Long ago, a doomsday device capable of wiping out the entire Korr race was developed (some say discovered) by a Korr warlord named Shivik’sa. This device was named the Akorras. At the peak of Korr Doomsday Wars (see pg. xnx), Shivik’sa unleashed the Akorras upon the Korr homeworld, believing he could control its awesome power. He was wrong. The Akorras ravaged Korr society and nearly destroyed the entire planet before running its course and disappearing from the shattered annals of Korr history.
It is unknown when or how the weapon came to Earth, but many suspect it arrived through one of the stormrifts that began appearing on the Korr homeworld around this time. Upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, the Akorras broke apart into thousands of small shards and was scattered across the globe. The weapon’s shards resemble precious gemstones and today may be found in places such as ancient tombs, museums, vaults, royal treasuries, or in the hands of wealthy collectors.
Shard Appearance
The shards of the Akorras appear as flawless gemstones of varying type and size that are indestructible for all practical purposes.
Shard Activation
The recently opened stormrifts created quantum distortions that caused the shards of the Akorras to activate. The stones now glow with a faint light and traces of alien circuitry can be seen within.
Shard Defensive Powers
The shards of the Akorras contain technology that is fundamentally similar to the self-replicating biological nanotechnology mastered by the Korr (see Nanoborgs, pg. xnx). Upon activation, each shard infuses its surroundings with nanoborgs, producing a variety of strange defensive effects. These effects vary from place to place, most often reflecting the shard’s environment.
For example, a shard located near a Hawaiian volcano might cause the volcano to erupt and encircle its resting place with bubbling lava. A shard located in Alaska might cause a nearby polar bear to mutate into a biotechnical bear-like guardian. A shard located inside an Egyptian tomb might cause cyborg mummies to arise or ancient traps to manifest, while a shard passed down as a family heirloom might cause an entire house to animate, giving it the appearance of being haunted. Effects such as intense heat and cold, disorientation, zero gravity, mutations, and animated machines have also been encountered.
A few OLS scientists have suggested that other quantum distortions in the past may have caused some shards to activate, giving rise to mythical and supernatural manifestations such as ghost sightings, dragons, yetis, and other strange creatures and unexplained events.
Shard Detection
The shards produce an energy pulse that can be detected within a mile by anyone with the psionic or nanoborg gimmick (see Gimmicks, pg. xnx). A psionic character must make a complex awareness-based investigation task to home in on the source of the strange psychic vibrations. Failure means the character suffers +2diff to all awareness-based tasks for the remainder of the day.
A nanoborg-enhanced human must make a complex fitness-based athletics task to home in on the strange vibrations coursing through his cybernetic body. Failure means the character suffers +2diff to all fitness-based tasks for the remainder of the day.
Shard Fusion
The Akorras was designed to bond with sentient organisms. When an Akorras shard is pressed against living tissue or swallowed by a living organism, the shard embeds itself in the creature’s soft tissues, crippling the host with painful spasms as it bonds with nerve endings and brain relays, and leaving the character unable to take any action except writhe on the ground in pain for a number of turns equal to the roll of two dice. Once the spasms subside, the shard conveys certain properties to the host (see below).
Akorras shards often leave visible bumps and impressions in the skin. A character who fuses with a number of shards equal to or greater than his fitness rating automatically receives the fearsome gimmick.
Psionic and Cybernetic Increase
The Akorras shards produce a range of effects, especially in psionic and cybernetic organisms. A character with the psionic gimmick who fuses with an Akorras shard increases his psionic potential by one and reduces one grade of psionic overload (if any).
A character with the nanoborgs gimmick who fuses with an Akorras shard increases his cybernetic potential by one and reduces one grade of cybernetic overload (if any).
A character who fuses with a shard without possessing the psionic or cybernetic gimmick receives a bonus of +1 to either his fitness or awareness rating (player’s choice).
Psionic-Cybernetic Crossover
A psionic character who fuses with a number of Akorras shards equal to the total sum of his fitness plus awareness rating may opt to use experience to purchase the nanoborgs gimmick. The number of fused shards is added to the character’s fitness rating to determine his cybernetic potential.
A cybernetic character who fuses with a number of Akorras shards equal to the total sum of his fitness plus awareness rating may opt to use experience to purchase the psionic gimmick. The number of fused shards is added to the character’s awareness rating to determine his psionic potential.
Shard Removal
Removing an Akorras shard is a long and painful surgical procedure that usually ends in the death of the host. A complex fitness-based medicines and a complex reasoning-based Korr sciences task is needed to safely remove a shard. The character suffers 2inj of absolute damage for each task. If either task fails, the character dies.
Recovery
The Korr and the OLS have deployed a number of special teams to actively search for Akorras shards (see the Korr Akri’daan pg. xnx and the OLS Doomsday Recovery Division pg. xnx). Although the shards are too numerous and scattered to collect and fully reassemble the device, human scientists believe they may be able to replicate the awesome power of the Akorras if they can gather and examine enough shards. This is something the Korr fear and is one of the main reasons they continue to wage such a gruesome war—after Earth’s devastating nuclear strikes, the Korr believe that if humans possessed the Akorras it would only be a matter of time before they unleashed it against them.
