Genius: The Transgression

Genius: The Transgression
Role-playing game
Rule System	Storyteller System (nWoD)
Authors	Kyle Marquis
First Publication	2010
Essential Books	Genius: The Transgression

"The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it."

– Dr. Joseph Mengele

"I was building another science, my science, wild science, robots and lasers and disembodied brains. A science that buzzed and glowed; it wanted to do things. It could get up and walk, fly, fight, sprout garish glowing creations in the remotest parts of the world, domes and towers and architectural fever dreams. And it was angry. It was mad science."

– Doctor Impossible, Soon I Will Be Invincible

Genius: The Transgression is pretty much Sons of Ether: The Game. A fanmade game set in the New World of Darkness (pre-God-Machine Chronicle update), it is about mad scientists inventing gizmos and fighting somewhat madder scientists while trying to avoid becoming solipsistic, uncaring madmen and dealing with the constant bitter disappointment of knowing that the Wonders they make will never survive the scrutiny of mere mortals. It runs quite a bit like Mage: The Ascension,(and in universe there is sometimes confusion between the two) but has enough fluff to make it feel distinct as long as you can go along with it.

Being a Genius

Creating a Genius is very much like creating a regular nWoD character: you come up with your stats, note them down and apply the Genius Template. Aside from adding a point to one of your mental stats (can't go above 5), there are of course the game-specific advantages:

Inspiration

Genius' power stat. It is your Blood Potency, your Primal Urge: it determines how powerful your Wonders can be and how powerful you personally can be. As usual it runs on a 1-10 scale and determines the power resource du jour, Mania, how much of it you can spend per turn and how inhuman you become the higher your stat is.

Your inhumanity this time around is represented by Jabir: the inability to communicate with mortals about your ideas without sounding batshit insane, or indeed the ability to do non-mad science. This is represented by a -1 at 1+, -2 at 5+ and -3 at 8+ Inspiration.

On top of that there is the state of Unmada. If a Genius overreaches themselves with scientific effort they run the risk of entering the state of Unmada if they fail an Unmada check. During this a Genius loses their free one point of Mania upon waking up. They also extrude a field much like the Disquiet of a Promethean, except it's SCIENCE! In this field things that clash with the Unmada' worldview start to change or vanish while Manes (things created by Mania which may be sentient themselves) that fit within the Unmada's worldview flock to the Genius to serve and fawn over them. It is possible to escape the state through the use of Willpower-powered rolls, but Manes don't like this and will try to stop the Unmada from becoming a regular Genius again.

If an Unmada triggers an Unmada check they are at risk of becoming Illuminated. Illuminated are essentially the classic amoral enemies that the regular characters of a World of Darkness game try to avoid becoming, as the Inspiration has effectively rendered them incapable of seeing other humans as anything but test subjects. Failing this roll allows the Genius to avoid becoming an Illuminated by spending a Willpower point and reducing their Obligation by one: if they hit 0 they automatically become Illuminated. A Dramatic Failure will turn them Illuminated immediately. Success will hold off the change.

Mania

The core resource of the game. Mania is that which grants the Genius their ideas and powers their madness. Nobody knows exactly what Mania is, only what it does. Mania can manifest physically in ways of SCIENCE: arcs of lightning between devices, a glow in a test tube, the whine that is paired with the physical strain upon a machine and more. Aside from powering one's Wonders by spending Mania for every use or per day active Mania can be used for the following:

• Enhance Mental Attributes for a +1 bonus per turn. Directors and Navigators can also enhance their Social and Physical Attributes this way, respectively.
• Power mundane technology. Even for all their super-science Geniuses will still need lights, computers, vehicles and so on. By channeling Mania into mundane technology it can function without fuel or power for some amount of time, going from one day (lights in a single room) to 10 minutes (computers, heavy machinery).
• Get a +1 bonus to using mundane technology for one turn. All 10s rolled damage the object for one-quarter of its Structure points, meaning that four 10s will destroy the object in question.
• Understand a piece of technology, both mundane and wondrous items. This allows a Genius to learn what a particular object is for and what it does, but not any hidden functions or who made it. This does not allow the Genius to operate the object if it would require a skill that they do not have, though.
• Dismantle a technological object. By spending a point of Mania and rolling Dexterity + Crafts (Medicine in case of an organic device) a Genius can deal that much Bashing or Lethal damage that ignores durability but not Defense. With a Merit this can turn into a ranged attack.

