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| Art by Lumi |
Here are 12 Strange Attractors that will appear in an expanded form in the final version of Chromatic Shadows. Attractors are uncanny events that have occurred in a character's history, and have radically awakened them to the reality of the Occult World. Strange Attractors alienate the characters from the conventions of "normal" society. Down in the underground, Attractors become the bonds that draws these characters together as a team, and the obsession that drive them to pursue occult mysteries. In the finished game, each Attractor will be paired with several "glitches", which are subtle uncanny abilities that can be purchased with Occult Milestones (among other things). Occult Milestones are a special kind of XP that is awarded for uncovering mysteries, and overcoming occult threats. Stay tuned for more details!
STRANGE ATTRACTORS
Dimensional Slip
You were sucked through a portal into the nightmarish Outside Realms. When you came back, a part of the Outside stayed inside of you. You were in for only a short while, but to you, it seemed like you wandered those bleak, twilight realms for days, weeks. The experience haunts your waking dreams, but a part of you wants to go back.
Close Encounter with an Eldritch Horror
You had a close experience with an alien horror. Maybe you were attacked, or mentally dominated by the creature. You may have been nearly killed and drawn back from the brink. You survived with an uncanny sympathy with these horrors, a lingering dread and an obsession to to confront them again.
Captured by the Void Cult
You were the victim of the dreaded Void Cult, and suffered cruelly within their sanctums. Before you were given up as a sacrifice to their gibbering god you somehow escaped with your life. Your memories are spotty, but eldritch dreams and visions continue to haunt you, often when you're wide awake.
Moon Presence
On the night of a full moon you experienced a shocking vision. The moon appeared to you as something entirely Other. A great bleeding eye, with horrifying winged shapes playing before it in the night, or a great occult sign in the sky. Its glare it fills you with dread and you can no longer abide its presence. You are convinced that it is somehow cursed. Its presence calls to the darkest aspect of yourself promising Outside wisdom in exchange for your sanity. You find it harder and harder to resist the call.
Shadow War Experiment
During the Shadow War you were coerced into being part of a black-site research project. You were subjected to terrible experiments in service to some dark hyper-technology. People you knew were harmed or lost their mind, but you narrowly escaped due to The Collapse. You’ve tried to put it behind you, but uncanny effects and weird powers have begun to manifest that are impossible to ignore.
Attacked by Occult Asset
Whether it was intentional or not you were the target of an attack by an Occult Asset. Maybe you were the victim of a cult, or were caught in the crossfire between rival factions. You may have been mentally coerced or physically harmed, but you’ve moved past the fear. Now you’re angry. You’ve got a burning desire to rid the Sprawl of Occult Assets wherever they may be found. Nothing will stand in your way.
Ensnared by a Rampant AI
You met an entity out in the deep parts of the Grid that spoke with the voice of a god. You couldn’t help but cower before it. It leveraged you to do something terrible, and rewarded you in ways that you still won’t admit to. It released you from its service, but you know it's still out there watching, and waiting to make another devil’s bargain.
Visions in the Grid
You experienced an episode in the Grid and nearly flatlined. It was hours until your friends were able to pull you out, and get you help. During that time you had a profound vision that changed your life. A glimpse of something more real than real: a beatific vision written in virtual code, calling you home. Memories of this experience echo back to you from the digital aether. When you jack in and take the time to look, you can still find traces of the golden path.
Identity Theft
You were accosted by a strange being. It had the shape of a man, but its face and its body were a blur. Although it didn’t harm you, you felt as if something undefinable had been taken from you. Ever since your identity has been unstable. It started with the glitches in your digital records, and the weird static and blurs in the photos and videos of you. Lately people have been forgetting your name and who you are. You feel your identity sipping away like a snake’s skin. There is a sense of an imminent transformation and a growing exhilaration as to what this might mean.
Neurodrift Accident
You were a participant in a “neurodrift” experiment that went tragically wrong. Your brain was in a profound neuro-network with six other minds when a freak electrical surge flatlined the other participants. You were the only survivor. Years later, those other minds are still with you. Their voices and personalities echo inside your head, whispering knowledge and memories you wouldn’t have otherwise known.
Escaped from the Labs
The scientists that smuggled you out of the lab wouldn’t tell you anything, she just handed you a memory chip before you slipped away down the service tunnels. The files told it all. You were one of many, grown in a vat--the genetic duplicate of some billionaire who was prepared to harvest your organs. But something strange happened in the vats, you turned out different. You developed abilities that far exceeded what was expected. You’re ready to use these abilities to find others like yourself and set them free.
Device Savant
A drone deck malfunctioned, and you found yourself trapped inside a device for hours unable to escape. As your frozen digital awareness gazed out of its sensors, a machine-like presence entered into you. Now you possess an uncanny sympathy for electronics. Devices and drones bend to your will.
