LEGIONS OF

CARCOSA
The Yellow King Roleplaying Game Bestiary
 LEGIONS OF CARCOSA
The Yellow King Roleplaying Game Bestiary

Publishers: Simon Rogers and Cathriona Tobin

Written and designed by: John Harness, Kira Magrann, Sarah Saltiel, and Monica Valentinelli, with Daniel Kwan
Developer: Robin D. Laws
Cover art: Janio Garcia
Interior art: Created by Robin D. Laws using the Stable Diffusion AI art software
Layout: Aileen Miles
Proofreading: Keith Mageau, Cathriona Tobin
Eagle-eyes: Steve Hammatt

Copyright © 2023 Pelgrane Press Ltd.

The Yellow King RPG and GUMSHOE Quickshock are trademarks of Pelgrane Press Ltd.
Pelgrane Press is co-owned by Simon Rogers and Cathriona Tobin.
 CONTENTS
PARIS 5 Cyt 70 Namesake 135
Bonepile 6 Paul Daste 72 Nemesis Spirit 137
Creeping Beast 8 Drought Lord 74 The Ooze 140
Dark Dweller 10 Commandant Dupuis 76 Parageometric Savant 142
The Dollmaker 12 Ear Worms 78 Rouge Beret 144
The Doombringers 14 Forget-Me-Not 80 Sersinger 146
The Dressmaker 16 Furious Banes 82 Unholy Tears 148
Gawkers 18 Gut Gobbler 84 Vibrat 150
Green Fairy 20 Leatherleg 86 THIS IS NORMAL NOW 152
Inkblot 22 Little One 88 Blue 153
Inspir 24 Pestipox 90 Botanihive 155
Liberty Vintners 26 Red Eyes 92 Catfish 157
Living Portrait 28 The Rot 94 Chirpers 159
Marble Dancer 30 The Silent Doctor 96 Copycat Killers 161
Marie Rowdon 32 Soft Machines 98 Deadshift 163
Micar 34 Spirit Host 100 Disintegrators 165
Nokk 36 Talisman 102 Dry-Leaves 167
Our Lady of Bones 38 Translated Soldiers 104 Euphorium 169
Pan 40 Washer Woman 106 Flatfeet 171
Picture Perfect 42 Wood-Wives 108 Flicker 173
Pigment 44 AFTERMATH 111 The Fontaines 175
Silver Sirens 46 Black-Eyed Kids 112 Footlickers 177
Unknown of the Seine 48 Crouch 114 Glitch 179
Madame Cleo Verlaque 50 Devourers 116 Lost Waters 181
Wanderer 52 Doppelganger 118 Midnight Mare 183
Widowmaker 54 Ectofly 120 Oothecoid 185
Winter Worm 56 Fliptops 122 The Order of Baphomet 187
Yellow Carnation 58 Fluffy 123 Sadboi 189
THE WARS 61 Glo-Glutton 125 The Swayed 191
Angels of Mons 62 Golden Sigil Parties 127 Talking Head 193
Blood Field 64 Granitites 129 Tesseract 195
Blood Sanctum 66 Insonic 131 Wiresnake 198
Caged Horror 68 Kids Club Sleeper Agent 133

3
Th e Y E LLOW K I N G B E S T I ARY : Minions of the Pallid King

MINIONS OF THE PALLID KING

When the King in Yellow breaks to your terror-inspiring needs in you have in mind. Naturally, you’ll
our reality, monsters creep in Paris, Aftermath, or TINN. After vary sorts of Foes from one scenario
through the gaps. introducing Our Lady of Bones in to the next. Even the most patient
This book presents 86 new Paris, her refractions can return to players will grow bored of ravening
adversaries to confound, menace, bedevil the players in the other three beasts if that’s all you ever throw at
and mystify the players of your Yellow settings. them.
King Roleplaying Game series. All Injury and Shock cards As always in horror roleplaying,
From sinister human individuals you need to run each Foe appear use state-of-the-art safety tools to
to parasitic swarms, from resurrected immediately after its description. ensure that your players meet up
gods to denizens of internet chat Here we diverge from other YKRPG with the thrilling frights they want
rooms, they’re here to inspire books, where cards all appear to confront, and avoid subject matter
scenarios, lure the unwary, and strike together at the back because you they don’t want at their gaming
fear into the hearts of investigators might need them in a variety of table. Although this advice applies
across time and dimensions. circumstances. This new approach across the board, content advisories
Each is keyed to one of the four maximizes ease of reference, accompany a few entries you’ll want
YKRPG sequences: Belle Époque although it does mean that a few to take particular care around.
Paris, the alternate reality battlefields cards appear more than once in this Now that we’ve delayed you with
of The Wars, the haunted, post- book. this introduction long enough for this
totalitarian America of Aftermath, or These Foes evoke the game’s book’s monstrous inhabitants to find
the eerily ordinary present of This Is distinctive themes and motifs. You’ll hiding places from which to pounce,
Normal Now. find a number of parasitic entities, we’re out of further ado. Enjoy this
Every Foe also contains alternate conspiring humans, decadent alien collection of enthralling nasties, and
ideas to adapt them to each of the nobles, and legendary figures are we’ll meet you for a debriefing by the
other three sequences. The Rouge given substance. This permits you to shores of Hali!
Beret might have been created pick the exact version of an entity
for The Wars, but can adjust itself type you need to power the scenario

4
PARIS
LE G I ON S O F CAR C O SA
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Bonepile
Animated by practitioners of Only a portion of the Catacombs is its path. It reads living beings as a
Carcosan magic, neglected human open to public viewing, which does threat and attacks them, absorbing
remains carelessly shunted to the not stop people from entering the their remains into the mass. When
Catacombs become bonepiles, off-limits areas. There, thieves and as much as a scrap of bone still lies
prowling through the city’s radicals under Carcosan influence elsewhere in the city, the bonepile
underground in roaming masses. paint the Yellow Sign onto the tumbles on. These fragments
The investigators discover them catacomb walls and vandalize the typically lie under structures built
as they spread from their original bone piles. A few self-proclaimed over the old cemeteries. A bonepile
resting places to both the old and new magicians have staged elaborate, can hurl its weight with enough force
sewer systems. These amalgamations but ineffective, magic rituals in to knock down walls, topple carriages,
manifest as small avalanches of the tunnels. Rumors surrounding and, if it plows through the wrong
bones that tumble along the ground, these gatherings make the police underground support beam, collapse
gaining size as they sweep stray bones wary of investigating any claims of entire buildings.
and other debris into their shambling actual supernatural activity in the A kill result in combat causes
mass. Catacombs. the pile of bones to temporarily
Haussmann’s controversial mid- Like many haunting phenomena, lose animation, which it regains at
century renovation of Paris included bonepiles possess neither midnight.
a new, modern sewer system and consciousness nor the ability to To permanently destroy one,
the removal of bodies from old communicate, but rather act on investigators must find the site where
graveyards to the Catacombs. In mindless compulsion. Vivified by magicians summoned it and perform
keeping with standard practices, old the power of the Yellow Sign, they a rite that undoes the spell. Usually,
bones were separated into categories, roam the underground in an effort to this requires them to identify the
becoming stacks of fibulas and tibias, reassemble all of the disparate bones magicians, and either learn the
heaped collections of ribs, vertebrae, of the skeletons they contain. A subtle ceremony they used in order to
and skulls. Workers arranged selected psychic sense allows the bonepile create a reverse version, or coerce
bones into beautiful, macabre statues. to locate the missing bones, slowly them into doing it. Often this entails
And so they sat until the spread of rolling through the underground, unmaking a Yellow Sign responsible
the Yellow Sign. regardless of what might block for its manifestation.

6
 Bonepile

The Wars: A crawling mass of

mud and bones, a wartime bonepile
rises from an unmarked battlefield IT’S A MIRACLE MASSIVE INJURIES
grave and crawls along country YOU’RE ALIVE Injury
roads, seeking revenge. To dispel it Injury
Counts as 2 Injury cards. Until
permanently, the squad must lure it
-1 to Physical tests. end of interval you can’t make
back to its burial site and fight to kill.
After a Physical failure, roll a die. tests. Thereafter, -2 to Physical
To keep it dead, the squad must take tests and -1 to Focus tests.
Even: trade for Shock card “Rattled.”
an additional action revealed by their If scenario is not over at end of
investigation, such as: session, trade for “On the Mend.”
• installing a memorial
• bringing war criminals responsible
for the incident to justice
• returning the personal effects
of soldiers to their loved ones This Is Normal Now: Bonepiles made Numbers: 1
Aftermath: Bonepiles are of rampager excrement and undigested Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
reanimated remains from mass human bones emerge from creature Other 4, Kill 6)
graves of the Castaigne regime. lairs, and roam the land between Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if you
Quelling a bonepile may require major metropolitan areas. Investigators have a map of the catacombs, -2 if you
the exhumation, identification, and may kill a particular bonepile, but the have taken steps to bring peace to the
proper burial of the victims, the creatures continue to emerge until they dead
capture and prosecution of the mass enter the lair and liberate a half-eaten Toll: 1
murderers, or both. human whose sorrow, and lingering Tags: Construct
Carcosan vibrations, gives impetus to Injuries, Minor and Major: It’s
the roaming monsters. a Miracle You’re Alive/Massive
Injuries

7
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Creeping Beast
Among the thrilling new artworks else notices this but the person who it existence is threatened (the painting
hanging in the 6th arrondissement’s locks eyes with. is on fire, for example) or when
Luxembourg Gallery is a post- Over the next few days, the gazer someone else is using supernatural
impressionist painting with a begins to see the leopard where it abilities to disconnect its hold on
sinister aspect. The painting depicts shouldn’t be. It appears in other the victim. In these unusual cases,
a jungle in a dark palette of greens paintings, on reflective surfaces, witnesses see an attack by an invisible
and yellows, with several beautiful and in shadows that dance upon creature.
flowers and beasts among the walls. Each time the target sees the A glance at the body with Natural
leaves. A cursory glance reveals leopard, it appears closer, poised History indicates mauling by a
nothing abnormal. Hidden in the as though stalking and, eventually, big cat. The bite marks match the
painting’s shadowy tall grasses is a ready to pounce. The terrified victim configuration of a leopard’s jaw,
skulking leopard, coat weathered, constantly checks their peripheral but at a size larger than any known
muscles taut. It takes a little while vision for hints of movement. Finally specimen of that species.
of gazing at the painting to see the comes the dreaded moment, as the The Wars: The creeping beast
leopard, immersing oneself into creature jumps into the victim’s manifests in the darkness of forests
this fantastically stylized jungle reality and tears them to shreds. near the battlefield. Soldiers see it in
world, examining each brushstroke The creeping beast prefers to kill calm moments between fighting. As
on each post-impressionist version when alone with its victims. It breaks leopards are not native to Europe,
of a blade of grass. As soon as the this habit if desperate or provoked by they may at first speculate that it
leopard notices it’s being looked at, the victim in some manner. The beast has escaped from a bombed-out or
it returns the viewer’s gaze. Nobody can be instigated to this violence if its abandoned zoo. Only when it draws

8
 Creeping Beast

closer do its chosen victims realize

how big it is.
The creeping beast hunts soldiers REALITY HORROR MONSTROUS MAULING
and civilians alike. Characters Shock Injury; Shock
may find themselves hunted by
-1 to Focus tests. -1 to tests.
a creeping beast, and in need of
At the end of a scene in which Trade for “Still Hurting” by
shaking the impending doom. A
you take the lead in gaining a paying a price or overcoming
civilian may come to them for help, core clue from a GMC, roll a die. a relevant obstacle.
or in their frightened state, admit Even: discard. Odd: give this If still in hand at end of scenario,
that they’ve seen the beast and feel Shock card to another player. gain the card “Permanent Injury.”
it’s coming for them. Several soldiers
may have died recently from beast
attacks, prompting a more thorough
investigation of the dark woods.
Aftermath: In the ruin of This Is Normal Now: In a world use every day until it leaps out of
revolution, the creeping beast where museum attendees make the screen at them. It targets people
manifests as its true alien self: a large, up a fraction of the population, the chaotically, and victims are found
spindly creature left behind when creeping beast increases its reach by torn to shreds, either holding their
the gates were closed. Targets see a positioning itself in online memes. phones or in front of their computers.
bipedal entity, with six long spindly The meme originated as a generic The ordinary characters in this world
arms that end in razor-sharp talons, photo of a jungle someone took could encounter this image in their
and an impossibly huge maw for the while vacationing. In the foreground own social media feeds. It may also be
size of its head. It stalks its prey in appears a Photoshopped person in encountered by reading a creepypasta
a hunched position. Strange yellow a bikini and sunglasses, pointing off story about them elsewhere on
and black spots cover its shiny body, camera to the left. Users alter the the internet that is connected
similar to a leopard. Through its six caption to make their own jokes or suspiciously to the deaths of people
eyes, it perceives its victim’s fear, express their political views. The they know IRL.
fueling its desire to attack. Its favorite background of the image seems Numbers: 1
hiding places include elevator shafts, innocuous at first, until the viewer Difficulty: Vastly Superior
piles of garbage, old fire escapes, and looks closer and spots the leopard (Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7)
stacks of boxes in basement corners. among its leaves. The meme has Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if the
Furious at its castaway status in a gained enough popularity to increase target likes art
world where Carcosan influence the number of unsuspecting victims Toll: 2
continues to dwindle, it targets allowing the image to linger on their Tags: Invasive
former insurgents and the enemies feed. The victim continues to see Injuries, Minor and Major:
of regime parageometrists it once the creeping beast get closer and Reality Horror (a Shock card)/
collaborated with. closer in the various screens they Monstrous Mauling

9
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Dark Dweller
As signs of the Yellow King stirred
in this world, something more
ancient than old bones settled into
the Paris Catacombs. Perhaps that
space under the earth is where the
passageway between Carcosa and this
world has always been. Throughout
Paris, there are openings that lead
down into the Catacombs. Lately,
an indescribable energy has been
calling life down into the dark void.
The well-trafficked parts of the
Catacombs pose very little threat,
but there are sections that have not
been seen for decades, stretching for
miles underneath Paris. If a person
or animal gets lost in the Catacombs,
the absolute darkness seeps into
them over the course of several days,
leaving them forever transformed.
Dark dwellers don’t return to the
life that they lived before; they have
lost too much of themselves to even
know what that is. They move in the
shadows, never staying outside of the
Catacombs for too long. They are the lurking in the belly of the city, ground is moving because of how
flickers of life seen out of the corners driving dark dwellers upwards like it is constantly being stirred up by
of eyes, in the places where the city rats before a flood. these beings moving underneath
shows its cracks. Carcosa’s dark Of course, if investigators are it. Investigating a mysterious mass
energy drove them mad, imbuing foolhardy enough to pursue a missing death might put your characters
them with uncanny strength. The person down into the depths, they in more danger than anticipated if
former humans among them have almost certainly stumble across a dark previously immobile bodies are found
gone feral. dweller, oozing with primal rage and moving through the underground
Dwellers subsist on the dark, not darkness. If they’re really unlucky, and brimming with fury.
needing food or other sustenance. they meet a swarm. They face a race Aftermath: Dark dweller numbers
They fiercely and unrelentingly against time and primordial darkness spiked during the Castaigne reign
attack people or animals that come to find their missing person before as the grim nature of reality made
too close to their lurking spots, they’re both changed forever. literal monsters out of the most
resenting reminders of what they The Wars: In abandoned trenches, empathetic survivors. Many of the
once were. From a distance, they the dark dwellers lurk. Previously parageometry experiments focused
still resemble ordinary humans and soldiers from either side, the trenches on the effects of Carcosan energy
animals. A closer look shows their altered their nature. They are the on humans. Dark dwellers were
transformation into hairless creatures ones who were left for dead… and of particular interest because of
of skin and bone. perhaps they were really dead. how the transformation made the
Having been transformed by the They stick mostly to the trenches, humans significantly stronger and
dark, dwellers are pained by the burrowing into the ground when improved their resilience. Nearly
light and generally do not go into they encounter walls, making their all of the experiments resulted in
the sunniest parts of the city. If your homes at the front lines of battles the subjects losing their humanity
game has dwellers attacking victims that everyone has already forgotten. completely. However, the variations
on the streets of Paris, investigators In places where many dark dwellers in the experiments led to different
likely find something much worse are clustered, it seems as if the manifestations. A few dark dwellers

10
 Dark Dweller

find themselves connecting a series

of attacks on people who have never
THROUGH THE BREAKING POINT met but interacted on the same online
RINGER Injury forum. The human self of the dweller
Injury retains no knowledge of what their
+2 to Tolls.
dark dweller form has done, but feels
+1 to Tolls. For the next six hours of world
compelled to increasingly return to the
Other PCs take -1 Composure time, other PCs take -2 Composure
penalties while in sight of you.
internet. As time goes on, their dark
penalties while in sight of you.
Trade for “Black and Blue” After six hours world time, trade for dweller self takes over until it is able
as recipient of Difficulty the Injury card “Black and Blue” and to entirely separate from its physical
5 First Aid success. the Shock card “They Broke You.” form, leaving the original human a
consciousness-less shell.
Numbers: 1, or number of PCs
present minus 1
maintain the logic skills of their spawn and live. Simply checking out Difficulty: Evenly Matched
human selves, but where there these internet spaces doesn’t turn a (Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5)
used to be sentimentality, there’s human being into a dark dweller, but Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if you
now just rage. Since the revolution, extended or repeated entry warps find out who they were before they
the provisional government has people. The division between the were warped by the darkness; -2 if in
attempted to track down these online and physical world causes a broad daylight; +2 if in the depths of
dangerous creatures. With records of fissure — the dark dweller retains their their lair; +3 if you remind them of
the experiments missing, it is unclear human form while away from the something about their past life
how many were made and how many internet, but once they connect to it, Toll: 2
are still out there, lurking in the dark. they enter into the internet and use Tags: Alt/Mutant
This Is Normal Now: There are parts the networks to manifest elsewhere Injuries, Minor and Major:
of the internet where the darkest physically. They generally stay within Through the Ringer/Breaking Point
recesses of humanity are realized. one network and attack the humans
This is where dark dwellers now connected by it. Investigators might

11
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

The Dollmaker
Evelyn Royer works as a dollmaker identify as a place of pagan worship. she wishes to curse directly.
in a shop located down a cobblestone When the art students discover it, When Evelyn completes one of
alley in the Pigalle. Her quaint, they find three altars covered in these uncanny dolls, the person it
old-fashioned dolls feature clothing candles and mirrors, and surrounded models suffers a Carcosan curse.
and craftsmanship echoing popular by the bones of dead animals. Several Their spirit is sucked inside the
“Parisienne” or French fashion dolls. animal horns are attached to the porcelain, and they become trapped
Their heads are made of porcelain, walls in rows. On closer inspection inside the doll, leaving their body
with soulful eyes, and real human hair. they realize that the iconography empty but still living in the real
Their soft bodies are clothed in luxury evokes not pagan gods, but the court world. The more spirits Evelyn
velvets, silks, and cashmere to mimic of Carcosa, with twin suns and waves captures, the more energy she
royal fashion. These traditional works beneath them painted abstractly on can channel into opening a rift to
are better loved by collectors, and each surface. Upon various pedestals Carcosa. She’s only three dolls away
older people nostalgic for their youth, stand dolls quite different from the from her goal. Destroying the dolls
than by children who actually play ones upstairs. With eerie realism will release the people imprisoned.
with dolls. Royer doesn’t much care and meticulous detail, they depict Art students encountering dolls
who purchases them; she has more particular people, down to the tiniest Evelyn has crafted in their likeness
important dolls to make. freckle. Each contains a piece of hair, make a Difficulty 4 Composure test
A secret set of stairs leads from her jewelry, fingernail, tooth, or blood to avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:
shop’s backroom into a basement, from the real person. Evelyn crafts Dolled Up/Thrall to the Doll.
which the undiscerning eye would intentional lookalikes of the people The Wars: A woman in her sixties
named Evelyn Royer, who lives alone
in her shack, carves dolls out of scrap
wood she finds on the battlefields.
They resemble real soldiers she’s seen
in persistent visions. As if possessed,
with no idea what’s she’s doing, she
feverishly works to create a doll in
the wake of these visions. The subject
then becomes trapped in the doll, but
she’s able to manipulate their body
to influence the outcome of the next
battle in which they participate. She
maintains a humbler version of her
Parisian counterpart’s altar in her
makeshift workshop. The shrine has
always been there, and she’s unsure
how long she has been in this shack
carving these dolls.
Aftermath: A top-secret
government project has created the
first androids to support the rebellion
and fight against the Carcosans.
These android prototypes are
incredibly technologically advanced
and look human unless examined
very closely. One of the engineers on
the project is a double agent working
for the Castaigne regime. Her mind
has been twisted by the King in
Yellow to serve his will instead of
the rebellion. This engineer, Evelyn
Royer, creates androids who look
like real people, with the end goal

12
 The Dollmaker

of replacing them. She does this

secretly, keeping them in a hidden
sub-basement beneath the high tech DOLLED UP THRALL TO THE DOLL
facility. Several are already in place Shock Shock
in various tiers of American society, Lose 1 Composure each time you You may not interfere with the
but there are many who have yet to handle, look at, or discuss the doll. plans of the dollmaker, as you
be released into the wild. Once in Once per interval, you may make understand them, or abet any
place, these androids then go about a Difficulty 4 Composure test. effort to damage the doll.
the Regime’s business, performing Success: if you destroy the doll, If the doll is nonetheless
whatever dire acts are required of you lose 3 Health and discard. destroyed, trade for the Injury
them. While some of them seem to card “Energy Drain.”
have minds of their own, these are
caught and destroyed by Evelyn.
This Is Normal Now: A large scale
doll manufacturer, Darbie, is well
known for creating dolls that represent
idealized careers a girl could have MOSTLY RESISTANT FIND THE ANTIDOTE
when she grows up. These classic dolls Injury Injury
have been around for fifty years and
You can’t spend Health points on tests. If scenario ends with this card
are symbolic of a kind of old-fashioned
At the end of each interval, still in hand, you die.
American dream. A Darbie designer, roll a die. Even: discard. Discard by finding the antidote.
Evelyn Royer, recently felt compelled
to create a run of dolls that look
uncannily like people she knows in real
life. Evelyn keeps the prototypes in her
office at the company headquarters,
trapping numerous souls inside their
plastic bodies until she can open a rift to
Carcosa.
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3, ENERGY DRAIN
Other 4, Kill 6) Injury
Difficulty Adjustments: -1 Pay 5 points from any combination
personally scared of dolls, +1 dolls are of Physical abilities. If you can’t
within sight pay, trade for “Massive Injuries.”
Toll: 1 After six hours (world time), trade
Tags: Human for “On the Mend” as recipient of
Injuries, Minor and Major: Difficulty 4 First Aid success.
Mostly Resistant/Find the Antidote

13
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

The Doombringers
Like police of most times and
places, Parisian gendarmes serve
those in power. The Doombringers,
a secret group within the gendarmes,
have fixed their loyalties on a
mightier authority — the King in
Yellow, a living god. They pursue
his goal, as they understand it: the
end of reality. The Doombringers
aid beings or events driven by
alien Carcosa, turning a blind eye
to these creatures’ lawbreaking
whenever it occurs. To this end, the
Doombringers lose key evidence,
mislead witnesses and victims, and
impede interfering investigators like
the art students. They take particular
pains to conceal evidence of alien
beings’ vulnerabilities. In most cases,
they succeed, but a few missteps have
revealed their existence, although not
their cover within the gendarmes,
to the wary investigator. While the
group typically focuses on aiding
these supernatural lawbreakers,
they may also decline to intervene in
ordinary misdeeds. scenario, they may be acting for a especially power-hungry or desirous
The Doombringers attend regular true Carcosan, presuming what the of glory is a sure way to get them to
meetings in the basement of an King wants them to do, or following turn on each other.
innocuous pub owned by a civilian the orders of an opportunistic con The Wars: The Doombringers
supporter. Such supporters are artist they have mistaken for an agent exist as a secret chain of command
few, maintaining loyalty on pain of of the Pallid One. within the Loyalist military. The
death. The basement looks a place The Doombringers are currently conspiracy encompasses ranks high
for criminals to plan their heists, led by Officer Thomas Travers, who and low, allowing them to intervene
complete with a card table and more or less directs their actions in operations from the command
strategy board with various names and makes the hard decisions level all the way down to grunts in
and photos connected by strings. when required. Travers maintains the field. They use military resources
Accoutrements include several their Tome of Knowledge, which to abet Carcosans, again employing
occult symbols, candles, and against tracks all the Carcosan activity guesswork and presumption to figure
a side wall, a stone altar stained they’ve been able to record since out what sort of help they desire.
with old blood. Occultism finds the play first surfaced. It details To do this, they perform their own
these elements familiar. Aside from the alien interlopers’ desires, investigations into Carcosan activity.
the appearance of the Yellow Sign, habits, preferred living places and The squad might discover them
they represent the Doombringers’ victims, and some rituals that are and gain the information they’ve
human conception of black magic. meant to call Carcosans to them. gathered, or find themselves targeted
The conspiracy occasionally brings Members consider themselves loyal by Doombringers as a source of
victims down here for secret to the King, with Travers a mere key intelligence. In The Wars, they
interrogations or human sacrifice. intermediary. Should he be killed, gather in makeshift spaces: any
Rarely do actual Carcosans interact someone else steps up to fill the void. place dark and isolated will do. At
with them directly. Rather, they Power struggles and personal quarrels the meeting’s outset, the ranking
seek out individuals they take for sometimes arise among the group. member ritually claims the space by
Carcosans and make themselves Offering false secrets to members of hanging up a sacrificial dagger with
available as servitors. In your the Doombringers who are either an alien-looking obsidian blade.