It is unknown when or how the weapon came to Earth, but many suspect it arrived through one of the stormrifts that began appearing on the Korr homeworld around this time. Upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, the Akorras broke apart into thousands of small shards and was scattered across the globe. The weapon’s shards resemble precious gemstones and today may be found in places such as ancient tombs, museums, vaults, royal treasuries, or in the hands of wealthy collectors.
Shard Appearance
The shards of the Akorras appear as flawless gemstones of varying type and size that are indestructible for all practical purposes.
Shard Activation
The recently opened stormrifts created quantum distortions that caused the shards of the Akorras to activate. The stones now glow with a faint light and traces of alien circuitry can be seen within.
Shard Defensive Powers
The shards of the Akorras contain technology that is fundamentally similar to the self-replicating biological nanotechnology mastered by the Korr (see Nanoborgs, pg. xnx). Upon activation, each shard infuses its surroundings with nanoborgs, producing a variety of strange defensive effects. These effects vary from place to place, most often reflecting the shard’s environment.
For example, a shard located near a Hawaiian volcano might cause the volcano to erupt and encircle its resting place with bubbling lava. A shard located in Alaska might cause a nearby polar bear to mutate into a biotechnical bear-like guardian. A shard located inside an Egyptian tomb might cause cyborg mummies to arise or ancient traps to manifest, while a shard passed down as a family heirloom might cause an entire house to animate, giving it the appearance of being haunted. Effects such as intense heat and cold, disorientation, zero gravity, mutations, and animated machines have also been encountered.
A few OLS scientists have suggested that other quantum distortions in the past may have caused some shards to activate, giving rise to mythical and supernatural manifestations such as ghost sightings, dragons, yetis, and other strange creatures and unexplained events.
Shard Detection
The shards produce an energy pulse that can be detected within a mile by anyone with the psionic or nanoborg gimmick (see Gimmicks, pg. xnx). A psionic character must make a complex awareness-based investigation task to home in on the source of the strange psychic vibrations. Failure means the character suffers +2diff to all awareness-based tasks for the remainder of the day.
A nanoborg-enhanced human must make a complex fitness-based athletics task to home in on the strange vibrations coursing through his cybernetic body. Failure means the character suffers +2diff to all fitness-based tasks for the remainder of the day.
Shard Fusion
The Akorras was designed to bond with sentient organisms. When an Akorras shard is pressed against living tissue or swallowed by a living organism, the shard embeds itself in the creature’s soft tissues, crippling the host with painful spasms as it bonds with nerve endings and brain relays, and leaving the character unable to take any action except writhe on the ground in pain for a number of turns equal to the roll of two dice. Once the spasms subside, the shard conveys certain properties to the host (see below).
Akorras shards often leave visible bumps and impressions in the skin. A character who fuses with a number of shards equal to or greater than his fitness rating automatically receives the fearsome gimmick.
Psionic and Cybernetic Increase
The Akorras shards produce a range of effects, especially in psionic and cybernetic organisms. A character with the psionic gimmick who fuses with an Akorras shard increases his psionic potential by one and reduces one grade of psionic overload (if any).
A character with the nanoborgs gimmick who fuses with an Akorras shard increases his cybernetic potential by one and reduces one grade of cybernetic overload (if any).
A character who fuses with a shard without possessing the psionic or cybernetic gimmick receives a bonus of +1 to either his fitness or awareness rating (player’s choice).
Psionic-Cybernetic Crossover
A psionic character who fuses with a number of Akorras shards equal to the total sum of his fitness plus awareness rating may opt to use experience to purchase the nanoborgs gimmick. The number of fused shards is added to the character’s fitness rating to determine his cybernetic potential.
A cybernetic character who fuses with a number of Akorras shards equal to the total sum of his fitness plus awareness rating may opt to use experience to purchase the psionic gimmick. The number of fused shards is added to the character’s awareness rating to determine his psionic potential.
Shard Removal
Removing an Akorras shard is a long and painful surgical procedure that usually ends in the death of the host. A complex fitness-based medicines and a complex reasoning-based Korr sciences task is needed to safely remove a shard. The character suffers 2inj of absolute damage for each task. If either task fails, the character dies.
Recovery
The Korr and the OLS have deployed a number of special teams to actively search for Akorras shards (see the Korr Akri’daan pg. xnx and the OLS Doomsday Recovery Division pg. xnx). Although the shards are too numerous and scattered to collect and fully reassemble the device, human scientists believe they may be able to replicate the awesome power of the Akorras if they can gather and examine enough shards. This is something the Korr fear and is one of the main reasons they continue to wage such a gruesome war—after Earth’s devastating nuclear strikes, the Korr believe that if humans possessed the Akorras it would only be a matter of time before they unleashed it against them.
No comments:
Post a Comment