Disquiet and the Wasteland: Everything and Everyone Hates You [Promethean: The Created]

Open Development, Promethean: The Created

Every Promethean burns with an inner fire so intense, it scorches the land around them. It makes people uncomfortable, even if they can’t figure out why. The Divine Fire, the energy that ultimately allows the alchemy of the Great Work, also sets Prometheans apart from the world they want to join.

In 2nd Edition, we’re moving away from Disquiet and the Wasteland being products of the Prometheans being “things that should not be.” Part of that is because the semantics always bugged me; who says they shouldn’t be? They’re here, so there’s really no “should” about it, and I’m not into punishing characters on a moral level for their very existence, thanks. Instead, the reasons for the Wasteland and for Disquiet have more to do with the world not being able to handle the intensity of the Divine Fire. It burns too hot, and people sense that during interactions with the Promethean. They respond with spite, possessiveness, jealousy, or paranoia. The blanket term for these responses is Disquiet.

Likewise, Prometheans have to be careful how they interact with the world around them. If they let too much of their inner Fire out at once, they can scorch the land, beginning an inexorable process of creating a Wasteland. As Wastelands grow more extreme, it can cause weird elemental effects – thunderstorms rage, water thickens and sours, the veil between spirit and flesh grows thin. It depends on the humours of the Promethean in question (which also means that Prometheans of the same Lineage, sharing as they do the same humours, can make the effect worse).

Disquiet, by itself, doesn’t progress beyond a certain point. People feel suspicious, fascinated, or just disdainful with regards to the Promethean, and might go out of their way to cause minor inconveniences, but it doesn’t rise to the level of physical violence. Within a Wasteland, though, Disquiet festers. The human mind responds not only to the intensity of the Divine Fire within the Promethean, but to the changes she is wreaking on the environment. Left unchecked, Disquiet becomes contagious, and ends with the victims trying to purge the corrosive element from their midst (this is colloquially known as the “torches and pitchforks” stage of Disquiet).

So what causes a Wasteland? Prometheans don’t cause them just by existing; the Divine Fire isn’t that intense. But the following actions or events can start or worsen the process. Once a Wasteland has begun, the only way to reverse it to remove the Divine Fire (i.e., the Promethean) from the area.

A single Promethean spends a great deal of Pyros in a scene. The amount required depends on the Promethean’s Azoth dots. Greater Azoth burns brighter and hotter than the Pyros of a less potent Created. The amount required is (11 – Azoth). The most powerful Prometheans cause a Wasteland with even the slightest usage of Pyros.

Prometheans can return to life when destroyed (once). This causes an enormous rush of Pyros, not dissimilar to a new Promethean’s creation.

When a greater qashmal manifests, a Wasteland can occur.

When a character attempts to create a Promethean — successful or not — the coalescence of Pyros that accompanies the practice creates or exacerbates Wastelands.

When a Promethean attains a universal milestone, the influx of Pyros can cause Wasteland.

If a Promethean goes too long without a Refinement shift, or without a milestone, the buildup of excess Pyros can taint the area around her. At lower levels of Azoth (1-2), this occurs after six months in an area. At mid levels (3-5), this occurs after a single month. At higher levels (6-7), only a week must pass. The greatest Created (8-10) must evolve quickly — indeed, daily — move along, or cause a Wasteland.

When Pandorans awake, they can shake an area into a Wasteland. When Pandorans whose Ranks total 4 or more awaken in a single scene, they create a Wasteland.

Any suitably dramatic event culminating in a massive influx of Pyros can spawn or grow a Wasteland, at Storyteller discretion.

What do these effects look like? Again, it depends on Lineage. Let’s take a few examples.

A Frankenstein, whose humour is yellow bile, finds that his presence instills a Disquiet of simmering restlessness and anger in the people around him. People become easily agitated and quick to fly off the handle, and while this may initially be directed to anyone in their path, eventually it is always directed back to the Wretched. When he creates a Wasteland, the land and weather seem angry, as storms and lightning bathe the sky, thorny bushes overrun the landscape and animals, including humans, become increasingly aggressive.

An Ulgan, who draws power from ectoplasm, engenders a Disquiet of paranoia and the sense of being hunted. Perhaps this is a valid emotion, triggered by the spirits that a Riven attracts and that invariably attach themselves to the people around him. Regardless of the presence of spirits though, humans always come to see the Promethean as the one that haunts and stalks them. When an Ulgan creates a Wasteland, the mortals’ fears are proven right as the veil between the flesh world and the Twilight thins, calling out to spirits and creating hauntings.

An Unfleshed, enriched by the humour of oil, finds that his Disquiet somehow encourages people to treat him as even less than other Prometheans. Taken for granted, he is seen as hired help at best, or a slave at worst. And woe unto the Manufactured who does not cater to people’s every whim. An Unfleshed Wasteland also sees a sharp dichotomy between dominant and subservient creatures; a new hierarchy might emerge amongst humans, whilst predatory animals completely wipe out prey and stronger plants overrun weaker ones.