14
 The Doombringers

You may decide that they have

likewise infiltrated the ranks of the
enemy, either working against their BLACK AND BLUE BADLY BEATEN
Loyalist counterparts or in covert Injury Injury
alignment with them.
Aftermath: When preparing his +1 to Tolls. +2 to Tolls.
Discard when you take a Major Injury. After two intervals, trade for
1920 coup, Mr. Wilde recruited
“Black and Blue” as recipient of
the Doombringer cult, active in Difficulty 4 First Aid success.
America from the early 1900s, into
his conspiracy. Taking this as a sign of
imminent Armageddon, they joined
enthusiastically. Over the decades,
they evolved from Wilde’s ideological
vanguard to an honorary order within
the regime apparatus, not unlike
an Ivy League secret society. With
the regime now shattered, fugitive GRAZED SHOT
functionaries seek to revive the Injury Injury
Doombringers of old, as a true secret
-1 to Physical tests. -2 to Physical tests. Counts as
conspiracy operating within the police
Discard on a Physical success. 2 Injury cards. Trade for “On
and military. Led by double agents
the Mend” as recipient of
so far unexposed by the Truth and Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
Reconciliation Process, they seek to If still in hand at end of scenario, you
derail the revolution by infiltrating succumb to your injuries and die.
its security complex. With their old
Carcosan confederates on the other
side of the gate, they must find their
own alternate road to the end of
reality as we know it.
This Is Normal Now: The police are
already deeply corrupt on multiple CAMBUK ZAP CAMBUK SLASH
levels, both human and Carcosan in Shock or Injury Shock; Injury
nature, even without the interference (player chooses)
of the Doombringer Cult. They -4 to Composure tests when
-4 to Composure tests when in view of the Yellow Sign.
merely have to push a little bit in view of the Yellow Sign. After two intervals, you
one way or another to turn a small Discard after two intervals. may discard as recipient of a
Difficulty 4 First Aid success.
tragedy into a large catastrophe.
The Doombringers delight in the
growing mistrust between the public
and the police, and weaponize it
to aid in any Carcosan agendas. A
philosophical lack of faith in the law
keepers opens up the possibility for creating fake rap sheets of specific Numbers: 13
a more chaotic law to take hold in protest leaders, making them appear Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
the public consciousness. The more far more violent than in reality. Other 4, Kill 6)
the people believe in chaos, the During protests, they’ll be the first Difficulty Adjustments: -1 you
easier it is for the Doombringers to to unleash violence on the protesters, trust the gendarmes; +1 if you’re
invite the end of the world. They sow inciting both cops and civilians. suspicious of authority
discord within institutions of law and Political protests are spiritually ripe Toll: 1
order, searching for weak points and events to target, as this type of police Tags: Human
exploiting them to their advantage. response leaves civilians feeling Injuries, Minor and Major:
The Doombringers’ most recent helpless, fearful, and with only Black and Blue/Badly Beaten
campaign is to sow violence between violent recourse. (Paris, TINN); Grazed/Shot (The
police and political protesters by Wars); Cambuk Zap/Cambuk Slash
(Aftermath)

15
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

The Dressmaker
Claudia Martin, a tailor living
in the Latin Quarter of Paris,
is well known for her excellent
craftsmanship and gorgeous
gowns. The dresses are interesting
interpretations of recent fashions,
composed of tulles, laces, and colors
that are quite popular. Women of
Parisian society adore her work,
yearning to join her exclusive client
list.
Claudia resides alone above her
humble shop, whose window always
showcases two of her handmade
dresses. An unassuming-looking
Parisian woman, she never wears her
expensive pieces, preferring simple,
well-made items in soft pastel hues.
She keeps her hair neatly tucked
up, peering through her glasses as
she works on the small details of
her sewing. Not a soul suspects the
despicable ways in which she’s being
manipulated by the King in Yellow.
The dresses infect their wearers,
making them susceptible to Claudia’s
suggestions. In her dreams, she Claudia’s control over her thralls clothing on them. Should they refuse,
imagines them acting like her little grants her supernatural power she she commands her thralls to pick up
puppets on strings. In reality, the next can manifest physically in a fight. butcher knives and pitchforks.
day, they follow these commands. Demonstrating them risks exposure, Aftermath: A tailor working at a
Over time, Claudia has learned to so she only does this in self-defense. small laundromat, Claudia Martin,
control this to her advantage, gaining Instead, she sends her thralls against keeps the clothes of those customers
personal wealth — and revenge on meddling art students, perhaps as an who pass away without picking
those who’ve harmed her in the past. Antagonist Reaction. up their dry cleaning. She brings
Recent nights have found her desires The Wars: In a town near the front, the clothes home to her sewing
becoming increasingly sinister as the dark dream has infected a local machine, stitches Yellow Signs
power corrupts her mind. Claudia tailor named Claudia Martin. She inside them, and then fixes them up
particularly relishes in the suffering finds dead civilians, often women, to resell at weekend markets or in
of her puppets. The dresses whisper children, and the elderly, stealing consignment shops. Claudia came
the victim’s lies to Claudia, and she the clothing from their corpses to to know operatives on both sides
turns these facades they wear to the resell. Claudia repairs the clothing, of the struggle when an insurgent
outside world against them. washing it thoroughly of bloodstains, cell, later infiltrated and turned by
In order to save her victims, she adding decorative embroidery, beads, regime counterintelligence, used the
simply needs to be stopped. and the Yellow Sign. Over time laundromat as a drop point. During
Player characters wearing an she has given clothes to most of her this time, she slipped tainted clothes
infected dress make Difficulty 4 fellow townsfolk, creating an entire to rebels and secret police alike,
Health tests to avoid Injuries— settlement she can puppet at will. asserting control over the wearers as
Minor and Major: Soul Swipe/ When the squad enters her town the whim struck her.
Yellow Doom. GMCs become and senses something amiss, Claudia This Is Normal Now: Dressmaker
affected as your story needs dictate. uses the opportunity to force items of Claudia Martin owns a sweatshop

16
 The Dressmaker

that mass produces fast fashion for

several big companies specializing in
cheap apparel that falls apart after a SOUL SWIPE YELLOW DOOM
few washes. She hand-alters items Injury; Shock Injury; Shock; Continuity
in shipments bound for stores in
As recipient of dream command from If still in hand after 24 hours (world
her home city, adding fabrics taken
the Yellow King, you must obey it, time), your character dies.
from the dead. Claudia can tell when or gain the card “Yellow Doom.” Discard by striking a significant
a nearby person is wearing one of blow against the forces of Carcosa.
the tainted pieces. Wandering the
streets at night, she locates victims,
adding them to her list of puppets.
She may be using them to sabotage
competitors and strengthen her
business empire, or to pursue a
deadly vendetta.
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3, SLASHING NEEDLE ALL SEWN UP
Other 4, Kill 6) Injury Injury
Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if the
-1 to Physical tests. Parts of you have been sewn
target doesn’t wear dresses; -1 if the
Discard as the recipient of a First to other parts of you.
target is prone to nightmares Aid spend equal to the margin -3 to Physical tests; -1 to
Toll: 1 of your failed Fighting test. Focus and Presence tests.
Tags: Human Discard one interval after
Injuries, Minor and Major: you become the recipient of a
Slashing Needle/All Sewn Up Difficulty 5 First Aid success.

17
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Gawkers
An artist’s model scandalizes
parade-goers with her blasphemous
costume. A roofer’s shattered body
lies on the street, his horrified co-
workers looking down from above.
The Granville–Paris Express crashes
through the Montparnasse train
station and down into the Place de
Rennes below. Wherever an event
arouses the mass prurient interest of
a crowd, gawkers may materialize.
Appearing as everyday folk, save
for their waxy skin, undifferentiated
features, and vague costuming, they
plunge into the throng. Cloaked by
the confusion of the event and the
perception-clouding powers of the
Yellow Sign, they pick off a distracted
onlooker or two, reducing them to
nothingness. Only intent observers,
alert to the presence of the deucedly
peculiar, notice anything amiss.
After a kill, the gawkers vanish into
a space between realities — until the
one who has summoned them brings
them back for more. Gawkers may
manifest at the behest of a Carcosan The Wars: Wherever a terrified Reaction, as the team finds itself at
noble or human wielder of black star crowd shelters, a summoner can the scene of an SRI that occurred
magic. The spell initially requires bring gawkers into the world to in front of a crowd. Onlookers
the presence of a human throng rapt swell their numbers. They appear in spontaneously take on the powers
with untoward fascination. After the bunkers or trenches, or hunker down and behaviors of a gawker swarm,
summoner brings them into being, amid troops under bombardment. instinctively identifying the
any crowd will do, regardless of its The summoner may gain energy investigators as a threat to the
reasons for forming. The magician from them or use them as murder Carcosan meme complex, and surge
may gain power from the energies weapons, as above. Or they might toward them. On a Render Helpless
the attacks release, or use the gawkers fight for the enemy, materializing combat result, the dazed bystanders
to murder particular individuals gawkers to disrupt an advancing snap out of it, regarding their brief
among the onlookers. The summoner Loyalist column. moments as part of a mindless mob as
in your scenario may contrive an Aftermath: Crowds gather a temporary fugue state.
instigating event to attract the right outside of official buildings to Numbers: 7-10 or more
sort of crowd. protest the continued lack of social Difficulty: Evenly Matched
Your mystery may revolve around help after the Uprising. Crushing (Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5)
the gawker effect and the summoner into the doorways of offices and Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if at
behind it. To solve it and conclude aid centers, these protesters make a large event like an art salon; +2 if a
the scenario, the art students must trouble for anyone hoping to enter PC is at the center of a public event
identify and defeat the magician. or exit important buildings. While that directly draws their attention; -1
Alternately, a foe may use them as ordinarily reasonable, these crowds if investigators are sneaking
foot soldiers while pursuing some become agitated in the presence of a Toll: 1
other scheme, in which case they Carcosan instigator — usually the one Tags: Alt
feature as Antagonist Reactions that leading the chants. Injuries, Minor and Major:
happen while the art students move This Is Normal Now: Gawkers Contused/Squeezed
through crowded boulevards. become a possible Antagonist

18
 G aw k e r s

CONTUSED SQUEEZED DO NOT GO FORTH

INTO THE AGORA
Injury Injury
Shock
-1 to Physical tests. -2 to Physical tests.
Discard on a Physical success. Discard on a Physical failure. Make a Difficulty 4 Sense Trouble
If still held at the end of session, test every time you enter a place you
begin next session by receiving “Do have never been before. On a failure,
Not Go Forth into the Agora.” -1 to all tests while in that location.
Discard when you take an
Injury card in a location you
are very familiar with.

19
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Green Fairy
Absinthe: the drink of the artists parties and bustling streets, having drain is an isolated event; the victim
in Paris. It is known for its anise brief moments of interaction with recovers in a few days. During their
flavor and reputed hallucinogenic humans: a brush when they pass reproductive cycles, however, green
properties, supposedly provoked by each other, a fleeting moment of eye fairies require greater stolen energy
thujone, a component of wormwood. contact. to create giant glittering webs, where
Prior to The King in Yellow, these An investigator under the their young nest. When a green
visions resulted from a combination influence of absinthe, with either fairy builds a web, it maintains a
of expectation, the drink’s staggering the Tipsy or Intoxicated Shock card connection to its victims. They suffer
alcohol content, and copious in hand, sees a very different scene. a constant, possibly fatal drain.
overindulgence. Now legend has In their true form, their green skin Green fairies are faster and have
gained reality, allowing imbibers to constantly ripples and oozes, like tougher skin than any human. This
accurately perceive green fairies, a tumultuous sea. Their teeth and advantage increases when they have
predatory horrors that walk among claws stretch on for inches, looking built a web.
them. brittle but as strong as iron. They sometimes attend cabarets
These entities take on the guise Green fairies make contact with or other extravagant events, glutting
of unremarkable humans, haunting humans to feed off their energy. A themselves on an entire crowd. Mass
the peripheries of places of energy lucky victim might feel only a wave feedings leave them pulsing with
and excitement. They pass through of fatigue. In such a case, the energy strength. Other Carcosan entities,
attracted to energy drains of this
scale, may appear to prey upon the
vulnerable victims.
The fairies can transfer consumed
energy to other sapient Carcosan
entities. These transactions may be
coerced or voluntary exchanges for
treasure, status, or influence.
The Wars: Consumed in sufficient
quantities — for example, by soldiers
anxious to dull the terrors of war —
any alcoholic beverage can knock
down the fragile barriers between the
human mind and the truth of green
fairies. In the War, green fairies
work on both sides as mercenaries
for Carcosan nobles. They soften
up soldiers for further attack by
draining their energy. They set up
lairs along paths much trafficked by
soldiers, perhaps in an abandoned
home or inn. The fairies offer food,
warmth, and a place to rest, and
do so with a comforting pat on the
shoulder. When web-building, they
might capture the soldiers and keep
them alive so that they won’t die on
the battlefield while the green fairy
drains them of energy.

20
 G r e e n Fa i r y

Aftermath: Driven underground

and with supernatural energy
dwindling, die-hard parageometrical FAIRY FATIGUE FAIRY DRAIN
experimenters rely on green fairies Injury Injury
as their black market dealers. In
-1 to tests. -2 to tests.
exchange for large doses of now-rare
Discard at end of session. Discard when the green fairy dies.
Carcosan energy, all the green fairies
If still in hand at end of scenario, you
ask is for a few humans to be sent succumb to your exhaustion and die.
their way every now and then. They
may be moved to protect their most
reliable sorcerer clients from nosy
ex-insurgents.
This Is Normal Now: Only found
in the hippest of neighborhoods,
green fairies offer cleansing sessions, victims until they are sucked dry of have the Shock card Intoxicated; +1 if
designed to rid their clients’ bodies of energy. they have a web, +2 if the green fairy
toxins. The green fairies beckon their Numbers: 1 glutted itself within the past week, +3
victims into their lairs, where their Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3, if they are drawing energy from you
webs are disguised like relaxation Other 4, Kill 6) Toll: 1
spaces. They take small bits of their Difficulty Adjustment: -1 if you Tags: Carcosan
clients’ energy at first, and then when remember them in their true form Injuries, Minor and Major:
they are preparing to spawn, they but are not presently drunk; -2 if you Fairy Fatigue/Fairy Drain
keep up a constant drain on their have the Shock card Tipsy, -3 if you

21
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Inkblot
Art presents the perfect breeding its way to the base of the victim’s their pieces bear threadlike marks
ground for some Carcosan species. skull. Since inkblots generally come where something moved across the
It is passionate and weird and wild, in a swarm, victims usually exhibit canvas.
and it exists on the edge of what a swollen patch in pockets where the Given a chance, the larvae burrow
we can imagine. In this whirlpool inkblots have settled. An investigator into the hand of the original artist
of psychical energy, inkblots take pressing against the swelling might and transfer over to other humans
root. Native to Carcosa, inkblots feel some writhing, squirming through physical contact. A singular
rode the psychological wave of the mass underneath the skin. From inkblot outside of a host is only a tiny
Yellow King into this world and that position, the inkblots infect worm, and thus easy to kill — but
immediately found victims for their the victim with a fever, fatal if left only if you know it’s there and catch
parasitic tendencies. unchecked. Though the symptoms it before it bores into you.
Thread-like and about half the manifest like those of a normal fever, The spawning inkblot is killed by
length of a thumbnail, inkblots are an autopsy would reveal internal the death of its host, whether by
serpentine creatures. They manifest organs that look like they have been fever or otherwise. Investigation
in paint, ink, or other liquid artistic burned up. reveals that killing it while sparing
mediums, taking physical form from Inkblots push their victims to the host requires a procedure to
the amount of artistic potential that create more art. The energy of carefully extract the inkblot from the
the substances contain. They spend the creation provides the perfect host’s body, which the art students
the first part of their lifespan there, atmosphere for the inkblot’s larvae to must perform through a Difficulty 5
laying eggs and preparing for the emerge from their eggs. The infected First Aid test. In order to completely
next stage of the process. When target shifts to pieces uncharacteristic stop the spread of inkblots, the
the artist uses infested material, of their previous style, manic and spawning inkblot must be removed,
the inkblot comes into contact with imprecise. Artists who already favor and all of the artist’s work must be
human skin. It burrows underneath a loose line go even wilder. Painting burned.
the skin, through a hole so small that reveals that an artist’s style has The Wars: Bullets have begun to
it usually goes unnoticed, and works changed recently or that many of circulate that are shells packed with
inkblot larvae. Those hit by inkblot
rounds become consumed with
artistic impulses. The effect pulls
them irresistibly towards the parts
of the war-torn world that appease
their aesthetic longings. Afflicted
soldiers are known to emerge above
the trench line, completely exposing
themselves to enemy fire, just to be
able to get a look at the moon. Cut
off from materials for art, they are
driven to use their own blood to
paint on the walls of their shelters,
releasing the new larvae and exposing
those around them to the parasites.
Aftermath: With the new artistic
freedom sparking an explosion of
cutting-edge work, inkblots that
remained dormant in their eggs
are emerging. Outbreaks of inkblot
fever are sweeping through artistic
communities. Some artists choose
to take advantage of the inkblots
and use them to create paintings by
hatching them from their eggs and
trying to direct their movements
around a canvas, causing streaks of

22
 Inkblot

paint. Wildly popular but deeply

dangerous, the Inkblot movement
boosts the threat to epidemic INK INFECTION INK FLU
proportions. Injury Injury
This Is Normal Now: A few years -x to tests, where x is the number of
-x to tests, where x is the number intervals you’ve gone without giving
ago, a graphic design software app
of intervals you’ve gone without in to your artistic impulses.
named Inkblot debuted. Two features At end of any interval, you may
giving in to your artistic impulses.
attract users: an intuitive interface At end of each interval, roll a pay 1 Health and roll a die. On a
and tools allowing easy creation of die. On a 1, trade for “Ink Flu.” 5 or 6, trade for “Ink Infection.”
designs in the Belle Époque style. If you ever get a result of 1 on
On a 5 or higher, discard. this roll and still have this card
It also functions as a social media at end of scenario, you die.
platform, allowing artists to share
their work. Every so often, the users
of the software fall ill with fatal fevers
that seem to spread to the other Numbers: Four times the number Toll: 0
artists they interact with. But of of PCs present Tags: Invasive
course, illness can’t spread through Difficulty: Weak (Escape 2, Injuries, Minor and Major: Ink
computers… can it? Other 3, Kill 3) Infection/Ink Flu
Difficulty Adjustment: None

23
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Inspir
Countless great artists drew
passion and inspiration from people
they considered muses. Those who
encounter the inspir think they’ve
found the person that they’ve been
searching for, the one who will bring
new life to their art. Hiding its true
Carcosan form, the inspir mingles
in human society, always beautiful,
always elusive. A passionate glance
here, a brush on the arm there — one
encounter is all it takes for the inspir
to find its new victim. All who meet
the inspir are struck by its presence.
The inspir generally has no more
than four victims at a time — any
more spreads its power too thin, and
its link to its victims destabilizes.
The first half of the process is
glorious. Even previously ungifted
victims find a new fervor for creation.
Passion for their form of choice
overcomes them. At nights the
inspir walks in their dreams and
whispers to them, weakening their
mind’s defenses. During the day, the
victim pursues the inspir above all tests to avoid Shocks—Minor and Finding the physical form of the
else, wanting nothing more than to Major: Influence/Violent Impulse. inspir and killing it releases the
revel in its presence. Giddy artistic When inspirs arrive in the human victim from its hold. However,
revelations disguise the inspir’s first realm, they usually do so in waves. when a victim is in its thrall, it may
subtle manipulations. On the surface, they work alone, compel them to fight on its behalf.
Passion soon turns to obsession; never walking in the same social Investigators could find themselves
victims dedicate themselves entirely spheres or causing their victims to hurting the very person they were
to creating art that does justice interact. Nevertheless, your game trying to protect.
to the image of the inspir, never might ensnare investigators in a The Wars: What is it that inspires
quite living up to their fevered complex web of horror orchestrated the youth to go to war, brimming
expectations. They turn away food, through seemingly disconnected with courage, and ignoring the
drink, and sleep, and eschew the events by inspirs spread throughout specter of death that looms above
company of their loved ones in Paris. Inspirs collude with the Yellow the battlefields? The inspir takes on
pursuit of the inspir’s image. Once King’s daughters. Depending on the form of a soldier that no one can
they have sufficiently weakened, the what roles you have laid out for the quite remember ever seeing before,
inspir manipulates their will for its princesses, inspirs could be honored but who everyone is certain has been
bidding, generally violent. Those Carcosans in the court of the Yellow part of the squad the entire time. It
who completely give in to the inspir’s King, currying favor with a daughter walks among the soldiers, raising
influence might find themselves growing in power, or fragmented their spirits, calling upon their valor
painting portraits of the inspir with projections of the daughter herself. and willingness to die for their cause.
their best friend’s blood, or stringing The latter option provides an Once it whips victims into a frenzy,
a violin with their spouse’s hair in opportunity for investigators to they willingly charge out onto the
order to compose a piece about the create a personal connection with the battlefield to undertake foolhardy
inspir. princess, while the former builds up actions.
Investigators reaching this point suspense for them to meet her later
make Difficulty 4 Composure in the series.

24
 Inspir

Aftermath: Inspir trapped in

this realm have developed a bitter ROUGHED UP SUCKER PUNCHED
streak. No longer the charismatic, Injury Injury
vivacious entities they once were,
they hunt for hits of psychic energy Lose 1 Composure. Lose 2 Health.
Discard after any Physical success, Roll a die; discard after that
to temporarily jolt themselves back
or by spending 1 Athletics. number of successes.
to their former selves. They approach
despondent or directionless humans,
offering dreams that will turn their
lives around. Inspir and human
alike feel a return to purpose and
vitality. Like junkies developing a
tolerance, the effect eventually fades
for both, at which point the inspir
discards the human, often fatally, INFLUENCE VIOLENT IMPULSE
and goes off in search of another Shock
Shock After two or more intervals, the GM
target. Parks containing Government The GM may require you to make a specifies that you strike violently
Lethal Chambers always make a fine Difficulty 5 Composure test. On a failure, against another PC. Test Fighting,
spending 2 points (if available). The
hunting ground. you take a subtly destructive, barely
PC tests Athletics, with your result as
This Is Normal Now: Inspirs have detectable action, specified by the GM, the Difficulty, taking the Injury card
that would please the entity that gave you “Abrasion,” “Laceration,” “Scratched,”
learned how to slot themselves this card. After completing the action, or “Roughed Up” (GM chooses).
into the role of social media icon. roll a die, discarding this card on an even After completing the action, roll a
They trend on Instagram, and their result. The GM must wait two intervals die, discarding this card on an even
result. GM must wait two intervals
lifestyle videos on YouTube rack before triggering the effect again.
before triggering the effect again.
Discard when the entity is destroyed.
up thousands of viewers. Instead of Discard when entity is destroyed.
dedicating themselves to making art
depicting the inspir, their victims
obsess over making themselves into are willing to die for it, the inspir can inspir’s influence, +1 if the inspir
the inspir. Restricted to a handful of spread conspiracies of chaos and pain has touched you, +3 if you are under
true victims at a time, inspir do not far beyond their physical location. the inspir’s influence, +4 if you have
prey on all of their followers, rather Numbers: 1 made art about it
seeking out the most devoted and Difficulty: Evenly Matched Toll: 1
vulnerable. The internet allows the (Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5) Tags: Carcosan
inspir to orchestrate multiple events Difficulty Adjustment: -1 if you Injuries, Minor and Major:
across the globe. With followers who have successfully shaken off the Roughed Up/Sucker Punch

25
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Liberty Vintners
Vin de la Liberté (Liberty Wine) to be a merchant interested in appearance hasn’t changed since 1895.
is a dark red wine served in distributing their wine or be well Liberty Vintners aggressively keep
establishments such as the Cabaret versed in winemaking. If successful, this side effect of the wine a secret
du Néant and Cabaret de l’Enfer. the Vintner may attempt to recruit and have even caused shortages to
Its flavor is often described as sinful, the querent to their cause, using the prevent others from finding out the
as one glass removes the drinker’s wine to compromise key individuals truth. Their efforts are not infallible,
inhibitions for an entire evening. and blackmail their way up the chain and if one was to investigate the
Other wineries have attempted to of power. wineries, family lineages, and
create a copycat vintage, but all failed The Wars: Liberty Vintners are accounts, they’d find a trove of fake
— so far. Only the Liberty Vintners as active now as they were back in documents obscuring their identities
possess the secret of their irresistible 1895 — thanks to the efforts of several and success. Despite their seeming
wine and their lush vineyards, and grandsons and granddaughters. Now, immortality, Liberty Vintners are
they are reluctant to reveal the truth. the families are even more secretive still human and remain Tough but
Following the Great French Wine because they now understand why Outmatched (Escape 2, Other 4,
Blight in the mid-19th century, Vin de la Liberté is so dangerous. Kill 3.)
wineries in the famous Bordeaux, Over time, the Carcosan-tainted Aftermath: Liberty Vintners
Burgundy, and Champagne regions liquor changes the consumer’s survived the war and immigrated
struggled to regain their economic body on a cellular level. Thus far, to America under Castaigne’s
footing. Unlike competitors who daily drinkers celebrate Vin de la leadership to establish new wineries
switched to absinthe production, Liberté as a magical elixir, for their in California. Few seeds survived the
Bordeaux wineries searched for the
means to restore their vineyards
instead. Calling themselves Liberty
Vintners, wine producers traveled
all over France, anxious to find new
varieties of hardier grapes. Finally,
they found an unlikely solution.
Liberty Vintners have grafted
ruby-colored Carcosan vines onto
their withered crops to create a
delicious grape imbued with reality-
twisting energy. The raw grapes affect
both humans and animals the first
time they’re consumed but, like the
wine, never thereafter. After that
initial taste, Liberty grapes don’t
appear to have any effect on the
quaffer.
Liberty Vintners enjoy their
restored wealth after years of meager
profits. When traveling in Paris,
they hide behind fake identities,
aggressively attacking spies from
other wineries. To avoid any
unnecessary inquiries, the Vintners
will generously bribe public servants.
Occasionally, a Liberty Vintner buys
a curious onlooker a complimentary
glass of Vin de la Liberté to throw
them off their trail — but refuses
to drink themselves, citing health
concerns. To get a Liberty Vintner
to open up, one must either pretend

26
 L i b e r t y Vi n t n e r s

turbulent passage across the Atlantic.

