Ages ago, DaVinci said the eyes were the windows of the human body, where the soul itself is made manifest. Sometimes I am afraid of walking the streets and find so many empty eyes. I know that Nature abhors a vacuum...and I also know those empty bodies walking down the streets sometimes become filled with inhuman things…
—Diary of Anaximander Theophilos

Journal of Cassandra Kastrouni

August 26, 2908

Anaximander told me it all started sometime after the first quarter of the twenty-first century AD, during a period he calls The Displacement…

When I was younger, I thought all the evils I saw around me were consequences of the ancient Red War. I checked history records to know a little bit more about that cataclysm—after all it happened centuries ago, on the first half of the third millenium AD, which is now almost in its last hundred years.

The Red War (which the Usarican militia of that age dubbed Red Storm) involved the Iranian Empire, The People of Catay, and New Europa (led by the Übermensch) against Great Breton Kingdom, Rus, Old Europa, a fragmented Usarica (called United States then, I think), and the rest of the world I guess. It was a mess. The Neo-Nazi movements in the States coalesced into what it is even now called The Übermensch (they took the same name of their New Europa's leaders), and they tried to undermine the efforts of those who wanted to help stop this chaos from wiping the world they knew. It almost happens, you know: the combination of nuclear and biological weapons pushed civilization to the brink of oblivion. We survived it.

But, when I talked about it with Anaximander the other night, he said enigmatically "No, we didn’t." Now what the hell is that supposed to mean? Damn him, I wish he would tell me more instead of the morsels he throws at me every now and then, out of remorse I think.

October 31, 2908

Happy Hell-o-we’en. This was probably the hardest night of the whole year as a Lynx operative. I am not yet officially of the Gold section, but they have already given me Gold Access. I still feel they are testing me, studying me, that they are leaving me in the dark about something. Maybe they want to know if they can trust me, if I really follow Lucius Brown's Law and don't intrude in other people's minds without their consent (which is harder than it sounds, even with all my years of training). I’m used to that, being an ESPer and all...

About what Lego-man Anaximander said last time (maybe I shouldn’t be so mean to him, but I am certain he is responsible for these tough assignments), I did some digging and came up with some weird stuff. Insane, but that "cat" within me—my personification of the source of my Talent—drove its claws deep within me, so viciously that I stood breathless for a bit. Something about what I found out made "it" react that way. I had never felt any false alarm coming from Grace (um, that’s the pet name for my imaginary "cat"), so the reaction confused me.

I searched EmpCorp’s Gold Access database, and found that some religious scholars, mystics, and UFO zealots say the world spanning Red War was not only physical, but metaphysical as well. They say that most, if not all, of humanity’s best was taken away either in a divine Rapture or by aliens— depending on who you listen to. The remaining humans are those whose soul is black, those who still have a chance for redemption, and those few of the Pure that remained to guide those in need. To the mystics, ET worshippers, and Theocrats, the time allotted to the world had ended on April 30 of 2015. The Red War only heralded the last centuries of a war that has gone unabated since the beginning of time. The last day will be April 30, 3015, and then…

No, this is crazy... I've never even heard about this...this nonesense...

Obviously this is not known, let alone believed, by the majority of people. Heck, even I didn’t know about this sadistic mojo until I came across those obscure files within EmpCor’s Gold Access database. Officially, there are five levels of security, the first four named numerically and the fifth called Gold. Extra-officially it is rumored that there are two other levels. Supposedly, Silver (or Argent) Access is next, while a seventh level, White (or Albae) Access, is for the highest of the high in EmpCor, like that mysterious hunk Umbriel. I cannot understand why an archive with such high level of clearance like Gold has articles from sensationalistic media like the Global Enquirer or The World Now!.

EmpCor is beginning to make me nervous. At first I thought it was just security, ESPer, and tech services among other things, but this…Are they some kind of "Illuminati" group?

I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep tonight. The terrorist/cultist we tackled tonight said “We know who you are. We’ll come for you. The Family will come for you.” I was about to ask what the hell was he talking about, when it struck me...and I believe my heart skipped more than one beat. No one else in my unit showed signs of having heard him, then I noticed that the sociopath had not moved his lips to speak.

The "you" he meant was me. It was a telepathic message, intended for me alone.

I still can see fragments of the horrible things he transmitted to me when he set himself on fire: his hate for life, his cold and contemptuous nihilism…

Where are the sleeping pills?

