Genius The Transgression/Chapter Two: Character Creation

There are two futures, the future of desire and the future of fate, and man's reason has never learnt to separate them. Desire, the strongest thing in the world, is itself all future, and it is not for nothing that in all the religions the motive is always forwards to an endless futurity of bliss or annihilation. Now that religion gives place to science the paradiscial future of the soul fades before the Utopian future of the species, and still the future rules. But always there is, on the other side, destiny, that which inevitably will happen, a future here concerned not as the other was with man and his desires, but blindly and inexorably with the whole universe of space and time. The Buddhist seeks to escape from the Wheel of Life and Death, the Christian passes through them in the faith of another world to come, the modern reformer, as unrealistic but less imaginative, demands his chosen future in this world of men. -J.D. Bernal, The World, the Flesh, and the Devil

Creating a fully-developed genius character requires an understanding both of the genius' Inspired dreams and her mortal origins. Geniuses, for all their extraordinary power, are still mortal men and women, and their human obsessions and beliefs guide their Breakthrough and much of their subsequent life. A genius must be more than a collection of dots optimized to fulfill a strategic niche; the Inspired are creatures of human passion and mundane ambition as well as transcendent understanding. Try to use the interaction between the genius' new and old personas to create a dynamic, interesting character.

Translating a genius into "dots on the paper" can be difficult. First, accept that you may be frustrated by a beginning genius' limited abilities. New geniuses begin play with a few Axioms and a handful of wonders, but they are not super-scientists; not yet. See this as an opportunity to view life through your character's eyes: he might be just as frustrated as you are at his abilities, which are potent but not yet world-breaking. Imagining how your character developed―from the first thoughts of "something is weird here" to the Breakthrough to learning his first few Axioms―can help you understand where your character has come from, allowing you to turn goals already accomplished into Skills and Merits, and goals yet to be achieved into plans for the future.

Your genius will probably belong to a collaborative made up of the other players' characters, so you may want to meet with the other players, not to optimize everyone's genius as part of an elite combat team (seriously, it never works), but to make sure no one is stepping on anyone else's conceptual toes. Some negotiation about who gets to be "the guy with the robots" or "the brooding crime-fighter" may be in order. Other players can also provide new perspectives on your genius that you haven't considered. The Storyteller may also have important input and advice about what sort of game she is planning to run, allowing you to fit your genius into the chronicle.

Step One: Choose Concept

Mad scientists are complex creatures, but many can be described with a few well-chosen words: "Death-obsessed biochemist," "experimental vehicle pilot," "visionary psychic researcher." Using either images of mad science from media or your own unsupported imagination, try to call an image to mind and summarize your character.

Your concept allows you to quickly describe your character to other players, and can give the Storyteller clues about what sorts of stories you want your character to experience.

At the beginning of the chronicle, most geniuses in the collaborative will be new to the whole "mad science" thing, with at most a few months of experience on the job. However, some characters have had previous brushes with Inspiration that they avoided, preventing a full Breakthrough. This is usually linked to a genius' starting Inspiration: a genius with only a single dot in Inspiration has been touched for the first time, while one with more dots has probably fought off the wonders and horrors of becoming a genius before.

At this point, you might want to consider the nature of your genius' Breakthrough, which determines her catalyst. Your genius' personality can also help determine which foundation she joins. You should also consider an aesthetic, what your mad scientist's inventions will look like. Does she slap machinery together from discarded circuitry and engine blocks stolen from junk yards? If so, her inventions will look very different from a genius who builds his wonders out of the finest brass and dark wood, then hand-polishes them until they shine with care and devotion.

Step Two: Select Attributes

Your genius' Attribute dots determine his raw capabilities. Use the genius' life before the Breakthrough as a guide to determining his Attributes. Try to imagine how the genius' Attributes would influence his personality, and vice-versa.

All Attributes begin at one dot. Divide your Attributes into primary (five dots), secondary (four dots), and tertiary (three dots). The fifth dot in any Attribute requires two dots to purchase.

When you add the genius template (step five), you will add an additional dot to Intelligence, Wits, or Resolve. This does not cost two dots to purchase if it raises an Attribute to five dots.

Though the Inspired vary considerably in talents and temperament, many possess a few common traits.

Intelligence is prized above almost all other Attributes in the Inspired community, and understandably so: only the smartest can reliably build wonders. Wits, however, is invaluable when a wonder is needed right now, not just after three days in a laboratory. Geniuses who focus on travel and adventure need high Dexterity to control the strange vehicles they build and Stamina to survive the rigors of hostile and alien environments. And not all of the Inspired are shut-ins: many are naturally charming, almost magnetic, and others hone their Social Attributes so that they might rise to positions of power as laboratory directors or executives in the private sector. Presence gives a genius the raw strength of personality to bend others to his will, to amaze, delight, and terrify, while Manipulation is less glamorous but no less useful.

Despite their tenacity, many Inspired lack Resolve and Composure and are psychologically vulnerable when taken out of their narrow environments. Many are temperamental, unstable, even gullible despite their brilliance. Those that do not suffer from this weakness, however, can be as relentless as they are smooth, able to travel from boardroom to farthest uncharted land while keeping a level head.

Step Three: Select Skills

Divide your Skills into primary (eleven dots), secondary (seven dots), and tertiary (four dots). A fifth dot in any Skill costs two points to purchase.

A genius' Skills often determine what approach he takes to his Inspiration. Mental Skills are often primary, but which Skills receive the most attention can tell a person much about a mad scientist. Experts in Computer research artificial intelligence and networks beyond the dreams of MIT or Tokyo Tech, while Inspired who take up Academics are super-psychologists and philosophers. Students of Medicine are not just doctors, but biologists, surgeons, and biochemical engineers. Geniuses who focus on Crafts can master everything from aerospace engineering to transatomic metallurgy, and experts on the Occult can catch amazing glimpses of worlds far removed from this one. The Science Skill serves as the one field tying these disparate branches of knowledge together, but some geniuses specialize here, too, becoming renowned theorists among the Peerage.

The mortal Skills a genius gained before his Breakthrough can also determine his foundation. Psychologists and people with high Social Skills are likely to become Directors, while experts in Medicine look toward the Progenitors. High-energy physicists and explorers often end up as Navigators, as do scientists with high ranks in Drive and/or Survival, while Academics, Investigation, and Occult are important to Scholastics. Fiddlers, hackers, and craftsmen often join the Artificers and focus on Crafts or Computer. Conversely, a genius may take the opposite approach, getting picked up by a foundation first, and then fleshing out the most useful Skills with the help of a tutor.

Step Four: Select Skill Specialties

Even the Inspired, who often are or strive to become polymaths, find need to focus on specific areas of study. Geniuses often focus on strange and seemingly-useless specializations that are too narrow to be useful anywhere except mad science. Others maintain hobbies or interests from their previous lives, or can call upon the hyper-focused exploration that often precedes a Breakthrough.

Choose three Skill Specialties. You may choose more than one Specialty for the same Skill.

Step Five: Add Genius Template

When a genius experiences her Breakthrough, she is redefined as a creature of Inspiration and Mania. While still human, she is also something more, and gains powers and suffers drawbacks unique to her new condition.

Note that templates cannot overlap. Geniuses will not experience the First Change and become a werewolf, nor Awaken as a Mage. Attempts to Embrace a genius result in a dead genius. If taken to Faerie she will not become a Changeling (if she survives the experience). Her corpse, if turned into a Promethean, is just that: a new Promethean.

Attribute Bonus:

A genius receives an additional dot to one Mental Attribute, representing the increase in mental capacity granted by the Breakthrough. Meticulous, thoughtful, theoretical mad scientists often gain a bonus to Intelligence, while creative, artistic, intuitive ones can gain a bonus to Wits, and determined, practical, and stubborn geniuses usually receive a bonus to Resolve. Select whichever Attribute seems most appropriate.

A genius' Mental Attributes are still limited by her Inspiration.

Foundations:

When a genius first experiences his Breakthrough, he flails about, struggling to find his center while figuring out exactly what has happened to him. Provided he makes the transition smoothly and does not become a Lemurian, echo doctor, or one of the Illuminated, he may gravitate toward one of the five foundations that dictate a genius' approach to his work.

Each foundation offers favored Axioms, natural areas of specialty for all members of that foundation, as well as a grant, a unique talent that all geniuses in that foundation have mastered. But more than that, a foundation offers a shared approach to mad science that breaks across boundaries of culture and mundane philosophy, giving the genius a community within the community of peers, a group that shares a common approach, style, and terminology.

Examine the five foundations and decide which one best fits your character. If none seems to apply, your genius may instead be a rogue: she has either never encountered the foundations until recently, or wants to join none of them. Rogues are welcome to join most Peer collaboratives, but they are often viewed with suspicion and disdain.

Catalysts:

The foundation is a considered choice, based on how the genius approaches mad science. The catalyst is more internal and more visceral, an emotional stamp that remains with the genius forever and echoes the feelings that drove her to catalyze. Sorrow, obsession, jealousy...some strong feeling guides a genius and governs her behavior and Obligation.

All Inspired belong to a catalyst, whether they know it or not and whether or not they can articulate a philosophy behind their Inspiration. Members of the same catalyst do not form "communities" around their shared feeling; these divisions are more personal. Still, they impact the genius deeply, swaying how she learns Axioms and helping to define how she approaches her Obligation to humanity.

A genius' catalyst determines one of her favored Axioms, as well as her first Derangement. Should the genius receive a Derangement as a result of Obligation loss or almost any other reason, the first Derangement received is always based on her catalyst. Subsequent Derangements are determined normally.

Inspiration:

The Inspiration Trait measures how brightly the genius' inner light glows. As a genius' understanding increases, so does Inspiration, which is a prospect as terrifying as it is magnificent. On the one hand, greater Inspiration means more wonders and more powerful wonders, as well as a greater understanding of exactly what a genius is and what she is doing. On the other hand, the blinding light of Inspiration can devour a weak-willed genius, hollowing her out and taking up residence in her brain.

A new genius possess one dot of Inspiration for free. Geniuses who have flirted previously with mad science may begin the chronicle with two or three dots of Inspiration. Additional Inspiration dots cost three Merit points per dot, so your genius may spend three Merit dots to begin with Inspiration 2 or six Merit dots to begin begin with Inspiration 3.

Axioms:

A genius builds wonders based on Axioms, which are the branches of mad science. Each Axiom covers a general effect or approach―Katastrofi covers all instruments of destruction, for example―and each is ranked from one to five dots, with higher ranks granting more and greater effects. Geniuses must purchase dots from an Axiom in order, from the first dot to the fifth. However, a genius can often build many different types of wonders with each dot in an Axiom. Just one dot in Prostasia, the Axiom of Protection, for example, allows a genius to build an armored suit, a deflector screen, a protective ward against robots, or a forcefield cage to hold enemies.

A genius' catalyst gives her one favored Axiom. Her foundation offers two possibilities, of which she may choose one as another favored Axiom. The final favored Axiom can be anything; it is up to the genius to decide, but once chosen, it cannot be changed.

A rogue receives one favored Axiom from her catalyst and two other favored Axioms of her choice. These also cannot be changed.

A favored Axiom costs fewer experience points to increase. Further, a genius receives a +1 bonus to all attempts to build a wonder from one of her favored Axioms. Finally, a genius can buy her favored Axiom up to any level. Non-favored Axioms can be no higher than the genius' Inspiration.

A beginning genius has three dots worth of Axioms. All dots must be from one of her three favored Axioms.

Axiom Ranks:

Within the Peerage, the "dot" ranks in Axioms are sometimes given names:

●: Student

●●: Scholar

●●●: Doctor

●●●●: Implementor

●●●●●: Master

These terms vary by region, foundation, and sometimes even by Axiom (Implementors of Apokalypsi are usually referred to as "Professors of Apokalypsi," for example), but the five divisions of talent are generally recognized across the Peerage.

