasoning or associations
- Delve (Insight) - gaze into character of people or locations, Sensing anomalies or interacting with the unknow
High Permeability makes you powerful but and porous.
SCARs
| Name | Effects |
|---|---|
| Void Master | Choose to add 1 Void to your Attack roll and if you succeed increase damage by 2 |
| Enforcer | Clean Success for Inertia or Authority remove 1 additional strain |
| Criminal | Clean Success for Misdirection or Traversal remove 1 additional strain |
| Academic | Clean Success for Conceptualization or Memory Management remove 1 additional strain |
| Doctor | Clean Success for Electrochemistry or De-escalation remove 1 additional strain |
| Agent | Clean Success for Delve or Notice Absence remove 1 additional strain |
| Courier | Clean Success for Traversal or Coordination remove 1 additional strain |
| Revisionist | As an Action, Rewrite a specific detail in your recent past that impacts your current situation, that is reasonably accomplishable. You gain 2 ENTROPY |
| Hollow | When the you would be affected by a physical object, barrier, or force, they may choose to let it pass through you instead. You gain 1 ENTROPY |
| Sink | You may transfer Wounds, Strain, or Entropy to yourself from any Anthropoid target |
| Channel | As an Action gain 2 Entropy, You may cause harm = 2*Permeability + your Entropy amount to any target |
| Forge | As an Action, make a Conceptualization roll with the result you may create a Common Item or material that could plausibly exist. The object is mundane and cannot be alive. You gain 2 ENTROPY |
| Morph | As an Action, You may briefly alter your physical form into another you know of. You gain 3 ENTROPY |
| Tether | You may designate two objects or entities within line of sight and declare them tethered. Any effect that meaningfully alters one will partially or fully affect the other in the same way. You gain 2 ENTROPY |
| Art Degree | Clean Success for Conceptualization remove 1 wound |
| Money Memory | Clean Success for Memory Management give you 2 money |
Mechanics
Player Stats
- Max Strain = 5 + PSYCHE
- When the players Strain reachs Max any addtional Strain gained is converted into Entropy
- Strain is removed with Clean Success or the use of iteams and abilities
- Max Wounds = 5 + FRAME
- When the players Wounds reachs Max any addtional Wounds gained is converted into Entropy
- Wounds are removed with the use of iteams and abilities
- Max Entropy = 10 - PERMEABILITY
- When the players Entropy reachs Max, they are permanently dissolved from reality
- Warning: Screams of those who dissolved often echo during the course of their final death, this is normal, thier shade is not recoverable and is not to be attempted
RUPTUREs
| Roll | Effects |
|---|---|
| 1 | One nearby object is slightly out of phase. It can’t be interacted with, or used normally until someone stops focusing on it for a moment |
| 2 | For the next few minutes, actions in a small area feel delayed, like moving through resistance. Movement and fine coordination suffer |
| 3 | Something appears intact but isn’t: a railing pulls free or a floor panel gives way |
| 4 | The last harmful significant movement in the area repeats itself |
| 5 | Senses misfire locally. Sounds fail. Lights go out. Information can not be transferred |
| 6 | Distances skew slightly. A short fall becomes painful. A short throw misses badly. A corridor feels longer than it is |
| 7 | An object resists its intended use. A gun jams without damage. A key won’t turn. Electronics power on but refuse input |
| 8 | The next roll made fails |
| 9 | the next use of an ability fails |
| 10 | Nothing visible happens. Later, someone realizes something small is missing, altered, or subtly wrong. |
Dice & Actions
When you take an action. You roll a pool of ten-sided dice (d10s) to see how well you do.
- Your dice pool for a given action is = Skill or Attibute value.
- Each Dice in the pool is rolled one at a time an till the player has rolled all the dice or reach a conclusion to settle on
Rolls
- Success 7-10
- Strain 2-6
- Voids 1
Outcomes
- Subtract your Success by the number of Voids till no Voids remain.
