Gods and Monsters

Monsters

Becoming a Monster

A god becomes a monster when they lose themselves in their own power. This happens when spending a fate point pushes their intention token off the end of the track, and they are unable or unwilling to store or bleed off the excess. Also, a god with an ascendant approach at tier 3 can choose to transform themself into a monster at any time—it’s simple for them to tip over the edge and become something both greater and lesser than they were before.

When your god becomes a monster, you lose control of them immediately. In the space of moments their power erupts and they transform into something twisted, powerful, yet still recognizable as the being they once were. The precise nature of the new monster, and what they do now, is up to the GM—you will need a new god.

However, there is one benefit to becoming a monster: you get to dictate how the current scene ends. You could defeat and imprison your enemies, or scatter them far and wide, or sink an island beneath the waves. You could blast a village into glass statues, raise up a spontaneous cyclopean temple engraved with unreadable runes, or just fly off and leave everyone to their lives. You could even become something of unspeakable beauty, so radiant that everyone who sees it is inspired to live their lives in harmony with nature and their fellow human beings.

You can effectively shape the landscape, freely changing the local area’s concept or refinement and creating new regions or sub-regions accordingly. Anyone you choose to aggress upon must accept defeat and be taken out or must flee for their lives, in which case they suffer an immediate consequence but can otherwise escape the area unharmed. In this case “aggress upon” can also include acts of supernatural persuasion or mind control, like the inspirational beauty example above.

Monsters In Action

Once the initial transformation has stabilized, monsters operate using more or less the same rules as gods—their identity and form have found a new equilibrium, and they will never tap into that kind of power again. Monsters are often extremely powerful in their own right, however, so they should not be underestimated because they fail to be unstoppable forces of nature.

A monster doesn’t have a mantle and need not worry about intention, ascendant approaches and aspects, stations, or anything like that. Any powers they have that require spending intention to use can be activated by spending a fate point instead. They have no geas other than “being a monster,” although that no longer feels like a restriction to them—instead, it is simply their nature.

In addition, monsters constantly bleed their twisted power into the world around them. For every tale that passes where the threat of a monster goes unaddressed, they mark the region or sub-region where they lurk as if they were a god. Monsters that stay in one place slowly transform their surroundings into a blighted land that reflects their own corruption. Monsters that move around spread their corruption wherever they go.