Though many Liberty Vintners
were able to establish six vineyards GRAZED SHOT
in northern California, only one Injury Injury
field of Vin de la Liberté remains.
-1 to Physical tests. -2 to Physical tests. Counts as
Its winemakers secretly experiment
Discard on a Physical success. 2 Injury cards. Trade for “On
with new Carcosan-sourced the Mend” as recipient of
materials to reestablish the variety Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
that has gifted them with long life. If still in hand at end of scenario, you
Following the fall of Castaigne, succumb to your injuries and die.
however, Liberty Vintners sent their
sons and daughters to New York,
hoping they’ll infiltrate and subvert
the new political regime. While that
is true, Liberty Vintners are hiding a Jaune. Stunned by this rare find, Numbers: 6 total
terrible secret: they’ve been forced to wine aficionados busily research Difficulty: Tough but Outmatched
ration their remaining French bottles the history of the winery. Period (Escape 2, Other 2, Kill 4)
of Vin de la Liberté, and consuming diaries adorned with the Yellow Sign Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if you
California varieties have unwittingly were recently purchased by persons are a city official; +2 if you drank a
triggered mutations in themselves unknown; speculators believe the glass of Vin de la Liberté; -1 if you
and their consumers. diaries are the key to unlocking knew enough not to drink; -1 if you’re
This Is Normal Now: A reality TV a stunning new variety of grape. knowledgeable about wine-making
star-slash-wine guru has discovered When the PCs track down the Toll: 0
a case of 1895 Vin de la Liberté diaries before the television show Tags: Human
in an abandoned French winery. airs, they encounter the descendants Injuries, Minor and Major:
The celebrity oenophile plans to of the original Liberty Vintners, Grazed/Shot
uncork and drink a bottle live in determined to recreate the success of
New York City at the opening of an their forebears.
exclusive French restaurant called

27
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Living Portrait
The annual art salons of Paris are
the major cultural events in France
and the entire European art world.
With paintings and sculptures
crammed into every corner and
inch of wall space in large and small
exhibition halls, is it such a stretch
that recent disappearances among the
over 50,000 daily visitors sometimes
go unnoticed?
Living portraits are the result of
the misguided attempts of a down-
and-out painter, Clement Medin, to
recapture the success of his youth.
While experimenting with new
pigments and solvents to differentiate
his work from that of others, Medin
received a mysterious package
containing yellowish turpentine.
When added to his pigments, this
turpentine revolutionized the quality
of his work, making portraits seem
to come alive. Actually, they indeed
had come to life, awakened by the
Carcosan chemical.
The portraits, much discussed
at the salons, realistically depict
humans but always incorporate a
subtle motif evoking the skull-like
facial structure of Carcosan nobility.
It might appear as a masquerade
mask held by the subject or as a
decorative object in the background. them closer to the canvas. This can Europe’s irreplaceable art collections
When asked about the strange be resisted with a Difficulty 4 Sense from destruction. Artists, collectors,
subject matter of his works, Medin Trouble success to avoid Shocks— and curators moved the collections
vaguely replies that some images Minor and Major: Second Glance/ out of major cities into hiding places
have come to him in dreams. Dire Visage. far from the front lines; generally,
The turpentine-influenced To destroy a living portrait, an art the lower levels of fortified manor
portraits are dimensional gateways student must enter the painting’s houses and, occasionally, repurposed
into pocket dimensions positioned pocket dimension and defeat its castles. These hidden treasures
between this one and Carcosa. The central figure in combat. The death make prime targets for enterprising
figures in the painting are alive and of the living portrait closes the pocket soldiers hoping to hide away a little
think with a predator’s cunning. dimension and frees those trapped art collection of their own. A looted
The pocket dimension resembles the inside. Burning or slashing the portrait may find its way into any
real world but is made entirely of oil painting’s canvas also destroys the number of official wartime buildings,
paints. creature along with its victims. including prisons, barracks, or
Anyone who approaches a Medin The Wars: The Continental War garrison town.
painting feels a psychic pull drawing initiated frantic efforts to save

28
 Living Portrait

Aftermath: Art lovers rejoice as the

hoarded art collections of the former
elite filter back into public view. WHIFF OF SNOOTFUL OF
Now, famous paintings that experts TURPENTINE TURPENTINE
considered lost are reemerging Injury Injury
in legitimate and black-market
-1 to Physical tests. Health drops to 0. -1 to Physical tests. You can’t discard
salesrooms, notably a Clement
On a Physical success, refresh Injury cards
Medin drawing room portrait of
Health and discard this card.
Mme. Chevrolet, which debuted at
the 1895 Salon de l’Art Nouveau,
though experts agree that yellow
discoloration has severely curtailed
the work’s potential value.
This is Normal Now: The Internet
of Things has created a job market
for armor-clad delivery people
specialized in delivering anything SECOND GLANCE DIRE VISAGE
directly to your door in no time — Shock Shock
and with no risk of you personally
After seeing the painting again, After seeing the painting again, -1 to
experiencing a Safety Related
-1 to Presence tests. Discard all tests. Discard when the painting’s
Incident! Recently, art rental start- when the painting’s pocket pocket dimension is destroyed.
up Van-Go! attracts customers with dimension is destroyed.
a new subscription model, delivering
“real art by real artists” to the
mailroom of every ritzy apartment
building. The investigators stumble
onto the mystery when a friend of a
friend becomes the latest in a string
of disappearances of Van-Go! clients. Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if Tags: Construct
Numbers: 1 informed about the turpentine; +1 Injuries, Minor and Major:
Difficulty: Vastly Superior if knowing to look for the Yellow Whiff of Turpentine/Snootful of
(Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7) Sign. Turpentine
Toll: 0

29
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Marble Dancer
When the last light of dawn fades
in the west, and the stars rise bright
in the sky, a lone marble sculpture
animates, stepping off its pedestal
to join humans in their nighttime
reveries. Gorgeous and androgynous
in both shape and desire, the marble
dancer is named for its love of
dancing among the living at parties
of any kind. A supernatural sense
guides it to the nearest dance, where
incredibly lifelike illusion powers
allow it to blend in with the crowd.
It adroitly mimics the action on
the dance floor, whatever the style.
It completes the imposture with
natural, if somewhat overdramatic,
speech and facial expressions. The
sculpture always pursues one goal:
to find someone who can love it. If
the sculpture can do this, it becomes
a flesh and blood human. The
transformation comes at a price;
over many nights, it drains its lover’s
life force, prematurely aging them.
When that human dies, the dancer
returns to its pedestal, a marble
statue once more.
The statue was carved around the
same time the first whisperings of the
King in Yellow began to spread. A
signature bearing the initials E.W. is
hidden among intricate flower designs
along the sculpture’s base. They
belong to Ethan Wainright, a foreign
artist living in Paris, who was inspired
by those whisperings. He died soon
after the sculpture’s completion.
Ethan was the dancer’s unfortunate
first lover. His grave can be found in
a small nearby cemetery, the epitaph
“dream in the day, dance in the
evening” inscribed upon it. His tale is
cautionary for young artists not to get
too lost in the fantasy of their work.
When it comes to life, the died a few years later. Despite the the dancer makes a Difficulty 5
dancer’s clothing transforms to harm it keeps doing to its lovers, a Composure test on each rendezvous,
match whatever event it’s at, desire to become human and live to avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:
although androgynously gendered. It and be in love is the fire that drives Dazed/Stolen Years. The dancer,
genuinely doesn’t wish malice upon its actions. Its heart may break a anxious to protect its pretense of
anyone and has some deep-seated hundred more times, but it doesn’t ordinary humanity, prefers escape
trauma related to how many humans care as long as it gets to be alive again. to any other fighting objective.
it’s fallen in love with and who have An art student in love with When forced to defend itself, it

30
 Marble Dancer

demonstrates supernal strength.

The Wars: Corpse dancers are
casualties of the war; in its daytime SHATTERING BLOW SMASHING BLOW
form, a body recently buried. Its Injury Injury
motivations are no grimmer than its
You can’t make Physical tests. You can’t make Physical
statuesque manifestation. At night
As the recipient of Difficulty 4 First tests. -1 to Focus tests.
it animates, shrouded in an illusion
Aid success, trade for “On the Mend.” As the recipient of Difficulty
of life and health. It looks exactly 5 First Aid success, trade
like the person it once was, but has for “Shattering Blow.”
lost detailed memories of its past to
supernatural amnesia. Those who
knew it in life will recognize it, but it
can’t reciprocate. The corpse dancer
heads to the nearest soldier-occupied
bar, campfire party, or tent shindig
looking for someone to dance and
fall in love with. Just like Paris, if DAZED STOLEN YEARS
the dancer can get someone to fall in Injury Injury
love with it, the corpse regains full
-1 to all tests. Discard at end of session. Roll a die. Odd: permanently lose
life, memories excepted. It will only
1 point from your Health rating.
remain alive while its victim is alive,
and it drains that life from its victim
in mere days. The corpse dancer
could be a friend of the characters
who recently died and returns
to them, or someone they killed
accidentally in the war. Personal
hauntings work well with the corpse
dancer because guilt and confusion This Is Normal Now: A beautiful
can become metaphors in its story. mannequin in a local clothing shop
Aftermath: A once proudly comes to life at night to dance ON THE MEND
standing statue during the Castaigne in night clubs with college kids. Injury
regime, this marble dancer has since The mannequin wants to become
-1 to all tests. Trade for “Still
been felled by revolutionaries and human and so mimics the behaviors,
Hurting” on a Physical success.
lies broken on the ground beneath gestures, and emotions of the
its pedestal. It bears the likeness people at the clubs. It frequents
of Emperor Hildred, who reigned spots closest to college campuses:
during that time. The memory of the usual trashy dives drawing in
Hildred is slowly fading from the customers with “ladies night” and
collective consciousness, and it “jello shots” advertisements. The
longs to remain relevant. At night it mannequin may gravitate to a nearby
searches for partiers to dance with, fraternity, sorority, or house party
enrapturing them with its charisma. with dancing. It tries to find someone found in a bathroom stall, a car in a
Many old followers of the Castaigne to hook up with, and if it succeeds, parking lot, or a college dorm room.
regime, no matter the fault in their it will consume that person and gain Numbers: 1
logic, have fallen victim to this a few days of real human life. The Difficulty: Evenly Matched
marble dancer. These extremists are mannequin devours the victims (Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5)
the most likely to follow it, although whole, not leaving any time for them Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if
anybody who prefers to follow instead to age. It needs to repeat the process you get the dancer to open up to you
of lead could be a target. This marble for the gain, and unlike its other about its true nature
dancer is like an echo of Hildred, counterparts, feels no real human Toll: 1
searching for followers and spouting emotions. The hookups are fleeting, Tags: Construct
similar rhetoric but with no real and all that remains of the person Injuries, Minor and Major:
power or logical goals to achieve. it consumes are their clothes, often Shattering Blow / Smashing Blow

31
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Marie Rowdon
Marie Rowdon is well known in
Paris for creating haunting portraits
in surreal, swirling yellow-tinted oil
paints. She refuses to share them with
the public, instead inviting people to
her home studio. Here Marie holds
exclusive parties for elite buyers who
cherish the strange and unusual.
During these gatherings, she chooses
a select few attendees to stay behind.
She convinces them to drink absinthe,
smoke opium, and pontificate on the
deeper meaning of life.
While lying about on large
Moroccan cushions, in a haze of
candlelight and soft violin music,
Marie, draped in bohemian shawls,
her long curly hair messy and wild,
regales her drug-addled guests
with snippets of The King in Yellow.
Her mind obsessively recounts the
imagery, rhetoric, poetry of the
chaotic alien text, as though she
becomes momentarily possessed of a
train of thought she cannot control.
The verses become implanted in the
minds of her listeners. This recitation
slowly erodes their minds until there
is nothing left but the words from the
play.
With these passages in their minds
and the chemicals in their bodies,
Marie and her guests undergo throws a soiree. In order to stop the for their lives or even dying on
a group hallucination. It opens a violence it spreads, the art students the battlefield of horrific wounds.
gateway for something from The must trace its appearances to her Despite her terrible representation
King in Yellow to manifest in the salon and urge or force her to desist. of them, she’ll often befriend them
real world, ripping apart the veils The dread cloud might be able by showing empathy for their
of the hallucination and stepping to enter our world only through horrific experiences. She, too, has
into our reality. Manifesting as an incarnations of Marie Rowdon. experienced what they have because
amorphous cloud of dread, the entity Alternately, it can attach it to any she’s out there on the battlefield
first follows those who took part in reader of The King in Yellow with with them. This shared connection
the parlor hallucinogens, later drifts charisma, a social circle, and a supply permits her to invite them back
to infect minds vulnerable to fear. of mind-altering substances. to her flat for some hallucinogens,
The dread causes them to lash out A player character taking part in music, and surprise recitations of
at those closest to them, believing Marie’s soirée makes a Difficulty 4 The King in Yellow. The outcome is
these people to be their enemies, Composure test to avoid Shocks— the same as in Paris, except that
or mistaking their faces for those of Minor and Major: Warped persistent cloud of dread instead
monsters. Marie is oddly unaware of Perceptions/Waking Nightmare. lingers over the battalion, driving the
the dreadful pattern she perpetuates, The Wars: Marie Rowdon is a soldiers to infighting and paralyzing
as it never affects her. She just chalks famous photographer, well known for fear that prevents them from fighting
it up to those rich pomps being weak. her gruesome battlefield portraits of the war. They give into malaise
The dread dissipates at sunrise, soldiers. She’ll often depict soldiers or cowardice as the rest of their
appearing again the next time Marie in the unflattering states of running battalion rages on.

32
 Marie Rowdon

Aftermath: Marie Rowdon worked

for the resistance documenting SOUL DECAY BLACK TEARS
the regime’s retinue of Carcosan Injury Injury
creatures. She photographed entities
ranging from the mutant products Lose 1 Composure. At the All PCs take -1 to tests.
of the Bronx Park Zoological to end of each interval, roll a die. Effects of multiple “Black
Odd: lose 1 Composure. Tears” cards do not stack.
people altered by mind-bending
Discard on a success that aids you Discard by contributing to the
chaos. Over time she developed a against a supernatural entity. defeat of a Warspawn or Carcosan.
kind of sixth sense, allowing her to
spot paranormal beings in human
guise. Unfortunately, exposure to
these creatures infected her mind as
if they were verses of poetry from
the uncanny book. This condition
compels her to share the images with
as many people as possible, spreading WARPED WAKING NIGHTMARE
the mental contagion. They then PERCEPTIONS Shock
commit the acts of sabotage and Shock -2 to Focus tests.
violence familiar from victims of -1 to Focus tests. After gaining information from an
her past incarnations. The group’s Discard by menacing an innocent interpersonal ability other than Steel/
ex-insurgent contacts have lost track bystander or destroying valuable Intimidate, you may roll a die after
of her. She currently squats at various property that doesn’t belong to you. threatening, attacking, or otherwise
warehouses, doing hallucinogens alienating the witness. Even: discard.
with people and trying to share
images from her binders of shattering
photographs.
This Is Normal Now: Performance
artist Marie Rowdon attends local certain gestures and symbolic Numbers: 1
Burning Man-inspired parties movements. Participants, already Difficulty: Vastly Superior
populated by hipsters, neo-hippies, tripping before they enter, leave (Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7)
anarchists, and creative folks. She infected with the stories Marie Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if
stages private experiences in her shares. They spend the rest of their terrified of losing control/altered
tent, confronting hand-picked lives trapped in a hallucination based substances, +1 if altered substances are
participants with verses from on the performance Marie puts on. normal for you
The King In Yellow. These strange Sometimes in their waking life, they Toll: 2
presentations fuse dance, ritual, and repeat some of the same gestures that Tags: Human
body contortion. It’s as though she Marie made in her performance, Injuries, Minor and Major: Soul
is telling the story of the plays and and it slips into the consciousness of Decay/Black Tears
verses she has selected but through anyone who witnesses it.

33
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Micar
When Carcosa gained influence
over this realm, the hidden corners of
Paris began to look eerily similar to
the alien planet. Animated gargoyles
emerged in the dissonance between
the realities, creeping from the
shadows to haunt the streets of Paris.
They merely echo the much deadlier
Carcosan species whose form they
mimic. The resemblance between
gothic gargoyles and micar implies
previous Carcosan interference in
this realm. Digging into the dark
corners of Paris might lead your
investigators to an old journal of a
Gothic architect struck by grotesque
inspiration after glimpsing a micar.
The micar’s obsidian-like skin
differentiates it from an animated
gargoyle. It retains its sheen after
the creature is slain. When stretched
onto a frame and used as a mirror,
the beholder can wash it with blood
to scry into the past. Investigators
attempting this might catch a
glimpse of an important moment
that has already occurred, either in
Carcosa or on Earth. Seeing into
Carcosa requires a Difficulty 4
Composure test to avoid Shocks—
Minor and Major: The Tremors/
Hackles Raised.
Carcosans don’t like to see this shattering until it heals. Worse, a bite harvest micar bones and carve them
power fall into mortal hands. causes the victim’s body to gradually into bullets. As only living bone
When they get word of a micar crystallize, radiating out from the works for this purpose, the creatures
skin in circulation, they seek it out wound. Their body shatters within must be kept alive until the last
relentlessly. a week unless the afflicted area is scrap of osseous matter has been
The micar skin appearing as a amputated. A healing salve can be agonizingly extracted. Micar rounds,
McGuffin in your scenario may be made from the blood of the micar. If as they are called, lack the range
the only one on Earth. Uncommon the micar’s handler is human, you of metal bullets but fragment into
even on their native Carcosa, micar bet that they know the recipe for exceedingly dangerous shrapnel. A
don’t generally come to this realm the salve. Of course, a Carcosan- large chunk lodged in a human body
of their own accord. They cross over influenced human might need some causes a wound equivalent to a micar
either by accident, or when brought persuading to divulge their secrets. scratch: Injuries—Minor and
by some other entity, in which case, Though the salve doesn’t undo what Major: Micar Scratch/Micar Bite.
they never stray far from their has been done, it halts the process The squad may discover a bullet-
handler. Finding the micar is only and keeps the crystallized body part making installation or encounter
the first step. Then the would-be skin from shattering. micar who have escaped their
owner has to deal with that armored The Wars: Carcosans embedded captivity. Escapees may be seeking
skin and a potential peeved and on both sides of the conflict import revenge against their tormentors, or
dangerous handler. micar from their realm, imprisoning simply venting their rage on anyone
A scratch from a micar leaves the the creatures in secret munitions they encounter. Alternately, they
injured area glassy and vulnerable to facilities. Their enthralled lackeys attempt simply to survive in what

34
 Micar

for them is an alien environment,

establishing a lair and preying
on soldiers for food. Investigators MICAR SCRATCH MICAR BITE
encountering them could read the Injury Injury
next scene of bloodshed reflected in -1 to Physical tests. A failure with
a margin of 2 or more shatters Each time you make a Physical
looming clouds on the micar’s skin. the afflicted body part; this test, roll a die. Odd: your body
Aftermath: During the Castaigne becomes a Continuity tag.
crystallizes and shatters, killing you.
era, the prophetic property of Discard at the end of next interval
if not a Continuity card. Discard by using micar salve,
micar skin was heralded for its an antidote you can gain
Discard by using micar salve,
parageometric qualities. Researchers an antidote you can gain through investigation during
hunted micar for hybridization and through investigation during the current scenario.
to use their skins as a technological the current scenario.
material. Almost all micar existing in
this realm today are derivations from
the original Carcosan species. These
micar are hidden away, either having
escaped to the shadows or having THE TREMORS HACKLES RAISED
been squirreled away by the last Shock Shock
remaining Castaigne sympathizers.
-1 to Presence. Pay 1 Health or Composure each
The most common hybrid is a
Discard by going to a scary location. time a player character (including
giant spider with the same glossy Discard by initiating an encounter you) attempts a Sense Trouble test.
black skin as the micar. It spins webs with a scary person, creature or entity Trade for “The Tremors” when
of fractal black sheets of stone, used your Health and Composure
as the raw material for knives and pools both equal 0.
billy-clubs. Victims struck by these
weapons have visions of potential
futures where they suffer horrific
turns of fate. Player characters
having these visions make Difficulty statues are not as inanimate as they Difficulty Adjustment: -1 if
5 Composure tests as if they had used to be. If investigators come characters have seen visions in
actually experienced the situation across The Bean in Chicago and it micar skin, +1 if the micar is doing
instead of merely viewing it to avoid has turned black and started to move, the bidding of a Carcosan Noble, +1
Shocks—Minor and Major: The it may not look like the micar their if characters have encountered an
Tremors/Hackles Raised. forebears encountered in the Belle animated gargoyle and mistake the
This Is Normal Now: As a Époque. But they might want to run micar for one
rampager, the micar took on first and ask questions later. Toll: 1
changing forms, varying beyond Numbers: 1 Tags: Invasive
that of a simple gargoyle. They learn Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3, Injuries, Minor and Major:
from the environment around them, Other 4, Kill 6) Micar Scratch/Micar Bite
mimicking shapes that they see. For
the lovers of modern art, abstract

35
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Nokk
Following the post-Commune
restocking of the Ménagerie du
Jardin des Plantes, exotic animals,
including peacocks, chimpanzees,
and Gila monsters, can be seen there.
Carcosan energy corrupts both flora
and fauna in the 5th arrondissement,
mutating certain animals, producing
mythic creatures like the nokk.
The intelligent aquatic predator
called the nokk swims corrupted
bodies of water. Its mutant form,
highly variant between individuals,
chaotically combines piscine,
crustacean and hominid anatomical
features. The nokk’s malevolent
aura interferes with human visual
perception, causing onlookers to
exaggerate the anthropomorphic
elements of its appearance.
The creature feeds on human
flesh, luring its victims to a watery
death. When the nokk detects a
person relaxing on shore, it plants
its prominent dorsal fin in the water,
forcing its body upright to serenade
its prey with an eerie melody. It shed its scales; the process to become fish to sate its appetite. Without any
enhances the mesmerizing effect by mammalian is slow and agonizing. In predators — other than the occasional
plucking its fin spines like a harp. its weakened state on land, the nokk hunter — the nokk has grown in size,
The art students may spot the local is Weak (Escape 2, Other 3, Kill 3) strength, and speed. Treat the nokk as
specimen in the Seine when crossing and can easily be killed — which is Vastly Superior (Escape 3, Other 6,
the Pont d'Austerlitz on their way to exactly what it wants. If it is slain on Kill 7) in its new habitat.
paint at the Jardin des Plantes. They land, the creature’s body sinks into This Is Normal Now: A wealthy
may zero in on its hunting grounds the earth and falls dormant, only magnate has hired French botanists,
by noticing a concentration of other, to emerge much later. When the painters, architects, and zoologists
less dangerous mutated aquatic nokk is found in its natural habitat, it to recreate an exact replica of
creatures in the vicinity. Finding the retains all its strength and is Superior Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes
nokk isn’t as challenging as hunting (Escape 4, Other 5, Kill 4). from 1895 just outside of Albany,
it. The nokk is fiercely intelligent, Aftermath: Boaters and New York along the Hudson
possesses razor-sharp teeth, and commercial fishers report an River. The excitement around the
knows how to escape most fishing unidentified lake monster dragging unfinished theme park project grows,
traps and nets. To safely deal with swimmers under the water and becoming a near-constant topic of
the nokk, one must lure it out of the capsizing boats in the Great Lakes discussion in gardening, natural
river by presenting it with the food region. Sightings cluster around history, and Francophile circles. To
it prefers: living, human flesh.As it Lakes Michigan and Erie, but sate the public’s appetite for more
feeds, kills, grows, and feeds again, reports have also trickled in for information, the magnate has hired
the nokk devours anglers and young Lakes Huron, Superior, and Ontario. Disruptive Events LLC to create a
lovers strolling along the shore. After the war, the nokk migrated to virtual experience to show what they
The Wars: The nokk has migrated North America as an invasive species can expect. DE’s version does not
from Paris searching for food and a imported by decadent high officials. show the project’s flaws or the nokk
compatible mate. No longer confined Adapted to its new habitat, it no that’s been relocated to the Hudson
to the river, when it travels across longer feeds exclusively on human River. Tickets for opening day start
the land, it begins to mutate and flesh, and consumes other freshwater at $30,000, and enthusiasts call the

36
 Nokk

event an experience of a lifetime.

