Aberration System

## Introduction

Meddling with the laws of life and death will not go unnoticed if done to excessive. Should Akasha and its servants learn of the nature and location of a necromancer it will send its forces for erase the error in its system. Certain actions and necromantic failures will amass Aberation Points that can lead to dangerous consequences for the player.

## System

### Gaining Aberration

Whenever a character fails an Evocation Roll they will increase their Aberration Rating (AR) by 1. Using or abusing certain necromantic powers may have a similar effect (stated in their respective rules). In addition certain actions like openly displaying ones supernatural nature will alert Akashas servants and may yield terrible consequences. For this reason most undead carefully construct a system of secrecy to mask their true nature. Should it be violated the Storyteller may increase the respective players Aberration rating.

A common example would be someone witnessing the Afflicted feed which will increase their Aberration Rating by 1 should they not convince their target they saw nothing (killing them is not recommended as it will may send their souls directly into the hands of an Sura). Strigoi feeding without making their target forget they where bitten using **The Kiss** or failing to cover the bite marks will also increase their Aberration Rating.

### Effects

At any point in the game the Storyteller may choose to decrease the Aberration rating of a character, which in return will result in one of the following effects; each of them last for a full session and may be announced at its start:

* **2 points-** *Grasp of Death-* Decrease a chosen Stat by 1.
* **2-5 points-** *Touch of the Ancients-* The character will gain a temporary Corruption feature.
* **5 points-** *Skuld Unfufilled-* A spirit the players killed or had contact with will return to the material world.
* **5-15 points-** *Necromantic Surge-* Enemy servants of Liches or Ahriman will increase the strength of their spells (e.g. supernatural plagues may infect more people; wraiths can be summoned more easily.)
* **10 points-** *Spectral Hunt-* A Souleater will persue them whenever the character enters Umbra.

Alternativly they may decrease the rating to activate a spontaneous effect:

* **1-5 points**- *Claws of the Deep*- The character will suffer 1-5 points of *Mental Damage*.
* **2-6 points-** A ritual or power will not work as intended (often resulting in ironic twists).
* **2-5 points-** *Touch of the Ancients-* The character will gain a temporary Corruption feature.
* **3-10 points-** *Akashas Mark-* The character will gain a permanent Corruption feature.
* **5 points-** A non-Afflicted creature, spirit or mortal will turn hostile against the character, overtaken by Akasha.
* **5 points-** A portal will alter its directions as soon as they enter it, sending them to a different layer as intended.
* **5 points-** They will directly be send to their equivalent in the first layer of Umbra.
* **15 points-** When summoning any spirit using a Distortion ritual, it will be replaced by a Souleater.

Note that multiple effects can be activated during a session.