Mania can be regained in one of six ways:

• Every morning a Genius wakes up with fresh new ideas. This is represented by the regaining of one point of Mania. Unmada however do not gain this point, for this point is spent on their Unmada Field.
• A Genius can engage in research for up to six hours per day. In these six hours they can either think really hard to regain one point of Mania per two hours, or engage with people or objects. They can talk to fellow researchers, read science magazines, tinker a bit or just scribble down notes to regain one point of Mania per hour. A Genius can opt to research for more than six hours per day, but per hour over six studied per day the Genius will have to take an Unmada check with a cumulative -1 penalty past the first.
• Ranting to a prisoner. The movie trope of telling a captured person one's evil plans before trying to kill them is immensely cathartic. This ranting can be done only once a day, takes at least 30 seconds and requires an unwilling prisoner (so no engaging in kinky foreplay for you!). This regenerates a powerful Inspiration + Presence, but comes at the cost of triggering an Unmada check and the requirement of having to kidnap someone, both of which are Obligation transgressions.
• Destroying a valuable object that disagrees with a Genius' particular worldview, which the Lemurians call "editing". Only Unmada can do this, once a day, to regain Inspiration + Resolve in Mania. This is also an Obligation transgression.
• Storing and draining. This can be a Manes, Beholden or a Capacitor (a device that any Genius can build for the specific purpose of holding Mania) that had the Mania transferred into them at an earlier date. This allows the Genius to store away Mania, rebuild their reserves over the course of days to gather a vast pool of Mania.
• Using the Calculus Vampire Merit to draw Genius from other people. If done to someone with Mania of their own this is done on a 1:1 scale based on the number of successes, while those who have not have their Mental skills targeted and drained instead, again on a 1:1 basis. This requires both physical contact and something science-y happening: hypnosis, draining fluids, mind-reading or something similar all qualify. The Technomancer Merit allows the exchange between Mania and the types of energy used by other splats like Vitae, Mana, Glamour and others, as well as converting them to and from the other type of energy. When combining the two it becomes possible to violently drain metanormal entities. For obvious reasons, most of the above are, except in fairly specific circumstances, Obligation transgressions on some level.

Obligation

With great Wonders comes great responsibility. Most Geniuses are aware of their strained link to society, so they focus on that which ties them: their Obligation. Whether this is to improve, protect, heal or punish them is irrelevant: the Obligation is there. Obligation does not allow for rationalization along the lines of "the greater good": if you violate the standards of normal humanity then you violate your Obligation. Geniuses start at Obligation 7 (as is the rough standard), but it can be bought down to 5 in exchange for 5XP per decreased point.

With Obligation 8 or higher the Genius is seen as a Paragon. This means that they are seen as a trustworthy authority by mortals and gains +1 on all Social checks when acting from this authority, and efforts to tarnish the Paragon's reputation is met with a -3 penalty. Meanwhile, the less Obligation a Genius has the more stunted their social skills are. At 3 or 4 Obligation they get a -1 penalty to all Social checks and -2 at 1 or 2 Obligation. If a Genius' Obligation hits 0 they become Illuminated and as per WoD tradition are no longer playable. Illuminated do not get the decreased rolls on Social checks, but they are next to incapable of meaningful communication anyway.

Notably, this system has some congruity to normal human morality, but it is not a perfect 1:1 reflection. Instead, it is a measure of how the Genius interacts with the world, and how they have held onto themselves vs. letting their Inspiration change them. For instance, transhumanism or attempts to "improve" oneself, like transforming oneself into a robot dragon or hooking up one's brain to a computer, are fairly serious Obligation transgressions, even if done in a way that doesn't cause others harm, simply because it means deliberately doing something to remove oneself from normal humanity or a human perspective.

Obligation	Transgression
10	Allowing one's wonder to risk Havoc. Using wonders to accomplish a task when it could have been accomplished just as well with mundane science or skill. Experimenting on animals. (Roll five dice)
9	Allowing one's wonder to turn temporarily orphan. Altering oneself or another person with mad science, even temporarily (not including healing). Going a day without human contact. Minor selfish acts. Performing surgery. (Roll five dice)
8	Injury to another (accidental or otherwise). Failing to help a victimized innocent in need. Triggering an unmada check in oneself. Emotional manipulation. Grave-robbing, dissection, or making zombies. Allowing one's wonder to turn permanently orphan. (Roll four dice)
7	Petty theft (shoplifting). Allowing an innocent to die or be seriously injured without making effort to save the person. Making a person beholden. Mind control. Experimenting on willing human subjects (including oneself) where there is some possibility of harm. Unintentional mass property damage brought about by Inspiration. (Roll four dice)
6	Grand theft (burglary). Kidnapping. "Editing" to gather Mania. Going a week without human contact. Creating an intelligent machine (Automata 4+). Body swapping. (Roll three dice)
5	Killing an intelligent being. Intentional, mass property damage (arson, most doom cannons). Experimenting on willing human subjects (including oneself) where there is a serious possibility of death or harm. Programming permanent psychological limitations into an intelligent being. (Roll three dice)
4	Impassioned serious crime (manslaughter). Sadistic mind control (of the "forcing two friends to fight for your amusement" variety or similar acts of cruelty.) Permanently and significantly altering your physical form (adding two more arms, etc.) (Roll two dice)
3	Going a month without human contact. Planned serious crime (murder). Slavery. Experimenting on unwilling human subjects where there is a serious possibility of death or harm. Permanently and entirely altering your physical form (uploading yourself into a computer or becoming a giant caterpillar). (Roll two dice)
2	Bringing the dead back to life. Rape or sexual mind control. Serial murder. Spreading massive plague and devastation. (Roll one die)
1	Mass murder. Hideous experiments on unwilling human subjects. Scientific torture. Genocide. (Roll one die.)