Geniuses refer to wonders made with different ranks of Axioms as a wonder's class, mark, or grade: a class-4 matter relocator, a mark-III death ray, a grade-2 scanner. Different collaboratives use different terms.

Step Six: Select Merits

A newly-catalyzed genius has seven dots worth of Merits that can be spent on general Merits or genius-only Merits in any combination you desire. Merits should reflect the genius' nature and personality: recluses are unlikely to stock up on Social Merits, while a rough-and-ready fighting-genius will probably have a good selection of Merits useful in a brawl.

The Storyteller may disallow certain Merits, require certain Merits, or even pass out certain Merit dots for free (such as requiring or giving out one dot in Laboratory if he expects the player characters to share a Lab), in order to shape his chronicle.

Step Seven: Determine Advantages

Genius are more than human, and some mortal Advantages change when applied to a genius. The Inspired also get their own unique Advantages.

Willpower:

Spending a Willpower point adds three dice to a roll, which can often make the difference between life and death when a genius is caught without her wonders or the protection of beholden or other allies. Geniuses often eagerly burn Willpower during the creation and use of new wonders.

A genius can spend Mania in the same turn in which she spends Willpower.

Obligation:

A genius' flesh is mortal, but her mind is something greater, and the Inspiration enhances more than just her intellect. It somehow redefines her moral system, elevating her to a position of guardianship or stewardship over humanity. Though a genius might loathe the common man, she is charged with protecting and guiding her fellow human beings.

Many of the Inspired have an ideal in their minds: the cool watcher of humanity, aloof from its everyday affairs but concerned with its development as a whole, not passionate but acting out of compassion for those teeming masses that deserve the benefits of the genius' work. During the Breakthrough, the genius' mortal Morality is superseded by this new, stronger sense of Obligation.

Ridiculed by peers and despised by common people, many geniuses nonetheless realize that to abandon their Obligation to humanity entirely reduces them to cruel and inhuman manipulators, utterly alone and willing to interact with others only as victims, lackeys, and test subjects.

Optionally, a Storyteller may allow players to trade dots of Obligation for experience points during character creation. This may reflect some sin committed before the Breakthrough, but more likely represents a grave transgression that the genius committed in her first days as a mad scientist. This transgression taught her something important (hence the extra experience points), but may have already begun her downward slide toward brutality and callous indifference. A dot of Obligation can be cashed in for five experience points. The genius' Obligation can drop to five this way, earning ten experience points. This does result in the genius gaining his catalyst's Derangement. The Derangement appears if the genius reduces his Obligation to 6; reducing his Obligation to 5 does not risk further Derangements.

Dropping one's Obligation before play does not yield Larvae.

Virtues and Vices:

A genius possesses the normal mortal Virtues and Vices. Some Virtues, such as Fortitude and Hope, and some Vices, such as Pride and Envy, are particularly well-represented among the Inspired. These Virtues and Vices are not always perfectly reflected in a genius' catalyst: not all Neids focus on the Vice of Envy and not all Hoffnungs define themselves by their sense of Hope.

Arch-Madness:

Storytellers may choose to let players play more advanced geniuses. To do so, allocate additional experience points that are spent before play begins. Due to the complexity of creating and managing wonders, this option is only recommended for a group of experienced players.

Just Catalyzed: 0 experience points

Known Scholar: 35 experience points

Senior Researcher: 75 experience points

Legend of Mad Science: 120+ experience points

Step Eight: The First Wonders

A new genius is allowed five rolls in order to his first wonders. These wonders are constructed normally. There are a few conditions that apply to these wonders:

• They cannot be kitbashed, nor can they benefit from extra time spent on their creation.

• The genius cannot spend Willpower or Mania.

• The genius can internalize or graft these wonders to himself automatically with no additional rolls.

• If a "failure" result is obtained at any point, the genius loses the roll but can immediately try again to create the same type of wonder.

• The genius can benefit from Beholden Ability, but cannot receive aid from anyone else or anyone else's beholden.

• The Assembly Line Merit does not apply to these wonders.

• The genius gains the full benefits of her Laboratory Equipment or the collaborative's shared Equipment.

• The genius must finish construction of at least one wonder. If he has failed to construct a wonder after five rolls, he gains additional rolls until he finishes at least one wonder.

• The genius can scrap wonders with which he is not satisfied at any time during this initial creation process, though making the wonder still costs at least one roll.

• The genius can stop making wonders at any time once she has at least one.

Remember that a genius receives +1 to each roll because each of these wonders comes from a favored Axiom.

These first few wonders do not necessarily represent the results of however-many back-to-back days of work immediately preceding the start of the chronicle, but the results show how much success the genius has had with her first forays into mad science.

Step Nine: A New Genius Is Born

Once the numbers are on the page and the right dots are filled in, it's time to define some details about the character. Does he have any unusual or telling mannerisms, ticks, or turns of phrase? What is her nationality and native language? (Geniuses travel more than many of the other strange beings in the World of Darkness.) What is his appearance? How does she dress? (Not everyone fancies lab coats and brass goggles.) Does he favor a different look for inside the laboratory and out?

Every genius possesses an aesthetic, a style for the genius' wonders. This is an inevitable outgrowth of Inspiration, not just a fashion statement: what a genius' wonders look like and with what components they are constructed is both a personal and metaphysical statement. Aesthetics vary enormously among geniuses. Some favor the rough look of exposed machinery and unpainted metal, while others aim for a sleek, user-friendly appearance, all rounded plastic and simple lines. Others try to imitate the styles of inventions past, or at least an imagined version of them, focusing on the swept-silver elegance of 1930s rocketships, the clanking brass solidity of 19th century engineering, or the baroque magnificence of Renaissance clockwork. Go ahead and finalize your choice for your mad scientist's aesthetic.

Also consider how the genius relates to the Community, the non-mad scientists. Many low-Inspiration mad scientists are still capable enough of communicating their ideas to hold down jobs at universities or in the private sector. Others have some useful mundane skill, technical or otherwise, that they can turn to their advantage. How does the genius survive, and how does she find enough money to support her research?

The genius' Traits can help define the character here. A genius with higher Wits than Intelligence might lack formal education and produce unstable wonders, but he has the insight to spot problems fast and use his Inspiration for immediate workarounds. A genius with high Manipulation might be as charming as your crazy uncle or as polished as a used car salesmen, while a low-Composure genius is easily mocked, drawn into arguments, and brought to hysterics.

Mania:

Mania is the distilled energy of Inspiration that motivates the genius and allows her to create, modify, and use wonders.

All geniuses begin with a full Mania pool, as determined by their Inspiration, minus the Mania bound to their starting wonders.

Mania is rated only as a pool of points that can be spent. It has no dot rating.

The Prelude:

The prelude is an alternate way to experience parts of your character's development that can give a more visceral feel for what your genius can do and what she is like. Once you have finished building your character, you and the Storyteller sit down for a one-on-one session to learn what turned your character from a normal mortal into a genius.

The prelude is not a full "game" like the rest of the chronicle: the Storyteller should be free to make ad hoc rulings rather than rolling the dice, and should show a greater willingness to engage in director-like behavior, starting scenes in media res or ending them abruptly. Rather than seeing the session as a chapter in the unfolding story, it's better to view the prelude as a series of vignettes. The Storyteller's job is to provide your character with interesting situations that are relevant to his life as a genius. Your job is to figure out how you want to play your character and what elements of his personality you want to emphasize. Both player and Storyteller should feel free to make requests or engage in author-level commentary on the situation in which your genius finds himself.

Most preludes should be run individually, since much of the prelude will take place before the characters involved are full geniuses, and possibly before they have met. However, a talented Storyteller can weave together several simultaneous storylines taking place at different times and with different characters, using the events in one character's prelude to shine light on events in another. If the Storyteller wants to run a group prelude, he can draw the different storylines together, allowing the prelude to culminate in a meeting of the new geniuses, allowing the players to explore how they will relate to one-another in the coming chronicle. In a group prelude, players whose characters are not "on-stage" can take over other characters at the Storyteller's request, or offer recommendations for scenes or imagery―an option not normally open to players in the main game.

Storytelling the Prelude:

A burning lab smells worse than you'd expect. Scorched rubber, melting chemicals, and the sickening aroma of burning flesh. Now you're sure that not everyone got out. The flames―orange and red and chemical green―leap into the night sky, the hellish glow reflecting off the low clouds and illuminating the pine trees that lead away from Applied Cryonics to the main street. Looking that way, you can just see regular red-and-blue geometries cutting into the surrounding forest, the approach of police cars as they drag themselves up the steep hill.

One cruiser stops and a young man with 70s aviator shades and a mustache that only cops wear gets out. He puts his hand on his gun when he sees the sharp thing you're holding, but doesn't draw it. From a safe distance, over the roar of the flames, he shouts, "What happened here?"

What happened here?

Try to view your prelude as a shakedown cruise: it's a rough cut, and rules and causality are not as important as making sure you and the Storyteller are on the same page about your character. During or after the prelude, you may need to make adjustments to your character: you might realize that her underlying anger is based on a deep resentment of her friends' success, and switch catalysts from Grimm to Neid. Don't see this as a chance to fine-tune your character's effectiveness, but as an opportunity to shake out the conceptual kinks. The Storyteller might justify these changes, or justify his own narrative tricks and scene manipulation, because the prelude takes place around the time of your character's Breakthrough, where he's probably half-crazed anyway and unlikely to remember the details of events, but mostly the prelude is there so everyone at the table can fine-tune their characters in order to optimize their experience in play.

In general, try to do as much as possible during the prelude. That will help you figure out how your character interacts with the world, how he behaves, what he likes, and how his madness manifests. Get into the head of your character, and don't get upset if the Storyteller glides over events like combat, reducing them to a single throw of the dice or ignoring the rules entirely in favor of description. Oh, and don't try to avoid becoming a genius. Doing that wastes everyone's time.

The Before-Time

"What the hell are you doing in here?"

It's not one of the security guards. Worse, it's Jim...excuse me, Dr. James Elliot Neill, Director of Preservative Research. You wanted to get a closer look at what they were doing. Those big regulatory computers seem to call to you over the long nights here. You've felt your thoughts getting crisper, cleaner, and recently the curiosity has been eating you alive. But Dr. Neill is always watching the computers, and now he's pissed off that a janitor has wandered into a restricted zone.

You need this job. What are you going to tell him?

Storytellers can begin a prelude by focusing on what life was like for a genius before the Breakthrough. In this first stage of the prelude, you'll need to figure out what sort of person you were before you became a mad scientist. Keep in the back of your mind whether you will remain this way once you are Inspired, or whether the Breakthrough changed some or all of your personality. Were you already a respected scientist? A failure as a grad student? A gifted technician without the money to afford college? Were you brave or cowardly, acquiescent or combative, charming or a huge nerd?

Some of these everyday scenes may focus on events leading up to your Breakthrough. Others might be entirely mundane: watching a co-worker beat the high score on the Galaga game in the canteen, or chatting with an old friend about what it was like in Afghanistan after five years without contact.

If dice rolls are needed, remember that at this point you are a regular mortal, lacking Inspiration, Mania, or wonders.

The Eureka Moment

They're using you like some sort of drug-sniffing dog, it seems. Half of the researchers are in awe; half think you're just crazy and lucky. But you know when one of the machines needs replacing. You know what they need, how to keep them running, and so you spend your days in the freezing-cold room, monitoring them. You have to hold a mop, though. Damn regulations.

What's this? Someone has left an open company laptop on one of the work tables. On the ground near it they spilled a can of Dr. Pepper, as if they had to get out in a hurry. And they think they've locked the laptop, but you know all the company codes now, and even if you didn't...