December 27, 2908

There was an eminent Technocrat, Dr. Asen Caliban, in WNN 6 very late at night talking about cults and religions. The program was one of those rare digital recordings from almost four hundred years ago, part of some kind of "Historical TV" marathon I think... I believe they were a mixture of recordings from museums, private collections, and a recent archeological dig. It was fortunate it had sub-titles since I had a hard time following the English of that time. Sure, I could have switched to the dubbed track, but I felt the language allowed me to taste the spirit of that time.

What caught my attention was a comment on "Apocalyptic Cults." The Technocrat commented that:

“This mystical nonsense is simply the product of those who wish to displace our attention from the real catalysts of the Red War and our current moral crisis. The Red War is old news, and simply an event whose catalyst were the powers of history, no more no less. This trend to demonize and mystify history is unhealthy, immature, and dangerous. It distracts us from our goal of rebuilding our Nations to an even greater glory, where Man and Woman are the masters of the world and never again the servants of superstition, laziness and ignorance.”

Since, miraculously, Humanity was not obliterated by the War, the surviving nations began following the path shown by rational, reasonable people such as Dr. Caliban. Soon after the second third of the 21st century Mega Cities, Corporate Empires, and planetary colonies began to sprout, partly thanks to the members of the Technocracy, whose philosophy to push the envelope of survival and civilization to its utmost bore fruit— regardless of the consequences it seems, from what I gather from the slums surrounding their mercantile empires, and the nameless graves filled with those who provided cheap labor. Anything that could be considered "Middle Class" is practically non-existent.

Heh, an Apple of Sodom, like my mom used to say, lush outside, dust inside.

Did she... really say that? Mom...damn! I don't even remember her face, and yet...and yet I'm having flashes every now and then snippets of conversations on a poorly lit living room, or the way her hair smelled, or...

I…dreamt of mom again last night. The details of her face always dissipate once I'm awake...but I know it was her! Ever since that madman touched my mind, some of the mental blocks from my youth are starting to give way while I sleep. Anaximander told me this amnesia I have, which spans from my birth until my 17^th year, was the result of severe trauma to the head and a chronic, unrelenting fever, product of my filthy living conditions on that obscure town on the island of Lésvos on the Aegean sea. He said I was an orphan.

I think he lied.

Island of Lésvos, January 1, 2909, 2:30 A.M.

Umbriel Delacroix himself told me everything in New Year’s Eve. Everything. He took me in his flier to cities whose buildings had their obscenities shrouded with black clouds. He took me to Bronze Age and medieval-like populations thet struggled to make a living, who view Mega-City dwellers with awe sometimes, fear at others, but more often undisguised hate. He took me to cities, which are no different from those of the late 20th century.

Then he took me to Hell. And Hell was everywhere

Grace’s thrashings within me only confirmed the truth of it. The tomb he pointed out as that of my father was filled with the remains of what appeared to be a great cat-like beast.

I threw up, I cried the whole night, I prayed (Oh, where are You?!) an Orthodox Catholic prayer from childhood I suddenly remembered with crystal clarity. Yes. I was raised by an Athenian woman who was not my…mother…who took me away from the diseased darkness. They killed her. They killed her and left me for dead.

I think, if I had been alone with those terrible thoughts, that hideous truth, I would have killed myself, or become insane, or sent everything to—hah—hell. But Umbriel…has a way with words. He convinced me that we can do something about it, that we are the very few who can really see behind the Veil of Flesh. We must make others see as well, others that still have a chance to pull through, though it will not be easy. Convincing one jaded human being is harder than fighting the hordes of hell, and this is the greatest advantage the Darkness has over us.

We are about to enter an underground system of caverns to find my mother (no, not my mother, she only birthed me; Thea Kastrouni was my real mother...she had the most beautiful, most sorrowful eyes...my poor Thea) and…something else.

I am as ready as I will ever be, and I am Awake at last. They have to be stopped. They must be stopped. For Thea.