Catalysts

It wouldn't be a New World of Darkness game without the omnipresent X/Y Axis splats. In Genius the "racial" splat is the Catalyst, that which drove a normal scientist to become a Genius. The process of Catalyzation, the Breakthrough, is somewhere in between an Awakening and an Ignition: a moment of brilliance followed by a lifetime of potential. The names of the Catalysts are all in German, while other terms pertaining to Geniuses are in Latin, Greek, English and more. Why? Because SCIENCE, that's why!

Grimm, The Catalyst of Fury

You will pay for what you've done.

The Grimm take to the other meaning of "mad" when practicing their mad science. Their Breakthrough is out of anger at something or someone and now seek things like revenge, justice, retribution or just a desire to fuck shit up. This makes them rather straightforward and rarely swayed by paranoia or sentimentality, for they are filled with nothing but the will to get something done. Despite this the Grimm tend to be rather irrational, wanting to have a go at whoever or whatever caused them to have their Breakthrough without any regard for what is reasonable or sane. Their favored Axiom is Katastrofi- nothing says "I am angry" like a giant death ray cannon capable of razing a city block.

Hoffnung, The Catalyst of Vision

We won't have any of these problems when I RULE THE WORLD!

The Hoffnung are men and women with a Vision. Yes, the capital-V kind. When regular thinkers and visionaries start to form their ideas they might expand their view of the world enough to have their Breakthrough. From here a Hoffnung starts to build Wonders to make their Vision a reality (no matter how insane it is), and woe to those who get in the way. This makes them supremely narcissistic, feeling that they and only they are in the right and that everyone else is wrong for not sharing their vision. Their favored Axiom is Metaptropi, which changes the world much like they want to.

Klagen, The Catalyst of Loss

No, you fools, you'll doom us all!

The gloomy Catalyst. Klagen are fully aware of the fact that they live in the World of Darkness and what that means. They have always lost at least one person to madness, obsession or some sort of accident that they blamed themselves for. They tend to be the most sensible of the Inspired, undoing the damage that was done and healing those who were hurt. But since they're still crazy they might have bizarre ways of setting right what went wrong. They are prone to bouts of depression and making the misery they carry around get the better of them. Their favored Axiom is Exelixi, with which they can heal and repair done damages.

Neid, The Catalyst of Banishment

They scoffed at my theories, they laughed at me, they called me mad! Well, I'll show them! I'll show them all!

That quote up there is pretty much Neid in a nutshell. Their eccentric ideas ostracized them before or during their Breakthrough, filling them with the desire to get even with whomever it was that they think wronged them. They see others as out to get them, to disprove their perfectly valid creations and mock them for it. Occasionally, they might even be right. As such the Neid want to prove their worth and the truth of their convictions, breeding a volatile mix of insecurity, resentment, and paranoia that draws them to the more "out there" forms of mad science when it comes to matters of morality. Their favored Axiom is Epikrato, which allows them to control others and make them listen.

Staunen, The Catalyst of Curiosity

This is FOR SCIENCE!

Staunen practice mad science for the sake of mad science. Think Doc Brown taken up to 11. Staunen are always hungry for more. More knowledge, more data, more records and more analysis. Staunen either seep into their Breakthrough so slowly it's difficult to tell exactly when the Breakthrough took place, or they are snapped into it by being exposed to something beyond their comprehension and want to learn more. All this curiosity can lead to fixation, an obsession with things no sane person should be thinking about. Their favored Axiom is Apokalypsi, which allows them to see more and learn more than they ever could before.

Foundations

The other axis, the Foundations provide a Genius with the what and the how to complement the why of the Catalysts. The Foundations are groups of like-minded Geniuses who have banded together to pursue a common goal.

Together the five Foundations form the Peerage, which is more or less a scientific take on the the Nine Mystic Traditions and the Technocracy. Together they oppose the Baramins of Lemuria, a group of Foundations that act like a mix of the worst parts of the Traditions and Technocracy, plus the Sabbat. There are also Rogue Geniuses who are not part of a Foundation or the Peerage.

They are at least partly a support group as much as a faction, gently reminding one another that they are, in fact, mad, and that they should be careful about transgressing and the like or letting people handle their stuff.

The International Union of Artifice

Formerly just a bunch of eccentric tinkerers, the Artificers have started to make a name for themselves by building top-notch devices, objects and other Wonders. They practice the art of mad engineering, and while simple tools and weapons are within their purview they greatly prefer large, complex devices. Artificiers build because that's what they do, only stopping when they need to find more resources and materials to continue building. They are a poor and loose-knit foundation, accepting anyone who can work with tools regardless of who they are or what their ancestry might be. For this reason, the Union has recently become an actual union, organized in their labor so they don't get screwed too hard. They tended to keep out of politics until recently and would much rather build stuff than engage in philosophical knifefights. Their favored Axioms are Automata and Prostasia, making them the foremost creators of robots and armor in the business. Their Grant allows them to create Wonders faster than other Genii, using their experience building things.