"The Resurrection Consortium." That's what it says behind the login screen. What's that? It would be so easy to...no, but you couldn't...

What do you do?

Though there is rarely a single moment when a regular person transforms into a mad scientist, the Storyteller may wish to offer one or a few vignettes about your genius' transformation.

The actual Breakthrough is often a traumatic, frightening experience, made all the more terrible by the fact that a new genius almost certainly knows that she can walk away from it all, can shut it all down...but that she wants to go forward anyway. Hallucinations, visions, and deranged thinking afflict a genius in the midst of her Breakthrough, bits of animated Mania or simple insanity caused by the pressure of the experience warping her perceptions and reasoning.

The Breakthrough is an opportunity to define what matters to your character: what motivates him, what he loves and fears, and what will continue to matter to him once he is a genius. What your genius does in the midst of his Breakthrough can establish plot hooks for future chronicles, giving the Storyteller dangling story-threads that can be resolved at some future time. Since most Storytellers like it when their players do the work for them, try to lay the seeds for future excitement during this part of the prelude; it might yield more focus on your character's story-arc in the future.

As the Breakthrough progresses, your genius will get access to Inspiration and Mania, though he may not gain Axioms and a foundation until much later.

The Wider World

"I'm impressed that you found me so easily," Dr. Layota says. She sits down and steeples her fingers to prevent them from shaking. "At this point you could probably turn me over to the police. Fraud, criminal conspiracy, and of course, that unfortunate incident with the piranhas...

"But where would that get you?" The doctor stands up and opens her briefcase. You can't see what she's pulling out, which sets you on edge. "A head full of crazy and no way to get it out. You're going to burst like a grape if you keep that up. Let's instead cut a deal. A year ago you would've wanted money. Now I know what you want."

She holds up a three-ring binder labeled The Axiom of Exelixi.

"All this can be yours," she says, "for the low, low price of not picking up that telephone."

What do you do?

By the end of the vignettes surrounding the Breakthrough, you should have a firm understanding of how your genius catalyzed and how that has changed her life. The rest of the prelude is picking up the pieces and putting things back together. The Storyteller here can include details about how your character learned about the Axioms, about the foundations, the Peerage, and Lemuria. Toward the end of the prelude, you will also need to address how your genius continues to interface with the rest of the world, if at all. Vignettes covering whether or not your character continues to hold down a job, how her family, friends, and loved ones react to the change in her personality, and how a new mad scientist interacts with regular people are as important as mini-stories about learning how to build robots.

At this point in the prelude, the Storyteller will likely introduce the other player characters, if it has been a cooperative prelude. If that's the case, a bit of role-playing should allow your characters to form a collaborative, if that is your goal. Otherwise the Storyteller can introduce other major characters, such as antagonists, potential mentors, or fellow geniuses. How your character interacts with these figures during the prelude can color relations during the chronicle.

A Few Questions:

If your character is finished but you still want to add more meat to the bones, you can try answering some of the following questions. Feel free to answer some or all of them.

What Do You Look Like?

What is your ethnicity? What fashions do you favor? Do you have a separate "mad scientist" wardrobe, or do you wear regular clothes in the lab? Or do you walk around "in character" when interacting with normal society? Do you look like a scientist, mad or otherwise, or would be people be surprised if they found out you have a death ray in your briefcase?

How Hard Was Your Breakthrough?

Was it a process of gradual revelation, or a sudden thunderbolt from the Heavens that burned out most of your normal-person circuitry? Did you lose your job, your friends, or your mind, or did you manage to hide the madness? Are you trying to rebuild, trying to hide what has happened, or happy to let your old self disappear?

How Much of "You" Is Left?

Do you view yourself as basically the same person as you were before your Breakthrough, or do you see yourself as an inhuman mentality inhabiting a mortal body? How certain are you of that assessment―do you feel comfortable relating the disparate parts of your higher and lower thoughts, or are you tormented by your new, warped identity?

Who Matters To You?

Are any other geniuses your friends, or just co-workers? Are you married? In love―perhaps unrequited? Do you have a beautiful daughter? (If so, be careful―if you turn evil she'll probably betray you to the hero and let the monster eat you.) Do you have an extended family, or a network of friends that care about you, or are you alone in the world except for your fellow geniuses? Do you have a home, or just a workplace where you spend the night?

What Are You Working On?

What are your long-term mad science plans? Do you have a half-built time machine that you lack the expertise to finish lying around the lab? What sorts of wonders do you want to build, once you master the necessary Axioms? Do you have ambitions in the mortal world―in politics, in finance―or in the weird halls of power created by the Inspired?

Names and Titles:

Geniuses are physically human and most stick with their regular name. If "Jane Conant" is fine for a regular scientist, it's probably fine for a mad one. Others alter their names to reflect their fields of study, often using puns and wordplay. "Jane Chronos" has a nice ring to it, after all. Plenty of geniuses like having "Doctor" or "Professor" in front of their name, and those that don't have a degree figure that being a genius entitles them to one. (Few among the Inspired dispute this point.) Some geniuses prefer entirely fanciful names, with or without a title, like Doctor Tempest, Mr. Syntax, or The Calculatrix. These nicknames are becoming more common with the rise of Internet use among the Inspired. Asking if a mad scientist really has a degree is considered as polite in the Peerage as asking if a mad scientist has a problem with drug addiction.

Example of Character Creation:

Kirsten creates a character for Andrea's upcoming Genius game. The game will revolve around the collaborative inhabiting an old mansion that was used, centuries ago, by a legendary genius, and that is full of orphan wonders and strange creatures. Andrea's requirements are that all characters belong to a foundation and that they must spend at least one point on the Orphan Merit, to represent orphans that they have already befriended or bound to service.

Kirsten wants to play a kind of too-clever-by-half figure, a trickster, someone really good at getting into trouble―a figure that the other characters may hate, though the other players will enjoy because she serves as a springboard for stories. She kicks a few ideas around with the Storyteller and the rest of the troupe, finding someone who will fit in with the rest of the collaborative―the cave spider-obsessed Progenitor who inherited the castle, a nerdy Artificer who wants to catalog the castle's orphans, and an honorable Navigator, last of an ancient line of mechanical knights-errant.

Step One: Concept

The collaborative already has a good spread of abilities, so Kirsten focuses on giving her character an interesting thematic edge. She has always been interested in "weird" mathematics like non-Euclidean geometry, and decides to make that the focus for her character. She asks the Storyteller if there are weird non-Euclidean spaces in the ancient mad scientist's mansion, and the Storyteller says yes, of course there are weird non-Euclidean spaces, what sort of game do you think I'm running here? So she has her concept.

To give her some focus, Kirsten comes up with a name: Sanjula Goud. She pictures a young Indian woman, in the States on a scholarship, enjoying the freedom that can only come from being several continents away from one's family. In her genius persona, she's a dimensional hacker, her wonders wreathed in flowing "Tron-like" streams of alphanumeric data.

Kirsten also takes this time to think ahead, planning the wonders she wants. Sanjula, she decides, should start the chronicle with a holograph generator and an Epikrato device-controller. Kirsten keeps those plans in the back of her mind during future steps, when she selects Axioms and Skills.

Build your Genius Based on What You Want your Genius to Build:

Geniuses are limited both by what Axioms they have selected and what they've actually constructed. This can be a double-whammy for players who don't think ahead. Playing an effective genius requires forethought, lest you litter your character sheet with disused Axioms while lamenting your mad scientist's lack of potency. To avoid this fate, focus first on what you want your character to build right now (not once you have fifty experience points), then select the Axioms that will let you build those wonders, then choose Skills that will help you in construction. Once you have a rough sketch of what you need, you can go through the regular character creation process and select what you want.

And if that fails, kitbash like crazy. Kitbashing is almost always a good idea.

Step Two: Attributes

Keeping with the trickster theme, Kirsten wants Sanjula to be smart. She also wants the young genius to be irascible, difficult, annoying, and vain. To that end, she categorizes Mental Attributes as Primary, Physical Attributes as Secondary, and Social Attributes as Tertiary.

Kirsten wants Sanjula to be both well-educated and deadly-clever―a real thunderbolt of intellect. Her Primary category receives five dots. She assigns two to Wits, two to Intelligence, and one to Resolve. Sanjula is a bit lazy (Resolve 2) and relies mostly on insight and lucky guesses (Wits 3), but she can also brute-force her way through a problem despite not yet having her degree (Intelligence 3).

For her Secondary category, Sanjula has four dots to spread around her Physical attributes. Kirsten imagines Sanjula as small and fast, so she puts three dots into Dexterity (Dexterity 4), and she's pretty tough, so there's one dot to Strength (Strength 2). Kirsten decides that Sanjula has chronic health problems that she tries not to share with anyone else (Stamina 1).

Sanjula suffers in her Tertiary category, Social attributes, where she only has three dots to spread around. Kirsten decides to drop two dots into Manipulation (Manipulation 3): Sanjula is a scheming, treacherous little creature when the mood strikes her. Presence gets one dot (Presence 2): Sanjula is most noticeable when she's getting into trouble. Her Composure remains low (Composure 1): our young dimensional scientist has a gift for flying off the handle and going into hysterics.

Step Three: Skills

Next Kirsten needs to prioritize Skills, much as she prioritized Sanjula's Attributes. Kirsten is getting a better feel for her character: she's imagining a mix of computer science and dimensional study, with a bit of good-old fashioned exploration and investigation thrown in so her character is useful outside the lab.

Getting a bit experimental, Kirsten decides that Sanjula will focus on Physical Skills, giving her eleven dots to spread around there. (The other characters, Kirsten decides, are a bit wimpy, even the knight―he has four dots in Academics and a Heraldry specialization, for Riemann's sake!) Sanjula will need a lot of Mental Skills for building wonders, so that gets secondary priority (seven dots), and Social Skills bring up the rear―four dots there.

Kirsten reasons as follows: Athletics is good for spelunking and getting away from monsters (two dots) and Sanjula has spent her time in her new home fiddling with locked doors: hence Larceny (three dots). She imagines Sanjula as a bit of a fighter with just enough actual training to back it up (two dots in Brawl), and Sanjula has been practicing with the bows and crossbows located at the old archery range inside the hedge maze (two dots in Firearms). One dot each in Drive and Stealth imply that Sanjula is a "natural" for most Physical Skills: were she not so devoted to mad science, she could become a gifted athlete, dancer, or martial artist, but her frail health keeps her from excelling in any one field.

Next, Mental Skills. Kirsten flips ahead and considers what Axioms Sanjula would want. She takes one dot in Academics, one in Computer, one in Crafts, one in Occult, and two in Science, implying a general and unfocused technical education―Sanjula is smart, but she's a dreadfully lazy student. A dot in Investigation explains the young genius' natural curiosity.

Finally, Sanjula gets four dots in Social Skills. Kirsten drops two of them into Subterfuge: Sanjula lies like a rug. The other two go into Expression: Sanjula has an artistic streak.

Step Four: Skill Specialties

Kirsten then picks three Specialties to further define Sanjula's skill set. Looking forward to the Axiom of Metaptropi, she picks Digital Art under Expression, to help her create holographic images. She also takes a Specialization in Small Spaces under Stealth: Sanjula can stuff herself into unlikely places and go unnoticed. Athletics receives the Specialization Clinging: after one too many near-drops, our genius has mastered the art of desperately holding on until help can arrive.

Step Five: The Genius Template

Now Kirsten needs to decide on Sanjula's Inspired abilities: her foundation, her catalyst, and her Axioms.