- If remaining Success are >= Strain you get a Clean Success and lose Strain = to the difference
- If remaining Strain is > Success you get a Strained Success and take Strain = to the difference
- If Voids remain or if there is no dice the action fails and you gain ENTROPY = the remaining Voids
- If two or more Voids remain a RUPTURE is triggered
Actions
You get 3 Actions you can perform each turn, that may be used in any order or combination
- Move
- Attack
- Use Abilities
Items
| Rarity | Roll | Name | Damage | Effects | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Coordination | Service Pistol | 2 | None | Polymer-frame sidearm, serial numbers intact |
| C | Inertia | Crowbar | 2 | +1 Inertia rolls | Can be used as a tool and a weapon. |
| R | Coordination | Probability Scattergun | 1d10 | None | Weapon |
| U | Delve | Delve Spike | 1 | The users PERMEABILITY is added to the damage | A crystalline rod, holding the weapon gives you a static like tingle |
| R | Inertia | Mandate Baton | 2 | If an Authority check succeeds this turn, increase damage by 2 | An extendable baton etched with something unintelligible |
| R | Inertia | Inertia Hammer | 4 | None | Absurdly heavy |
| X | Coordination | Entropy Lance | 10 | None | (RESTRICTED) A Rifle that fires consentrated entropy |
| Rarity | Name | Effects | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| R | Entropy Damping suit | Convert 1 ENTROPY you would take from the uses of an ability to Wounds instead; -1 Delve rolls | Armor |
| C | Civilian Attire | +1 De-escalation & -1 Authority rolls | Armor |
| C | Baseline Tactical Vest | Convets 1 Wound you would take to Strain instead; -1 Coordination rolls | Armor |
| U | Riot Armor | Convets 2 Wound you would take to Strain instead; -1 De-escalation & Coordination rolls | Armor |
| R | Exo-Carapace | Convets 3 Wound you would take to Strain instead; -2 De-escalation & Coordination, +1 Inertia rolls | Armor |
| Name | Effects | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Causal Bookmark | +1 Memory Management rolls | Trinket |
| Absence Detector | +1 Notice Absence rolls | Trinket |
| Loaded Dice | +1 to Damage to Random rolls | Trinket |
| Observer’s Lenses | +1 Delve rolls | Trinket |
| Rarity | Name | Effects | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| U | Concentrated blood | Increse your attack damage by 2 | A vary dark red liquid contained with in an Auto-injector. The label displays its chemical symbol and a warning that it is only to be used by Anthropoid Variant Es and above. |
| R | (AEA) Artificial Entropy Anchor | Remove 3 Entropy | A hand assembled device of wood, feathers, and tightly wound string, improbably threaded with 200 Micro Entropy Converters, each as small as a grain of sand. The label; red and in bold states not to remove the feather during or before use. |
| C | Stimulant Inhaler | Remove 4 Strain | Consumable |
| C | Wound Sealing Foam | Remove 2 Wounds | Consumable |
| U | Grounding Patch | add 1 success to your next Cohesion roll | Consumable |
| U | Memory Dew | add 1 success to your next Memory Management roll | Smells faintly of metal and honey |
| R | Echo Stone Lens | Reroll an event or action | A monocle that refracts events that almost happened. |
| R | Mandate card | Automatic Authority success against baseline humans | A 2x4 document with no legalble script that compels obedience when presented confidently. |
| X | Micro-Rupture Charge | Force a RUPTURE | A sealed electroic device that fractures causality on demand. |
| R | Baseline Extract | Temporarily suppress PERMEABILITY to zero; cannot interact with anomalies while in effect. | (RESTRICTED) Distilled from a baseline human nervous system. |
Lore (Spoilers & DM Information)
- Basic
- No two AEAs are identical, and attempts to standardize their construction have failed
- Basic
- Anthropoid Variants resemble regular humans but have non-human characteristics and often display some level of Permeability
- Knowledgeable
- Anthropoid Variants A to E are used to indicate the degree to which an individual diverges from baseline human norms. The classification is used for medical clearance, equipment authorization, employment eligibility, and legal responsibility.
- Basic
- Anthropoid Variants X and O
- Basic
- A Baseline Human was killed to create this
Other countries send students, planners, and tradespeople to study its civil engineering, municipal law, and infrastructure maintenance. Caldréne’s major exports are industrial components, rail technology, and processed stones. Its cultural exports are considered: technical manuals, training programs, and professional certifications.
- Founders’ Rest
- An annual public holiday marking the formal establishment of the modern republic
- Concordant Church
- Many citizens identify as Concordant without practicing. The Church has no official stance on modern emergency doctrines but provides chaplains to most civic organizations
- Kaltwasser
- A lightly carbonated, bitter mineral drink imported from the eastern border regions. Served cold, often with meals, and commonly available from vending machines
- Basic
- Veyron was a civic philosopher best known for her work on urban habitability and human-scale design. Writing during a period of rapid urban expansion, she focused on how people adapt to dense cities, how daily routines stabilize communities, and how public spaces quietly shape behavior over time.
- Knowledgeable
- Veyron lived from CS 42 to CS 109 and never held public office, yet her essays and consultations influenced housing standards, transit planning, and zoning practices across Caldréne. Her work remains widely taught in architecture and planning programs.
- Blackreach Ward
- Blackreach borders North Coil to the east, separated by an elevated rail line that no longer carries passengers. On paper, it’s an industrial redevelopment zone. In practice, it’s where containment failures tend to finish happening. Infrastructure here is old, layered, and only partially mapped. Power outages are common enough to be scheduled. Response times are shorter than average, not because incidents are frequent, but because escalation is fast.
- Assignments to Blackreach are rarely permanent. Most responders pass through on rotation. The district produces an unusual number of reassignment notices and an unusually low number of formal explanations. North Coil absorbs the administrative overflow when things in Blackreach don’t resolve cleanly. You hear that the boundary was moved twice in the last revision. The rail line stayed where it was.
- Aurelion Heights
- To the south lies Aurelion Heights, technically its own district, though it resists being treated as one. The original boundary predates the First Emergency Doctrine and has remained almost unchanged since. Property values are cited as a reason. Historical preservation is cited more often. Incident reports from Aurelion are rare, brief, and heavily redacted.
- Responders are not stationed in Aurelion Heights. They are requested. Access is granted per incident, per street. When you are sent there, you are reminded—politely—that discretion is part of the response. The area is well-lit, well-patrolled, and insulated in ways that don’t appear on infrastructure maps. Whatever failures occur there are resolved quietly or exported elsewhere before they can be classified.
- Basic
- TEARs are when the interior properties of a space no longer match its exterior limits and KEYSTONE is the object, person, or condition that stabilizes a TEAR and prevents natural collapse.