The Fellowship of Manifest Direction

The Directors are the kind of fellows who sit in dimly lit rooms discussing on how to better rule the world. They are the most organized of the Foundations: they are highly regimented, from the lowest Geniuses all the way up to the Clade, a group of 44+ Directors who do the whole secret council meeting thing. They are the masters of mad psychology, interacting with their fellow Geniuses to see what makes them tick. They are the least likely to break out their Wonders though, instead relying on their interpersonal skills to get what they want. Their devices are the likes of hypnosis, manipulation and control, fitting into their whole men in black shtick. Their favored Axioms are Automata and Epikrato. Directors like to be in control, which they attain by either mind control or being in charge of the individual in question to begin with. This is aided by their Grant, allowing them to spend Mania to boost their social skills.

The Center for Circumferential Navigation

The Navigators are the masters of mad physics, they build machines that allow them to travel at incredible speeds on land, sea and air, as well as through the ground itself, lava and space. They are the most recent of the Foundations, having joined the Peerage some 50 years ago. They left Lemuria because they were sick of being treated as second class Geniuses who were forced to do the heavy lifting with their Wonders instead of being allowed to be researchers in their own right. Because they travel a lot the Navigators are disorganized lot, mostly sticking to themselves while navigating the world on their mobile Wonders. With all their traveling Navigators tend to be tough explorer types, able of dealing with the hardships of the road and the wild, though a militaristic bent is also common. Their favored Axioms are Katastrofi and Skafoi: one to travel the world with, one to defend themselves from attackers with. As the most likely Inspired to get into physical scraps, their Grant allows them to spend Mania to enhance their physical abilities.

The Reformed Society of Progenitors

The Progenitors in their current form have risen from the ashes left behind by their predecessors, the Children of the Demiurge. They were a festering wound in the Peerage, filled with Lemurians and Illuminated who were on a dangerous course. So the Peerage uprooted the Children of the Demiurge somewhere in the early 90s, but were surprised and somewhat concerned when something new arose: a vibrant young group of scholars of the body seeking to give evolution a helping hand. As such, the Progenitors took up the place of the Demiurges in the Peerage alongside the survivors of the purge and went on their way. Theirs is the way of mad biology: raising the dead, cloning, genetic engineering, making monsters, creating and eradicating diseases and so on. You may have noticed that most of those are Obligation transgressions, and, indeed, they are the least worried by morals and ethics of all the Peerage, making them more likely to become Illuminated, worrying many who just dealt with this shit goddamn. Their favored Axioms are Automata and Exelixi, which allows them to create and improve on life. Their Grant allows them bonuses in making tiny Wonders, allowing them a leg up in the field of NANOMACHINES, SON.

The College of Scholastic Theory

The Scholastics are all about That What Man Was Not Meant To Know. They descend from an ancient Persian Zoroastrian cult, so they are very big on Truth. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge: that's what they do. They practice mad philosophy, looking to figure out just what Mania is, how Inspiration really works and other wonders of the world as well as a grab bag of other stuff (as in "natural philosophy", the precursor to modern science). They are often the adventurer archaeologist types, looking to uncover that which was lost and learning from them in an attempt to better understand the world. They have the most internal strife, with Scholastics constantly bickering and trying to make themselves look good. This has created several fields of study that all compete with one another, even trying to get them dissolved for their own gain.

Oddly enough, they have a decent working relationship with the Free Council, despite the Awakened and Inspired usually hating each other. The book notes that this generally means they're the middleman whenever the similarity between Mages and Genii leads to some newly-awakened Mage being mistaken for a just-catalyzed Genius or vice versa, and then having to be returned to the appropriate faction before they go nuts.

Their favored Axioms are Apokalypsi and Metaptropi, allowing them to find lost knowledge and change things according to their whims. This also helps with understanding their own Wonders, with their Grant allowing them more control than usual over their Wonders' faults.

Programs

There are also minor Foundations, not part of the formal Peerage but large enough to have favored Axioms and a grant. The one detailed in the sourcebook is the Ten Thousand Fans, sometimes called "Formalists" by outsiders, which formed from the Chinese survivors of the Lemurian's purge in the 20th century. They use Taoist philosophy, Western science, traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Indian medicine, and all that good stuff. Their axioms are Metatropi and Exelixi, and their grant is the ability to spend Mania to sustain yourself; one point can replace one day of food or water, one minute of air, or six hours of activity without penalty for lack of sleep.