Despite her impish disposition and love of exploration, Sanjula catalyzed in despair and regret: her mother had always had a history of heart complications, and in Sanjula's freshman year, just as Sanjula was exalting in her newfound freedom, her mother died suddenly. The tragedy hit her like a hammer-blow, but she did not give in to despair; instead, a newfound feeling of mortality afflicted Sanjula, coupled with bitter regret at her harsh parting with her mother and a fear of her own vulnerability: Sanjula, due to her own health problems, does not expect to live long, and that has made her bitter. She hides it, but Sanjula is a Neid. Every day she feels more isolated from the mere mortals whom she used to consider her peers, and every day they hate and fear her more.

Kirsten wants something a bit brighter for a foundation, and selects the Scholastics: Sanjula resents normal people, but she also exalts in her newfound knowledge. She enjoys playing up her role as a living cipher, and delights in mysteries and puzzles of all kinds. She also has a gift for computing and mathematics.

Kirsten can choose any Mental Attribute to increase. She decides to increase Wits by one dot: deviousness and cunning defines Sanjula, more than raw intellect.

Sanjula receives Epikrato as a favored Axiom for being a Neid and may choose between Apokalypsi and Metaptropi; Kirsten chooses the latter because she wants a holo-machine. For Sanjula's third favored Axiom, Kirsten chooses Apokalypsi, because she eventually plans to build dimensional scanning devices.

Sanjula has three dots that she can place in her favored Axioms. She puts one dot in Epikrato and two in Metaptropi.

Sanjula's Inspiration begins at one dot. This gives her a maximum Mania pool of ten points, some of which will be bound into her first wonders.

Step Six: Merits

Kirsten has seven dots in Merits to give to Sanjula―actually six, since one is taken automatically with the one required dot in the Orphan Merit. Kirsten considers that Merit, and actually decides to place two dots in Orphan. For her troubles she gets a sophisticated mechanical hand crossbow that she found in the hedge maze: Katastrofi 2, Size 3, Damage 5, Costs 2 Mania to activate, Dexterity + Firearms + 4 (10 dice), Range 100/200/400 (two hands), with the fault that it is afraid of water and will whine and squeal abominably if near a body of it.

To reflect her restless and exploratory nature, Kirsten gives Sanjula the Direction Sense Merit (one dot). Kirsten considers grabbing an extra dot of Inspiration, but Sanjula is young, so instead she gets two dots in Resources: she works tutoring the children of the idiot-rich a few mansions over. That should give her enough money not to suffer too much when building wonders. Kirsten considers picking up a utility belt for Sanjula, but is instead cajoled into chipping in for part of the combined laboratory. (She places both dots in Security, representing that together the collaborative has re-activated parts of the mansion's security system.) She plans to pick up better kitbashing talents in the future.

Step Seven: Advantages

With all of Sanjula's Traits recorded, it's time for some quick calculation to determine her Advantages. Sanjula has a Resolve of two dots and one dot in Composure, giving her three pitiful Willpower dots. Her Obligation begins at 7, and Kirsten elects not to lower it: Sanjula has a bit of a temper, but she's still a good person at heart―so far. Her Virtue is Charity: Sanjula is generous and open-minded, especially with anyone who solves one of her riddles or impresses her with their cleverness. Sanjula's Vice is Pride: she's smart, but not as smart as she thinks she is.

Sanjula's Size is 5 and her Stamina is 1, giving her six dots of Health. Her Initiative, equal to the total of her Dexterity and Composure, is 5 (she's fast, but without much of a head on her shoulders). Her Defense, equal to the lower of Dexterity or Wits, is 4―a combination of quickness and fast thinking will keep Sanjula from getting smeared in a fight as long as she's careful. Sanjula's Strength + Dexterity + 5 (the species factor for humans) gives her a Speed of 11.

Step Eight: The First Wonders

Sanjula can build wonders from Metaptropi (two dots) or Epikrato (one dot), and she can make up to five attempts.

First, Sanjula needs her illusion-making device: Size 2 (a statue of a woman, stuffed with circuitry). Range 10'. Roll Wits + Expression (6 dice). Costs 1 Mania per five Size points of the illusion.

Kirsten rolls Inspiration + Intelligence + Science +1 (Metaptropi is a favored Axiom) +2 (the group's laboratory has two dots in Equipment) -2 (the wonder's rank). Since Sanjula's Resources is not less than the wonder's rank, there is no additional penalty.

So, that's 1 (Inspiration) + 3 (Sanjula's Intelligence) + 2 (Sanjula's Science Skill) +1 (for Apokalypsi as a favored Axiom) +2 (Laboratory Equipment) -2 (the wonder's rank), for a total of 7 dice.

The first roll fails, but the second comes up as a success, so Sanjula has her illusion-maker after using two of her five rolls. The Storyteller determines a fault. Due to some bad code she borrowed from a shady online source, all the illusions she can create are shockingly ugly. Creating something pretty is beyond this wonder.

Sanjula also wants to build a mechanical controller with Epikrato, a simple wonder that can throw a switch or open or close a door, at range. Size 1. Range 20'. Roll Intelligence + Science -1 (4 dice). Cost 1 Mania to activate. Variables: Fragile, Increased Range (+10')

This calls for another check: 1 (Inspiration) +3 (Intelligence) +2 (Science) +1 (for Epikrato as a favored Axiom) +2 (Laboratory Equipment) -1 (for the wonder's rank). That's a total of 8 dice. This wonder succeeds on the first roll. But it picks up an annoying fault: it only works when plugged in. Kirsten doesn't want this fault, so she rolls again. The next roll also succeeds, and the Storyteller generates a new fault: anyone using the wonder suffers from Narcissism for the duration of the scene (anyone with Narcissism suffers from Megalomania). That works better: Kirsten has Sanjula scrap Switcher #1 so it won't bind up Mania. Switcher #2 she calls the Digital-Analog Reprogrammer. It's a narrow titanium wand covered in delicate "frozen mercury" circuitry; the femtometamorphic field it generates access a semi-Platonic reality of "activation" and causes only moderate brain damage.

Though Sanjula still has time and resources (Kirsten has one roll left), she decides not to build another wonder, since she expects to burn a lot of Mania avoiding injury and she doesn't want to bind too many into wonders until she increases her Inspiration. Sanjula has plans for a shapeshifter mask, a transmuting cauldron, and (when she studies Apokalypsi) a dimensional scanner, hanging in her corner of the laboratory, that will have to wait until later.

Since Sanjula has 10 Mania due to her Inspiration, a rank-1 wonder (the controller), a rank-2 wonder (the illusion machine), and a rank-2 orphan (the crossbow), and she belongs to a foundation (which binds one Mania), she begins the chronicle with four points of usable Mania.

Step Nine: A New Genius Is Born

Once Sanjula has all her Traits in a row and a few wonders, Kirsten looks at her character and makes a few final touches. She decides that Sanjula dreams of studying mad geometry. She wants to find a master of that science, but first she needs to improve her Science Skill, pick up one or more relevant Specializations, and improve her knowledge of Apokalypsi.

Those are her professional goals. Sanjula's personal goals involve, eventually, reuniting with her father in India, who is both a talented mathematician in his own right and a conservative politico with attitudes that disgust his daughter. The chronicle starts in the summer after Sanjula's freshman year, so eventually she will have to decide whether or not she will return to college, and what studies she will pursue when gets there. Kirsten thinks that Sanjula will try to return, though she expects that the Storyteller will put plenty of obstacles between Sanjula and a normal college education.

Kirsten also selects an aesthetic for Sanjula, though the young Scholastic is mostly defined by her approach, rather than her appearance. Her family was largely Westernized, but during her Breakthrough she found herself studying Greco-Buddhist art, the result of Alexander the Great's forays into India. The statuary fascinated her, but so did the works of Rucker and Gibson she read in high school, around the time that she found her older brother's collection of David Bowie and Sex Pistols CDs. Her aesthetic, which she calls Circuit Statue, is a mix of Digital Chrome and older clay-fired styles. She favors lots of traditional jewelry, a bright green plastic raincoat for labwork, and wraparound mirrorshades under a thatch of neon pink hair. It's not exactly cutting edge, but it works for her.

Finally, Kirsten decides that Sanjula will use her normal name. No "Dr. Parabola" for her; the young mad scientist wants to maintain some level of normality in her life.

Traits:

New Advantage: Inspiration

Ideas crash like thunder through a genius' life every moment of their lives, barely contained, often barely understood. This is Inspiration, the illumination within, the raw stuff of genius. The greater a genius' Inspiration, the more power of creation and destruction she possesses. But there is a cost. As a genius' Inspiration increases, she becomes less able to understand mundane concerns. She struggles to hold onto her Obligation, as people seem more like systems to be explored than individuals with their own lives and concerns. As she becomes almost godlike in her perspective, she must focus to concentrate on the mortal world and its concerns.

All geniuses begin with one dot of Inspiration. More Inspiration can be purchased at character creation or with experience. Purchasing more Inspiration with experience requires a thesis, a difficult and exhausting exploration of science, philosophy, and one's own nature.

Benefits of Inspiration:

● Inspiration determines both how much Mania a genius can contain and how much he can spend in one turn. As a genius' Inspiration increases, he is better able to hold and channel the transcendent mathematical potential that is pure Mania.

● A genius' Inspiration determines how many dot ranks he can possess in non-favored Axioms. A genius can purchase favored Axioms at any level, but non-favored Axioms are limited to the genius' Inspiration. If the genius does possess more dots in a non-favored Axiom than his Inspiration (such as if his permanent Inspiration somehow drops), those Axiom dots go "dormant" and unusable until the genius' Inspiration increases again.

● A genius with Inspiration 6 or higher can increase her Attributes and Skills past five dots. By using special techniques unavailable to lesser scientists, the genius transcends the limitations of mind and body and becomes posthuman.

● Inspiration is rolled for many Inspired activities, such as building wonders or identifying the works of another mad scientist.

● A genius' Inspiration helps resist many metanormal effects and the special powers of the other beings in the World of Darkness. Inspiration is added to other resistance attributes (such as Stamina) when resisting many metanormal or super-scientific effects.

● Because of her Inspiration, a genius never suffers penalties for unfamiliar applications of a Skill. For example, a regular person might have trouble applying their Drive score to handling a motorcycle, driving a big rig, flying a helicopter, or landing a space shuttle, but a genius does not. (A genius still suffers a penalty when using another genius' wonders unless certain conditions are met; see Other People Using Wonders, Page 293.)

Inspiration	Stat Maximum	Max Mania	Max Mania/turn	Jabir Penalty
●	5	10	1	-1
●●	5	12	2	-1
●●●	5	16	3	-1
●●●●	5	20	4	-1
●●●●●	5	25	5	-2
●●●●● ●	6	30	6	-2
●●●●● ●●	7	40	7	-2
●●●●● ●●●	8	60	8	-3
●●●●● ●●●●	9	80	10	-3
●●●●● ●●●●●	10	100	15	-3

Max Mania per Turn: A self-motivated wonder, such as an automaton, can channel one point of Mania per turn per rank. An unInspired mane or a beholden can channel one point of Mania per turn.

UnInspired Mania: Beholden and unInspired manes can hold one point of Mania per dot of Intelligence + Resolve.

Drawbacks of Inspiration:

Jabir:

As a genius grows more powerful, his Inspiration shines out of him to illuminate the world. This can be a curse for those mad scientists who want to look more "scientist" than "mad." The genius' Mania begins to tamper with perception and procedure, skewing any attempt to engage in normal science or to perform normal experiments. Though the genius himself suffers no penalties―the odd effects from his perception "cancel out" when brought into conjunction with the odd effects from his behavior―he struggles to communicate his ideas to others. Modern geniuses call this "technobabble" in an attempt to soften the horror of the phenomenon, but it's formally known as Jabir, a sudden, paralyzing loss of clarity and coherence when a genius interacts with a regular mortal.