The investigators might look into a
disappearance caused by a hungry POSEIDON’S WRATH BITTEN
nokk or the shady operations of the Injury Injury
tycoon. The case likely takes them
Non-lethal. You can’t make Pushes. -1 on Physical tests.
both to the property, and Disruptive
-2 to all tests (except Preparedness). To discard, receive a Difficulty 4 First
Events head office, exposing the
Discard when you leave the boat. Aid success, then make a Physical test.
magnate’s other questionable
activities.
Numbers: 1
Difficulty (Aftermath): Vastly
Superior (Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7)
Difficulty (all other sequences):
Superior (Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 6)
Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if lily; +6 if you can’t swim; -2 if you’re Toll: 2 in Aftermath, otherwise 1
you’re near a body of water; +1 if you carrying a knife; -4 if you’ve set a Tags: Mutant
love music; +1 if you pick a water trap containing fresh, human meat Injuries, Minor and Major:
Poseidon’s Wrath/Bitten

37
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Our Lady of Bones (Notre Dame des Os)

According to French Catholics, dead. These communications may in a gray and white silk gown. Art
Our Lady of Bones is a lesser-known include misleading information and students interrupting her feeding
saint whose likeness is memorialized clues to lead pursuers into danger. see her true form — a writhing mass
in Notre-Dame de Paris. When the She can subject investigators of worm, bone, rotting organs, and
art students ask for the saint’s given to this effect by harming them in tallow.
name, the faithful fail to recall it. combat. Our Lady can also manifest The Wars: Shrines to Our Lady
They gladly volunteer that she raised to player characters in mourning, of Bones appear in most villages
Lazarus from the dead or saved Saint in which case they need Difficulty and towns throughout Europe, and
Peter from his torturous, upside- 4 Composure successes to avoid many churches possess effigies to
down crucifixion. In their minds, Shocks—Minor and Major: the popular saint. The Church has
this miracle worker has always been Whispers of the Grave/Command of designated November 1st as her
an important part of the Catholic the Grave. official feast day. The Carcosan
faith, and many humans venerate Our Lady needs to feed on the has no shortage of worshipers — or
her grey-clad personage as God’s left living (or dead) to transmute the protectors — forming a human shield
hand. Carcosan energies swirling into the of devotees who’d rather die than
Research turns up not a single psychotropic aura lending her a allow her to come to harm. The
textual reference to her, aside from beneficent, human-seeming guise. zealous worshipers are a growing
a pamphlet or two printed only this When sated, Our Lady of Bones is a concern for the Washer Woman
year. Belief in this saint began only petite, brown-haired woman in her (p. 106), who sees the Carcosan
months ago. Neither martyr nor thirties with blue-gray eyes dressed illusionist as a threat to the natural
human, Our Lady of Bones is a
Carcosan humanoid able to shape a
mortal’s perception of death.
Our Lady of Bones is a gifted and
clever illusionist who weaves lies and
manipulates people’s emotions to
further her goal: to be worshiped as
a god. Drawn by unspoken desire,
prayers, and wishes, she reveals
herself to the recently grief-stricken,
cloaked in pallid light. Her presence
triggers an intense hallucination that
people of faith interpret as a holy
vision. She promises a boon, typically
the resurrection of the deceased,
in exchange for a sacrifice or the
execution of a task. Whatever the
bargain, she never fulfills her end of
it.
For weeks afterward, her illusions
continue to edit victims’ perceptions.
The living appear to shamble about
like rotting corpses. The undead,
including the ghosts and zombies she
employs as messengers and minions,
appear healthy and corporeal. If
her victim happens to be in the
presence of a corpse, Our Lady can
speak through its unmoving mouth,
delivering promises, threats, or
instructions. She can also whisper to
her addled visionaries through the
ashes, bones, or gravestones of the

38
 Our Lady of Bones (Notre Dame des Os)

order. Squad members encountering

either might inquire about the
other, gleaning useful clues about WHISPERS OF COMMAND OF
their relationship, history, and THE GRAVE THE GRAVE
growing rivalry. This monster battle Shock Shock
premise works best if you’ve already -1 to Focus tests.
-1 to Focus tests.
introduced each foe separately in You perceive the undead as vital and
You perceive the undead as vital and
previous scenarios. alive, and the living as undead.
alive, and the living as undead.
Aftermath: Our Lady of Bones has When you do the bidding of
Discard when the entity responsible
subverted Catholicism in America, the entity responsible for this
for this Shock is destroyed.
with churches, priories, and Shock, roll a die. Even: trade for
“Whispers of the Grave.”
nunneries rededicated to her service.
The Lady’s priests and priestesses
are trained to attack anyone
who interferes with her church. millions, Our Lady’s power as a foe their care. A wave of shocking news
Previously aligned with the regime, has increased. stories, with astounding negligence a
her church faction threw its support This Is Normal Now: A new common theme, ripples through the
to the revolution in the final days. American televangelist claims “the investigators’ news feeds, prompting
Insurgents regard it as a nest of covert Second Coming is upon us” and them to see the hand of Carcosa at
revanchist support. Some argue that shares images of the dead returning work.
its archbishops should be hauled to life as proof on live TV. Our Lady Numbers: 1
before the Truth and Reconciliation of Bones hides in the shadows behind Difficulty: Overwhelming
Commission. Key members of the multiple evangelical organizations, (Escape 4, Other 7, Kill 8)
Guardian and Mercantilist factions gifting power-hungry members of Adjust to Other Sequences: +2 in
revere Our Lady and protect her the clergy with her illusions until Aftermath
institutions. Some might be in contact she’s ready to introduce herself as Difficulty Adjustments: +2 if
with the dread entity herself, but the world’s salvation. Clues lie in her you’re mourning a loved one; +1
others devote honest reverence to illusions; Our Lady can’t control if you’ve played your character as
her, treating her as a genuine figure who is and isn’t affected by footage devoutly Christian; -2 if you’ve
of healing. They point to this raiser of capturing her glamour. Victims who prayed to her; -4 if you’ve offered a
the dead as a symbol of the American succumb to her charms fall down sacrifice to her
renewal to come. This requires the a path of zealotry as true believers Toll: 3
ex-insurgents to use their recon skills are sure they’re witnessing Jesus Tags: Carcosan
to sort the sincere from the sinister of Nazareth’s return to earthly Shocks, Minor and Major:
before charging into the nearest miracle-making. Convinced that the Whispers of the Grave/Command of
cathedral with guns a-blazing. With Second Coming is nigh, they fatally the Grave.
a congregation numbering in the neglect themselves and others in

39
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Pan
Content advisory: Incorporates further. With no other gods to help music capable of expressing complex
themes of sexual assault and abuse. Be her, Syrinx attempted to take her emotions. Currently, Syrinx
certain of your group’s desire to confront own life on the banks of the Seine. In performs at Le Chat Noir (Paris, p.
horror’s darkest themes before using this a fit of anger, Pan molded and shaped 100). The audience experiences her
foe. Be ready to make adjustments on the her living body into a set of flutes. as a captivating instrument played
fly if a player requires them during the However, the first time he played by in-house musicians. The art
session. them, Syrinx defended herself with a students might stumble across havoc
In classical myth, the god Pan thunderous song that removed Pan’s wrought by Pan as he attempts to
lusts for the nymph, Syrinx. To save ability to see, hear, smell, or feel her track her down and use their knack
her from his unwanted attentions, — even when she’s nearby. Enraged, for investigation to beat him to her.
Zeus turns her into reeds. Pan Pan seeks her desperately, deceiving When they Research the Greek
smashes them, but afterward, struck the unwitting to help him recover the myth either in a library or university,
by remorse, crafts a set of flutes to flutes. they’ll discover the truth and are
remember her by. Though Pan claims otherwise, free to confront Pan for his crimes.
The reality-twisting energies of Syrinx is a living, breathing, On Pan’s death, Syrinx reverts to her
Carcosa have conjured Syrinx and conscious set of flutes with a mind original body — perhaps thanking the
her unwanted lover into physical and heart of her own. Syrinx is art students with a boon they can use
being. Seeking her love once again, affectionate to music aficionados and in an upcoming scenario.
Pan pursued Syrinx through the musicians alike and can communicate The Wars: The squad learns that
streets of Paris until she could run no with her chosen guardian through a platoon of French soldiers has
become obsessed with finding Greek
gods, abandoning their posts to
search for Pan. The squad may be
tasked with bringing the soldiers
back to the front, encounter soldiers
looking for Pan, or hear a rumor
that it’s not safe to travel in the
woods at night. When the squad
investigates, they find out the soldiers
have already encountered Pan and
struck a deal with him. In exchange
for finding his flutes, the god falsely
promises to end the war. In reality,
he plans to recover Syrinx and then
murder the soldiers before they can
turn on him.
Aftermath: Now an invisible spirit,
Pan recruits potential allies for two
reasons: to help find his flutes and a
fresh corpse for him to inhabit. To
achieve his goals, Pan pretends to be
other gods or assumes the identities
of loved ones who’ve passed. The
player characters may encounter Pan
multiple times during investigations
without realizing one spirit is lurking
behind the scenes; to do so, they
can set up a meeting where Pan’s
targets can compare notes. Pan is just
as untrustworthy and dangerous as
before, and in his incorporeal form,
he still cannot sense when Syrinx
is nearby. When the investigators

40
 Pan

encounter Pan, he’ll let her name

slip, giving them a clue as to his INFLUENCE
true nature and intent. Pan can be ENTHRALLED
Shock
damaged or killed in his incorporeal Shock
state by Syrinx herself, but otherwise The GM may require you to make
You may not act against the
can’t be harmed until he possesses a a Difficulty 5 Composure test. On a
interests of the entity responsible
body. failure, you take a subtly destructive,
for you taking this card, as you barely detectable action, specified
This Is Normal Now: Scholars reasonably understand them. by the GM, that would please the
and academics enamored with When the entity harms another entity that gave you this card. After
Classical Greek mythology and PC, roll a die. Even: discard. completing the action, roll a die,
history are excited by an unusual Discard if the entity harms you or is discarding this card on an even result.
destroyed (not by you, of course).
discovery — Pan’s corpse — which has The GM must wait two intervals
been prepared by the Museum of before triggering the effect again.
Modern Art (or a similar institution Discard when the entity is destroyed.
in the group’s home town) for
public viewing as part of an overseas
exhibit. Thrilled by the rare find, the learn they have a witness to Pan’s Adjust to Other Sequences: +2 in
archaeological community searches crimes. Should the team investigate Aftermath
in earnest for his flute, the Syrinx, further, they encounter Syrinx. Difficulty Adjustments: +2 if
to crown their collection. Members Syrinx, desperate to ensure that you won’t do what Pan asks; +1 if you
of Nudge have made some noise by Pan is not unleashed on the general know Pan is lying to you; -2 if you’re
contacting museum officials in New public, influences Nudge to attack a musician; -1 if Pan believes you’re
York and Chicago to warn them the MoMA. helping him
Pan is a dangerous, living predator, Numbers: 1 Toll: 3
but are unable to find anyone who’ll Difficulty: Overwhelming Tags: Conjureling
take them seriously. When the (Escape 4, Other 7, Kill 8) Shocks, Minor and Major:
investigators talk to Nudge, they Enthralled/Influence

41
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Picture Perfect
Picture perfects arise from the
interaction of Carcosan emanations
and the collective belief in the
importance of artistic giants. When
enough people fixate upon the works
of a dead artist, writer, or similarly
celebrated figure, they unwittingly
will into existence a lingering shade
of the departed great. This shade
then appears to the individuals who
helped manifest them, individualized
according to the subject’s vision of
them. A follower who perceives
Shakespeare as tragic encounters a
mournful bard, draped in black. One
who regards him as the epitome of
joy meets a pentameter-spewing life
of the party.
Picture perfects first manifest in
intangible form. Only those familiar
with the works of the evoked artist
can see and hear them.
Match the investigative ability to
the field of arts to determine which
investigators can perceive the entity
in question: Art History for visual
arts, Belle-Lettres for writers, Major and Minor: Enthralled/ The climax of an investigation into
Culture for composers, dancers, and Alien Passion. Difficulty increases by a picture perfect case may consist of
actors. On a Push and three hours of +1 for every 30 followers the picture the art students working to persuade
world time, these characters can give perfect has gained since you last the next willing victim not to go
the rest of the group a crash course encountered it. through with it — preferably at the
in the famed personage, allowing The picture perfect seeks corporeal last dramatic minute.
everyone to see the picture perfect form, which it can gain by finding The Wars: War brings early deaths
the next time around. To meet de a willing human to be permanently to the artists and writers who could
Sade, you have to brush up on de possessed. While occupying a have changed the world, if only
Sade! physical body, the picture perfect they had survived to produce their
Picture perfects appear to their looks like the possessed individual to masterpieces. When a young soldier
followers and sweep up a cult those unfamiliar with the artist, and dies in the middle of creating a piece
following. Their admirers press as the artist to those who know their of art, that potential manifests into
the art of the picture perfect upon work. Physical bodies start to wear a picture perfect. It appears to the
those who are not yet initiated, out after a few months, requiring the soldiers who witnessed the original
insisting that they engage with picture perfect to groom and jump soldier die: the ones who feel guiltiest
it. The more people who share into new victims on a regular basis. for their death. The picture perfect
collective belief in the artist, the Defeating a picture perfect while manipulates them and uses their
stronger the picture perfect gets. If they are corporeal merely requires guilt to persuade them to give up
they appear to someone, they can killing the body that it is occupying their bodies so that it can become
use their sway over that follower to as there is no trace of the body’s corporeal and fulfill its incomplete
manipulate them. GMCs fall under former occupant left. If the picture artwork. Destroying the picture
the sway as your story needs demand. perfect is left in a disintegrating body perfect’s influence involves burning
Investigators resist on a Difficulty 3 and is unable to jump to another one, the body of the original soldier,
Composure test to avoid Shocks— they are also effectively defeated. assisted by their fellow soldiers.

42
 Picture Perfect

Aftermath: Some martyred

revolutionaries have developed quite
the following, especially the ones ENTHRALLED ALIEN PASSION
who left behind poems and songs. If Shock Shock
enough people keep the memory of
You may not act against the You love the entity responsible
the revolutionary in their hearts, a
interests of the entity responsible for your taking this card and may
picture perfect is sure to manifest. for you taking this card, as you not act against its interests, as you
They rely on guilt, pointing to the reasonably understand them. reasonably understand them.
lives that their followers lead now, When the entity harms another Discard when the entity is
free of Castaigne rule. The picture PC, roll a die. Even: discard. destroyed (not by you, of course).
perfects say that, after all, they were Discard if the entity harms you or is
the ones that helped deliver that life destroyed (not by you, of course).
unto their followers; giving up their
bodies is the least that their followers
can do.
This Is Normal Now: Picture
perfects use the internet in order to SUPERHUMAN BLOW SUPERHUMAN SMASH
fuel the passions of their followers. Injury Injury
The world wide web allows them to
Roll a die. Even: Health drops to Health, Athletics, and
spread their power, interacting with 0. Odd: Athletics drops to 0. Fighting drop to 0.
multiple followers simultaneously, Discard as recipient of a Difficulty 4 As recipient of a Difficulty 4 First Aid
though they might only be physically First Aid test. If the margin is greater success, trade for “On the Mend.”
than 2, refresh the affected pool.
manifesting to one at a time.
Conspiracy theories of deceased
music stars who faked their deaths
acquire new solidity when picture
perfects show up. Just ask Elvis,
Tupac, or Aaliyah, who all want you
to be the first to hear their latest Difficulty Adjustment: +2 since Toll: 0
tracks. the last time you met it, assuming Tags: Alt
Numbers: 1 it has gained more followers in the Injuries, Minor and Major:
Difficulty: (if corporeal) Tough meantime; a global phenomenon Superhuman Blow/Superhuman
but Outmatched (Escape 2, Other 2, like the risen Tupac might be Vastly Smash
Kill 4) Superior or Overwhelming

43
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Pigment
Pigment, a subversive group of use Carcosan botanical ingredients. brushes, and canvases to artisans,
oil paint manufacturers, wants to If one could track down the source General Shipping & Trading
destroy the aristocracy by forcing the of those otherworldly elements by Company. In addition to artist
social elite to humiliate themselves testing the Pigments with Natural supplies, GS&TC offers a wide range
and fall into disgrace. At least two History, they can track which of personal items and household
manufacturers seek revenge on the flowers the group is using. When goods, including makeup, tea, and
hereditary nobles who targeted them confronted, the paint manufacturers aromatic spices — all of which contain
for acting above their social station. feign innocence and, if threatened, varying amounts of Carcosan raw
Unlike the Radicals or Socialists, brush yellow oil paint onto their bare materials manufactured in one of
Pigment has no leader and holds skin, creating a Yellow Sign that several secret locations.
no meetings; as such, Pigment falls alerts the King in Yellow to the fact Though GS&TC’s shipments are
beneath notice. Their lofty goal, that someone is threatening their occasionally disrupted by skirmishes
however, may be achieved with the operation. Members of Pigment are and are a popular target for thieves,
help of Carcosan energy. Oil paint required to work in the factory and the supplier is financially healthy.
manufacturers have discovered the have been irrevocably altered by the GS&TC tests new pigments blending
means to blend naturally-sourced paint and its manufacturing process; synthetic, natural, and Carcosan-
pigments and linseed oil with plants, their powered touch can sedate sourced elements on an unsuspecting
animals, and objects from Carcosa to people on contact. populace. Despite their efforts, their
create tainted paint. The Wars: The oil paint oil paints remain the only substance
When the paint dries, the viewer manufacturers are in their seventies that causes a dizzying array of effects.
may experience one of several effects and have stopped producing Humanities allows a squad member
depending upon which colors were independently from one another. to cross-reference events with
used in the painting. Red paint Pigment’s members eventually newspaper headlines and criminal
induces a frenzied, Dionysian state. combined forces to create a reports from 1895, pinpointing
Yellow causes nightmares of the monopoly; now, in war-torn Europe, where the new goods were being
King in Yellow. Blue lulls the viewer only one supplier sells oil paints, manufactured. Then, likely aided by
into a deep sleep. Pigment hires
painters to wax poetically about color
theory to the elite, then paints their
target’s portrait in a private session
using these colors. Once the paint
dries, Pigment uses a slim window of
opportunity to ruin the aristocrat’s
fortune, reputation, or political
standing. They might promise legal
protection to maltreated house
staff who steal precious gems and
valuables while their employer dozes
off. Alternately, they might rile up a
mob enraged to hear of an unhinged
aristocrat’s cruel mistreatment of
ordinary folk.
The tainted tubes are inexpensive
and stocked by local art suppliers.
Members of Pigment have sent
samples to prominent artists,
including Mary Cassatt, Paul
Gauguin, and Jean-Léon Gérôme.
Rumor has it the paint’s quality
impressed Gérôme so much, the
École des Beaux-Arts is preparing to
order a semester’s supply.
Pigment’s paint manufacturers all

44
 Pigment

the grenades they carry, the squad

can disrupt the supply chain.
Aftermath: The founding members MUZZY HEADED SEDATED
of Pigment have since passed on, Injury Injury
and no one alive today remembers
any scandals of decades past that Lose 1 point from all Presence pools. Lose 2 points from all Presence
At end of next interval, regain pools. You wake up three hours
might have rocked General Shipping
those points and discard this card. later in a place and circumstance
& Trading Company. While the of the foe’s choosing, at which
firm no longer exists, Pigment still point you discard this card.
does and members — who belong
to Mercantilist and Commercial
factions — have returned to their
roots. Building on their predecessors’
discoveries, they have found a way
to weaponize Carcosan oil paint. and is using artificial intelligence to Since then, Sapienc has received
Pigment employs flamboyant artists verify the authenticity of sketches, several death threats from a group
to privately paint portraits of key sculptures, and paintings in its calling themselves “Pigment” who
rivals, investigators, and public growing collection. Recently, Sapienc demands they stop searching for
officials in the comfort of their has announced its AI uncovered what’s rightfully theirs. Pigment is
own homes. During the session, a stunning conspiracy: several treated as Vastly Superior (Escape 3,
after the paints’ effects take hold, Impressionist-era oil paintings are Other 5, Kill 7) with a Toll of 3.
they photograph the subjects in cleverly forged copies. To complete its Numbers: 1
compromising positions. As the goal, the company offers a million- Difficulty: Vastly Superior
blackmail scheme progresses, dollar reward to anyone finding the (Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7)
targets sign large checks or contracts originals. As the revelation trends Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if
benefiting members of Pigment. on social media, many art dealers you’re a painter; +1 if you’ve used the
Victims are reluctant to work with claim the original paintings could be paint; -1 if the squad has analyzed
public law enforcement out of fear worth $300 million dollars or more. the ingredients; -2 if you’ve done
that their secrets will be exposed. Hackers, who recently broke into business with them before
They might turn to trustworthy Sapienc’s servers, have uncovered a Toll: 2
heroes of the revolution to sort string of emails discussing the French Tags: Human
matters out discreetly and efficiently oil paintings and the word “Carcosa” Injuries, Minor and Major:
if assured their privacy is guaranteed. — which they’ve released online. Muzzy-Headed/Sedated
This Is Normal Now: Sapienc has
been pushing to digitize all artwork

45
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Silver Sirens
The silver sirens are fish by day violence. To them, this is enough protect these men. They think of the
and women by night. They like to of a reason to tear flesh from bone. women as friends and sisters and are
lure fishers and murderers and eat The sirens have a unique ability to astounded when they betray them.
them alive as revenge for killing their use a psychic sonar to read the men How these women could protect
sisters, both fish and humans. The they pass to determine if they have killers is beyond the sirens’ paradigm.
sirens transform during the twilight committed this type of violence. The A siren will never kill another fish,
and dawn hours, and during this time sonar is never wrong. They’ll often another woman, or another siren.
are physically women on the top half use sonar when out walking at night Students who stay out late at bars, go
and have fish tails instead of legs. in their human form, but sometimes on thoughtful walks along the Seine
However, the rest of the time they the sirens will look up at boats from in the evening, or who enjoy fishing
spend as either full fish in the water their territory underwater and target might witness or be seduced by a
or full women on land. The siren’s a victim to kill on a later evening. siren’s lure.
tails are shiny and silver, just like The silver sirens hunt at night, The Wars: Silver sirens live in
their hair in the moonlight. When climbing out of the Seine. Talking many of the lakes and streams
they open their human-shaped isn’t really their strength, and they that companies of soldiers pass by
mouths, a maw of shark-like teeth instead rely on body language, as they travel from battlefield to
reveals themselves as the weapons flirtation, and touch as the weapons battlefield. In these environments,
that tear their victims to shreds. of their lure. As both fish and the siren’s lure is much simpler,
While the silver sirens are women are underestimated in their recalling folktales of women singing
vengeful, they often don’t take intelligence, it’s the sirens’ cunning and bathing in water. The sirens will
revenge on a specific act of violence, that always catches the men they wait in the stream, often sitting atop
but rather just accumulate a hatred kill off guard. Their victims never a rock in groups of three, their tails
in their hearts for men. The man suspect that their throats are about submerged underwater. When the
might have killed a fish or a woman to be torn apart by shark teeth. soldiers pass, they’ll sing, although
once, or not, but the sirens believe The siren’s greatest weakness is only the soldiers who are most
that a man is always capable of this trusting other women who want to inclined to be up to no good will hear
it. They rarely need to leave the
water, instead drawing the men out to
them for a tasty snack. The sirens can
be seen at any time of day or night
but tend to choose foggy overcast
weather that partially obscures them
amidst the river rocks. Soldiers have
been found mutilated along the creek
the past several nights, but the bite
marks look like those of sharks. It’s
impossible as sharks don’t live in the
forest, so what could be killing them?
Aftermath: Silver sirens migrated
to American cities during the
Castaigne era, spending more
and more time out of water. They
picked larger coastal cities, so they
are never too far away from a large
body of water. The sirens ingratiated
themselves among the city’s various
corrupt undergrounds. Dressed as
powerful women, they’d make deals
with men they couldn’t keep, and
devour them when they fail to keep
their word. The sirens particularly
like to target wealthy, corrupt men,
the more powerful, the better. It’s

46
 Silver Sirens

almost like a game to them, to see

how easily they can destroy the most
terrible of men. Because they spend CLAWED EVISCERATED
more time out of the water, they also Injury Injury
have a few more human qualities, like
the ability to hold long conversations -2 to all tests. Counts as 2 Injuries. You
Trade for “On the Mend” can’t make Physical tests.
and a good fashion sense. The silver
on any Physical success. After six hours of world time, trade
sirens are never far from some body for "On the Mend” as recipient
of water, though, and they take up of Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
residence or business around pools, After 12 hours of world time,
spas, and beachfronts. After the Difficulty of that test drops to 4.
fall, they didn’t want to leave their
newfound homes but had to be more
subtle in their killings. A pattern has
recently arisen that the ex-insurgents looking like women swimming in The characters are on a boat, cruise
can’t ignore, dead businessmen found the water. The illusion is short-lived, ship, or waterfront bar when attacks
in pools as though attacked by wild revealing a large silver sea serpent, begin, and they need to survive the
sharks. angry and terrifying. They kill night with a huge sea serpent.
This Is Normal Now: The silver humans indiscriminately, in furious Numbers: same as party
sirens dwell in heavily polluted anguish, for what they have wrought Difficulty: Vastly Superior
sea areas, the place where so upon their kind. Swarms of silver (Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7)
many of their sisters have recently sirens have been spotted in areas just Difficulty Adjustments: +1 you
died. The amount of fish killed after some sort of major oil spill or eat fish, -1 you’re a good swimmer
in contemporary times greatly fishing season, indicating that there Toll: 2
exceeds the number of women. This must be hundreds of them. People Tags: Mutant
has transformed silver sirens into don’t tend to believe sea serpents Injuries, Minor and Major:
intelligent sea creatures who can exist and will instead explain it as an Clawed/Eviscerated
confuse humans with an illusion of unidentifiable type of whale or shark.