There are also three others described but given no mechanics; the Ubermenschen, the Hollow Earth Nazis, are despite their vileness not Illuminated or even unmada (though they are mostly(?) Manes), and have a program. Mexico has an Aztec-inspired/descended numerology and architectural geomancy program, the Muslim world has a rocketry and astronomy program which may or may not summon aliens from distant stars (Abdul Alhazred isn't quite name-dropped), and India is probably hiding a non-Lemurian program somewhere. (Non-Lemurian geniuses aren't allowed into India but there's probably some holdouts from the purge working in secret.)

Lemuria

The Enemy Genius faction. Lemurians are all Unmada, loosely united in Baramins based on what exactly they think is wrong with the Mundane world and certain that they're not crazy at all, thank you very much. They originated as a conspiracy under the command of snake person manes, who accidentally destroyed their home Bardo (essentially a pocket reality based on an obsolete scientific theory, brought into existence by its own disproving- in their case, it was the general idea of a "lost continent" originally meant to explain how lemurs came to live exclusively on Madagascar, but one conflated with other ideas about hidden islands of enlightened secret masters of history) through time travel and tried to manipulate human history so it would come about once again while still allowing them to be "real" with the help of Geniuses sworn into their service. This did not work, and thanks to the effort of the original Peerage the Lemurian species is now mostly extinct, with the few survivors scattered and unlikely to regain their former glory. But their human servants remain and continue trying to fix what they think went wrong with human civilisation, and they still have control over the vast network of supplies that their masters set up, which gives them a bit of a leg up in creating Wonders. After all, you can't get a research grant for doing mad science.

Atomists

The Baramin of 'why don't we have flying cars and jetpacks yet'. Atomists may not always be fans of nuclear power, but they are all united in their belief that technology can do anything, even create utopia. They're kinda upset that humans still do bad things, no matter what anyone invents. Even beside their disregard for the human factor, their insanity means that they have strange ideas of what 'Utopia' is- to some, living in the Matrix isn't such a bad idea. They were formally founded in the 1960s after it became clear that nuclear power wasn't the perfect energy source they hoped for, and their Grant enables them to ward off Havoc rolls better than others, to represent how determined they are to use their technology on the world at large. Their favored axioms are Automata and Apokalypsi, to better aid in the creation of the perfect technocracy, run by beings free of human frailty.

Etherites

The Baramin of crackpot "scientific" theories and conspiracy nuts. They believe that a single unified theory can explain anything in the universe, without stupid things like 'relativity', 'quantum mechanics', and 'genuine magic' butting in. What that theory is depends on the Etherite in question, but it can range from somewhat plausible, to based on the Luminiferous Ether (this is a popular one, and the faction is named after it) to 'UFOs set up Earth as a science experiment and occasionally beam up humans as samples' and 'The Jews control Big Pharma in order to trick people into believing in vaccines'. They're a riff on the Sons of Ether, with science for them not being about forming theories based on facts but instead forming facts based on theories, along with some of the worse Victorian era attitudes. They also tend to go from charming and quaint to homicidal and rabid in seconds flat the instant someone questions one of their pet theories, and for this reason are the favored assassins of the Lemurians. Their favored axioms are Katastrofi and Skafoi, the better to build a jetpack to go find the people who tell them they're wrong and a raygun to zap them with.

Mechanists

The Baramin of fatalists. Mechanists believe that everything is predestined according to physical laws or some other outside force, and therefore nothing they do is their fault. The fact that this is scientifically disproven (truly random numbers do exist in physical interactions, for example) even in the real world, much less the World of Darkness, does not matter. And being Unmada, one has to wonder if they really don't have free will because their own insanity makes it so. All of their technology and attitude is based on the idea that there's a single set of derivable laws for everything, making them act dour and repressed. Their favored Axioms are Automata and Prostasia, which along with their Grant (which adds durability to Wonders) makes them among the best makers of rock-hard, tanky robots.

Phenomenologists

The Baramin of 'I reject your reality and substitute my own', even by Genius standards. Phenomenologists believe that there's no such thing as a consistent, objective reality outside of their own perception, and so make up their own ideals as it suits them. This makes it very hard to tell when they're lying, because they can just make up a reality in which they're telling the truth, and then believe in it so hard that they automatically gain an extraordinary success on a Subterfuge role. Their favorite Axioms are Apokalypsi and Epikrato, which helps them control the environment to suit their current beliefs, and aids in their role as Lemuria's spymasters. They're also somewhat of a dig at the Cult of Ecstasy, and an even more obvious dig at postmodernism (look up the "Science Wars" for context).

Oracles

The baramin of moral fundamentalism. Oracles are a more philosophical branch of Lemuria, and the sort that refuse to believe that their ideas might be just a little bit out of touch, or that they might be wrong. They know many mystical secrets, most of which have been disproven, are completely contradictory to reality, or are just utterly ridiculous. But they do know a lot of normal things too, and their grant is the ability to spend Mania to learn one mundane fact that a world-class specialist in the field might know after several hours worth of research in a good library. They're still upset that new philosophies have replaced those they believe in, like Christianity replacing Roman polytheism, or Aristotle's theories replacing Plato's, or just the fact that Taoist alchemy was wrong about mercury granting immortality. They're counterparts to both the Hermetics and the Celestial Choir of Mage: The Ascension, blending together old-fashioned philosophies that don't realize they've been superseded by better ones, and the bad attitude that results from people believing that they're absolutely and definitively right. They're currently fading away, as the Atomists are growing in power. Their favored axioms are Exelixi and Metatropi, to help them 'fix' things and change them to be the way the Oracles think they should be.