Any attempt to explain research or to communicate ideas with mere mortals suffers a -1 penalty as the genius' own Mania scrambles the presentation of his ideas. At Inspiration 5, this penalty grows to -2, and then to -3 at Inspiration 8. This penalty covers a number of scenarios. It arises if the genius: "talks shop" with a group of mortal researchers (Presence + Socialize), attempts to cooperate with a group of technicians in fixing a computer (Intelligence + Computer), defends a new scientific theory (even a mundane one) before a group of scholars (Wits + Expression), and so on. In general, it is an indicator of how badly a genius can alienate a crowd once he starts talking about his ideas.

Unmada, Brilliant Madness:

Mania sometimes manifests as a sort of crackling energy, but that's not really what it is. Mania is raw creativity, and geniuses have a bottomless well of it. They just need to open up their minds. Of course, opening up their minds can drive them insane. Channeling too much Mania risks turning a genius into an unmada, unable to distinguish between the real world and the hallucinations and promises created by her own Mania.

Certain actions, like engaging in Deep Inspiration or transferring excessive Mania to oneself, trigger an unmada check. To make an unmada check, the genius rolls Obligation.

Dramatic Failure: The genius becomes an unmada.

Failure: The genius becomes an unmada. She can spend a point of Willpower to resist the effect. If she spends Willpower, the genius instead gains a mild Derangement, or an existing mild Derangement becomes severe, for the duration of the scene. This Derangement is usually the sort that reinforces the genius' own belief in the correctness of his worldview: Suspicion, Narcissism, and Avoidance are common.

Success or Exceptional Success: The genius feels a brief surge of madness but suffers no ill effects.

Suggested Modifiers: Every additional unmada check in one day (-1), using Deep Inspiration to gain additional Mania (penalty equals Mania gained), unmada check related to genius' catalyst (+1), unmada check related to genius' Obligation (+2)

Unmada who trigger an unmada check risk becoming Illuminated. Roll Obligation.

Dramatic Failure: The genius becomes Illuminated.

Failure: The genius becomes Illuminated. She can spend a point of Willpower to resist the effect. If she spends Willpower, the genius instead automatically loses a dot of Obligation. Success or Exceptional Success: The genius feels something alien slithering behind her eyes but suffers no ill effects.

Once a genius is Illuminated, she can continue to perform actions that grant unmada checks, though she need not roll. The only exception is Deep Inspiration: an Illuminated cannot attempt Deep Inspiration.

Only Inspired beings can become unmada or Illuminated. Beholden and unInspired manes cannot suffer these fates.

Metanormal Advantage:

Like geniuses and Inspiration, other powerful beings in the world of darkness possess Advantages that define them. Vampires have Blood Potency, Werewolves have Primal Urge, and other beings have other "key" metanormal Advantages. When a genius confronts such a being, its metanormal Advantage is added to its die roll when resisting any Inspired affect that's resisted by only a single Attribute. For example, if a genius attacked a vampire with a fear ray (which attacks Composure), the vampire would roll Composure + Blood Potency, whereas a regular person would roll Composure alone. Metanormal beings only add their metanormal Advantage to resistance rolls that use a single Attribute, not to ones that use two Attributes (Wits + Composure, Stamina + Resolve, etc.). Likewise, a genius adds his Inspiration to any attempt to resist another being's metanormal effect only when that effect is resisted by a single Attribute.

New Advantage: Mania

The things a genius see come directly from the realm of pure idea, and those things want to be born into this world. But they can no more survive this flawed universe than a man could survive at the bottom of the sea. They appear, only to perish. They can live only within the aegis of an Inspired mind. That aegis is called Mania.

Not even geniuses know what Mania is. Mad scientists have likened it to the breath of the universe, to divine fire, to some kind of charged fluid, to electricity, to radiation, to information...it is all these things and none. No genius knows exactly what Mania is, but they know that it swirls in their minds like a firestorm, pushing against their skulls as if desperate to escape. Mania can manifest physically, as arcs of lightning, an unnatural glow in a test tube, or a kind of high-pitched mechanical whine when transmitted through computers, but it is mostly a mental construct, a knot of bent mathematics and scattershot logic that the genius translates into the working of wonders.

Spending Mania:

A genius can spend Mania to produce any of the following effects:

● Enhance Mental Attributes. Mania is, among other things, pure intellectual and creative energy. Every point of Mania grants a +1 bonus to any one Mental Attribute (Intelligence, Wits, Resolve) for one turn. This can be any Mental Attribute or combination of Mental Attributes. Geniuses who are also Directors can use Mania to enhance their Social Attributes in exactly the same way. Navigators can similarly enhance their Physical Attributes with Mania. Only members of these foundations can enhance non-Mental Attributes with Mania.

● Power mundane technology. By manipulating a machine in ways no sane person could, a genius can keep a machine running even when it has no ordinary power source. How much one point of Mania buys depends on the device.

Lights in a room	1 day
Flashlight, cell phone	1 hour
Portable camera	10 minutes
Computer	10 minutes
Automobile	1 hour
Big Truck	30 minutes
Prop Plane	10 minutes
Construction Equipment	10 minutes
Jet	1 minute

Every time a genius feeds a point of Mania into a machine, roll one ten-sided die. If the result is a 10, the object immediately loses one-quarter of its Structure as the genius rips the guts out of the machine and pushes it beyond the limits of its functionality. A genius can only power mundane technology this way; wonders have their own ways of using Mania.

● Enhance technology. Every point of Mania grants a +1 bonus to any piece of technology in the genius' possession for one turn. (A "piece of technology" is any object that an intelligent creature has worked or modified to use; once someone pulls the leaves off a stick to make a club, it's "technology" and can be affected by Mania.) Roll the bonus dice for enhanced technology separately. Every 10 that is rolled in this pool causes the tool to lose one-quarter its maximum Structure. (So, four 10s will destroy a tool.) The tool takes damage after it is used, not before. Mania can be spent to grant additional dice to wonders as well as conventional technology.

● Understand technology. Geniuses have an intuitive understanding of technological items. Spending a single point of Mania allows a genius to understand the function and nature of any mundane or wondrous piece of technology, as well as how to turn it on and operate it (to the limit of the genius' Skills). This requires one turn of exploration and physical contact with the device. It will not reveal hidden functions or who made it, nor will it allow a genius to do anything she lacks the Skills to do, but this ability can answer important questions about what an item is and how it is meant to be used.

● Dismantle technology. A genius can make a Dexterity + Crafts check as an attack roll against any wonder, mane, mundane technological artifact, or miscellaneous super-science artifact. (Entirely organic devices use Medicine instead of Crafts.) The genius must spend at least one point of Mania to perform this attack, which represents quickly analyzing and then ripping apart the target. The number of Mania points spent are added to the attack roll. The attack causes Lethal or Bashing damage and ignores Durability. The Energy Channeler Merit can turn this into a ranged attack. A target's Defense subtracts from any attack of this sort. Geniuses often use this technique when faced with high-Durability wonders that are functionally invulnerably to small-arms fire.

● Using and activating wonders. Many wonders of mad science require Mania points before they can be used. The expenditure usually activates the wonder for a whole scene, though some wonders require Mania for every use. See the "Mania" entries under each Axiom. A genius can pay the cost to activate a wonder over the course of several (consecutive or nonconsecutive) turns within a single scene; once enough Mania is in the wonder, it activates.

Regaining Mania:

A genius can regain Mania in one of four ways: contemplation, research, diatribes, and editing. A Genius can also be the subject of a Mania transfer, at some risk to her sanity.

Contemplation:

Geniuses are constantly thinking and scheming. Every morning, when she wakes up, a genius regains one point of Mania. The exception is an unmada, who instead loses a point of Mania every day to sustain her unmada field. (See Madness, Page 289.) Very rarely, during a Maniac Storm, geniuses may recover additional Mania per day due to the transformative insanity swirling around an area, but Maniac Storms are rare, unpredictable, and impermanent.

Research:

A genius can also perform research to generate Mania. "Research" can take several forms: building interesting but useless gadgets, reading the latest literature, talking with other scientists or researchers, performing experiments and test-runs, even just standing in front of a blackboard and thinking very hard. A genius with some kind of "prop" upon which to work (some tools and cogs, a Scientific American she hasn't read before, another scientist to talk to, or even a note pad and paper) regains one point of Mania per hour of research. A genius who is simply thinking recovers one point of Mania per two hours. Research dominates a genius' full attention: she cannot perform research while building wonders, making repairs, conducting investigations, or even participating usefully in a stake-out or negotiation.

A genius can normally spend up to six hours per day in this kind of research. Every additional hour in one day requires an unmada check, with a cumulative -1 penalty per additional hour.

Before I Kill You I Will Tell You My Plan:

If the genius has an unwilling person captured and restrained, he can regain a number of Mania equal to his Inspiration + Presence. This requires at least thirty seconds of ranting and can only be done once per day. This triggers an unmada check. The act itself is not a transgression, but getting there often is (kidnapping is an Obligation-6 transgression), and triggering an unmada check is an Obligation-8 transgression.

I Hope This Wasn't Important To You:

The unmada (and only they) have one additional avenue of Mania recovery. Destroying an object of particular value that the genius disagree with, such as burning an ancient scroll containing "unlawful" secret techniques or smashing a laptop that was set to broadcast the indiscretions of the unmada's group, nets a number of Mania equal to the genius' Inspiration + Resolve. This can only be done once per day. Lemurians call this technique "editing" and use it to dispose of unwelcome ideas and artifacts that contradict their pet theories. Editing, whatever a genius calls it, is an Obligation-6 transgression.

Manes and Beholden:

Only geniuses can recover Mania in these ways. Manes that are not Inspired are limited to calculus vampirism or voluntary transfers. Beholden are usually limited to voluntary transfers.

Transferring Mania:

Mania manifests as two forms: as energy and as idea. Intelligent creatures (geniuses, beholden, and intelligent manes) transfer Mania by communicating with one-another. This requires a common language and the ability to communicate, either verbally or through the written word. Two beings can transfer a number of points of Mania per turn this way equal to their combined Inspiration scores as a regular action. Range is however far clear communication can be maintained, even over a phone line. Mania cannot be pre-recorded, however, or placed in notes, without using a capacitor. (See Capacitors, Page 295.)

Artificial things (mundane technology and manes) manifest Mania as a sort of motive force. (Modern geniuses view this "forceful" Mania as much like electricity, though it emphatically is not.) They can transfer Mania through physical contact. If both subjects lack Inspiration scores, they transfer one point of Mania per turn in this way if both take an action to do so.

A genius can only gain a number of points of Mania per scene from external sources (including capacitors, beholden, and other geniuses, as well as Deep Inspiration, but not when using the Calculus Vampire Merit) equal to her maximum Mania per turn (based on Inspiration). Any more requires an unmada check with a penalty equal to the number of times previously the genius has rolled an unmada check that day.

Binding Mania:

Geniuses bind points of Mania to the wonders they create. Certain permanent transformations and enhancements caused by wonders also require bound Mania. A genius cannot possess more Mania than his maximum Mania (determined by Inspiration) minus the number of points of Mania she has bound.

Only the Inspired can bind Mania. Beholden and unInspired manes can spend Mania, but cannot bind it.

Deep Inspiration:

A genius can spend Mania she doesn't have by reaching deep into her psyche. This is a reflexive action. She can channel the normal amount of Mania per turn based on her Inspiration. Upon doing so, she makes an unmada check with a penalty equal to the number of points of Mania channeled.

These additional Mania points do not add to the genius' total Mania score; they must be spent immediately.

Illuminated cannot perform Deep Inspiration.