Into the Maw of Darkness

Already our bodies are fallen, bruised, badly bruised,
Already our souls are oozing through the exit
of the cruel bruise.
— D.H. Lawrence, "The Ship of Death," lines 32-34

In spite of the pervading rationalistic attitude of the period, which some academics are beginning to call the New Age of Enlightenment, there are a few who believe—both in Mega-Cities and primitive villas—in the reality of the so-called Displacement (a secret, metaphysical event of global proportions which took place sometime during the Red War). Humankind was like a broken jigsaw puzzle in which the parts did not fit, or one which had many critical pieces missing. It was, they say, the beginning of something larger, something that will put to the test the remains of the fragmented soul of Humanity—that is, if there are any souls left. The Finest, the army of Technocrat Willingham Gates, for instance, is rumored to be composed of people without souls. Some say that Illis Zinn of ZinnTech is a demon in disguise, using slaves to mine the asteroid field for strange ores used in some vile plot. The same tongues whisper that the Breton Prime Minister Remington Bane worships something that will swallow the remnants of Humanity, and that well before the ending of the millenium, there may be no one left to speak of.

Some say it has happened before, that Humanity has been pushed back to the darkness but managed to crawl out of it, eventually forgetting how they fell into the dark in the first place. That same people add that this time the darkness will prevail, that there will not be a rebirth.

The Unknown will make sure of it.

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EmpCor

SAVE barely managed to survive the Red War. It continues to be an underground organization, however, it has become secretly affiliated with two other groups: the Solomon Knights and the Order of the Taro. There was one very important reason for this decision: they needed economic solvency. Only then SAVE managed to expand its activities into other areas, such as offworld missions and megacorp monitoring.

SAVE is now divided into several Houses, each one led by an Archon, and each Archon answering to the secret leader of SAVE only known as Primus. The Primus is said to reside on Mansión de Plata (Argent Manor), SAVE’s central HQ in Old Europa (near St. Feliu de Guíxols, Spain). (Ed's Note: this is similar to the Legacy structure in the series Poltergeist: The Legacy.)

The new head, or Archon, of the U.S. East Coast HQ is Umbriel Delacroix. A mystery man even to those at SAVE’s Argent Manor (though not as much as the Primus), he was presumed dead for some years, his position being filled temporarily by veteran SAVE agent Anaximander Theophilos, who is currently the Archon of U.S. West Coast SAVE. In the year 2888, Umbriel and a group of 6 investigators flew to a newly risen island in the south pacific searching for clues on one Teschel Saboth, who some believe to be a deceiver—maybe the Deceiver, or just another agent of RAX. No one returned from that mission, and what transpired there remained a mystery until the sudden reappearance of Delacroix. The file detailing the events is highly classified—White Access—and only the Archons of each one of SAVE’s HQ throughout the world have seen it.

Delacroix is also a living example of the new corporate angle within SAVE, for he is one of the top seven executives of the Empyrean Corporation, or EmpCor: a respectable-sized megacorp with subsidiaries involved in such diverse areas as technology, medicine, security, and interstellar mining. It is also a front to conceal SAVE activities in the world. It is the first time in history that SAVE has enjoyed such level of material prosperity.

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This is one of the two new files in SAVE’s database. The Delphic files were opened to cover the phenomena of Extra Sensory Perception. It is divided into several sub-files of ESPers, of which only the most relevant will be covered here: the Pythonesses, the REMjocks, the Veerjocks, and the dreaded Dementalists. Notice that these abilities are considered paranormal, not supernatural, so the general populace know about the existence of ESPers. Nevertheless, the attitude non-ESPers have towards ESPers is not cordial, and it often tends towards open discrimination.

• Pythonesses: This highly regarded EmpCor unit assist police departments and security agencies. Pythonesses are a group of very sensitive, talented women with a knack for getting psychic impressions out of crime scenes and objects, for therapeutic treatment of victims, and for keen detective work. Some among them also are capable of other psionic feats, such as telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and telepathy. It is divided into three sections, the third one made up of agents usually working undercover for SAVE.

• REMjocks: These people specialize in sending their psyches into the Dreamworld and the Limen (also known as the Wyrd).

• Veerjocks: these are ESPers with cybernetic interfaces that allow them to travel into the virtual reality, VR, or "Veer" of computer nets around the world. Veerjocks are normal people in the real world, but the interface triggers their latent, or vestigial, ESP, allowing them a more intuitive manipulation of the Veernet.

• Dementalists: This section covers criminal ESPers as well as those connected with the Unknown in one way or another. The Psirapists, sometimes called "Mind Vampires," are among the most feared of the Dementalists for, as their name implies, they invade other people’s minds to tear out forcefully anything they want from it, be it information or fear, bringing madness to the victim. Even though there are Psirapist samples of both sexes, there is a slight tendency of more women than men. Like non-ESP rapists, male psirapers prefer a more physical approach to their terrorism, combining both bodily and mental assault. Women prefer the more intimate, subtle nature of the crime, and often goes unnoticed. Surviving victims of a male Psirapist are often capable of recovery, but those attacked by a female psirapist are so far gone that they are often declared mentally dead. It is in part because of these criminally insane ESPers that people have a negative attitude against ESPers in general.

