Taint of Corruption
Flaw · 7 pts
Evil has an intimate hold on you. Your spirit has been corrupted – possibly since birth, as with the reborn Nephandi known as widderslainte – and you are, as the werewolves put it, “of the Wyrm” whether you wish to be or not. This doesn’t necessarily mean you behave in an evil manner – you can
choose to resist the evil inside you. On a metaphysical level, however, you bear an innate corruption which tests the ideal of Enlightened self-determination. You may, perhaps, defeat it, but it’ll be a hard struggle before you do.
(Need we mention the Tragedy section again? I guess we just did.)
From a story perspective, this Flaw could come from de monic possession, the aftermath of an awful Quiet or a badly botched high-level Seeking, corrupt Resonance, one too many deals with malignant Umbrood, a curse, a vile past life, wicked karma, Nephandic heritage, poor life-choices, the influence of the Wyrm, a collection of tainted texts or artifacts, time spent in a hell, or other forms of metaphysical poison. It almost certainly shapes your magickal focus, and the things you do in pursuit of your magicks (that is, your practices and instruments) may well perpetrate this corruption. (Hey, now, hey now now…) To entities who recognize such soul-stains, you are either a mortal enemy (as far as most werewolves are concerned), an object of pity and potential salvation (the nicer sorts of mages), or – most likely – both. (“Hey, it’s a mercy killing, right?”)
Meanwhile, inside your skin, you wrestle with the urges born from that corruption. Whether or not you give in to them (which would, of course, just deepen the decay), your dreams and impulses hold a distinctly unpleasant edge. Working malig nant magick is frighteningly easy for you (-2 to your difficulties, up to the usual modifier limits), but your “good” spells are harder to cast (+2 difficulty, as above) and have a tendency to leave traces of corruption even when you succeed. Your aura crackles or swirls with leprous stains, and your Merits, Flaws, Backgrounds, and other Traits reflect the damnation you carry inside. A truly epic quest might purge this evil (and buy off this Flaw), but maybe it’s just easier to go with the flow, even if that flow leads you straight into the gutter and beyond…
* = Can be either a Merit of a Flaw.
Merits
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Flaws
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