"Doing Science To It":

Transferring Mania from a "thinking" source to a "motive" one (such as a genius "feeding" Mania to a wonder) requires that the genius "Do Science To It." This requires physical contact and involved flipping knobs, removing superficial damage, tightening bolts, and other technological activities that are outside the scope of mundane technological activity. Going the other way―a wonder "feeding" stored Mania to a genius―requires "Doing Analysis": analyzing readouts that come out of the machine, measuring it with calipers, and other behavior that makes no sense from the perspective of normal science but that nonetheless gives the genius vital insight, which translates as Mania.

Modified Advantage: Obligation (Morality)

The Inspired are extreme creatures, capable of great and terrible transgressions. To fight the corrosive influence of those crimes against the natural order, most geniuses focus on the one thing that still ties them to mundane humanity: their Obligation to it. Their Obligation may be to improve, to protect, or even to punish, but it ultimately ties them to their unInspired brethren.

Obligation monitors how close a genius is to losing all ties with humanity and becoming a true mad scientist, one of the Illuminated who has lost all concern for the well-being and dignity of others, and who sees humans as we might see laboratory mice. As Obligation falls, the genius becomes less and less able to interact with normal humans, and less and less interested in doing so for any decent reason.

Geniuses quickly learn that Obligation is more than Morality: it is tied to the standards of sane and normal behavior that humans apply to their fellows. Many acts that a genius can rationalize as for the greater good―or even demonstrate to be beneficial and useful―are transgressions, since they violate the standards of regular human behavior and distance a genius from the mortals in his charge.

Transgression:

When a genius acts in a way that violates his Obligation to humanity, he commits a transgression. The genius must make a degeneration roll to see if he loses a dot of Obligation. If an act can be described by two different levels of transgression, use the lower one on the chart.

Starting geniuses begin with an Obligation of 7. They can buy it down to 5 at character creation, gaining five experience points per lost dot, though a genius buying her Obligation down this way always receives the Derangement keyed to her catalyst.

A failed degeneration roll means that the genius must make an Obligation roll to avoid acquiring a Derangement, if the genius' (new) Obligation is lower than 7. The new Derangement is linked to the lost dot of Obligation: if the genius' Obligation rises back to its original level, the Derangement is banished.

Each catalyst has a primary Derangement. Should a genius receive a Derangement due to degeneration, she receives that Derangement automatically, first. Subsequent Derangements are determined like normal.

Transgressions include, from least to most heinous:

• Actions that imply a lack of respect for the dangerous power of Inspiration,

• Actions that regular humans find gross, unethical, or "cold" (whether or not they're actually immoral),

• Actions that physically or psychologically distance the genius from humanity,

• Actions that display a cold or reckless disregard for civilization and/or the rule of law, and

• Actions that stem from a genius' willingness to see humans as disposable, replaceable, or beneath consideration.

The list below is not complete or all-inclusive; the Storyteller is expected to examine questionable actions from a genius to see if they fit with the general pattern of transgressions listed below, and to warn the genius' player of a transgression that the mad scientist is poised to commit.

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.

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

-Dr. Joseph Mengele

Obligation and Morality:

Beholden and unInspired manes possess Morality. Geniuses, Inspired manes, and intelligent automata possess Obligation.

Benefits of Obligation:

Paragon Status:

A genius with an Obligation of 7 or higher qualifies as a Paragon. People have difficulty imagining that the genius is up to no good. Even the most maladjusted genius, if he possesses high Obligation, is automatically seen as a trustworthy authority figure by regular mortals, someone to be admired for his intelligence and contributions to humanity. The genius gains a +1 bonus to all Social checks when acting from a position of knowledge or authority. Further, anyone trying to tar the genius' reputation suffers a -3 penalty to the attempt.

Drawbacks of Obligation:

Stunted Social Skills:

The Inspired are often awkward and isolated people, and as Obligation falls, this problem grows worse. A genius with Obligation 5 or higher suffers no penalty. A genius with Obligation 3 or 4 suffers a -1 penalty to all Social checks, while a genius with Obligation 1 or 2 suffers a -2 penalty.

One of the Illuminated, who has no Obligation, is as charming as any other psychopath and suffers no such caps, though many are so insane they cannot communicate meaningfully. Directors are also immune to this disadvantage when they spend Mania to boost their Social Attributes, which only encourages some to neglect their Obligation further.

The Broken Chains:

Should a genius reach zero Obligation, she becomes one of the Illuminated. Freed from all ethical constraints, she becomes an abomination of science and forbidden secrets, able to see humans only as victims and objects.

Experience Point Costs:

Trait	Experience Point Cost
Attribute	New dots x5
Skill	New dots x3
Skill Specialty	3
Merit	New dots x2
Inspiration	New dots x8 (and a thesis)
Obligation	New dots x3
Favored Axiom	New dots x5
Non-Favored Axiom	New dots x7
Scholarship	3 (and must qualify; see Fellowships, Page 415)
Fellowship Syllabus	New dots x4
Willpower	8 (only to replace lost dots)

Merits:

The Inspired can select a variety of Merits that improve their ability to create and control wonders. They also have access to the Merits available to regular humans (with the exception of Unseen Sense).

Popular Merits include Resources, due to the staggering expense of generating wonders, and Mentor, to represent a more experienced genius who set the mad scientist on her new path. Mental Merits like Eidetic Memory, Encyclopedic Knowledge, Holistic Awareness, and Meditative Mind are popular with geniuses. Inspired who expect trouble may have Quick Draw or Stunt Driver to get out of trouble fast.

The Resources Merit:

A genius has more need for Resources than normal people: she needs supplies, equipment, electricity, and space to work, and all of these cost money. There is also the constant risk that a genius might lose access to her supply of Resources, which could threaten the development of her wonders.

To that end, any genius with dots in the Resources Merit should specify where the money comes from. Each possibility offers drawbacks and the potential for sabotage and catastrophe. Entrepreneurial Inventor: One of the riskiest of the ways a genius can make money, actually selling one's (normal) inventions, allows a genius to "hide in plain sight." To keep the money flowing, the Storyteller may call for a check once a month, either to come up with a good idea (Intelligence + Science), to put together a prototype (Intelligence + Crafts), to try to drum up some enthusiasm for the project (Manipulation + Expression – Jabir) or even to give a live demonstration (Presence + Socialize – Jabir). Failed rolls can result in money falling through for that month, or force a genius to do something risky in order to raise funds.

Grant Money:

The genius' money comes from an academic grant designed to support a field of development (that may or may not be related to what the genius does). Since this money is focused on laboratory support, spending it on purchases that can't be justified as a legitimate expense may draw the ire of the grant provider.

Too many such expenditures (say, more than one per month) may result in grant money being cut or a visit being paid to the genius' laboratory to see what's "really going on." This usually results in a desperate, perhaps futile cover-up by the genius.

Parents:

Younger geniuses can get by siphoning huge quantities of money from their rich parents. There are two problems with this. First, the amount of money siphoned requires that the genius' parents either be staggeringly rich (in which case they will probably be insane and/or annoying) or bad with numbers (and theft is a transgression, not to mention a crime that puts the genius at risk). Second, the constant intrusions, the parents wandering around the lab (possibly getting captured by things), and the "Are you on drugs?" speeches can wear on a young genius. Any slip-up may lead to a suspension of allowance. And don't think that having Inspired parents makes it any better: they're just as strapped for cash, and may not be above stealing from their kid's laboratory.

Private Sector Job:

The genius has a job that a normal technically-proficient person might have, such as employment as a chemist or a job hawking video games at the local electronics shop. The genius will have to put in time at this job, and probably gets called in at unwanted or unexpected times to cover shifts. Failure to show up may result in termination and a loss of Resources. Assume that the job is part-time and requires at least sixteen hours per week, with the occasional bonus shift thrown in for good measure. (The Storyteller should use the genius' private sector job as a springboard for adventure, not just as a time-sink or an impediment to adventure.)

Theft:

Of course, you can always just build giant robots and then rob banks with them. It's not like that's never occurred to mad scientists in the past. But burglary is dangerous and unpredictable, as are related tricks like blackmail and corporate fraud. They're immoral, too. Of course, it doesn't mean that geniuses haven't tried them. Theft is rarely reducible to a single roll: the genius will have to make plans, then get out there and mix it up with local law enforcement and private security―and any other geniuses who notice (and frown on) this kind of behavior.

Trust Fund:

This should be the easiest way for a genius to stay wealthy. Every month a big wad of cash appears, or a lump sum is deposited in the genius' checking account. Of course, it's never that easy, since trust funds come from somewhere and that "somewhere" expects the genius to use those funds to live, not to buy "...50 kilos of Brazilian fertilizer...fifteen solid bronze statues of Spiro Agnew, eleven feet high...three cases of military-grade incendiaries...400 Apple IIe's, painted blue...." In other words, weird purchases (more than one or two wonders built per month) can send up a red flag, triggering an investigation into exactly what the genius is stockpiling, and why.

University Position:

The genius works at a school, teaching and publishing. The teaching doesn't take much time (what else are teaching assistants for?) but the genius will have to survive the constant onslaught of bright, curious people who want to know what she is doing. Once per month the genius will need to make some kind of roll, to publish a paper or fend off an inquiry about what she does―Intelligence + Expression, Manipulation + Subterfuge, etc., with the usual penalties for Jabir―or she may find herself investigated and, unless she has Tenure, tossed out on her ear.

Additional effects:

Next to where a genius records her Resources, note where that money comes from. Different dots may have different sources: the first dot may come from a private sector job, while the second comes from grant money. Failure to keep the money-lines flowing may result in the genius temporarily losing access to her Resources. Also, enemies may try to cut the genius off at the knees by attacking her funding. The Storyteller should, of course, see the source of the genius' Resources as a way to tell stories, not to sever the genius from her ability to make wonders. While disappointment is part of the game's mood, Genius is about creating wonders, not about being bored, broke, and frustrated. Storytellers should avoid forcing players to experience parts of their characters' lives that they (the players) find boring or uninspiring.

Adopted Orphan (● to ●●●●●):

When a genius dies or abandons an experiment, or a wondrous mane escapes its natural home, the result is an orphan, a feral wonder that survives by scavenging or stealing Mania. These creatures are often dangerous, but a genius can instill a sense of loyalty in some such creatures through regular feeding and kindness. Such orphan wonders are said to be "adopted" by a genius.

This Merit grants a genius one or more such orphan wonders. The genius did not build this wonder. Instead she acquired it. This means that she need not possess the necessary Axioms or training to build the wonder. Many mad scientists seek out complementary orphans in order to begin a symbiotic relationship: the genius provides a regular supply of Mania, while the orphan grants the genius abilities she would not ordinarily possess.

In order to adopt an orphan, a genius binds a number of points of Mania into the orphaned wonder equal to its rank, just like a regular wonder. This prevents the orphan from consuming its own Mania over time and buys the genius a certain measure of loyalty. It also removes the Orphan's mutations. (See Orphan Mutations, Page 272.) Orphans are never as simply loyal as a genius' own wonders, though: all orphans are intelligent and free-roaming to at least some degree. Orphans cannot be used as Mania-holding units, either: no matter how loyal an orphan is, it will not―it appears psychologically unable to―offer up any stored Mania it possesses for other purposes. Orphans are often dangerous and are always difficult to keep, which is why not all geniuses use them even if they fall into the genius' possession.

●	The genius possesses a rank-one wonder.
●●	The genius possesses one rank-two wonder or two rank-one wonders.
●●●	The genius possesses one rank-three wonder or four ranks of rank-two or lower wonders.
●●●●	The genius possesses one rank-four wonder or six ranks of rank-three or lower wonders.
●●●●●	The genius possesses one rank-five wonder or eight ranks of rank-four or lower wonders.

It's possible, at character creation, to purchase adopted orphans that come pre-grafted or pre-internalized. Many manes (see the Mane Merit, below) possess these kinds of adopted orphans, which represent natural, internal abilities of their mane breed.