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Lynx-Ops is the security branch of EmpCor. Just as any of the private security agencies of the time, or Secs, they are hired by individuals or corporations requiring services ranging from common guards to full criminal investigations, including computer crimes. They also provide security services to EmpCor itself.

The Lynxes are divided into 3 units: Bronze, Steel, and Gold. The Gold Lynxes are a select number of individuals usually assigned missions that are too sensitive for the first two groups, such as internal affairs. They are also the only Lynx group composed fully of SAVE agents who are Awake (i.e. aware of the threat of the Unknown).

Bronze and Steel Lynxes are composed of Sleepers. However, if any of them becomes Awake through some personal experience of the Unknown and/or has skills valuable for SAVE they are sometimes promoted to the Gold Lynxes.

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Planet is the Greek word for "wanderer", and Wanderer is the code name chosen for files dealing with a wide variety of intra and extrasolar activities ranging from planetary archeology to menaces of the Unknown.

In Chiliad most non-human intra and extra-solar beings are really either agents or creatures of the Unknown. Apart from these aliens (probably bred/engineered by entities from the Unknown for hundreds of years), Humanity is quite alone in the Universe (contrary to what many theorists claimed), so PCs won’t find alien-filled cantinas anywhwere. It is rumored that several of these entities were responsible for the alien cults that began during the final decades of the 20th century. There are Theocrats who believe that some of these "aliens" are really "fallen angels" whose mission was to generate confusion on the spiritually poor, leading the victims astray.

Basically, it is the nigh non-existence of life in the universe and its abundance on Earth which attracts the attention of the Unknown, like a candle light attracting the attention of a monstrous black moth—one pretty capable of smothering that light for good.

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The Unknown

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill's side.
—“La Belle Dame sans Merci,” by John Keats

The future Earth of Chiliad is in many ways similar to the Feral World described in The Beast Within. Most people—the Sleepers—are unaware of the creeping Unknown. Events caused by creatures of the Unknown are socially invisible to the Sleepers: they either rationalize it to the death, forget that it ever happened, or become terminally insane. Some of the few who are Awake have become enough organized to fight back. Characters are defined as Pure, Grey, or Dark depending on the influence of the Dark Path as detailed on The Beast Within. In the world of the Chiliad, however, only characters with WPR of 60 or more can choose to be Pure.

The menacing, archetypal shadow of RAX is still there, as powerful as ever, but the Displacement opened the door to other contenders for Humanity’s soul.

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Journal of Tallas Dorn, Solomon Knight

Sunday, August 15, 2900

These are all names we have probably invented, or names—or the echo of names—that have been found in ancient texts. At least that is what I believe. Naming things is one way we humans try make a thing known, to render it harmless, controllable. But that is not the case with these creatures. Who knows what may be the real names of these abominations, if they have any? I fear that if we were to learn their true names our minds would cave-in from the stress... Besides foul RAX, there is Teschel Saboth, Teschel of the Black Armies, which some say walked through the pestilent fields of the Red War. Some refer to him as the Conqueror Worm, with countless souls of the Known, the Limen, and the Unknown under his bloody fist. There is Li the Blind, Li of the Machines, Li the Ever-

There are also the sadistic demons of The Gash, who seem only interested in harvesting pain and screams from all sentients. But they harvest those screams out of their victims’ (or "clients" as they call them) own free will. Or so they say. An insane Theocrat told me once that The Gash were secretly looking for the right combination of hell-born screams to shatter the "Music of the Spheres." I am not entirely certain what he meant by that, I only know the Theocrat started to giggle uncontrollably after saying that and his eyes cried tears of blood. I... took him down before he tore my throat with his carious teeth.

Some posit all these beings are just multiple manifestations of RAX in the world. However, one Solomon Knight agent, now deceased, wrote that she heard the being she called Teschel Saboth loudly cursing The Grim for ruining his (its?) most recent plot. If they are not manifestations of RAX, then their apparent rivalry may give Humanity the time it needs to prepare itself.

Or so the Master of the Temple says. I’m afraid I am not so optimistic.