Other Baramins

A lot of Baramins have followed the route the Oracles seem to be on: the core book writeup mentions the Numinologists, who mourned the end of polytheism and tried to made Wonders that could imitate the old gods, who may have become a subset of the Oracles, but the last of the original apparently died off around the Renaissance. There's also a mention of a Baramin devoted to warped readings of history which exalted their nations, ideals, or ethnicities, which eventually evolved into the Phenomenologists.

The most important dead Baramin, however, was the Dharmists. A group supposedly founded to oppose new and dangerous ideas in the Indian Subcontinent, their closeness to the original Lemurians (snake-people) and their natural ability to control other Inspired meant that they became the de-facto leaders of Lemuria, with their runes-and-crystals aesthetic becoming dominant. On a more metatextual level, however, the Dharmists took control because they were the archetype of the idea that created Lemuria--a mysterious foreign order of enlightened sages, who controlled the world in secret. For obvious reasons, the Dharmists were all hunted down and disposed of after the Peerage finally won the war against the Lemurians, and none survive. Their favoured axioms were Epikrato and Metatropi, which allowed them to perform feats to dazzle the mind, and then slip inside said mind once dazzled.

Then, there's the Numericals, the Baramin of...well, it's not entirely clear yet, but probably eventually something related to contempt for regular mortals. Right now, it's the Baramin of oldfags. To understand the early Internet, you have to understand that until 1993 it was essentially a private club. Usenet, the only discussion forum and main site on the Internet at the time, could only be accessed by university students, and as such only a small amount of new members joined each year, mostly in September. This meant that a single code of etiquette was easy to enforce. But when AOL started offering Usenet access, the site was soon overwhelmed by a massive horde of new members, breaking this once-exclusive club wide open for everybody. The frustration from watching what was once meant to be a shining virtual city on an e-hill, populated by a virtual elite, turn into just a part of regular life, created the Numericals. Right now, they're just a small group of butthurt Geniuses constantly whining about how much better things were in the old days, and it's something of a stretch to call them a Baramin--they don't even have any powers or favoured Axioms. Then again, the same could be said of the Atomists in the Sixties.

Laws of Mad Science

Much like how vampires have rules to maintain a Masquerade, Geniuses have a series of laws in place. This is less of the self-serving nature of not being hunted by angry mobs (though that could still happen), but more to not drive the Genius in question even more insane than they already are. The Laws are rather straightforward, and most Geniuses are content with not horribly violating them. Most of them are more descriptions of fact, anyway.

• The Law of Broken Theory, aka Popper's Little Secret, tells Geniuses that whatever it is they're doing, it isn't science by any traditional definition of the word. Wonders all essentially bend or break the laws of the known universe. Regardless of whatever (probably unfalsifiable) theory a Genius claims it's based on, any given Wonder simply should not work. And on top of that, Inspiration alters a Genius's perspective in ways that make non-mad science all but impossible to carry out. This also means the theories a Genius uses to explain how a Wonder works don't matter as long as they're self-consistent.
• The Science is Science Law, aka the Anticlark Corollary, states that while Clarke's Third Law might have a point and the Law of Broken Theory still applies, Wonders are not actual magic and don't get their power from Mania alone. Sure, they're derived from theories that circumvent or ignore physical laws, but a Wonder will never ignore the laws of physics entirely. Geniuses are not mages, and Wonders cannot be made out of thin air. A bird carved out of wood won't fly if a Genius dumps Mania into it and says it's "enchanted", but a flying machine built by a Taoist Genius who lived during Song Dynasty and believed in the five Taoist elements will still fly, and it will fly based on modern aerodynamic principles on top of other, less understood laws.
• The Black Box Law, aka Goldblum's Diatribe, describes that while a Genius might know what their Wonders do, they do not know exactly how they do this. Building a Wonder deals with principles beyond human understanding, and these principles are inconsistent at best. Some Geniuses believe that the use of Mania allows one to use the path of least resistance to get a Wonder working, but nobody really knows how their Wonders work. Because if they did they would not be practicing mad science, just regular science.
• The Mere Mortal Law, aka Gilligan's Rule, warns that when a regular mortal gets their hands on a Wonder it will maim/kill/eat them, often in highly spectacular ways that tend to destroy the Wonder and everything near it- this phenomenon is called Havoc. Giving a Wonder to a mortal is like giving a gun to a chimpanzee: it will go wrong sooner or later, and as amusing as it might be to watch you should probably be very far away when that happens. This is even worse for actual scientists, who will inevitably be able to figure out exactly how to fiddle with a Wonder in the wrong way on top of knowing why it shouldn't be able to work. Obviously, this also rules out the possibility of a Genius striking it rich by selling Wonders to mere mortals- even when they can be mass-produced, each mortal that handles the Wonders will break them in a horrible new way each time.
• The Obvious Truth Law, aka Mulder's Lament, distinguishes Geniuses from many of the other WoD games in that there's not some great conspiracy or masquerade in place to protect everyday people. Indeed, the closest thing to one (the Lemurians) would absolutely love to reveal themselves to the world, but nobody would believe them. Normal people can see and remember Wonders just fine, and unless specifically shielded in some way a Wonder will show up on camera footage just like any other physical object would. Those who do come into contact with a Wonder and don't either get killed by it or dismiss it as madness after it collapses into a useless piece of junk usually either become a Beholden (a ghoul equivalent, able to use Wonders without breaking them but who is essentially unable to maintain a coherent worldview and simply echoes that of the Genius- they might object to murder, but if asked why they'd be unable to answer) or might very well become part of the next generation of Geniuses themselves.