47
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Unknown of the Seine

In the final years of the 1880s,
Paris found a new sex symbol:
the enigmatic face of “l’Inconnue
de la Seine,” the corpse of an
anonymous young woman found on
the riverbank. A plaster cast of the
apparent suicide victim became the
new epitome of feminine beauty,
causing artists and the elite of the
city to use copies of this mask when
decorating their salons, studios, and
boudoirs. Aesthetes compared the
woman’s subtle smile, gently closed
eyes, and smooth skin to the visage of
the Mona Lisa, and her face served
as the model for numerous paintings
of beautiful women.
The body that had appeared was,
in fact, that of a Carcosan, one of
the first to enter Paris at the behest
of the Yellow King. Hoping to
increase her power across the city,
this malevolent being orchestrated
her own elevation to iconic status
by hypnotizing that same mortician
who made the first death mask.
Now, that mask — and all the a mask is detached from a corpse, motivation in the war is to serve the
subsequent molds of it — contains the face retains the same serene side of her master, the Yellow King
the copied consciousness of the expression as the unknown mask, (or any other powerful Carcosan, as
Carcosan. The masks that are with a ghastly, chalky pallor. When your setup for The Wars dictates).
distributed across the households art students destroy an individual Subterfuge and chaos are easy to
of Paris’ elites act as convenient spy mask, they become the enemy of the spread in wartime when a pretty
equipment as the unknown listens in entire network of masks throughout face can be a welcome sight to tired
on the happenings and conversations the city, attracting attacks from soldiers.
of the city’s intelligentsia. mask-dominated GMCs. Only Aftermath: In the real world, the
The unknown operates by upon the destruction of the original image of the unknown of the Seine
hypnotizing and briefly taking bodily death mask, still in the protective was used as the model for the first-
control of unsuspecting Parisians. possession of its mortician mold- aid mannequin, “Resusci Anne.” The
She uses Carcosan psychic influence maker, does the entire network of continuing influence of the Carcosan
to persuade a GMC to don the masks become non-sentient. unknown (or, simply the story of the
mask. At this point, the victim takes An art student donning a mask unknown that the PCs destroyed in
on the fleshy, living visage of the makes a Difficulty 4 Composure Paris) has amplified the use of the
unknown, and the mask carries out test to avoid Shocks—Minor and unknown as a model. In Aftermath,
its unwholesome mission using the Major: Enthralled/Alien Passion. most shopping mall mannequins,
GMC’s body. The Wars: A copy of the unknown crash test dummies, and other
If a GMC under the control of surfaces in a war zone. As in Paris, models of the human form all bear
the unknown is killed, possibly at a mask leaves behind a linked the iconic face and can function as
the hands of an art student, then the chain of victims, all sharing its described above.
mask remains active and must still distinctive rigor mortis-hardened
be destroyed in its own right. When facial expression. The unknown’s

48
 Unknown of the Seine

This Is Normal Now: The newest

“smart home” appliance is named
“Amber.” Amber not only sets ENERVATING TOUCH ENERVATING STRIKE
timers, turns on your TV, and Injury Injury
records your every conversation:
she sports the first holographic -2 to Fighting. -4 to Fighting.
Discard after a Fighting test. Discard after a Fighting success.
projection of a real AI face! Amber
units use “weren’t we just talking
about that?” technology to shape
public consciousness in favor of
your antagonist’s Yellow Sign
policy agenda.

Mask Wearer
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Evenly Matched
(Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5) ENTHRALLED ALIEN PASSION
Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if Shock Shock
attracted to women, -1 if not You may not act against the
Toll: 0 You love the entity responsible
interests of the entity responsible for your taking this card and may
Tags: Carcosan for you taking this card, as you
not act against its interests, as you
Injuries, Minor and Major: reasonably understand them.
reasonably understand them.
Enervating Touch/Enervating Strike When the entity harms another
Discard when the entity is
PC, roll a die. Even: discard.
destroyed (not by you, of course).
Discard if the entity harms you or is
destroyed (not by you, of course).

49
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Madame Cleo Verlaque

The Parisian social elite know disappeared altogether. upon it is set in the center. Inside it,
Madame Cleo Verlaque as more Despite these rumors, her Verlaque places fresh-cut yellow
than a simple séance performer they séances are popular enough to flowers and herbs. A stone bowl black
might hire for the usual spooky party. keep fueling Madame Verlaque’s as night sits just in front of her, filled
Her peculiar talents are not parlor power. Verlaque always accepts the with an unknown metallic-smelling
tricks to entertain unsuspecting invitation of someone who’s recently liquid. This bowl Madame Verlaque
party guests. Verlaque maintains a had heartbreak, loss, or another stares into as she speaks lines from
distance from proper society, is very devastating life change. She expertly the infamous play, especially of the
difficult to contact, and turns down recognizes these vulnerable souls, night sky and objects with yellow
requests she deems unworthy. These promising them revelatory truths tones.
mysterious interactions entice the only her séance could offer. This ritual may seem to those
danger-seeking socialites even more. She visits her patrons wherever uninitiated like a séance, but it’s
Whispers abound of previous séance they live, so her home remains a summoning. Madame Verlaque
attendees, as they’ve all had tragic secret. In a quiet, curtained room, connects to extra-dimensional beings
outcomes. Several ended up in prison, she sets out ancient-looking ritual in Carcosa, and this ritual invites
others sequestered themselves away relics atop a table. An old metal vase them to inhabit her. Then, they
at country homes, and some have with unrecognizable beasts carved speak through her mouth of uncanny

50
 M a d a m e C l e o Ve r l a q u e

mind-bending darkness to haunt the

people who’ve attended the séance.
These alien words embed dark SCRATCHED PSYCHE POISONED PSYCHE
ideas that repeat in the attendees’ Injury Injury
subconscious minds, compelling
-1 to Focus tests. You can’t discard Shock cards.
them to commit murder, cheat
Discard as recipient of an Occultism Discard by discovering and successfully
on their loved ones, or end their spend, or by taking a risk/ performing the ritual that permanently
suffering through suicide. Despite paying a cost to locate a healing kills the entity that did this to you.
these dire outcomes, Verlaque always incantation in a rare grimoire. At end of scenario, roll a die. 1-2:
has a steady stream of interested becomes a Continuity card.
patrons to inflict this madness upon.
Each new person is certain the same
won’t happen to them.
The art students find her trail
after noticing the sudden decline of
a previously healthy and ebullient
classmate, who turns out to have SOUL SHOOK INCIPIENT
attended a recent séance. Those who Shock POSSESSION
take part in one make Difficulty 4 Shock
Composure tests to avoid Shocks— Lose 1 Health each time you
make a Presence test. If your Lose 1 Composure each time
Minor and Major: Soul Shook/ Health is 0, lose 1 Athletics. you make a Focus test.
Incipient Possession. Discard after scoring a Presence If caught undermining the group’s
The Wars: Soldiers often turn success with a margin of 3 or more.
investigation (which you must make
to religion for solace, looking for a genuine effort to conceal from
hope anywhere they can. Ms. them), roll a die. Even: discard.
Cleo Verlaque acts as a nun living
among the troops to offer spiritual
support. By day she tends to wounds
and comforts those who are dying Aftermath: Madame Verlaque This is Normal Now: Verlaque
tortured deaths. At night, Verlaque held a position during the Castaigne attracts patrons with a neon sign in
listens to the worries and prayers of regime as a demon-channeler. the window of her modest two-story
the soldiers. Instead of healing their Several Carcosans were still trapped home on the edge of a gentrifying
minds, she feeds their stories to the beyond the gate, too wild to cross neighborhood. Her niece Cleo has
demons she summons nightly in the over into our world yet. She would encouraged her to branch out via the
woods. The soldiers are then trapped invite them into her body then, internet. Investigators can check out
in a living nightmare as all their along with several cult followers, her oddly mesmerizing YouTube
worst fears come true. It’s easy for enact their alien atrocities upon videos demonstrating homebrew
Verlaque to hide behind her guise of the world. When the gates closed, protection against malign spirits, or
being a nun. Nobody suspects her of she fled in defeat, and now lives in sign up for distanced cold readings on
torturing these soldiers’ minds; there a small Nebraska town. Verlaque Skype.
are too many other things to blame. still maintains her cult, residing Numbers: 1
It’s possible the soldiers’ confessions with them in a series of rundown Difficulty: Vastly Superior
might be overheard, and connected warehouses just off the highway. (Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7)
with any horror that’s happened Some unlucky few have wandered Difficulty Adjustments:
recently. Should an observant person into their territory, ending up Toll: 2
notice where Verlaque goes at night, converted or destroyed. Tags: Human
they’ll see her ritual in the woods. Injuries, Minor and Major:
Scratched Psyche/Poisoned Psyche

51
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Wanderer
Many human wanderers roam the out in top hat and coat, with no according to inhuman physics.
streets and alleyways of Paris, seeking discernible trade, he is one among a Rather than attack its victims,
exquisite aesthetic experiences: crowd but stands apart because of his the wanderer reels them through
the play of light on fog, the bustle conspicuous consumption of fashion, disorientation and distraction from
of workers going to and from their food, and free time. With continued a distance. It gladly engages in
posts, or industrial-age architecture observation, the defining feature of a conversation, using hypnotic words
rising amid Paris’ medieval and Carcosan-influenced wanderer and to seize a psychic hold of its targets.
renaissance glories. Conspicuous its appearance comes into clearer Capable of discourse on any current
leisure defines their loitering, and view: beneath the top hat, a skull subject, with decadent gossip a
the wanderers themselves come to mask. One might as easily imagine particular specialty.
define the city’s modern sensibilities. a wanderer in the guise of a woman, Following, or walking with, the
Parisians even have a name for the clad in a fashionable, mysteriously wanderer through city streets
sensation-seeking urban wanderer: flowing gown, velvet topcoat, and may cause an art student to enter
the flâneur. plumed hat — with the skull mask in a Carcosan simulacrum of Paris.
With the spread of the Yellow porcelain or silver. A Difficulty 4 Sense Trouble test
King’s influence, some such The Carcosan wanderer walks avoids avoid Shocks—Minor and
wanderers transform into more more than just the streets of Paris. It Major: Rue du Hali/Rue du Hastur.
than mere humans. In appearance, slips in and out of a quasi-dimension, GMCs swept into a wanderer’s
a wanderer resembles an effete, a place of endless alleyways and wake report experiences in which
stylish man about town. Decked corners and doorways that shift they become lost as the city gives way
to labyrinthine walkways that look
like Paris, but not like a specific part
of it they can later point to on a map.
They see Paris’s omnipresent fog
replaced with a putrid miasma. Some
emerge after a few hours, shaken and
weak. Others become lodged in this
supernatural reality until rescued by
the investigators.
A character with either of the
above cards can willingly enter this
demi-city to find the lost, bringing
them out when they exit again. Art
students receiving one of these as
a Final Card wanders forever in
half-Paris, or perhaps emerges in the
city of Carcosa to be set upon and
devoured by its sinister residents.
The Wars: Carcosans that once
haunted Paris now survey the
battlefields of Europe seeking
the thrills of war. In the guise of
battlefield photographers or other
civilians, they goad squad members
into entering harm’s way. They
will send PCs into arenas of intense
fighting, reveling in the war theater
— especially in the most chaotic,
disorienting scenes. Soldiers find
themselves temporarily lost in a
trackless dimension of constant
combat.

52
 Wa n d e r e r

Aftermath: The Overthrow left

buildings — sometimes whole city
blocks — in ruin, or without power or CANE BLOW SWORD CANE STAB
water. Stray Carcosans left behind by Injury Injury
the closing of the portals find sport
At each new interval, roll Lose 1 Health each time you
by luring the displaced into the dark,
a die. Even: discard. make a Physical test.
abandoned parts of the city, often by
Discard as recipient of Difficulty
first offering them help in the form of 4 First Aid success.
a warm bed or free food. Long-time If still in hand at end of scenario,
rough sleepers tell those newly on roll a die. Odd: you die.
the street to avoid these seemingly
helpful, smiling do-gooders: too
many folks have gone missing off
the streets after they started coming
around. These wanderers appear as
helpful civilians, and their quasi-
dimension takes the form of blasted RUE DE HALI RUE DE HASTUR
buildings, crumbling rooftops, and Shock Shock
smoking oil barrels.
Any time you move through the Any time you move through the
This Is Normal Now: People will
city alone on foot, roll a die. Odd: city, roll a die. Odd: you enter a
follow their GPS navigation systems
you enter a dreamlike version of dreamlike version of the city, exiting
anywhere. Carcosans hoping to the city, exiting 1-6 hours later 1-6 hours later in circumstances that
lure the unwary have developed in circumstances that imperil imperil you or your investigation.
technology that diverts individuals you or your investigation.
down twisting alleyways, never to be
seen again. The public assumes that
these disappearances are related to
SRIs. However, the disappearances
occur without the usual gory Numbers: 1 Toll: 1
aftermath of rampager attacks. Difficulty: Evenly Matched Tags: Carcosan
Investigation reveals that all the (Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5) Injuries, Minor and Major: Cane
victims had recently downloaded a Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if Blow/Sword Cane Stab
new wayfinding app, Wandr. drunk or on drugs; +1 if at twilight

53
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Widowmaker
Characters with Society know
the aristocrat Sebastian Beaumont
for his deep melancholy and moody
outbursts at parties. He falls hard
in love, drawing his loves into a
whirlwind romance. Like a magnet,
Sebastian’s sadness attracts lovers
who want to help or fix him. His
genuinely beautiful romantic
gestures mask his deeper problems
in an illusion of wondrous affection.
Over the years, one by one, his loves
have all died suddenly and tragically.
This terrible pattern only adds to his
deepest depressions. The most tragic
thing of all is that he doesn’t know
he’s the one killing them.
Though many have suspected
Sebastian’s been murdering his
ex-lovers, no one has been able to
prove it. His mind pushes awareness
of the killings below his conscious
awareness. Believing himself
innocent, he exasperatingly tries
to solve the murder along with the
Sûreté, as his unconscious guides him
to skillfully hide the evidence. as the result of enemy action. Soldiers original targets. (In this incarnation,
Society nicknames him the dread the prospect of fighting under he might be right, especially if the
Widowmaker. His conservative- him, considering him unlucky if not players met a previous one in Paris
minded peers shun him; a heedless outright cursed. It doesn’t stop his or Aftermath and you’re looking to
few find his tragedy a romantically commanding officers from sending vary the mystery.) Tragically, he just
mysterious entertainment for their him out to battle though: though at a wants to be close to someone human
gatherings. At these parties, he’s high cost, he always succeeds. again, and he just doesn’t know how.
somewhat of a celebrity, which he Aftermath: Sebastian Martin But then he hasn’t turned himself
both loves and hates. Exceedingly served as a honeypot for the in or sought help to undo the curse,
lonely, he clings to any kind of good resistance, seducing Castaigne spies rendering him just as culpable as he
society he can, craving attention and from the enemy side and learning would be if he were fully aware when
solace. their weaknesses. Secrets Sebastian strangling them.
The Wars: Sebastian Thomas gleaned from regime functionaries This Is Normal Now: Celebrity
is a decorated infantry squad contributed to the success of the socialite Sebastian Keller hangs
leader, exemplary in all ways and rebellion. Now that the gates are with around rich superstars and the
extraordinarily skilled at surviving shut, and the Castaigne regime has wealthy elite. Very similar in style to
the horrors of war. His mind has fallen, Sebastian can’t turn off his Sebastian Beaumont, he’s tragically
been invaded by the suggestion to skills. He continues to seduce people, romantic and known for going on
murder those around him, turning just common citizens he picks up at day-long benders and waking up
against soldiers who consider him bars or clubs, only to find them dead somewhere he’s unfamiliar with. His
a close friend or lover. He returns in his bed afterward. Something unmatched partying ability keeps
from missions alone, reporting the broke in Sebastian’s mind after getting him invited back to A-list
completion of his objective at the sleeping with the wrong Carcosan, parties. It, of course, helps that he’s
cost of his soldiers’ lives. Retaining and he’s murdering his lovers while inherited his family’s wealth, which
no memory of his murders, in a hypnotic state. He attributes he spends whimsically for the delight
like Sebastian before him, he their deaths to a parageometrical of his entourage. His socialite friends
unconsciously disguises their deaths curse laid on him by one of his playfully call him ladykiller, since

54
 Wi d o w m a k e r

he has a different date at each party.

Little do they know how accurate
that nickname is. Several of his lovers SEDATED BLOW TO THE HEAD
have gone missing over time, but the Injury Injury
company he keeps rarely cares or
Lose 2 points from all Presence -2 to Sense Trouble tests.
notices since the victims aren’t from
pools. You wake up three hours
their circle. Impelled by the dark later in a place and circumstance
dream that resides within his mind, of the foe’s choosing, at which
Sebastian unknowingly drives them point you discard this card.
to their deaths.
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
Other 4, Kill 6)
Difficulty Adjustments: +1
if attracted to dark, handsome,
mysterious men; -1 if abuse survivor
Toll: 1
Tags: Human
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Sedated/Blow to the Head

55
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Winter Worm
Rumors speak of a priest curing
the mental and physical ailments of
Paris’ poorest residents. They say he
visits the homes of those society has
given up on to grant them a reprieve
from their sorrows. As the suffering
of families ceases and the cries of
desperate parents quiet, poverty-
stricken folk believe that their friends
and neighbors benefit from the
attentions of this saintly personage.
This is a falsehood — a twisted
truth. A scourge of densely populated
cities, the parasitic entity known as
the winter worm can temporarily
assuage the hunger, thirst, and pain
of their hosts, causing them to waste
away while in a state of euphoria. To
achieve the psychic link necessary to
do this, they engage in an illusionary
swindle, presenting themselves
as healers or clerics, gaining false
assent to their feeding. Resembling
flatworms, they attach themselves
to willing humans like a pale-white
scarf made of flesh. Hosts become
vessels for their offspring, growing During the early stages of on wounded soldiers and penniless
in bulbous sacs of tissue on the spine. infestation, hosts may recruit other noncombatants. They slither out
When the sacs burst, thousands of victims, believing that they’re of the earth and between bricks
filament-like winter worms wriggle leading the sick and desperate to in search of hosts, who become
away in search of new hosts, although a miraculous cure. The resulting inexplicably elated despite their
the tiny worms can collectively wave of disappearances attracts the ailments. Rumors of pale tendrils
defend itself as a wave-like swarm attention of the investigating art slithering across battlefields can
entity if threatened. Even if the students. be heard among those fighting to
wound receives immediate attention, Alternately, a Carcosan sorcerer survive in Europe. Winter worms
the host, drained of fluids and or human practitioner of black show no preference towards enemies
nutrients, dies shortly thereafter. star magic might capture victims or allies and exist only to reproduce
Before that happens, victims can to use as hosts in a winter worm and slowly undermine populations.
end the infestation by accepting the breeding program. Ground up Unbeknownst to commanders,
reality of their condition, breaking and dried, these alien protostomes shipping the wounded around
the psychic link to the parent winter serve as primary ingredients in a Europe accelerates their spread —
worm, and killing both it and its variety of otherworldly unguents perhaps even back to the home front.
growing offspring. The art students and poisons. Some of these provoke Aftermath: Once a mere
may find a host’s desire to believe specific psychedelic or hallucinatory otherworldly nuisance, winter
in the beneficent priest or healer experiences in those who ingest worms are now a potent tyrannical
outweighs a mere rational argument. them. Certain Carcosan decadents tool. They travel through the sewers,
A Push of Natural History or an ingest them recreationally, suffering upon spies, or even through aid
appropriate Interpersonal ability does an addiction that a human antagonist packages. But their presence is not
the trick. might be feeding and taking an act of faith for the Castaigne
The parent winter worm can also advantage of. regime intentionally uses winter
be removed with a Difficulty 4 The Wars: Winter worms emerge worms to pacify populations and
First Aid success — +2 if the patient from the frozen battlefields and suppress resistance. They spread
forcibly resists. ruined towns of Europe to prey among the poor and destitute, giving

56
 Wi n t e r Wo r m

the affected a sense that nothing is

actually wrong.
This Is Normal Now: During the UNWELL DAZED
night, an explosion rocks la Barrière Injury Injury
d’Enfer (“Gate of Hell”) in Paris. In
Lose 1 Health. At the end of each -1 to all tests. Discard at end of session.
the wake of this, structural damage to
interval, roll a die. Odd: lose 1 Health.
the city’s foundation — which houses Discard as recipient of Difficulty
the famed Catacombs — radiates 3 First Aid success.
through the quarries of Paris. Police
find that many of the skulls that line
the walls of this macabre museum
have been split open by the explosion,
and strange white fluid seeps out
from the exposed foundation. Only
one of the night guards is found Swarm of Winter Worms
at the scene, lying unconscious Numbers: thousands of individual Toll: 0
near the damaged skulls, a strange organisms Tags: Invasive
white worm wriggling around their Difficulty: Weak (Escape 2, Injuries, Minor and Major:
neck. Surveillance reveals that the Other 3, Kill 3) Unwell/Dazed
remaining staff inexplicably left the Difficulty Adjustments: +4 if
premises. The player characters can one is attached to you; +1 if you’re
stop a potential outbreak by locating suffering from ill-health; +2 if you
the affected night guards. don’t see it coming