An orphan possesses one persistent fault. If an orphan does not possess faults, its effective rank increases by one for the purpose of determining its cost.

Rule of Inspiration:

Generally, for adopted orphans as well as miscellaneous orphans and other found wonders, the Inspiration used to build a wonder is equal to the wonder's rank. So, if a genius possess a rank-3 supersonic jet as an orphan, the builder's Inspiration is treated as three dots for purposes of determining the wonder's speed and other derived scores. In general, if the Inspiration of the wonder's builder is not otherwise listed, assume that it equals the wonder's rank.

Assembly Line (● to ●●●●●)

The genius possesses a method for quickly duplicating her work, which reduces the Mania cost when creating many identical wonders. Ordinarily, a genius binds a number of Mania equal to the wonder's rank for every wonder he builds. With an assembly line, the genius doubles the amount of (identical) wonders she can create and control with that amount of Mania.

Rank in This Merit	Number of Identical Wonders
●	2
●●	4
●●●	8
●●●●	16
●●●●●	32

For example, a typical "experimental jet" is a Skafoi 3 wonder and so would bind three Mania. But if the genius possessed one dot in this Merit, she would be able to build and maintain two experimental jets for three Mania. If she had two dots in the Merit, she would be able to build and maintain four experimental jets for those three Mania, and so on. With the five-dot version of the Assembly Line, the genius could have 32 such jets―a veritable air fleet―for just three points of Mania.

Note that these wonders must be precisely identical, down to their persistent faults (or not having a persistent fault and binding twice the regular Mania) in order to benefit from this Merit.

The assembly line does not allow the genius to build these wonders all at once, only to sustain them all with the same points of bound Mania. This Merit cannot be applied to kitbashed wonders. It also cannot be applied to Larval wonders (see Larvae, Page 141).

Beholden (● to ●●●●●; special)

A beholden, sometimes called an "Igor" or just an assistant, is more than a loyal servant. There is a howling storm inside every genius that Mania fills, but inside a beholden there is only stillness. Beholden may be brilliant, funny, or capable, but they possess a personality that falls naturally into the worldview of another.

They latch onto Inspired, basking in the glow of reflected Mania.

When a person becomes beholden, she loses the ability to recover Willpower when indulging her Virtue or Vice. Instead she recovers one point of Willpower per day so long as she is assisting her master. If she helps her master complete a wonder (that is not an orphan) or succeeds in dirty work (see Dirty Work, Page 280), she can gain up to one additional point of Willpower that day. A genius can transfer Mania into beholden. This works just like transferring Mania into a capacitor. He can also draw it out, and beholden can transfer Mania they hold or draw Mania from a capacitor. Storing Mania in a beholden lets them use wonders. Beholden can hold a maximum number of Mania points equal to their Intelligence + Resolve.

The advantage of a beholden is that they can assist with the creation of wonders without causing Havoc. (Hence one rumored origin of the term: "Gentlemen...Behold!") They are also often gifted in their own right, but they cannot become truly great on their own: they are touched by the genius' Inspiration, almost feeding upon it, and lack the drive and capacity for independent thought that characterizes a scientist, mad or sane.

The beholden Merit is broken down into three conditions: Number, Ability, and Prowess. At least one dot must be spent on Number.

Number:

Number determines how many loyal minions a genius has. The exact number might fluctuate due to casualties, abandonment, or new recruits, but the general benefits remain the same except under egregious circumstances.

Having many beholden reduces the time taken to build a wonder. See below. This cannot reduce the time taken for a non-kitbashed Wonder to less than one day.

Having more beholden allows more attempts at dirty work. See Prowess, below, for more information on that mechanic.

Coupled with the Assembly Line Merit, having many beholden allows you to produce many identical wonders at the same time. The genius still benefits from the time reduction, meaning that many beholden can build wonders from an Assembly Line so fast only the most powerful geniuses have spare Mania to bind to all of them. A genius with three dots in beholden Number and at least three dots in the Assembly Line Merit, for example, could build up to eight identical wonders at once, with the same roll, and building all eight wonders would take half the time it would take a similar genius without those Merits to build a single such wonder.

Rating	Number	Time Reduction	Dirty Work	With Assembly Line
●	One beholden	One step	One attempt per chapter	Make two wonders at once with Assembly Line ●+
●●	Two to five beholden	Two steps	Two attempts per chapter	Make four wonders at once with Assembly Line ●●+
●●●	Up to a dozen beholden	Three steps	Three attempts per chapter	Make eight wonders at once with Assembly Line ●●●+
●●●●	Up to thirty beholden	Four steps	Four attempts per chapter	Make sixteen wonders at once with Assembly Line ●●●●+
●●●●●	More than thirty beholden, perhaps more than a hundred	Five steps	Five attempts per chapter	Make 32 wonders at once with Assembly Line ●●●●●

Ability:

While a genius can find a use for mop-pushing slobs, highly trained specialists in relevant scientific fields make the ideal beholden, since they grant so many useful benefits. The Ability rating of a beholden or group of beholden determines the bonus they grant to wonder-working due to their own familiarity with scientific and technical fields.

Rating	Description	Wonder-working Bonus
0	Barely fit to clean the test tubes	None
●	Familiar with laboratory work	+1
●●	Experienced lab assistant or researcher	+2
●●●	Professional scientist	+3
●●●●	Renowned scholar	+4
●●●●●	World-famous talent	+5

Prowess:

Without dots in this rating, a genius' beholden are scholars, researchers, scientists, and laboratory specialists, but they're not trained to work outside the lab. Prowess, however, turns some or all of a genius' beholden from meek technicians into an elite force capable of acting independently from the genius. The Prowess of a group of beholden determines their usefulness for dirty work. (See Dirty Work, Page 280.)

Rating	Description	Similar To	Dirty Work Dice Pool
0	Regular people	Untrained civilians	Cannot use Dirty Work
●	Goons with basic self-defense training	Neighborhood watch	1 die
●●	Thugs who know how to fight	Police officers	2 dice
●●●	Capable and deadly minions	Army recruits	3 dice
●●●●	Lethal henchpersons with extensive training	SWAT team	4 dice
●●●●●	Elite super-scientific task force	Elite special forces	5 dice

Sharing Beholden:

Beholden can be shared among members of a collaborative. To share beholden, two or more characters simply have to be willing to pool their dots for greater capability. A shared rating in the beholden Merit cannot rise higher than five dots in Number, Ability, or Prowess.

Note that shared beholden cannot be used at the same time: if one genius needs two Igors for a research experiment, they cannot simultaneously be sent by another genius to explore the bottom of the ocean. Some type of time-sharing program may need to be arranged.

If a character leaves the collaborative for any reason, whether it be death, banishment, or a grudge that cannot be resolved, the dots he contributed are removed from the pool. The character who leaves does not get all the dots back for his own purposes. He gets one fewer dot than he originally contributed. If all members who have combined to share beholden points agree to part ways, they all lose one dot from what they originally contributed. The loss of beholden points can represent several things, as determined by the Storyteller. Maybe the best and most capable beholden leave for more stable masters. Maybe the infighting reduces their loyalty. Maybe some just walk away, looking for better opportunities.

Note that a genius who belongs to a collaborative need not share his beholden dots. Further, he can choose to split his beholden dots, maintaining a personal stable of assistants while also contributing to the beholden pool.

To record shared beholden on your character sheet, put an asterisk next to the name of the Beholden Merit and fill in the total dots that your character has access to thanks to his partnership. In order to record his original contribution, write it in parentheses along with the Merit's name.

Calculus Vampire (●●):

The genius can drain Mania or knowledge in order to fuel her abilities. All manes and orphaned wonders possess this ability automatically.

If targeting a single person or thing, either a mundane scientist, one of the Inspired, or even a wonder, the genius must have the subject immobilized (either tied down or help in a grapple) and make an Intelligence + Resolve check vs. the subject's Composure + Metanormal Advantage.

Dramatic Failure: The vampire botches the job, losing half his remaining Mania and taking one point of Aggravated damage. The genius cannot use this Merit again for the rest of the day. Failure: The vampire gets nowhere. The genius cannot attempt to drain Mania for the rest of the scene.

Success: Every Success allows the vampire to drain one point of Mania from the target and gain that Mania for himself. If the subject has no Mania (or no remaining Mania), every success allows the vampire to drain one dot of any Mental skill from the target, converting it to one Mania. Note that a genius cannot affect any other metanormal creature so long as it has at least a single point of "power" (Vitae, Pyros, etc.) unless the genius is also a Technomancer, in which case he can drain another metanormal being's power source, gaining Mania on a one-for-two basis. The genius cannot gain more Mania than his maximum, based on Inspiration.

Exceptional Success: The vampire drains all the subject's Mania and/or Mental skills, or whatever fraction thereof he wants. He still cannot gain more Mania than his maximum. He can, however, siphon any excess off to capacitors, beholden, or Inspired allies without making an additional roll.

Suggested Modifiers: Subject is thoroughly restrained or unconscious (+1), subject is beaten, degraded, or psychologically destabilized (+2), subject is unmada (+1).

Attacking an unwilling intelligent target this way is a Obligation-3 transgression. Even targeting a willing intelligent subject is an Obligation-5 transgression if the vampire is draining Skills instead of Mania. Draining any type of creature, willing or not, intelligent or not, is an Obligation-8 transgression.

Drawing Mania in this way does not risk an unmada check.

Skill ranks recover at a rate of one dot per day. The victim can choose which Skills she regains and in what order.

Calculus Vampires use a variety of methods to get at their prey, but their activity always requires physical contact. Some have veins or needles that convert plundered cerebrospinal fluid into raw Mania, while others whisper mathematical secrets and listen for the "blowback," absorbing the Mania produced by insane thought; others still use hypnotic patterns to extract Mania.

Dumpster Diver (●):

The genius is unusual adept at finding useful components in the most unlikely places. His Resources Merit is treated at two higher than it is for purposes of determining Resources-based penalties for building wonders. This even applies when kitbashing (giving the genius a functional Resources of two dots when kitbashing), provided the genius has some kind of "dumpster"-like thing to dive into.

Energy Channeler (● or ●●):

The genius can channel Mania to empower or damage conventional technology, or to move Mania between herself and a capacitor or another genius, at range, rather than by touch or communication. The one-dot version of this ability gives a range of about ten yards, while the two-dot version gives a range out the the genius' line of sight; however, anything past ten yards requires a Wits + Athletics or Wits + Firearms check to hit. Failure means that the Mania is lost.

Generator (● to ●●●●●):

The genius possesses an object that generates Mania. These extraordinary devices are found, not made, and represent peculiar relics of mad or sane-but-terrifying science: alien elemental dynamos, self-transforming equations scribbled in forgotten notebooks, mundane objects "imprinted" with the energy of scientific breakthroughs, highly radioactive atomic piles, and radios for talking to God. These strange one-off devices exist partly in our world and partly in the realm of Idea, and some have been fought over by mad scientists for generations or millennia.

The amount of Mania generated per day and the maximum amount of Mania it can store depends on the Generator's Size and rank.

Rank	Size 0*	Size 1	Size 2-3	Size 4-5	Size 6-11	Size 12-29	Size 30+
Rank ●	NA	NA	1	2	3	4	5
Rank ●●	NA	1	2	3	4	5	6
Rank ●●●	1	2	3	4	5	6	8
Rank ●●●●	2	3	4	5	6	8	12
Rank ●●●●●	3	4	5	6	8	12	20

* If Size 0, the Generator may be internalized automatically if desired.

Drawing Mania from a Generator works like drawing it from a capacitor. (See Capacitors, Page 295.) Given the risk of unmada, larger and better Generators are often employed by several geniuses at once.