New Templates

These templates use the Broad Skill system of the Chill Companion. Broad skills are indicated by all-caps words.

Astronaut

There are two flavors for this template. If there are two letters present, the first one is for the Pilot specialization, the one in parenthesis is for the Scientist specialization.

The time commitment for this class is variable. As long as they are planet-bound (that is, both in the planet or in orbital stations), the time commitment is as it appears. If at any time they become involved in an intra or extra-solar venture, it jumps to Heavy. Star Wolves (the astronaut version of a "Sea Wolf") are T or M level astronauts whose specs exceeds the basic template. They are rare and an extremely valuable commodity for companies and government agencies.

There is a new Skill: Stellar Cartography [2, 4, 8]. Its pre-requisites are Astronomy and Cartography/ Geography, or SCIENCE and Cartography/ Geography. The skill not only allows the character to navigate safely in space but also gives him knowledge of planetary science.

Biomechanic

Biomechanics specialize in creating cybernetic implants, the interfaces between the implants and living tissue (bionic couplers), and the diverse chemicals needed to make the process work (so that the body does not reject the implants). The word “cyborg” is used generically to refer to any person or animal that has some kind of non-organic mechanical implant. These implants can be as subtle as a veer interface and as overt as mechanichal prosthesis used to replace lost limbs or damaged organs. Bionic legs and arms are as a rule no stronger than real limbs, though they can withstand more physical damage than real limbs before becoming useless.

Bionic limbs can be made stronger and more agile than real limbs, but there are limits to this. Even if a bionic arm could theoretically lift 200 pounds, the arm is still attached via a coupler to a real shoulder and torso, which would be incapable of handling that stress. The whole musculo-skeletal frame would have to be enhanced or totally replaced for that kind of performance. It is more common (and safer) to enhance organs such as eyes, inner ears, and hearts. Bionic eyes could be given night vision, for instance, and bionic hearts could be made to withstand stress that would break a real heart. Nevertheless, these advantages could become terrible weaknesses: a sudden burst of bright light while using night vision could fry the delicate circuitry of a bionic eye, and a strong electro-magnetic pulse (or Haywire field) could make a bionic heart to stop beating.

Please note that Biomechanics are doctors at heart, and all subscribe seriously to the Hippocratic oath. They would never sever ordinarily healthy limbs to replace them with bionic ones. Only an unscrupulous black market Biomechanic would agree to do such a thing.

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About Edges and Drawbacks

Chiliad uses the Optional Edge Cost on page 80 of the Chill Companion. In Addition characters with the Dependent, Psychological Flaw, or Gothic Romance drawback have its bonus points doubled. Notice that this point doubling applies only to any two of these drawbacks. PCs having the three of them at the same time must decide which two give double CIPs. These Drawbacks are more influential than normal, since Dependents and Gothic Romances are often what keeps the fabric of life of the PC together. Also, because of the ubiquity of the taint of the Unknown, Psychological Flaws are common and often exploited by evil creatures.

What follows is a list of new drawbacks, each with its CIP bonus listed in its description. Drawbacks that can be selected multiple times are marked with an asterisk.

Cursed

Characters with this drawback have become the recipient of a curse due to some past encounter with the Unknown, inherited from their ancestors, etc. Whatever the case, the player and CM must agree on a reason for the existing of the curse. Since curses come in many forms this will be only a guide on how to assign CIPs and the appropriate penalty. Use this only as a guide to gauge the power of the curse, and feel free to add any colorful details. Note: Luck rolls or Luck points cannot be used to modify any effect related to the Curse.

A 1 CIP Curse is more like an embarrassing secret than any real threat. Examples of this would be: strange appearance, an odd smell coming from the character, or some kind of non-lethal affliction or disease, such as allergies or intestinal problems. Note that, even if they are non-lethal, a sudden attack of rash while aiming a gun or doing some delicate job may ruin the roll (treat that as a -10 to the roll, in addition to any other modifier). All rolls related with PER are reduced by 10.

A 2 CIP Curse is similar to the 1 CIP Curse, but now all rolls related with PER are reduced by 20 and WPR is permanently reduced by 10 (lifting the curse would restore this lost WPR).

A 3 CIP Curse lists all of the above plus the character loses 10 additional points of PER (recovered if the curse is lifted) and gets 1d5 Con loss at the worse possible time. For example, if during combat the PC is reduced to 5 points of Con, roll 1d5 immediately and subtract the result from the PC's Con.