57
L e g i o n s o f C a r c o s a : Paris

Yellow Carnation
In 1892, Oscar Wilde began the fad in harmony with the Yellow Sign and can alarm a victim’s friends,
of wearing a green carnation in one’s its energies. When asked, the florists truly uncanny symptoms become
buttonhole to signal “unnaturalness.” can only credulously repeat what apparent only at the final stage of
Now, a new buttonhole fad sweeps she told them — that she received the flower’s parasitic life cycle. After
Paris: the yellow carnation. Though the seeds from a cousin stationed in approximately two weeks of growth,
a yellow carnation can appear in French Polynesia. the parasitic flower takes complete
nature, these flowers all originate Most who wear the flower suffer no control of its host’s body. The fully
from a quaint florist’s shop in the ill effects. Only those already prone infected host takes on the flower’s
Palais Bourbon. Their petals glow to decadence and decay fall prey to it. scent and faint yellow glow.
faintly and have a scent that no one The boutonnière injects a seed into At this point, the yellow carnation
can quite identify. a susceptible victim’s chest. Affected tries to infect others with a new seed,
On their native Carcosa, they’re GMCs accelerate their debauchery, usually picking suitable victims from
considered common weeds. They damaging health and reputation. the host’s social circle.
share their unidentifiable scent and Alcoholics drink more. The carefree The art students can only be
strange glow with hundreds of other take greater risks. Libertines infected if:
plants. The shop’s proprietors suspect abandon all for the pleasures of the • their players have portrayed
nothing. They received their first flesh. All the while, the carnation’s them as indulging in Paris’
seeds and cultivation instructions foul roots spread throughout their bohemian excesses (likely), and
from a Carcosan agent hoping to host’s body, draining them of vitality. • they choose to wear a carnation
infuse the city with scent and sights Although this change in behavior for at least an evening (less likely)

58
 Ye l l o w C a r n at i o n

A Difficulty 4 Health test

avoids Shocks—Minor and
Major: Seeded/Pollinator. A BLACK AND BLUE BADLY BEATEN
character hoping to be infected for
Injury Injury
experimental reasons can forgo the
test. +1 to Tolls. +2 to Tolls.
The art students can cure GMCs of Discard when you take a Major Injury. After two intervals, trade for
the infection by creating an antidote, “Black and Blue” as recipient of
which requires a Natural History Difficulty 4 First Aid success.
Push and an explanation of how it
might work that seems credible in
the context of the story. An antidote
might otherwise be found among the
possessions of the antagonist behind
the seed packet distribution. When
you need suspense around whether
it works or not, require a Difficulty SEEDED POLLINATOR
4 First Aid test to administer it Shock Shock
effectively. Declining Bohemian indulgence When another PC indulges in
To end the yellow carnation plot, requires a Difficulty 4
Bohemian excess in your presence,
the art students must convince the Composure success.
Discard as the recipient of roll a die. Odd: that PC gains
florists to stop selling the flowers, the Shock card “Seeded.”
Difficulty 4 First Aid success
track down and cure or destroy all from a PC who has learned the
current hosts, and then somehow cure to your weird condition.
neutralize the Carcosan who supplied If still in hand after three hours
the original seed packet. (game time), trade for “Pollinator.”
The Wars: Carcosan flowers grow
atop the graves of the war fallen
and near battlefields. These flowers flower patches miraculously begin to have died in a rash of spectacular
famously take on a red color at the grow fruit that some tout as a way to freak accidents, he claims that the
tips of its petals, as if soaking up the feed the displaced. universe must be out to get him.
blood from the fallen. When picked, This Is Normal Now: Cultivar, Numbers: 1
the flowers infect their host in the a producer of high-end men’s Difficulty: Tough but Outmatched
way described for Paris — but with fragrances, announces its newest (Escape 2, Other 2, Kill 4)
red eyes. cologne, Carnation. The company’s Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if a PC
Aftermath: Having been adopted as master perfumier and Wildean has recently indulged in Bohemian
the national flower of the American reality TV star, Quentin Ngan, excess
Empire and a major motif in the has a visually striking condition, Toll: 0
Castaigne family crest, the yellow ocular heterochromia: his left eye is Tags: Invasive
carnation grows in national parks, yellow. When the team asks him why Injuries, Minor and Major:
governmental buildings, and military influencers promoting his latest scent Black and Blue/Badly Beaten
graveyards. Now, these neglected

59
 LEGIONS OF CARCOSA

THE WARS
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Angels of Mons
Rumors of giant, radiant beings stained glass forms resemble combatants they are seeing
trouncing forces across Europe turret towers with legs recalling angels. A Difficulty 4 Composure
started in the earliest days of the flying buttresses of Gothic test avoids Shocks—Minor and
the war. According to the most cathedrals. Atop the angel vibrates Major: Angelic Vision/Angelic
popular story, during an intense its hypnotic projector, a mass of Apparition.
battle, angelic beings appeared wire and glass that creates the Failure to avoid the illusion’s
and decimated French troops illusion of a shining, winged figure. effect causes a squad member
with blasts of radiant white light. Situate the first appearance to see the mortars as angels, an
Subsequently, rumors of angels of the angels somewhere in effect that they cannot shake off
supporting the other side spurred southern France if you want to easily. The awesome power of
some French troops to defect, stick closely to the real-world story these apparently divine beings
claiming that they cannot fight an of angelic beings fighting in World shakes the character’s resolve,
army clearly supported by God. War I at a place called Mons. which requires a tangible anti-
These are no divine warriors. In Call them the “Angels of _____” Carcosa victory to shake.
reality, what the soldiers see are if you decide to move their place When the hallucination is
merely illusory projections. of apparent origin. In any case, avoided, or the ill effects of the
Arms designers chose the squad members hear of angels on attendant shock cards are dealt
image of angels in order to inspire the battlefield long before seeing with, the turret towers can be
soldiers with dread and to create them. destroyed by conventional means.
the impression that their side had The moving mortars project an Paris: An intrepid Parisian
divine support. Their metal and illusionary field that convinces — perhaps Nadar, or another

62
 A ngels of M ons

eccentric inventor — develops the

prototype for projection technology
to create hypnotizing light shows. IT’S A MIRACLE MASSIVE INJURIES
Pressed into service against YOU’RE ALIVE Injury
Austrians, the projector technology Injury
Counts as 2 Injury cards. Until
dazzles and distracts with moving -1 to Physical tests. end of interval you can’t make
images projected onto clouds and After a Physical failure, roll a die. tests. Thereafter, -2 to Physical
fog banks. This provides cover for Even: trade for Shock card “Rattled.” tests and -1 to Focus tests.
antagonists to conduct a heist If scenario is not over at end of
to steal a treasure demanded by session, trade for “On the Mend.”
Carcosan royalty, which the art
students are dragged into and
must investigate. Angelic imagery
appears in the cloud show, in the
purloined art object, or both.
Aftermath: The People’s
Congress decommissioned ANGELIC VISION ANGELIC APPARITION
the Castaignite government’s Shock Shock
propagandistic light shows, the You fervently believe that the war
Part of you believes that the war
Cathedrals of Light. Now, officials machine you saw was really an angel. machine you saw was really an angel.
wonder how and why the lights You speak and act accordingly. You speak and act accordingly.
activate of their own accord. A When shown proof that it isn’t,
Discard when shown proof that it isn’t.
cabal of Castaignite supporters roll a die. Even: discard.
keeps the light shows active under
the impression that the lights can
subtly convince others to join their
side. Even destroying the lighting
equipment does not keep the
sky from lighting up, and only by Major cities have cults developing Numbers: 3
destroying the cabal of Castaigne around these angelic appearances, Difficulty: Overwhelming (Escape
sympathizers, and the magic circuit and the cults plan mass suicides 4, Other 7, Kill 8)
that their activities maintain, can or other sacrifices in order to bring Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if
the ex-insurgents bring an end to these entities fully into this reality you believe the rumors; -1 if you
the jingoistic displays. (which the player characters must have expressed skepticism of their
This Is Normal Now: In this stop before it is too late). These alleged angelic nature
sequence, images appear in the are the Carcosan spirits from Toll: 3
sky of their own accord: huge, the other timelines attempting to Tags: Warspawn
unexplained images, called angels, squeeze into the present across Encounter Style: Primary
appear and disappear at random. dimensional lines. Injuries, Minor and Major: It’s
a Miracle You’re Alive/Massive
Injuries

63
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Blood Field
War carries a deadly price that arteries pulsing just beneath the who has already figured this out
cannot be paid over the course surface. through experimentation and using
of one soldier’s lifetime. Torture, Blood fields expand by absorbing a relevant interpersonal ability to
murder, and death leave indelible more blood. Their red flora and gain the intel.
stains on the souls of survivors fauna attack living humans and When a blood field is salted,
and are now mutating war-torn animals to shred flesh and cause witnesses hear an unearthly cry,
lands imbued with Carcosan victims to bleed. as if they’ve murdered a living
radiation. When blood touches A secondary effect triggers being.
affected soil, a swarm-like powerful homicidal urges in Paris: Blood Fields appear in
aggregate entity, a blood field, humans whose blood spawns one the countryside near a serial
coalesces. Each blade of grass, of these entities. Squad members killer’s hunting grounds. The
each wildflower, each frog, worm, whose blood spawns a field make threat appears when a murderer
and snake that emerges from a Difficulty 4 Composure tests to spills a victim’s blood on a patch
blood field are not a naturally- avoid Shocks—Minor and Major: of Carcosan-tainted land; at first,
occurring phenomenon: they Red Rage/Blood Rage. GMCs try the land changes and mutates in
are made entirely of bright, red to murder anyone in sight, until the small, almost imperceptible ways:
blood. Blood fields are human blood field is buried in salt. Squad a red blade of grass, a frog with
body temperature all year round. members can learn to do this on a crimson eyes, a flower producing
Witnesses report seeing veins and Science Push or by finding a GMC ruby-red pollen. One might find

64
 B lood F ield

a bloody patch of grass or a

mutated flowerbed but may not see
anything out of the ordinary; the RED RAGE BLOOD RAGE
transformed landscape points to a Shock Shock
killer on the loose. Flora and fauna Every time a new person comes
Spend 1 Composure or attack the
exhibiting strange behavior can nearest person you see, with the within rifle range of you, Spend 1
be killed with saltwater; when an intent to Kill. Other PCs can restrain Composure or attack that person
affected plant or animal dies, one with the intent to Kill. Other PCs
you by spending 1 Athletics.
hears a tiny, human scream. can restrain you by spending 2
Discard after you launch the attack,
Aftermath: Vast war-torn fields Athletics. Discard as the recipient of
or are restrained from doing so.
an appropriate Interpersonal Push
in Europe have been resold to
or Difficulty 4 Morale success.
foreign governments to prevent
private or public use. Officials
claim these fields take generations
to recover from the wars and warn
citizens that human-or-Carcosan
interference only makes matters THE TASTE OF BLOOD FIELD
worse. American botanists CARCOSA SYMBIOTES
called to examine them have Injury Injury
discovered each field contains a -1 to Physical tests. Discard by taking the antidote
robust circulatory system pulsing Discard by taking the antidote to this substance, which you
with unnatural life, and have to this substance, which you may need to discover.
“borrowed” samples to study in may need to discover. If still in hand at end of scenario,
their overseas greenhouses. The die, disgorging a blood field, which
blood fields remain vulnerable then attacks anyone nearby.
to large quantities of salt but
can be transplanted onto to new
soil. Unless the PCs can stop the
botanists, the blood fields spread indigestible symbiotes that must Numbers: 1
from sea to shining sea. be surgically removed — unless Difficulty: Vastly Superior
This Is Normal Now: A chain of the infestation is caught soon (Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7)
five-star sushi restaurants, owned enough, followed by consumption Difficulty Adjustments: +2 if
by the Tomorrow Foundation, has of salt by the spoonful. If you’re a soldier or veteran; +4 if
been touted for their haute cuisine. left untreated, the symbiotes you murdered someone; +6 if you
Chefs artfully arrange plates to eventually reach critical mass can’t stand the sight of blood; -1 if
mimic pastoral fields filled with and cause the victim to fatally you’re a scientist; -2 if you’re in a
edible flowers and a variety of vomit up a new blood field, which vehicle
decorative grasses imported from then surges off in search of new Toll: 2
French wine regions. The plants, victims. Investigators ingesting Tags: Invasive
sourced from blood fields, pulse tainted sushi make Difficulty 4 Encounter Style: Primary
with life. Wealthy customers Health tests to avoid Injuries, Injuries, Minor and Major: The
eat blood fields, unaware that Minor and Major: The Taste of Taste of Carcosa/Blood Field
the Carcosan-tinged plants are Carcosa/Blood Field Symbiotes. Symbiotes

65
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Blood Sanctum
Carnivorous, sapient Carcosan The blood sanctum persuades Investigators who enter into
beings known as blood sanctums the victim to spill blood, theirs or a blood sanctum must make
wait for victims amid the ruined someone else’s, inside it. Before a Difficulty 5 Composure test
landscape of the war, taking the its influence has completely taken to avoid Shocks—Minor and
apparent form of churches or hold, victims might spill small Major: Influence/Violent Impulse.
chapels. Positioned in abandoned amounts of blood. They cut open Difficulty increases by +1 each
villages or along lonely roads, they their palms or wrists, or bring small time the investigator returns to
are full of beautifully twisted spires sacrifices of birds and rabbits. the blood sanctum. If they already
and stained glass windows. Even Enthralled, they don’t realize how have the card Influence when
to those soldiers not aligned with bizarre their actions are. they enter the blood sanctum,
Christianity, the blood sanctums On Carcosa, blood sanctums they must make a Difficulty 4
promise a memory that someone convert blood into energy and Composure test so as not to trade
somewhere once had hoped or distribute it to the nobles who own it for Violent Impulse.
once believed in something other them. Nobles working the 1947 Fire destroys a blood sanctum.
than the battlefield. battlefield goad or manipulate When a blood sanctum senses
Once victims step inside it, a troops onto a path that leads them an arson attempt, it gives up its
blood sanctum manipulates them, to their blood sanctums. They do pose as an inanimate building and
demanding violence. The greater this to their troops and enemy attacks. What once was an organ
the time spent within its walls, the troops alike. After all, these human becomes thick cords slithering
more susceptible victims become. lives are but toys to them. around legs; what once were doors

66
 B lood S anctum

become mouths. Anyone inside the

blood sanctum when it transforms
is now a potential victim or CONSTRICTING ARCHITECTURAL
hostage. Having given up the FIXTURES DIGESTION
charade of being a building, the Injury Injury
blood sanctum is not opposed to -1 to Physical tests. Counts as 2 injuries. You
uprooting itself and moving across Roll a die. Spend Health equal can’t make tests.
the land in leaps and bounds. to the result to discard. After a day (world time), roll a die.
Paris: On every street corner in As the recipient of Difficulty 5 First Even: trade for “On the Mend.” Odd:
Paris stands another old church. Aid success, trade for “On the Mend.” trade for “Constricting Fixtures.”
Sanctums must compete to
stand out in this city of exquisite
architecture. They configure
themselves to the aesthetic
sensibilities of residents and
tourists. They mimic beautiful
gazebos tucked away in the park or INFLUENCE VIOLENT IMPULSE
secret rooms in cabarets that no Shock Shock
one quite noticed before. Perfect
The GM may require you to make After two or more intervals, the GM
for hiding away in the arms of a specifies that you strike violently
a Difficulty 5 Composure test. On a
lover or sneaking away for artistic failure, you take a subtly destructive, against another PC. Test Fighting,
daydreams… until the blood barely detectable action, specified spending 2 points (if available). The
sanctum whispers its demands. by the GM, that would please the PC tests Athletics, with your result as
Aftermath: With the institution entity that gave you this card. After the Difficulty, taking the Injury card
of Government Lethal Chambers, completing the action, roll a die, “Abrasion,” “Laceration,” “Scratched,”
discarding this card on an even result. or “Roughed Up” (GM chooses).
finding victims became all too easy
The GM must wait two intervals After completing the action, roll a
for blood sanctums. Disguised die, discarding this card on an even
before triggering the effect again.
as a GLC, all they have to do is Discard when the entity is destroyed. result. GM must wait two intervals
wait. However, unlike the actual before triggering the effect again.
GLCs, blood sanctums put out an Discard when entity is destroyed.
aura around them, inviting people
in. They can very easily sway the
mind of someone who might have
otherwise backed out. Towns with the block to enter. Some blood
a spike in GLC usage might have sanctum feastings take place in
a blood sanctum searching for the middle of the day, completely ON THE MEND
new victims to feast upon. Player ignored by the passersby. Their Injury
characters should not be so quick reintegration process might
-1 to all tests. Trade for “Still
to dismiss heartbroken relatives reclassify the spectacle as
Hurting” on a Physical success.
who insist that their loved one performance art, rather than face
would never have entered a GLC the horrible truth.
and that there must have been foul Numbers: 1
play. Difficulty: Overwhelming (Escape
This Is Normal Now: Blood 4, Other 7, Kill 8)
sanctums now take on the form of Difficulty Adjustments: +1 for
pop-up modern art installations. each time that you have entered
The novelty of their appearance into the blood sanctum; +2 if
on the street attracts new victims, human blood has been spilled Toll: 3
especially if the blood sanctum inside it within the past week; -1 if Tags: Carcosan
adorns itself with flashing lights you are expecting the building to Encounter Style: Primary
and bold colors. Following the turn into a creature; -1 if you know Injuries, Minor and Major:
appearance of one, it has not who put it here; -1 if you already Constricting Fixtures/Architectural
been unusual to see lines around know what a blood sanctum is Digestion

67
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Caged Horror
Much like a heat source could
confuse a heat-seeking missile,
caged horrors serve as decoys for
Carcosan fear-seeking technology.
By injecting individuals with fear-
inducing drugs, and trapping them
in cages outside of potential
targets, military scientists working
for the top secret Project Deimos
have created effective decoys. Now
unable to experience any emotion
other than abject terror, caged
horrors project such a strong
psychic aura of fear that they
act as effective decoy targets for
enemy Seeker technology.
A caged horror resembles a feral
human covered in stiff, spike-like
hair. Their eyes are blood-shot,
and their clawed fingers are worn
to splintery bone. The armies
— either side — create these
menaces using pitiable individuals
of all sorts: prisoners of war, the
dishonorably discharged, and the
otherwise disappeared.
Squads encounter caged
horrors in the countryside, several
kilometers outside of important
bases of military operations,
imprisoned in wrought-iron cages,
naked and half-frostbitten. When
encountered, a caged horror
can do nothing but scream The intensity of the fear given off Composure test again, at Difficulty
uncontrollably at the slightest by the caged horror is so intense 6.
provocation. that it rubs off on nearby beings. A GMCs afflicted by the fear effect
Introduce caged horrors mystery involving the caged horror go to greater extremes, engaging
as a curiosity of the war-torn can start with animals appearing in acts of panicked mayhem
countryside: a war casualty, a in the countryside that are red- that attract the attention of
necessary evil to avoid fear- eyed with panic. The soldiers investigating soldiers. Defending
seeking technology. Introduce encounter other travelers who have themselves against imagined
them first fully caged, a talking succumbed to fear, possibly killing tormentors, they might:
point for player characters. each other; or have a small town • attack comrades
Then, have the player characters that complains of nightmares that • blow up munitions depots
encounter an empty cage, perhaps reference a caged, hairy beast. • jump in a war machine to
one not fully destroyed in a Player characters feel this fear strafe their own camp
Seeker explosion. A freed horror effect, too. Upon first encountering
acts without consciousness and a caged horror, soldiers must pass Paris: Carcosan agents
instantly attacks anyone nearby, a Difficulty 4 Composure test to experiment to create potent fear-
driven to defend itself by its avoid Shocks—Minor and Major: inducing drugs. By kidnapping
state of terror. It uses its teeth, Contagious Fear/Contagious peasants and travelers,
fingernails, and spines to attack. Terror. Anyone taking an Injury card they seclude their victims in
from a caged horror makes the underground cages and subject

68
 C aged H orror

them to the drugs. A recent

successful experiment has
produced a drug that causes its RAKING CLAWS SAVAGE MAULING
victims to grow bristly hair, and to Injury Injury
be permanently afraid. Opium dens
and other drug establishments -1 to Physical tests; lose 2 Health. -2 to Physical tests; lose 2 Health.
create an anxiety-reducing drug Discard as recipient of Difficulty Trade for “Precarious Recovery”
4 First Aid success. as recipient of Difficulty
that is becoming popular, but
5 First Aid success.
some strains have the opposite
effect. Art students encounter a
caged horror when patronizing or
investigating these locations.
Aftermath: After the Continental
War, the Castaigne government
recruited veterans of the caged
horror project to research their
own fear-induction drugs. Now, CONTAGIOUS FEAR CONTAGIOUS TERROR
caged horrors exist in abandoned Shock Shock
secret labs. Increased incidents All players take a penalty to
-X to Presence tests, where X is the
of paranoid attacks throughout a Presence tests equal to the number
number of Shock cards held by the
city lead former insurgents to their other player whose surname comes of Shock cards you hold.
hidden locations. On a failed Presence test, roll a die.
next to yours in alphabetical order.
This Is Normal Now: A new hit Even: trade for “Contagious Fear.”
Discard on a failed Presence test.
game, “Real Fear” from EmoJoie
Ltd, is a fear simulator that puts
players through increasingly
bizarre scenarios to test their fear
tolerance. Log in and face crawling
bugs, plane crashes, or the violent Numbers: 1 Tags: Warspawn
breakdown of society! The program Difficulty: Vastly Superior Encounter Style: Primary
secretly targets certain users and (Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7) Injuries, Minor and Major:
addicts them to the game, creating Difficulty Adjustments: None Raking Claws/Savage Mauling
caged horrors trapped in their VR Toll: 2
headsets.

69
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Cyt
Water is perhaps the most
valuable resource on the
battlefield, clean water even more
so. Imagine, then, soldiers weak
and weary coming upon what
they believe to be a clean water
source and gorging themselves
upon it. They had better hope that
it is free of cyts. Parasites born
into the water, manifested from
Carcosan energy and an excess
of human trauma, cyts infect their
victims from the water supply.
Upon drinking cyt-infested water,
soldiers must pass a Difficulty 4
Health test to avoid having any
of the parasites take root. Once
a cyt is inside the human body, it
makes its way up to its victim’s
optical center and eats away
one of their eyes, replacing the
eye with its body. Once it begins
eating, it maintains the visual
signals to the brain but every so
often alters the perception so that
the victim regularly experiences
hallucinations of horrific creatures. At the beginning of the process, trauma for the victim’s skull. Full-
Since the cyt doesn’t have access it is possible to extract the cyt and grown cyts have a circle on the
to any of the other senses, these save the eye, whether through an front that looks like a human iris;
visions are soundless, and they operation or by ingesting medicine the rest looks like a transparent
cannot physically harm the victim. with specific Carcosan ingredients. watery orb with legs, pincers,
However, that doesn’t keep Once it has eaten more than half and teeth. Appearances deceive:
the victim from being severely the eye, though, it is too large the transparency hides a tough
disturbed by the things that they’re for the medicine to work, and exoskeleton, and each leg ends in
seeing. the eyeball is too far damaged a clawed hook, capable of inflicting
From the point when they enter to be salvaged. Removing the a nasty wound.
the body, it takes a cyt about a eye is the only way to save the Fully grown cyts can be found in
week to work its way up to the eye victim from the visions that are wet or marshy areas, laying their
and begin to eat it away. While haunting them. Procedures must eggs in the water. They attack
eating, they leave a very thin be conducted with great care so if threatened and are not at all
layer between themselves and that the operator is not attacked opposed to laying eggs directly into
the outside world so it seems the and infected by the now large cyt, a victim’s bloodstream.
eye is still there. However, to an and so that the cyt doesn’t retreat Paris: Earthly lackeys of the
observer, it appears significantly backward into its victim’s brain. Yellow King sell pill pellets full
duller and flatter than the other Treat a cyt infection as a Hazard, of cyts. These pills circulate in
eye. The cyt takes strength from not a Foe. the artistic communities among
the nutrients that it consumes and Once a cyt swells in size and the artists and writers who
becomes significantly stronger devours the entire eye, it pops out seek something horrific for their
and tougher in the process of of the victim’s head — something inspiration — art and horror have
consumption. that often results in physical always been intrinsically linked.