The actual equivalent to a legal code that the Peerage enforces is much more straightforward:

• Don't Hurt, Don't Steal, Don't Lie: The first two parts are just common sense when it comes to maintaining Obligation. The latter is more of a byproduct from the Peerage's early history, but many geniuses still appreciate truthfulness.
• Help Out, Chip In: This used to be a formal tax, but now it's more of a sentiment that Peers should help each other out. Sharing of lab space, ensuring access to food, shelter, and access to the mad science news outlets- that sort of thing. It's not easy to uphold these days though, as quite a few Geniuses were dirt-poor even before Inspiration crippled their chances at getting work. It goes without saying that very few mortals want to hire someone as nutty as an Inspired.
• Stay Low: No robbing banks with giant robots or threatening the UN with a moon laser, because at best you'll only succeed at turning a bunch of people into Inspired (and that's more labs to feed). And at worst, Havoc disintegrates everyone in a ten mile radius of your dumb ass. Also, stay humble. You're not a revolutionary scientist, you're just a nutjob.
• You Enlighten It, You Buy It: While the details are obtuse, the simple version is that if your Wonder is somehow responsible for another's Breakthrough, it's up to you to educate them up to their first Thesis. Until then, any shenanigans they get into are your responsibility.
• Fuck Lemuria: The Lemurians might not be openly at war with the Peerage these days, but that doesn't mean that any of the rules of courtesy extended to other Geniuses should be applied to them. Outright violence is discouraged (at least in public), but theft and deception of all types are free game and are expected from Lemuria in return. The only caveat is that when Lemuria fucks with you, you'll only have as much protection from them as you can buy.

Axioms

Catalysts		Foundations			Baramin
Grimm	Katastrofi	Artificers	Automata	Prostasia	Atomists	Automata	Apokalypsi
Hoffnung	Metaptropi	Directors	Automata	Epikrato	Etherites	Katastrofi	Skafoi
Klagen	Exelixi	Navigators	Katastrofi	Skafoi	Mechanists	Automata	Prostasia
Neid	Epikrato	Progenitors	Automata	Exelixi	Phenomenologists	Apokalypsi	Epikrato
Staunen	Apokalypsi	Scholastics	Apokalypsi	Metaptropi	Oracles	Exelixi	Metatropi
-	-	'Formalists'	Exelixi	Metaptropi	-	-	-

Axioms work much like the Spheres from Mage: The Ascension. You get a rough outline of what you can do with them, from which point on it's all up to you. Fortunately this works a lot better in practice, but building takes some effort: you have to decide what you're going to build, what your Wonder can do, how your stats align with this and so on. This is all a one-time thing though, and once you're done that raygun of yours can be used as normal... except inasmuch that most wonders end up with some annoying fault that makes them act up in minor but inconvenient ways (e.g. that raygun might be unable to damage anything made of glass, or its sights keep getting misaligned so you can't aim with it properly without spending an action to adjust them). Said faults are nearly impossible to fix without introducing new faults in the process. The process of making a Wonder itself is also highly prone to failing, often spectacularly, and more than one Genius has had to call their Wonder-building off when they realized they needed some rare component they couldn't possibly afford to get.

Upon character creation you get three favored Axioms to start with. These cost less to level up and give you a +1 to all attempts to make a Wonder within those Axioms. The first favored Axiom comes from the Genius' Catalyst, the second is one of the two from their Foundation and the third can be any other Axiom. Refer to the chart for all Axioms and who favor them. Rogues get the one from their Catalyst and can pick any two others.

Apocalypsi: The Axiom of Discovery

Creating tools for discovery, revealing, communication and scanners. These can be mundane or natural, detecting anything from data in whatever form it may be (from being on a CD to digital to in a book), scan for supernatural creatures, grant telepathy, see across great distances, predict the future via probability and outright reveal the truth, whatever it may be in past, present and future.