A 4 CIP Curse lists all of the above. The PCs WPR loses an additional 10 points permanently (reinstated with the lifting of the curse), and loses 1d10 Con at the worse possible time. Characters cannot use skills that require the PER attribute. If the characters must do a PER roll, they don’t, and it is assumed to be an automatic failure.

A 5 CIP Curse would be on the level of the Loresavant spell Ill Scar (refer to the "Mind and Magic" section for more about the Loresavant), which affects not only the accursed one but those trying to help him/her. This Curse makes the character practically a pariah and it is very hard to lift. The curse may keep the character miserably alive or kill him/her methodically by inflicting 1d5 Wounds and 2d10 STA loss daily. The only way for the character to survive would be to find a way to lift the Curse. Note that, once lifted, the character will get –5 CIPs. If the character dies from the Curse, devise some sort of appropriate ending related to the nature of the Curse; don't just say "Your character died."

The CIP cost of the curse affects the way in which the curse is lifted. A 1 or 2 CIP curse can be lifted by someone with a Student level Restore Stamina, which must be applied three days in a row with a roll of M or better. A 3 CIP curse requires someone with T level of Restore Stamina applied the same way. A 4 CIP curse requires someone with M level of Restore Stamina aplied the same way.

A 5 CIP curse is more complicated. One person must cast a Sphere of Protection around both the afflicted person and the one casting Restore Stamina at Master level. The Sphere must be maintained one round before and one round after the Restore Stamina is applied. The same process is done 3 days in a row. If any of the Restore Stamina or Sphere of Protection rolls fail, the process is broken and must begin again. For instance, if in the third day the rolls fails, it must be done again for three days in a row. The process can only be re-tried a maximum of three times. If it fails, the curse stays in place forever. Only two solutions are possible to lift the curse then: finding a Loresavant spell that does the job, or asking the person or creature who cursed the PC to lift the hex. Both are highly unlikely solutions, to say the least.

Chiliad uses the alternate rules for magic appearing in the Chill Companion, so the spells required to lift the curse using that system should be similar to the Disciplines of the Art listed above.

Sensitivity to Heat

Characters with this drawback only feel comfortable at 70 degrees Fahrenheit or less. If forced to be in a hotter environment unprotected for more than a number of minutes equal to half his CON attribute their PCN, STA, and WPR scores are halved. Once removed from the hazardous environment, the PCs' scores will be restored after 3d10 minutes. Cost: -2.

Sensitivity to Cold

Characters with this drawback only feel comfortable at 20 degrees Fahrenheit or more. If forced to be in a colder environment unprotected for more than a number of minutes equal to half his CON attribute their PCN, STA, and WPR scores are halved. Once removed from the hazardous environment, the PCs' scores will be restored after 3d10 minutes. Cost: -2.

Poor Health

This could be anything from allergies (which would cost 1 or 2) to severe problems such as a heart disease (which could cost a 5). A Poor Health of 1 or 2 consists mostly of annoyances that, once triggered, could affect the actions of the character (i.e., sneezing while shooting or trying to drive a stake). A Poor Health of 3, 4, or 5 is a serious condition that endangers the life of the character. For instance, characters with heart problems that fail a Fear check run the risk of having an instantly fatal heart attack. A 3 would require a roll of M or better to survive the attack. A 4 would require a H or better, and a 5 a C or better. If someone with First Aid is capable of assisting the fallen character within 10 rounds (only one First Aid roll is allowed) the character is revived and stabilized for at least 30 minutes, enough for an ambulance or someone with MEDICINE skill to arrive. Just because Chiliad takes place in the future that doesn’t mean that all diseases have been vanquished (new ones can always pop up), that treatments or cures are available to everyone, or that the PC can afford the treatment or cure. That happens only in Star Trek©.