Kitbasher (●●):

The genius is unusually adept at kitbashing a wonder into existence. The genius suffers no penalty for kitbashing wonders. Her kitbashed wonders still fall apart normally, and she still suffers a penalty because of Resources. She does not ignore penalties from other time-reducing shortcuts (such as hastily repairing or modifying a wonder), only when building it.

Laboratory (● to ●●●●●; special):

The genius has access to a laboratory. This is not just a place where she performs her research; it is a refuge and safe haven away from the cruelty and caprices of the mundane world. All laboratories have three factors that determine their utility: Size, Equipment, and Security.

Size:

Size indicates how much physical space the laboratory takes up and how long it takes to transport (assuming normal labor).

Rating	Area	Capacity	Transport
0	A lab with no size is barely more than a closet with a work bench.	It can support one genius at a time, but it is cramped and inconvenient, and has limited supplies, meaning it can only be used every other day.	Everything within can be packed into a big suitcase (Size 5) with one person-hour of work.
●	A small apartment or computer lab.	One genius can work comfortably and use the lab's equipment at a time.	Despite being larger than a Size-0 lab, layout is smarter, and everything can be packed into a small suitcase (Size 5) with thirty person-minutes of work.
●●	The size of a small house or some rented office space with a small storage room in back.	Three geniuses (or beholden) can work comfortably at the same time.	Everything can be packed into a few steamer-trunks (about a 5'x'5x5' cube) or a small moving van in six person-hours.
●●●	Big enough to be a warehouse, a town library, the wing of a University, or a large "cubicle farm"; from five to eight rooms, or a single large enclosure.	Ten geniuses (or beholden) can work comfortably at the same time.	Everything could be packed into a large moving van in one person-day.
●●●●	A mansion atop a hill, an entire large University hall, or a research base; equivalent to nine to 25 rooms.	A hundred geniuses (or beholden) can work comfortably at the same time.	Everything could be packed into a small fleet of moving vans or cargo containers in one person-week.
●●●●●	An entire university, a skyscraper owned from basement to penthouse; dozens of independent research facilities owned across an entire city or region; countless rooms or chambers.	More geniuses (or beholden) that can feasibly be brought together can work in a laboratory of this size.	It would take a person-year of work to pack everything for transport, and moving it would be a logistical nightmare, requiring coordinated transport of dozens or hundreds of shipping containers.

Equipment:

Size is useful only insofar as the genius has something interesting to fill that space. That is the laboratory's Equipment, and the rating determines how useful it is. A Lab with no points in Equipment may be pleasantly appointed for visitors, but it has nothing besides empty benches and bare floors for research.

Every point of Laboratory Equipment adds a +1 bonus to all rolls made to build, repair, or fiddle with wonders there, provided that the genius has access to the equipment. It can also, at the Storyteller's discretion, provide the same bonus to mundane repair and construction activities.

0: The laboratory is largely empty, except what the genius brings with her.

●: Outdated and inefficient equipment, badly organized and poorly protected from the environment; the equivalent of junior chemistry sets and astrolabes. The computers look like something out of the 70s.

●●: Serviceable laboratory equipment that is nonetheless outdated and second-hand; computers are slow and clunky, while samples occasionally risk contamination unless the researchers are careful.

●●●: A typical private or university laboratory with a good selection of modern equipment, fast computers with Internet hookups, and reliable technology, but nothing too highly specialized or expensive.

●●●●: A deluxe set-up with top-of-the-line computers networked for maximum efficiency, top-shelf apparatus, and enough specialized equipment either available or on loan to perform even the strangest experiments.

●●●●●: An incredible, world-class lab; if the computers were more advanced, they'd be wonders, while just about any scientific apparatus can be found, built, or ordered in minimum time, and everything works astonishingly well.

Security:

Finally, a laboratory should be protected and concealed from prying eyes, or at least able to pass as a normal research institution. Placing dots in Security keeps the laboratory hidden and protected. Laboratories with no dots in Security are public and possess no particular security features except any wonders or beholden the genius devotes to that task. Each dot in Security for a laboratory subtracts two dice from efforts by intruders to find and get into the laboratory, due to concealment or (mundane) security measures like locked doors, pass-key systems, and surveillance. Further, each dot in Security grants a +1 bonus on Initiative for anyone inside against anyone attempting to gain entrance, due to internal security systems and good defensive organization.

0: The laboratory's location and nature are both obvious to anyone who look at it, and it offers no protection against intrusion except whatever the genius directs toward that area in the form of wonders or beholden guards.

●: The laboratory's location is still obvious, but it has basic security, such as key-locks, to keep most casual intruders out. Anyone attempting to enter the laboratory subtracts two dice from their roll. Anyone within engaging intruders gains a +1 bonus on Initiative due to clear lines of sight and good defensive layout.

●●: The laboratory is well-hidden, either in some inaccessible area or concealed in plain sight, and possesses more sophisticated defensive mechanisms, including code-locks, security cameras, and alarms. Anyone attempting to enter the laboratory subtracts four dice from their roll. Anyone within engaging intruders gains a +2 bonus on Initiative due to good organization and access to security cameras.

●●●: The laboratory is artfully concealed and possesses state-of-the-art counter-intrusion technology: DNA locks, advanced security cameras, motion sensors, and a dedicated security computer. Anyone attempting to enter the laboratory subtracts six dice from their roll. Anyone within engaging intruders gains a +3 bonus on Initiative due to security cameras, flood lights, and other systems that put invaders at a disadvantage.

●●●●: The laboratory is basically impossible to find unless the searcher knows what to look for. Protected by advanced technology that borders on the Inspired, the laboratory possesses more security measures than a secret military base. Anyone attempting to enter the laboratory subtracts eight dice from their roll. Anyone within engaging intruders gains a +4 bonus on Initiative due to super-science scanners, protective walls made of incredible alloys, or internal sensor drones. Like a Wonder, this laboratory binds one point of Mania. If Mania is not available, the lab is treated as having only three dots in Security.

●●●●●: The laboratory is an impregnable fortress, riddled with super-science protective measures. Anyone attempting to enter the laboratory subtracts ten dice from their roll. Anyone within engaging intruders gains a +5 bonus on Initiative due to the incredible systems that protect the laboratory and support those within it. This laboratory binds five points of Mania. If Mania is not available, the lab is treated as having only three dots in Security.

Sharing Laboratory Space:

Sharing a laboratory among the collaborative works exactly like sharing beholden. Laboratories need to be large enough to support all the geniuses involved if they plan to work at the same time; geniuses who cooperate to support smaller labs may need to work in shifts.

Mane (● to ●●●):

The genius is a mane, not a natural-born human being. She may be a clone, an orphan automaton, or just a normal-seeming person born in a bardo, or she may be something much stranger. Manes suffer from two disadvantages. First, they require one point of Mania per day to sustain themselves―this point cancels out the point of Mania a genius receives automatically upon waking every day. (See Manes, Page 284.) Second, manes are susceptible to Havoc. (See Havoc, Page 270.)

However, manes gain a significant advantage over mortal geniuses: they can spend Mania to heal damage as a reflexive action. Every point of Mania heals one point of Lethal damage (or Structure, if non-biological) or two points of Bashing damage. By spending three points of Mania and a point of Willpower, a mane can heal a point of Aggravated damage.

Manes also receive the Calculus Vampire Merit at no cost.

There are three categories of this Merit.

Mane ●: The mane does not appear at all human. Only a full-body covering coupled with darkness or disinterest can hide this fact.

Mane ●●: The mane looks nearly human, but may possess a few unusual features such as a tail or a third eye in the middle of his forehead.

Mane ●●●: The mane looks entirely human.

Manes often possess grafted or internalized adopted orphans (see the Adopted Orphan Merit, above) to represent peculiar native abilities.

Science Hero (●●●):

The genius' Jabir penalty is reduced by one. Further, the genius gains a bonus to any Social Skills when acting from a position of knowledge or authority equal to her Obligation -6. This bonus replaces the similar bonus gained for Paragon Status. (See Page 86.)

Technomancer (●●●):

The genius can convert any sort of metanormal energy (Glamour, Mana, Vitae) into Mania, and vice-versa, on a one-for-one basis. This requires the energy to be free-standing or given voluntarily (unless the genius is also a Calculus Vampire, in which case he can drain other energy sources just like draining Mania). One point of energy can be converted per turn. Note that a genius can only hold Mania; it is impossible for a genius to store Vitae or some other type of energy.

This ability allows a genius to perform many functions that require some other sort of energy source. The genius cannot, of course, learn another creature's special abilities―he could not learn a vampire's Disciplines or a changeling's Contracts―but he may find other uses for that energy, such as activating a changeling's token.

Tenure (●●●):

The genius receives tenure at a college or university. This means that it's almost impossible to get rid of him, no matter how crazy he is. More importantly, a "Failure" result when trying to create a wonder does not mean a long delay while the genius tries to restock his supplies. A quick requisition form sent to the college's head of supply can secure ingredients from anywhere almost instantly.

The genius still suffers a penalty for having a Resources rating below the rating needed for the wonder.

Universalist (● to ●●●):

The genius suffers no penalties when using another genius' wonders. The one-dot version of this Merit applies this benefit to one Axiom. The two-dot version applies this benefit to a number of Axioms equal to the genius' Wits. The three-dot version applies to wonders built with any Axiom.

Utility Belt (● to ●●●●●):

A Utility belt is a handheld device (Size 2) that grants a genius a +1 bonus when working on wonders. All utility belts grant a +1 to Science. Each rank in this Merit grants the genius another +1 bonus with one other Skill: Academics, Computer, Crafts, Medicine, or Occult. This bonus is typically used to build and repair wonders, but it can be used for mundane applications of the Skill too. A Utility Belt also removes the rank/Resources penalty due to kitbashing. (See Kitbashed Wonders, Page 138.)

Utility belts are portable while laboratories are not, but utility belts (which are not always belts; some Inspired prefer tool cases or rucksacks) cannot be combined with a lab's Equipment bonus. They are most popular with geniuses on the move. A genius cannot use another genius' utility belt.

---

"It's the alarming rate of suicide among beholden that troubles me," Professor Bonnerman said. He was lying: nothing really 'troubled' him anymore, except that he might find one graph less satisfying than another. He lit a cigarette. He did it real slowly, so the woman in front of us wouldn't put a bullet in his brain.

"This isn't what it was supposed to be like," the woman said. Her hands weren't too steady. She was maybe 25, overweight, looking like the girl who gets ignored at the dance club. I hadn't noticed her before around the lab. Her dress had the most fascinating fractal pattern on the...come on, Jake, focus. Act human and normal. You're probably going to die here.

"It's hard to shoot," Bonnerman said, taking a long slow drag. "Not because you're a good person, Marlene, because you're not: you're as immoral as you are ignorant. But it's because you know that killing me kills you. There's nothing in you, no spark, no vision. You're a tool, an extension. That's all you'll ever be."

"That's not true!" The gun was practically vibrating now. "I want my life back!" If I could just reach the bone spur in my pocket...

"That's the bitterest truth, Marlene: you never had a life. Or an idea of your own, ever. Jake here has potential. He wasn't always like he was now. But you can't be like him, or like me. There's no going back. And there's no going forward, not for you. You know that. Which is why you're going to put that gun down, and then Jake is going to cut your throat."

She shot him in the face, which surprised me. The gun swung toward my head, a long, lazy arc. I knocked it from her hand and drew the bone spur across her throat. She screamed, because I had missed the trachea while still getting all the important arteries, and she fell back, still screaming, making a bloody mess of the lab floor. When she stopped, I could hear Bonnerman, and he was laughing: a ragged, hearty, human laugh, as he clutched his bloodied cheek.

"I did not see that coming," he said, between guffaws. "Come on, let's get this cleaned up." He looked at me, as if daring me to do it. I put the length of bone away and got the mop while the doctor dragged the body to the furnace.