70
 C yt

Not knowing the truth behind the

pills, the artists ingest them and
then find themselves horrified CYT INFECTED SEEING CYTS
when the visions refuse to “wear Injury
Injury
off.” -2 to Focus tests.
Discard as the recipient of a
Aftermath: Cyts were points At the end of each interval, succeed
Difficulty 4 First Aid success. If
of intrigue for the BPZS in the on a Difficulty 4 Sense Trouble
not discarded after a week (world test or react to an ordinary event
years preceding the revolution. time), trade for “Seeing Cyts.” as if something hideous and
When it was attacked, it was in
otherworldly is happening.
the process of raising a group of Discard as the recipient of a Difficulty 5
children whose eyes were replaced First Aid success. Failure with a margin
by cyts. Parageometrists raised of 2 or more: the cyt retreats into your
the possibility that cyt visions brain. You die at the end of the scenario.
might reveal truths about the
alien planet. The BPZS hoped
that these children could provide
information about Carcosa’s to ask them. Warped by what world. After all, there is nothing
secrets. The children now leave they’ve seen, they may ask for more horrifying than the truth.
trails of cyt infestation wherever some terrible payoff in exchange Blackstar sometimes requires its
they go. Because they were raised for information. Depending on agents to be infected with them
with the cyts, they’ve developed how far gone an individual host is, so that their brains will be unable
a symbiotic relationship. The cyts Assess Honesty might or might to reintegrate. Unfortunately, this
never leave their bodies, spreading not indicate how much truth their tactic has had wildly varied results
their eggs through the children’s gabbled prophecies contain. and has been known to lead to cyt
tears. Researchers dubbed them This Is Normal Now: Cyts now outbreaks.
the Weeping Children. Cursed with have a complicated relationship Treat as a Hazard, resisted by
an intuitive knowledge of Carcosa, with Blackstar. Cyts make Health:
they can supply insight into that it impossible not to see the Injuries, Minor and Major: Cyt
world to investigators who know Carcosan influence around the Infected/Seeing Cyts

71
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Paul Daste
Paul Daste was a successful
weapons maker before the
Continental War, but as the war
expanded so did his small business.
Each battle contributed to what grew
into large-scale arms manufacturing.
Daste’s lack of ethics suited
him well to making human-killing
machines. Soon he had a factory
mass-producing weapons, ranging
from mundane pistols to weapons
designed to fulfil strange and
unusual requests for particular
Carcosan problems, and shipping
them to any military that could afford
his prices. These supernatural
requests kept increasing, and he
kept inventing clever ways to satisfy
his customers.
Daste was originally motivated
simply by greed, but the more
people his weapons killed, the
more susceptible he was to
Carcosan influence. Carcosa
feasted on the deaths his
weapons inflicted. He became
obsessed with manufacturing
better machines, barely sleeping
for an entire month, and instead,
experimenting and researching
ways to improve his products. One
night a pile of blueprints he’d never
seen before appeared on his office inside the person it hits, hatching a weapons creation standard in
desk, each one embossed with a the next night to kill everyone in service to the Yellow King.
Yellow Sign. The designs bled into a 10 foot radius). Daste plans Squad members using a corrupted
his mind, compelling him to build several more designs as new weapon gain +1 Fighting bonus, but
these devices that did not adhere blueprints show up every week. after the combat finishes, make
to accepted scientific laws. Then, The fallout of Daste’s designs is Difficulty 5 Health tests to avoid
he branded his factory workers disastrous. His factory workers are Injuries—Minor and Major: Magic
with the Yellow Sign, making all the mindless slaves to the construction Weapon/Cursed Weapon.
souls within fuel for Carcosa. of his killing machines. Daste Paris: A small factory located
The devices are now is expanding his manufacturing in the industrialized center of
manufactured on a limited run and enterprise into three new Paris, Daste Manufacturing
shipped out to the highest bidders. locations. The weapons are horrific, creates reliable weapons for
Most popular are the Mind Warper unleashing new terrors on the discerning customers. Daste’s
(a shotgun whose bullet spray battlefields. New designs latch onto brainwashed factory workers are
only does psychic damage by their users like parasites, driving sorely missed by their families; the
inflicting horrifying hallucinations them to mindless acts of killing. Yellow Sign he’s branded on their
on its targets) and the Burrower (a The squad’s investigation into his bodies controls their minds, not
long-distance rifle that seeks out growing power begins when one of letting them leave. Despite their
the target in its scope regardless his weapons transforms a beloved public availability, the weapons
of obstacles, the bullet becoming comrade into a monstrous slayer. created are used primarily by the
a burrowing insect that lays eggs His legacy promises to become gendarmes and the military in

72
 Paul Daste

Paris. This causes those in power

to randomly lash out with acts of
violence because the weapons GRAZED SHOT
have compelled them to do so. Injury Injury
The wounds left by these weapons -1 to Physical tests. -2 to Physical tests. Counts as
are puzzling to any who may Discard on a Physical success. 2 Injury cards. Trade for “On
find them, as the supernaturally the Mend” as recipient of
imbued bullets or blasts are Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
unrecognizable to those unfamiliar If still in hand at end of scenario, you
with them. The occasional citizen succumb to your injuries and die.
can gain access to Daste’s cursed
wares, and they are used to
commit heinous crimes. Daste
weapons are not very prolific but
can be found in antiques stores to
be wielded again and again.
Aftermath: DastCo-American WORSE THAN THOROUGHLY
manufactured such weapons of the IT LOOKS PERFORATED
old regime as the cambuk, Forget- Injury Injury
Me-Do, and brainstopper. Now
On the next Physical test you fail -2 to tests.
CEO Paul Dast II seeks a favorable by 1, discard this card, and succeed As recipient of Difficulty 5 First
deal in Truth and Reconciliation by at the test with a margin of 0. Aid success, roll a die. Even: trade
offering a new line of Rehabilitative for “Worse Than It Looks.” Odd:
Interrogation products. He says trade for “Shot Up Good.”
that in addition to extracting
information, they also heal
those minds of the personality
disorders that led people to follow
the Castaignes. Some in the
Interregnum Administration seem
ready to fall for this, leaving the ex- 1. MAGIC WEAPON 1. CURSED WEAPON
insurgents to prove it’s exactly as Injury Injury
sinister as it sounds. -1 to Presence tests. +1 to Fighting tests. -2 to Presence and Focus
This Is Normal Now: Daste When you destroy the object that gave tests. +2 to Fighting tests.
Manufacturing is a huge weapons you this card, roll a die. Even: discard. Discard by destroying the place
manufacturer supported by both where the object that gave
the US Military and the NRA. Their you this card was made.
weapons can be found in all corners
of the US, which makes it easy for
them to compel vast numbers of
people to commit random acts of
violence. The right to bear arms
allows these arcane weapons Difficulty Adjustments: -1 you’ve Numbers: 1
to trickle into the mundane gun used one of his weapons Difficulty: Evenly Matched
economy, as Daste weapons in the Toll: 2 (Escape 3, Other 5, Kill 4)
modern age are indistinguishable Tags: Human Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if
from common weapons. In addition Injuries, Minor and Major: you knew the soldiers; -1 if you
to compelling random violent killings, Grazed/Shot know that the weapon caused the
Daste weapons fuel a nationalistic monstrous transformation
ideology. Warped Soldiers Toll: 1
Numbers: 1 Use this foe profile for Tags: Alt
Difficulty: Vastly Superior combatants transformed by Injuries, Minor and Major:
(Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7) Daste’s corrupt weapons. Worse Than it Looks/Thoroughly
Perforated

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T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Drought Lord
While the beaches of France
soak with blood, an otherworldly
entity manifests in farmlands,
draining water from the soils
and rendering vast swaths of
land barren. These are powerful
Carcosans known as drought lords.
To allow a drought lord to flourish
and feed would spell disaster
for not only the war effort but
humanity in general.
It starts with a single strange
occurrence: land in an otherwise
fertile and moist region abruptly
desiccates. Dry earth, like the
arid deserts of Mexico, among
an otherwise fertile forest or
farmland. Next comes the
livestock, drained of all fluid, with
no visible wounds.
Few have seen the true form of
a drought lord. Those surviving
an encounter with one speak of a
mass of swirling water and blood
shaped roughly like a human.
Drought lords grow slowly and
tend to shy away from bright
light. Their activity is easy to spot
through aerial photography, where
perfectly circular earthworks
often appear overnight. They
dwell at the center of these
formations, curled up just below obedience. Human servitors assist unnatural rate, leaving withered
the earth. When roused to defend them by driving off interlopers and fish carcasses on inexplicably dry
themselves, their true forms can capturing victims for them to suck Parisian streets.
be glimpsed. Ten to twelve feet dry. The drought lords may, in turn, Aftermath: Regime-connected
in height, they take on distorted serve more powerful Carcosans agriculture barons used drought
humanoid shapes. A dry, earthen in the hideous war game they play lords to acquire land cheap from
outer surface, cracked like the across the nations of Europe. resistant farmers. The beings
surface of a dried-up lake, covers Paris: Parisians are no strangers sucked the moisture from fertile
a liquid center composed of to winter flooding. But with the fields, turning them into dust bowls
water and the bodily fluids of sewers and subway tunnels overnight. Bankrupted landowners
recent victims. When the skin overflowing with water from the sold at a pittance. After years of
is breached, this mixture of Seine, Paris has become the recovery, the corporations planted
blood, bile, and saliva gives off a perfect breeding ground for a their crops. Now anxious to protect
disturbing scent of human decay. drought lord. While some residents their holdings and cover up their
Sapient, if limited in outlook were evacuated from their homes crimes, executives fear the drought
and perspective, drought lords to makeshift shelters in churches lords they once happily fed. When
can communicate by throwing and schools, others marveled at their colleagues start showing up
their thoughts into nearby human the aquatic spectacle of the ever- as desiccated corpses, they try
minds. They may bargain with rising water level. But something to arrange for the ex-insurgents
prospective victims, offering strange is happening. Overnight, to track down and destroy the
to spare them in exchange for the water levels have fallen at an creatures — without giving away

74
 D rought L ord

their own complicity in driving

small farmers out of business.
This Is Normal Now: While one PARCHED DRIED UP
might expect the presence of a Injury Injury
drought lord in rural areas to be Lose 1 Health each interval. You can’t make Physical tests.
quite obvious, their activities in Trade for “Dried Up” when Counts as two injuries.
metropolitan locales may also or if Health pool equals 0. Discard when the entity that did this
be detected. Within cities, these Discard as the recipient of a Difficulty to you is destroyed or banished.
creatures thrive in sewers, slowly 3 Health success, after a consecutive
drying them out as they grow 12 hours (world time) on an IV drip.
more powerful. As they grow, they
accumulate the putrid stench of
the desiccated flesh and garbage
that becomes part of their mass.
This telltale odor then slowly Numbers: 1 Toll: 2
rises to the streets and into old Difficulty: Vastly Superior Tags: Carcosan
buildings. (Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7) Encounter Style: Primary
Difficulty Adjustments: +2 if it’s Injuries, Minor and Major:
raining or you are near a body of Parched/Dried Up
water; +1 if you’re bleeding; -2 if
you bring electricity

75
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Commandant Dupuis
Robert Dupuis, the youngest
Commandant in the French army,
has led the Third Battalion of the
Fourth Infantry Division to a series
of impressive victories. Celebrated
for his bravery and altruism,
he has earned the trust of his
soldiers many times over. Medals
for multiple acts of conspicuous
heroism adorn his uniform. Dupuis
is a man of average stature; his
serious eyes focused into the
distance. When the squad meets
him, he addresses them with calm
confidence.
In the privacy of his quarters,
this facade slips away. Manic
energy overcomes him as he
deviously writes forged letters
throughout the night without a
blink of sleep.
The letters contain information
he can’t possibly know, yet still,
his hand guides the fountain pen
across the page. Dupuis relays
information across all sides of
the war, attempting to set up
rendezvous, negotiations, potential
peace summits, supply exchanges,
battalion movements, and the
like. With twisted glee, he devises
schemes to lure forces on both
sides into unexpected, deadly invisible ink. This completes the the Dreyfus scandal’s military
confrontations where no one ritual, sealing the psychic evils of investigation and several false
emerges victorious. Every death dangerous misunderstandings. crimes reported in Le Petit Journal,
brings him closer to a glorious Occasionally Dupuis constructs are the result of these cursed
sinecure in Carcosa — or so these scenarios to draw in his own letters being read and believed.
the promise goes. The next day, troops, allowing him to reinforce The letters spread misinformation
Dupuis goes about his business, his reputation for heroism by using that sometimes creates deadly
betraying no knowledge of the his advanced knowledge to save infighting that disadvantages the
letters he penned. the day once again. people of Paris, stoking the fires
Each letter is meticulously Paris: Though from an of both the conservatives and
penned, signed, and sealed establishment family, Senator anarchists. Bribery, backstabbing,
as though it were in the hand Robert Dupuis aligns with the and lies among the politicians
of the person it says it’s from Radical faction, advocating policies trickle down to the most vulnerable
(never Commandant Dupuis.) that earn the affection of the in the city, causing undue death
Not naturally a skilled forger, people. Colleagues describe him and suffering among its citizens.
Dupuis relies on a paranormal as hard but fair, and virtuous to a Aftermath: Robert Dupuis was a
effect to transform his document fault. Behind the scenes, though, commander in the military during
to perfectly match the desired Dupuis manipulates them with the Castaigne Regime in America.
handwriting, paper stock, and deceptive letters marked invisibly Deeply in the thrall of Carcosa, he
letterhead. He then inscribes the with the Yellow Sign. Recent directed military actions against
Yellow Sign over the letter with disastrous missteps, such as innocent civilians, who he painted

76
 C ommandant D upuis

as rebel combatants. Now that

the regime has been crushed,
Dupuis works secretly from within RECOVERING SHOT UP GOOD
the new army to continue his Injury Injury
attacks on innocents. A medal
Trade for “Patched Up” when -1 to all tests. First Aid tests in which
inscribed with the Yellow Sign you take another Injury card. you are the recipient take a -1 penalty.
masks his identity, leading people Discard at end of session. Trade for “Patched Up” as recipient
to believe he is Robert Wells, a of Difficulty 4 First Aid success.
commander who has always been
working with the rebellion. From
within their unsuspecting ranks,
he leads missions against those
responsible for destroying the
Castaigne Regime.
This Is Normal Now: US army field to suddenly make strange Difficulty: Evenly Matched
officer Commander Dupuis decisions. They act as though they (Escape 3, Other 5, Kill 4)
directs the global war on terror are brainwashed when they hear Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if
from his Pentagon office. By the message, disregarding Dupuis’ you know him; +1 if he’s your
all outward appearances, he’s overt commands for his covert commanding officer
skilled at preventing conflicts from ones. Afterward, they can’t explain Toll: 1
escalating, but his true intentions what they were thinking when Tags: Human
are quite the opposite. Dupuis’ they veered into atrocity or fatal Encounter Style: Primary
digital messages are cursed, negligence. Injuries, Minor and Major:
ordering his soldiers out in the Numbers: 1 Recovering/Shot Up Good

77
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Ear Worms
The ear worm is a small creature
that burrows through a person’s
inner ear and implants itself in
the brain, causing audio-visual
hallucinations. When a host
discusses these hallucinations
with another person, that person
becomes infected with spores
excreted from the host’s body.
These quickly grow into new ear
worms.
The hallucinations caused by
the ear worms take the form
of odd, otherworldly creatures.
They spread, plague-like, through
military forces. Soldiers imagine
the shrieks and hoots of strange
creatures inhabiting the woods
and, upon investigating, experience
visions of weird creatures. Any
soldier can tell a tale of strange
sounds in the woods at night.
Most of these stories come from
overstimulated imaginations of
city-born folk hearing the pained,
throaty grunts of a lynx, or the
baby-like cry of a long-eared owl,
for the very first time. Others
tell of encounters with uncanny
creatures, whether from dreams
of Hali or from the mutation of an
otherwise everyday animal. These
monsters attack when player heart attacks and other signs of Paris: Art students have an old
characters are in the deep woods. extreme stress in the hosts and, fashioned murder mystery on their
The first warning comes in the form in the severest examples, death. hands when they find a string
of a strange sound in the distance, Groups of soldiers have been of deaths connected by bloody
unlike anything heard before. This found in the forests with dried ears and reports that victims
could lead to an investigation, but blood dripping from their ears, suffered from hallucinations of
squad members might write this signs that the worms have gone terrible monsters for several days
off as simply a stag call echoing looking for other hosts (whoever before succumbing to something
through the trees. moved the bodies, for example). like a heart attack. Here, the ear
The only physical aspect of Traditional tall tales inspire worms are deployed selectively
the ear worm is the worm itself. the form of these memetic by Carcosan agents as an
Successfully removing an ear worm sound creatures. As such, their assassination tool.
from a GMC in pristine conditions presence in a game provides Aftermath: After the testing
requires a Difficulty 5 First Aid an opportunity for players to tell grounds in the Continental
success; add 1 to the Difficulty if outrageous stories about creatures War, the worms are genetically
in the field. they make up. Have your players modified to induce propagandistic
The worm does not physically describe unbelievable creatures hallucinations for the regime.
harm its hosts; it solely and use those as inspiration for This Is Normal Now: Earworms
produces hallucinations. These the memetic idea that haunts the are taken willingly by a public
hallucinations, however, are so real characters. seeking natural health aids. By
and so frightful that they can cause exposing themselves to genetically

78
 E ar Worms

reversed, boutique worms, users

gain a cleansing infusion of
calming hormones. With the snap UNEARTHLY SOUNDS MELTED PERCEPTIONS
of a finger from a Carcosan noble, Shock Shock
however, the worms revert back to
-1 to Focus tests. Roll a die when you receive this
the original configuration.
When you correctly identify card. Odd: -1 to Focus tests.
Treat as a hazard, resisted by the origin of the sounds, roll Even: -1 to Presence tests.
Composure: a die. Even: discard. Discard as recipient of Difficulty
Shocks, Minor and Major: 4 First Aid success.
Unearthly Sounds/Melted
Perceptions

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T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Forget-Me-Not
War eats young lives. More
replacements march to the front
lines every day. This weighs heavy
on the minds of those who have
watched their friends’ lives flicker
out with no fanfare. They are afraid
to remember and terrified to forget.
That cycle embeds itself in the
very ground — a ground thick with
blood and Carcosan energy. When
the earth accrues enough of this
energy, a forget-me-not spawns. It
is less of a creature than an echo
buried beneath the earth. When
soldiers set up camp nearby, it
chooses a victim from the group,
generally the one riven by internal
turmoil.
The forget-me-not traps the
victim above it, paralyzing them
with painful mental images of
their most haunting memories.
The transfixed victim sinks into
the earth, where the forget-
me-not feeds on them slowly,
sometimes for days. All the while
the victim, overcome with sorrow,
barely notices the continuous
consumption of their body.
Once the victim is separated
from everyone else, the forget-
me-not erases all memories of
them from the minds of their Major: Forget-Me-Not Influence/ entranced them.
companions. Squad members Forget-Me-Not Capture. Difficulty Aftermath: Forget-me-nots still
must make Difficulty 4 Sense increases to 6 if standing directly linger at the sites of the bloodiest
Trouble tests to notice something above it. moments in the revolution. If
unnatural about their recollections Paris: It has been said that great someone in the local government
if one of their fellow soldiers is art has the power to transfix. noticed or is competent enough,
taken. Forget-me-nots imbue art with their they might have blocked off access
Fixed in the earth like tree roots, energy so as to bait unsuspecting to the place. However, even on
forget-me-nots can’t escape the art connoisseurs. Of course, the a local level, the government
squad once located and identified. victims cannot sink into the floor is provisional, and it’s easy for
They animate shrubbery around in the middle of an art gallery — some things to slip through the
them to defend against attacks, that would leave too much time for jurisdictional cracks. Carcosan
or turn the terrain around them them to be saved. When a victim or Castaigne sympathizers may
into quicksand. Investigators can spends enough time standing have broken into the cordoned-off
destroy a forget-me-not the same before the painting, staring into its area to try to harness the forget-
way they’d get rid of a tree stump, depths and reliving their memories, me-not’s power. Since forget-me-
with explosives or shovels. a door appears in the wall, only to nots are physical epicenters of
Passing within a hundred meters them. Upon entering, they find an parageometric energy, the hope
of a forget-me-not, characters empty chamber with the painting in is that one can be used to open
make Difficulty 4 Composure it, so that they may spend the rest up a gateway to Carcosa. Most
tests to avoid Shocks—Minor and of their life in front of the art that of the would-be portal openers

80
 F orget- M e - N ot

are devoured, but there’s always

the fear that one of them will be
successful someday. FORGET-ME-NOT FORGET-ME-NOT
This Is Normal Now: Liminal INFLUENCE CAPTURE
spaces are the best at bringing Shock Shock
out the memories that we wish -1 to Focus tests. You can’t take tests or make Pushes or
we could shake. The forget-me- Every interval, make a Difficulty 3 do anything other than stand frozen.
not now waits in subways, bus Composure test. Failure: you go to If multiple players get this card
stops, airports, places where the forget-me-not’s location, trading simultaneously, each rolls a
for “Forget-Me-Not Capture.”
people wander in the dead of Discard the second time you score
die. Low roller keeps the card;
night, passing between one place a success on the Composure test. others discard. Reroll ties.
and the other. It might widen the Discard if another player receives
“Forget-Me-Not Capture.” Discard
cracks in someone’s Reintegration,
when the forget-me-not is destroyed.
bringing hints of a world more
monstrous than they can imagine
until they succumb to the forget-
me-not’s influence.
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Tough but Outmatched LASHED MOUTHFUL OF
(Escape 2, Other 2, Kill 4) Injury QUICKSAND
Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if Injury
Lose 2 Health.
the forget-me-not is transfixing Discard at end of interval, -2 to tests.
someone else; +1 for every Shock regaining 2 Health. Lose 4 Health.
card you hold; +3 if you’re the one Discard at end of interval,
under the forget-me-not’s spell regaining 2 Health, or after two
Toll: 0 intervals, regaining 4 Health.
Tags: Warspawn
Encounter Style: Secondary
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Lashed/Mouthful of Quicksand

81
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Furious Banes
Furious banes come at night.
Attacks committed by soldiers
against innocent folks draw the
banes to them. As the crime
occurs, the banes appear suddenly
from the shadows in which they
were lurking all along. Dead eyes
open as though part of a wall,
rock, or tree, then a figure emerges
from the solid matter. The furious
banes scream in anger at those
committing war crimes, swiftly and
brutally murdering all involved.
The screaming is relentless while
blood and flesh flies around the
supernaturally fast and strong
creatures.
They haunt the areas surrounding
the battlefields because they were
attacked and murdered here.
The ambient Carcosan energies
trapped the banes in that horrific
moment forever. It’s the Carcosan
influence that motivates the
banes to commit more murder and
prevents them from finding peace.
So they enact revenge upon other matching these particular details them in their sleep. All that’s left
murderers. The victim originally begin to occur near the battlefield. of the murderer in the morning
being attacked will be the only Since the murderer was killed, is a mushy pile of blood and
one left alive. The banes wreak it’s unclear who is responsible for bones. The furious bane absorbs
horrific destruction, leaving heaps these crimes. As more murders each new murderer’s talents and
of flesh and bones that used to are committed, soldiers come desires, and randomly begins
be humans at the scene of the under suspicion, and the military killing people. One of the art
crime. The body parts left in the is forced to hold a tribunal. They’ll students’ professors was recently
wake of furious banes are rarely want to scapegoat someone, found dead in his studio due to
recognizable as human, requiring a potentially the player characters, a bizarre combination of slashing
thorough inspection to figure it out. motivating them to discover what and strangulation, far more than
It’s rare that the banes are seen is actually to blame. The banes was needed to kill him.
by anyone within the vicinity of the can be released from their horrific Aftermath: Furious banes were
attack. When spotted, though, they prison by being the target of a highly active during the Castaigne
look semi-transparent, somewhat ritual that quells their spirit, or regime. All the Carcosan creatures
swampy as gross liquid drips simply eradicated through fire. on the loose in America, along with
off their bodies, and bear some Paris: In 1895 Paris, as in the frequency of horrific, escalating
resemblance to their living form. most places in the world today, violence, caused their intensity
A bane’s body still exhibits the murders of the poor and homeless and numbers to increase. Furious
wounds of their death. go largely unpunished. Furious banes appeared during domestic
After being involved in an attack, banes began appearing to help violence, bar fights, and fistfights
a transformation occurs in the with this, meting out their own at sporting events. Once there,
bane’s behavior. They’ll copycat form of horrific justice. In the the banes lashed out at everyone
the crime that just happened, streets of Paris, the banes are present, regardless of their
repeating it like a looping memory slightly more subtle and creeping. involvement in the fight. After the
they can’t escape. They become They prefer to stalk the killers Regime fell, the banes receded,
the attacker, and several crimes back to their homes and murder becoming less commonplace.