Weak Will*

Characters with this drawback begin the game with 10 fewer WPR points than their WPR Attribute Scores would indicate. They may get additional CIPs by "purchasing" this drawback more than once (1 for each time the WPR score is lowered by 10 points), but their initial WPR cannot be less than 30. For example, a character with WPR of 61 could get –3 CIPs if he reduces it to 31 (buying Weak Will three times). It is assumed the character is recuperating from an extremely debilitating experience, so rebuilding this lost WPR takes just as long as regenerating from Wounds. However, to see if the character managed to rebuild his WPR, he must do a general WPR check using his/her current WPR. Failure indicates that that day no WPR lost to this drawback was rebuilt. In addition, while this affliction is present, the character regenerates only 1d5 WPR per hour of uninterrupted sleep. You will use the full WPR score to calculate those skills that require the attribute, however. Remember, characters that reach 20 points or WPR don’t have the strength to adventure anymore and those with 10 or less can follow only simple commands and run the risk of suffering from some form of insanity (see the final section of the "Mind and Magic" chapter, "Resolve, Faith, and Insanity," for more details). In addition, tainted characters may become subject to the powers of the Unknown if their WPR ever falls below their EWS. Use this drawback judiciously.

Weak Stamina*

Characters with this drawback begin the game with 10 fewer STA points than their STA Attribute Scores would indicate. They may get additional CIPs by getting this drawback more than once, but their initial STA cannot be less than 21. Therefore, a character with WPR of 61 could get –4 CIPs if he reduces it to 21.

It is assumed the character is recuperating from a debilitating condition, so rebuilding this lost STA takes just as long as regenerating from Wounds. However, to see if the character managed to rebuild his STA, he must do a general STA check using his/her current STA. Sucess means the PC regenerates 1d5 STA when he/she wakes up after 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Failure indicates that that day no STA lost to this drawback was rebuilt. In addition, while this affliction is in place, the rate of STA regeneration is cut in half. Note that the Wound Boxes are determined using the original STA and not the modified one.

[Ed's Note: The section that follows was a different chapter in my printed sourcebook. Since the chapter was so short I decided to append it after this one.]

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"Brave New World? That is only a veneer covering the dark face of terror lying beneath. Most live in blissful oblivion or in nihilistic nirvanas where they look down upon anyone else. Often, when I walk down a Mega-City mall, I find people with plastic smiles carved on plastic faces, and the terrible ubiquity of dead eyes. What better, easier meat could a Devourer want? I can glut myself anytime I please. However, it is the ones who are Awake who make for the most exquisite, and painfully sweet desert."

—Teschel Sabaoth

This section will deal briefly with the backdrop of the Chiliad campaign. There are even more details on Background Noise. It is not something cast in stone, but more like a general guide to the historical context and the places and societies the PCs may encounter.

Journal of Anaximander Theophilos

October 30, 2909

Men…women…they do not change, not where it matters anyway. I believe our fears and dreams are no different from that of people living during the Bronze Age. The names and faces we give now to those fears and dreams may shapeshift, but the kernel is the same. Most change is just cosmetic, and when a man tells me that he has "changed" what probably happened was he just became more—or less—of what he already was within. Even with all this machinery that gave me again movement and independence, Anaximander is still Anaximander. Change? Never met him.

MegaCities

Like the name says, these are enormous, densely packed metroplexes where PCs will usually encounter the highest standards of living and the most advanced technologies. They are fountains of neon light strobbing to the beat of millions of souls living within the immensely tall pyramids of glass and steel. The social classes are stratified by the space in which people live: the higher you live the more wealthy or influential you are, the lower and farther away you live from the Hub of the megacity the poorer you are. Near the sophisticated Hubs of megacities life is relatively safe and easy. Megacompanies make sure of that by either hiring guards from a security agency or by creating their own security force.

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However, the farther you go from the Hub the more dangerous it becomes. The general area bordering the Hub is called the Rim. Rims are literally no-man’s land where Rim gangs and criminal organizations often hold sway. The state police force does its best to keep some degree of order, but their resources are few compared to those of privately owned security agencies serving in the metroplexes.

The people living in the lower and outer levels are mostly the working force that keeps the machinery of the metroplexes oiled. They try to live as close to the Hub as possible since it is safer than the middle and outer reaches of the Rim. It is considered by many a privilege to be working within the Hub, and there are tales of people making enough money to move their families up and away.

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Urbs

Not all cities are megacities, and not every city has the same level of technology. There are cities and suburbs that are little different from those in the second half of the twentieth century. Some of them are cities that resist megacorp influence (or are simply of no interest to megacorps), and thus are less prosperous. However, some argue that as long as one’s ambitions are not in the scale of a metroplex pyramid, life in the Urbs can be quite pleasant and often of a better quality.

Townes

People call "townes" any place with standards of living that are even lower to those of the Urbs. Many such places could be considered "Third World countries" since they live in medieval, or lower, conditions.