Automata: The Axiom of Independence

Robots, artificial constructs and other things made to move: that's what Automata's all about. This Axiom uses a system of Automation Points granted from two dots in Automata onwards (one dot only makes simple trigger-based devices) to upgrade your creations. At two dots these points equal to your Inspiration, while at higher levels you get your Inspiration times your dots in Automata. Additionally, Automata allows a Genius to build factories that produces a specific kind of object (more if you take the Dynamic Factory variable): this can be anything from simple objects from wood, stone or metal to cutting edge technology, simple or complex plants, animals and even humans, with five dots allowing for the automated creation of Wonders. Note that living beings created this way are considered manes and thus are vulnerable to Havoc like any other Wonder. The actual Automata created this way have intelligence matching the level of the Axiom: from only basic input/output, intelligence like a zombie/basic program, animal-like intelligence, human intelligence all the way up to transcendent, allowing them to become Geniuses in their own right.

Epikrato: The Axiom of Control

Control, but not just of minds. Sure, it's in there but you can do such more with Epikrato. You can drive cars, unlock a door, control a computer from across the room and so on... and that's just at one dot. Two dots grants you telekinesis, the ability to take over someone's body or just knock them the fuck out. At three it's mind control o' clock, use Jedi mind tricks or even drain someone's Willpower points, something rarely seen in the World of Darkness. Four dots is where things get interesting with control of probability to allow for manipulation of the stock market, control crowds, influence politics and even control the weather. Five dots is flat out alteration of one's personality or their Talents, morality, memories... or just outright remove someone's mind, turn them into a Beholden and back again, or even transfer consciousness between two things.

Exelixi: The Axiom of Restoration

Restoration and repair at low levels, improvement at the medium levels and outright resurrection above that. At just one dot you can restore Bashing or Lethal damage (Aggravated takes four dots), cure disease or create potent life support devices. At two and three dots you can start to mechanically and biologically upgrade yourself and others until you resemble something like a mad science version of a Space Marine. Things like exo-suits are also possible at this point. Four dots gives you the ability to regenerate, reattach severed limbs and act like a general Deadpool ripoff. Five dots allows true resurrection of the dead...if it works. If it doesn't, you'll have a horde of ravenous Pandorans on your hands instead or worse.

Katastrofi: The Axiom of Destruction

Rayguns and missiles and moon lasers, oh my. Katastrofi is the Axiom of blowing shit up for a good reason. Base damage for all weapons is 5, and only goes up from there. One dot is enough for Bashing damage through pain and shock. Two will give you razor-sharp swords, ray guns and other objects of death. At three you get plasma, lightsabers, disintegration and other such Aggravated goodness. Four gives you Vorpal weapons, and high-tech tools of destruction that rips apart the laws of the universe itself. At five you're pretty much weaponizing black holes, suns and spacetime itself. And yes, with the right tweaks you can still do Bashing damage when hitting someone with a black hole on a stick.

Metaptropi: The Axiom of Transformation

Change: The Axiom. While it starts off with simple shapechanging at one dot, two can transmute matter and create illusions which can be made to move with Automata. Three dots gives you growing and shrinking rays, which can be used to add and remove health dots for a short amount of time. This can be quite effective in a fight. Four gives all sorts of fantastical transformations like giving wings, altering Attributes, turn into a dragon or a cyborg, grow armor or gain some Physical Merits. At five the real fun begins: change one's phase of matter, become invisible, phase through things or create one's own pocket dimension.

Prostasia: The Axiom of Protection

A rather straightforward Axiom, Prostasia grants protection in the form of armor or base durability, depending on what kind of Wonder it is applied to. It is the counterpart of Katastrofi, being pretty much the only "non-supernatural" thing whose toughness is not shrugged off by that Axiom. It also grants protection from atmospheric pressure, does not show up on radar, stacks with other types of armor (physical/shielding) and only costs Mania when activated. It can also be used to create tough locks, provide mental shielding, protect servers and be invisible. Also one of the needed components for any self-respecting power armor.

Skafoi: The Axiom of Travel

If you want a sick motorbike that can drive up walls, cross the ocean and even go to space, then this is the Axiom for you. One dot is for ground and water vehicles, two is for those in the air, underwater and underground, three for spacecraft and super-submarines, four is for teleporters, superluminal speeds and dimensional travel. Now with free artificial gravity! At five you can distort time to essentially gain super speed, turning fifteen minutes into a second... or you can say screw that noise and build a time machine. But seriously, keep away from time travel. The timeline's been fucked up horribly enough as it is, no thanks to Lemuria. There is a Time Police, but they're overworked and corrupt and probably will not have much patience for your shit if you alter anything important and can't come up with the bribes to pay them off. And don't bother trying to assassinate Hitler, they clone him regularly after the last time someone tried that. (If you're ever in Hamburg 1921, you can visit the cloning facility. They give tours.)

Downloads

Download the game here.