Some townes are enveloped in what is called a Haywire Majeure field, which disrupts sensitive electronics and any type of electrical machinery. These fields make townes impossible to reach with spinners or high-tech vehicles of any kind, and flying traffic is banned in those areas. Some say it is probably a legacy of the Red War, while others believe the source of the Haywire Majeure field is preternatural and may indicate a strong presence of the Unknown near the towne.

Wilderness and Wastelands

Although uncommon, there are people who decide to live as far as possible from the metroplexes, and build houses in the wilderness or near wastelands. The problem is that, even though people may be safe from the criminal lords of the megacities and their Rims, they risk exposure to creatures of the Unknown roaming freely those desolate places.

In fact, some of these isolated places act as portals for beings of the Unknown. Some portals, or Nexus, have been there forever,while others are a legacy of the Red War, as some of the weaponry used during the war generated several of these weak points between the Known and the Unknown. Agents of the Order of the Taro suggest that the weapons that caused the rifts were tainted by Evil Way magic. (Ed's Note: these are similar to the Demongrounds of Dark Conspiracy or the rifts in, well, RIFTS.)

It is often possible to determine whether the land is Cursed (i.e., near a Nexus) since there is typically a strong Haywire Majeure field. Also the vegetation, the animals, and even the very air are tainted. Plants and trees grow unnaturally twisted and sometimes move when there’s no wind, animals degenerate into feral beasts, humans living there risk becoming Tainted, and eerie sounds drift through the air with no apparent point of origin (similar in many ways to the Limen). However, sometimes the signs of contamination are very subtle. There are places with no Haywire Majeure fields, or with fields that cycle on and off (sometimes becoming active only at night), so PCs may unwittingly seek shelter in villages where everyone in it is Eclipsed.

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Offworld

The closest the offworld colony is to the Earth, the more habitable it is. Some of the orbiting Lagrange stations—all with artificial gravity generated by centrifugal force—are known for their almost obscene level of luxury. It goes without saying that pleasure offworld travel is usually closed to all but the wealthiest in the megacities or the most influential government agencies.

The only way the middle and poorer social classes can hope getting offworld is as workers, especially as miners in the asteroid belt or as maintenance crews on orbital stations and the living domes of Mars.

Some plants have been engineered to grow in the Martian soil. This, together with the mining of the oxidized soil and the discovery of underground permafrost, have helped to terraform the planet a bit, so that in 60 years after the colonization the environment became similar to that of mount Everest on Earth. Nevertheless, anyone venturing outside the sealed domes must wear winter gear and oxygen tanks to survive (just the same as in the Babylon 5 series).

There are a couple of smaller colonies in the outer solar system, but they are still limited to megacorps or governments with the resources to do that sort of exploration.

Extrasolar Influences

There is still very little known about the farthest reaches of the outer solar system, and even less of what may lay beyond the theoretical Oort cloud (which some believe doesn't exist). The rumors are as varied as the Urban Legends of the U.S., and it is hard to be certain which is real and which isn’t.

People eager to see the supposed "face" on the planet Mars were disappointed when they found the whole plateau was used to build the biggest set of Hyundai-Hilton domes in the planet. Some, however, say that there is a secret passage in one of the the domes leading to an intact underground city thousands of years old.

There are rumors of people disappearing in the asteroid belt, only to reappear as walking, desiccated corpses, with strange fungous growths in a chest orifice. Others say a megacorp found artifacts in Europa similar to those rumored under the surface of Mars and under Antarctica. There are also people who believe that the Sun has a dark companion, a black sun called Nemesis, and that around Nemesis there is a planet whose beings worship foul things for which we have no name, and whose moons are living, malevolent entities capable of drifting on their own in space. Worse, they say that Charon, Pluto’s moon, is—in fact—one of those sentient moons, and that the reason the only manned expedition sent to Pluto failed was because the moon did something to them.

All of these are, obviously, fabrications of those who fear the vastness of space that Earthers are but beginning to explore. Or are they?

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Chill and the Chill logo are trademarks owned by Mayfair Games, Inc. Chiliad and the Chiliad: Dark Millennium logo are copyrights of Edwin Astacio© 1999, 2000. The images of the following sections are copyrights of Luis Royo: "Into the Maw of Darkness," and "Megacities." The image in "Journal of Tallas Dorn, Solomon Knight," is a copyright of Brom. The photo in the "Offworld" section is a copyright of 2oth Century Fox.