82
 F urious B anes

Missing the freedom they once

had, they occasionally show up
to lash out at all bystanders of a SHREDDED FLESH “AM I STILL IN
fight. Injury ONE PIECE?”
This Is Normal Now: Injury
To spend points on any Athletics,
Commonplace violence in
Fighting, or Battlefield test, you You can’t make Physical tests. -1
contemporary media, and a must also spend 1 Health point. to Focus tests. You can’t walk.
sharp rise in instances of casual Discard as recipient of Difficulty Trade for “Shrapnel” as recipient
violence worldwide, has vastly 4 First Aid success. of a Difficulty 5 First Aid success.
increased the number of furious
banes. They’re attracted to the
places on earth most destabilized
by corruption and scarcity. In
these locations, they wait en
masse until one of the groups covered up as a natural disaster Difficulty Adjustments: +3 if you
responsible for the destabilization or freak accident. Recently, one of are a murderer; -1 if an atrocity is
makes a move. Then, they unleash these natural disasters happened currently being committed
a murderous storm of horrific where the characters reside. Toll: 2
destruction, killing innocents and Either someone they know died, Tags: Alt
the corrupt alike. The groups or there’s something off about the Injuries, Minor and Major:
they target vary greatly in nature, media coverage. Shredded Flesh/“Am I Still In One
and include the military, media, Numbers: 1-15 Piece?”
companies, terrorists, government, Difficulty: Overwhelming (Escape
and religious institutions. Their 5, Other 7, Kill 7)
gruesome mass murders are

83
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Gut Gobbler
This predatory Carcosan entity
gains occult sustenance from
the act of devouring the entrails
of sapient beings, and emotional
satisfaction from the attentions of
a circle of sycophants. Leveraging
its uncanny abilities to assist a
small community, it uses them as
social camouflage while preying
on outsiders. The gut gobbler
most often poses as a prophet
or village wise woman. Its spells
and amulets protect its lackeys
from the ravages of war, which is
more than the player characters
can do for them. The gut gobbler
may scour nearby battlefields
directly or convince its devoted
human protectors to bring home
bodies to eat. Some gut gobblers
fancy themselves as gruesome
aesthetes, infusing corpses with
captured spirits and forcing them
to dance, sing, or perform in plays
they have written. A captured
squad member with an artistic
bent may be forced to listen to
its abstruse theories on art and
culture, delivered at monologue
length.
The gobbler looks like a
grotesque, impossibly old
human, with a face that appears The gut gobbler lives the life of former insurgents, they avoid
unpleasantly pallid in certain a dilettante among the morphine being stopped by the People’s
lighting conditions. addicts of Paris, occasionally Government forces. Diminishing
Mysteries drawing the squad dumping one of their eviscerated the gut gobbler’s power base in
into the lair of a gut gobbler might bodies into the Parisian gutters. this sequence proves to be harder,
include: Exposing the gut gobbler’s criminal now that it has the backing of
• disappearances of bodies (if not supernatural) self to the other, now stranded, Carcosan
from the battlefield creature’s supporters sends the nobles, each of whom may need
• reports of dancing or creature into hiding. to be dealt with in turn before the
singing corpses Aftermath: With the closing gut gobbler can be deposed or
• a village that refuses to of the doors to Carcosa, the exposed.
house or provision Loyalist gut gobbler collects around This Is Normal Now: Unable to
forces, bolstered by oddly them a court of newly stranded control the urge to eat human
efficacious folk magic Carcosan nobles (or thralls) who intestines, the gut gobbler is
• a farmer offering eerily precise find themselves cut off from known as a killer and is locked
prophetic intelligence (as the Yellow King’s power. The behind bars… until it is announced
supplied by the gut gobbler) gut gobbler becomes known to that they will be set free from
in exchange for supplies the ex-insurgents as the center incarceration because of a
Paris: In this sequence, the gut of a newly ascendant group of mistrial. Player characters can
gobbler has not yet fallen from the revanchist aristocrats. Because rush to use them as an informant
graces of greater Carcosan society. they can speak to the spirits of for other Carcosans that they may

84
 G ut G obbler

be willing to snitch on; but they

will have to bring them that which
the gobbler’s stomach craves. Or, BAYONET WOUND GUTTED
when set free, they amass a group Injury Injury
of Carcosan and human followers,
-2 to Physical tests. -2 to First Lose 4 Health. You can’t take tests
Manson-style. Aid tests performed on you. or make Pushes, or do anything but
Numbers: 1 Trade for “Patched Up” as recipient lie on the ground bleeding out.
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 4, of Difficulty 4 First Aid success. Trade for “Stab Wound” as recipient
Other 5, Kill 4) If still held at end of scenario, you of a Difficulty 5 First Aid test.
Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if it succumb to your injuries and die. If still in hand at end of scenario, you
taunts you while eviscerating a succumb to your injuries and die.
corpse; +1 if you witnessed one of
its corpse performances; -1 if you
know what it is
Toll: 1
Tags: Carcosan
Encounter Style: Primary
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Bayonet Wound/Gutted

85
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Leatherleg
After growing accustomed
to standard-model stalkers,
the squad encounters a new,
animal-like variation, born of an
experiment gone wrong.
Leatherlegs sprang into
existence when prototype
boîtenoires covered in tanned
and treated skins were installed
in ordinary stalkers. Military
technologists intended to merely
extend the range of boîtenoire
transmissions, but watched
in transfixed horror as the war
machines transformed into
hunched, self-aware beings with
a lupine stance. Survivors of the
ensuing bloodbath have been
spirited away to a secure hospital,
where squad members might find
them and learn the origin of these
menaces.
The leatherlegs prowl in packs,
preying on both people and
machines. They spear human prey
with their legs, stripping them
of skin. They use this to cover
wounds and tears on their leathery
teguments. Witnessing this
requires a Difficulty 4 Composure
test to avoid Shocks—Minor
and Major: Witness to Carnage/
Skinseeker. In a sequel: engine room, they fail to discover
When the soldiers seriously • rogue or enemy forces a driver or other crew. Instead,
damage a standard stalker, it might learn how to tame they find a modified typewriter.
transforms into a leatherleg at and direct leatherlegs Investigating a tattoo on the
sundown. Squad members aware • a Carcosan might assume leather casing of the typewriter
of the phenomenon can sufficiently command of a pack leads them to identify it as coming
disassemble a damaged stalker, • the leatherleg phenomenon from the driver of the original
preventing the transformation, on a might spread to other vehicles, Montparnasse crash.
Difficulty 4 Mechanics success. from dragonflies to cars Aftermath: Boîtenoires became
Exhibiting the intelligence of a Paris: In October 1895, a a collector’s item and museum
wolf or bear, leatherlegs act on runaway train crashes through piece after the Continental War.
instinct to protect one another, the wall of Montparnasse Station After the Uprising, a Castaignite
increase the size of their pack, and in Paris, falls to the street below, counter-revolutionary steals a
to destroy anything human-like. and kills a bystander. Though the tainted, human leather-covered
A squad member examining papers blame driver error for the boîtenoire. With it, she activates
plans from the original boîtenoire incident, in actuality this was the military equipment to wreck
experiment with Science finds the first test of Carcosan technology locations now under the control of
radio frequency that deactivates granting sentience to vehicles. the People’s Government, terrorist-
them. Place the art students on another style. Tracking down this counter-
speeding train and see if they can revolutionary is necessary to stop
stop another crash. In the train’s the emergence of new leatherlegs.

86
 L eatherleg

This Is Normal Now: Fed up with

digital screens, hipster authors
seek authenticity by turning to SLICED AND DICED SKINNED ALIVE
analog. Now, trendy writers pride Injury Injury
themselves on conspicuously
employing antique typewriters, -1 to Physical tests. You can’t perform Physical tests.
fountain pens, and writing desks. After failing a salient Physical -2 to Focus and Presence tests.
test, roll a die. If the foe who dealt After one day of world time and as
An up-and-coming novelist in the
you this Injury (or “Skinned recipient of a Difficulty 6 First Aid
investigators’ city has recently Alive”) is dead, discard on an even success, trade for “Sliced and Diced.”
purchased an antique French result. If not, discard on a 6. If still held at end of scenario, you die.
typewriter with a one-of-a-kind
leather case. Now, the author is
missing, as well as his beat-up
Nissan.
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
Other 4, Kill 5) WITNESS TO CARNAGE UNNERVED
Difficulty Adjustments: +2 if a Shock Shock
known GMC’s skin is recognizable
-1 to all tests. Discard by using an Investigative
among the leatherleg’s skin Discard as recipient of a Push. Explain ability to gain information.
wrapping; -1 if you have researched why that Push would help with this.
pack animal behavior
Toll: 1
Tags: Warspawn
Encounter Style: Secondary
Injuries, Minor and Major: Sliced
and Diced/Skinned Alive

SKINSEEKER
Shock
-1 to all tests.
Tests take a penalty equal to the
number of Shock cards you hold.
Discard by taking time to fashion and,
in front of other PCs, wear a mask
from the skin of a chicken, duck, or
pig. Their players roll a die. Even:
they gain the Shock card “Unnerved.”

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T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Little One
Little ones are shapeshifters
posing as children whose parents
have been killed off by war,
starvation, or other tragedies.
Upon the soldiers’ arrival in an
abandoned village, little ones beg
and plead for aid, appealing to the
soldiers’ empathy. If the soldiers
take a little one with them, hoping
to bring them to a safer place,
the little one shapeshifts to
impersonate the various people in
the group — but only when the risk
of detection is minimal. The little
one pays attention to tensions
within the group, spreading discord
until the weapons come out. At
this point, the little one slips away.
The little one’s shapeshifting is
not without bounds. Its mimicry is
imperfect. While all of the details
are technically correct, there is
something unnerving about their
shifted form, as if they somehow
resemble the person more than
the original does. With a Difficulty
4 Sense Trouble, squad members
can identify the little one as an
impostor. The Difficulty goes up
to 5 if the little one sticks to the
shadows or somewhere where they
are out of direct sight.
If a little one infiltrates the undying loyalty to either Cassilda other, that is…
squad, Difficulty 4 Composure or Camilla. Their creators have Aftermath: Little ones do not
tests determine who falls prey dispersed them around the fields enjoy the same freedom to
to its divisive manipulations, as of war-torn Europe, spreading move around as they once did.
represented by Shocks—Minor discord among the troops they’re Orphanages and foster care
and Major: Overwhelmed/ fighting. Little ones may, under systems are flooded with the
Pervasive Distrust. orders, protect the troops the ones that were left behind after
They are at their weakest while princess has some self-interested the revolution. Once placed in a
in human guise, though still a reason to defend. family, they work their treachery.
touch faster and stronger than an Paris: Charming and flirtatious, However, families are only so big;
ordinary person. Once they realize little ones wear slightly older little ones love to affect chaos on
that the charade is up and shift false forms as they ply the art a large scale. Often they turn their
into their true horrific form, their scene in Paris. Wheedling into sights to sowing horror and havoc
skin toughens into scales, and Bohemian circles as inexperienced in entire schools.
their hair grows into sharp bristles. newcomers, they make plaintive Hurting from their mistress’
Nails and teeth grow longer and requests to be “taught the ropes.” withdrawal back to Carcosa, little
curved, capable of tearing through They are so charmingly naïve, ones work in numbers when they
skin. no-one expects them to harbor can. When multiple little ones
Little ones spawn from a single malicious plans. Until they are live in the same area, they work
drop of blood from a Carcosan learning the secrets of a group together to take down a school,
princess. As such, they owe and pitting everyone against each repopulating and slowly replacing

88
 L ittle O ne

every member of the school with

one of their own until the school
is infested with only little ones, OVERWHELMED PERVASIVE DISTRUST
trying to return the surrounding Shock Shock
area to the influence of the Yellow
Before any test, roll a die. Odd: lose Lose 3 Composure each time
Sign. An adventure featuring little
1 point from the ability being tested. another investigator makes
ones might begin with a series of Discard when you use an Investigative an Interpersonal Push.
strange events all originating with ability to get a core clue. Discard by throwing a punch
the seemingly innocuous school. at a GMC who seems to
With their mistress now absent, be up to something.
little ones are forced to spawn
from each other’s blood. Since it’s
diluted, the new little ones aren’t
quite as adept at shapeshifting
as the originals and often have
mutations, such as fangs or
tentacles, which they try to hide RAKING CLAWS SAVAGE MAULING
under clothing. Injury Injury
This Is Normal Now: Little
-1 to Physical tests; lose 2 Health. -2 to Physical tests; lose 2 Health.
ones stalk and replace children, Discard as recipient of Difficulty Trade for “Precarious Recovery”
burrowing into their families like 4 First Aid success. as recipient of Difficulty
cuckoos, or the changelings 5 First Aid success.
of Celtic mythology. Imperfect
shapeshifting creates subtly
grotesque differences in a near-
replica of the missing child that
may be mistaken for the onset of a
rare medical disorder. More often,
parents go into denial, attributing Numbers: 1 has your face; -1 if you identified
changes to an ordinary awkward Difficulty: Evenly Matched it through its false form; -1 if you
phase. Investigators implying the (Escape 3, Other 5, Kill 4) know what a little one is
presence of a little one in the Difficulty Adjustments: +2 if in Toll: 1
family home may be met with its true form; +1 if it has imitated Tags: Carcosan
vehement, even violent, resistance. you in the past; +1 if near its Encounter Style: Primary
mistress’ HQ; +2 if it currently Injuries, Minor and Major:
Raking Claws/Savage Mauling

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T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Pestipox
The pestipox, a diseased rat- Standing upright, wearing Injuries—Minor and Major: Muscle
like creature, spreads otherwise scavenged clothes, the pestipox Cramps/Rapid Dehydration. GMCs
dormant, centuries-old diseases. can, from a distance, pass for sicken or die as the dramatic
Though the creature can be killed a small child or beggar. Once needs of the scene dictate.
with fire, the illnesses it spreads a country rat, it mutated into a Most townsfolk know that
are potent, transmittable, and in new, grotesque species after spotting a pestipox is a surefire
some cases, incurable. Feared generations of the vermin fed on sign an epidemic will soon sweep
for its ability to decimate entire Carcosan-tainted grains. Following through the area. In another
platoons without having to fire a its transformation, the pestipox symptom of reality-bending, they
single shot, a single pestipox can prefers human food and targets talk about them as if they’ve been
determine the outcome of a large small towns and communities, around for centuries, even though
battle. The first known incident threatening to spread disease they only started appearing in the
occurred in 1946 after the entire unless given ever-increasing run-up to the war. Doctors and
67th infantry died from the Plague quantities of food. Once the village medics remain ignorant of the
of Justinian. Following this, military is starving and has no more food creatures, though the squad might
leaders required soldiers to be to offer, the pestipox strikes. run across the one expert who has
vaccinated against smallpox, Squad members within 10 stumbled onto the truth of their
yellow fever, and measles, saving meters of a pestipox make existence. Primed with a suitable
many lives. Difficulty 4 Health tests to avoid ability, this informant reveals

90
 P estipox

their special means of dispatch:

drowning in a barrel of rubbing
alcohol or distilled spirits. STAY BY THE RUCTIOUS INNARDS
Paris: The country rat has WATER CLOSET Injury
begun to show signs of mutation: Injury Nonlethal. You must remain
oversized eyes, fierce intelligence,
Nonlethal. You must remain within within proximity of a water
sharper teeth, longer toes. It is closet. You can’t make tests.
proximity of a water closet. -2 to tests.
not feared, and is shoved aside After six hours of world time, you
After four hours of world time, you
as a Weak (Escape 2, Other 3, may make a Difficulty 4 Health may make a Difficulty 4 Health
Kill 3) pest. The city rat, which test at the beginning of any interval, test at the beginning of any interval,
feeds on a diet of rotting and discarding this card on a success,
discarding this card on a success.
fresh meat, remains unchanged and losing 3 Health on a failure.
despite the prominence of reality-
twisting energies found throughout
Paris. If one were to trace the
country rat’s food to its source,
more discoveries could be made MUSCLE CRAMPS RAPID DEHYDRATION
about the nature and origin of Injury Injury
Carcosa. Though the art students
cannot stop every country rat -1 to tests. Your Health drops to 0.
from mutating into the pestipox After any failure, you may roll Trade for “Dazed” as recipient of
a die, paying Health equal to Difficulty 4 First Aid success.
by themselves, they can mitigate
the result to discard. If the result If still held at end of scenario, you die.
the damage if they work with local
exceeds your available Health,
officials.
trade for “Rapid Dehydration.”
Aftermath: Only a handful
of people know the pestipox
exists and has been spotted
on American soil. In a post-
Castaigne environment, officials This Is Normal Now: Outbreaks cover-up by members of Nudge
struggle to find any information of malaria, Legionnaire’s disease, to prevent Americans from
on public outbreaks of disease, shingles, and smallpox are on the learning the truth about the Yellow
fearing that Castaigne loyalists rise, and human health officials Sign. When PCs are called in to
have either buried those records are concerned that the anti-vaxx investigate, if they can follow the
or used biowarfare to wipe out movement will decimate younger trail of victims, they’ll discover the
entire towns. Conspiracy theorists generations, who have not got true source of the modern plague.
who’ve learned a piece of the the vaccinations they need. The Numbers: 1
puzzle claim the fallen regime outbreaks are causing a panic, Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
has used biowarfare. In academic spurring several rumors. The Other 4, Kill 6)
circles, virologists have mapped Tomorrow Foundation has been Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if your
the spread of disease left in accused of reintroducing dormant First Aid rating exceeds 3; -3 if
pestipox’s wake, while being bacteria to find people — potential you’re trying to drown it in alcohol;
blissfully unaware the pestipox Specials — resistant to the +1 for each Injury card you hold; -1
itself exists. However, the danger diseases. As Abzynth’s stocks if your Health pool exceeds 4
of these antiquated diseases continue to skyrocket, fingers Toll: 1
make researchers worried the point to a manufactured crisis to Tags: Mutant
anti-vaxx movement will prove to boost profits of their new health Encounter Style: Secondary
be deadlier than the wars, and they app “Curaton.” Even the CIC has Injuries, Minor and Major: Stay by
urge Americans to get vaccinated been implicated in a government the Water Closet/Ructious Innards
as soon as possible. The PCs’ role
in this perfect storm of political
conspiracy theories leads them to
the pestipox as the source of the
diseases.

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T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Red Eyes
Red Eyes manifests as mind. It cannot be attacked with must follow its trail of victims to
disembodied pairs of glowing, bullets or cannon fire. Squad find the secret to killing it. Some
scarlet-colored eyes hovering over members gathering accounts soldiers are convinced each
the battlefield. It appears when of encounters notice that every victim holds a clue tucked away
the first shot is fired. Some say respondent saw Red Eyes with in a nightmare; others believe
it foretells which victim will be perfect clarity — even those with the names of the victims are an
claimed next. Others believe the near or total blindness. Red Eyes anagram that, when solved, will
eyes belong to a long-forgotten spies on human beings engaged spell out Red Eyes’ real name. Few
god. No one has been able to in acts of violence, inflicting its speculate an impossible truth: Red
capture the eyes, either in a nightmares as part of an inhuman Eyes is not a pair of eyes at all,
painting or photograph, and no psychological experiment. but twin Carcosan suns, piercing
one remembers if they belong As soon as the squad through reality to bathe mortals in
to any one person or creature. encounters it, the entity correctly nightmarish light.
Soldiers who see the eyes suffer identifies them as the worst Paris: Red Eyes can choose to
nightmares so draining that they threat to its continued existence. emerge to any reader of the play.
are eventually led, in a sleep- To deprive them of first-hand In this sequence, it appears as
deprived state, to death by experience they could use against the momentary crimson glow in
battlefield misadventure. it, Red Eyes declines to haunt their the eyes of ordinary people around
Red Eyes is sentient, and can dreams. the victim. The entity manifests
appear anywhere it chooses on It tries to conceal its through them just long enough
the battlefield or in a victim’s weaknesses, so squad members to implant its deadly dreams. In

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 R ed E yes

this sequence, its secret also

allows the art students to draw the
floating eyes into existence long NIGHTMARE BLADE NIGHTMARE STRIKE
enough to fight them. Injury Injury
Aftermath: The gates to Carcosa
Roll a die. 1-2: -1 to Focus Roll a die. 1-2: -2 to Focus
are shut, and Red Eyes is furious.
tests. 3-4: -1 to Physical tests. tests. 3-4: -2 to Physical tests.
The entity aggressively plagues
5-6: -1 to Presence tests. 5-6: -3 to Presence tests.
victims with night terrors and Discard by gaining information about As recipient of a relevant
introduces visions urging someone the entity from another of its victims. Interpersonal Push or Difficulty
— anyone — to reopen the gates 4 Morale success, trade for
between worlds. Whatever scheme “Nightmare Blade.”
Red Eyes has hinges on an open
gateway, and the Carcosan is
determined to reestablish that
Numbers: 1
connection at all costs. Red theories, and discrediting chatter
Difficulty: Too Awful to
Eyes torments its victims in their for some time. No-one outside
Contemplate (Escape 5, Other 8,
nightmares, promising them restful the association is yet aware
Kill 10)
sleep if the gates are reopened. that Red Eyes exists. The entity
Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if
Until then, it leaps from one targets members of the Strategic
you know the eyes are Carcosan;
victim to the next, introducing Allocation Association, zeroing in
+1 if you killed a human during
night terrors in greater frequency on anyone who fabricates a copy
the current scenario; +1 for each
in hopes that one of its targets of the play. The entity aggressively
Shock card you hold; -4 if you’ve
can actually affect this enormous attacks lobbyists, secretaries, and
pieced together the special way of
parageometrical working. Red Eyes focus groups trying to subvert the
killing it contained in its victim’s
materializes as large eyes hanging authentic version of The King in
nightmares
in the sky, and can also possess Yellow. Though SAA is desperate
Toll: 4
any animal, human, or Carcosan to keep its operation a secret from
Tags: Carcosan
who bears the Yellow Sign. the general public, Red Eyes has
Encounter Style: Primary
This Is Normal Now: The gone on the offensive to ensure
Injuries, Minor and Major:
American public has yet to the play — and the Yellow King —
Nightmare Blade/Nightmare Strike
report seeing a pair of Red Eyes are revealed to as many people
hanging ominously in the sky — as possible. In response, SAA is
for good reason. The Strategic hiring contractors to help, unaware
Allocation Association has been that Red Eyes is plaguing their
successfully burying incident potential hires, too.
reports, debunking conspiracy

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T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

The Rot
Caked in mud, permanently for several days. Crossing a fresh Its lack of vital organs renders
damp, enduring constant trauma, trail leaves humans feeling sick to it impervious to bullets. Instead,
and without sufficient rations, their stomach. it must be chopped, smashed,
soldiers of the Continental War The rot doesn’t favor one side or blown apart. Any method that
suffer in body and mind. That over the other — born of this sufficiently separates parts of the
sort of suffering leaves a residue, realm, it holds no allegiances rot’s body destroys the twisted
and the residue is stirred into in Carcosan politics. It attacks energy animating it from the
something almost likelife by the anyone in its path. If the rot is inside. A character with Science
Carcosan conflict taking place lurking about, it is not unusual for observing the physics of the rot as
across the landscape of Europe. A soldiers to return to their base it moves realizes this.
supernatural whirlwind picks up all camp to find all of their supplies Paris: When it rains in Paris,
the muck and waste and infection and resources are rusted, rotted, water washes through the city,
until it has become the rot: a or falling apart. With no humans picking up all the grime and pain
great shambling, hulking beast. in range, it wanders aimlessly in left behind on the city streets. It
Vaguely humanoid-shaped, its a slow, continuous movement. flows into the Seine and forms
body constantly churns with all the When humans come into its field seething, aching swirls of hurt.
new material it picks up. It moves of vision, it rushes towards them, The rot emerges from the Seine,
through the landscape, looking manifesting claws and limbs of dripping and full of hatred. It pools
only to prey on human life. The rot broken glass or metal. The wounds in the water supply and haunts
leaves behind a trail of ooze and it inflicts become immediately the sewers, looking for places to
putrefaction that remains noxious infected and begin to fester. spread its infection. Investigators

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 T he R ot

might find themselves chasing

a series of murders in locked
apartments. Now, if they could MILD INFECTION ROTTING FROM
only figure out why the victims Injury
THE INSIDE
are strangely wet and why there’s Injury
Lose 1 Health point. Every day
a trail of blood leading down the
(world time) you’re infected, make a Lose 1 Health point every Physical
drain. Difficulty 4 Health test. Difficulty test. Counts as 2 Injury cards.
Aftermath: In normal use, decreases every two days. Failure: Discard as the recipient of a
the automated self-cleaning trade for “Rotting From the Inside.” Difficulty 5 First Aid success. If
systems of the Government Lethal Discard if Difficulty drops still in hand at end of session, you
Chambers keep human remains below 2 or as the recipient of a
succumb to the infection and die.
from building up and decaying. Difficulty 5 First Aid success.
They weren’t designed for the
rot, which leaves a residue too
pervasive to scrub away. In older This Is Normal Now: In landfills, Numbers: 1
models or in the spaces where strange things scurry. In the places Difficulty: Superior (Escape 4,
their waste is deposited, the rot where the earth is most bogged Other 5, Kill 4)
coalesces. Opening the doors of down by plastic, oil, and human Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if you
an infected GLC lets loose the refuse, rot emerges. Its presence have any currently open wounds;
rot to barrel through the world, worries environmental groups, +2 if it manifested from your
full of human remains and old who want to go public with their trenches; -2 if you are fighting with
rusted blades. The rot carries with evidence of rot activity but fear weapons that have a sanitizing or
it memories of the people from a reintegration backlash. Some cauterizing effect
whom it is built. Their past lives efforts have been made to prevent Toll: 1
influence its path, drawing it to the these concentrations of waste, Tags: Warspawn
loved ones they left behind. but for the most part the rots are Encounter Style: Secondary
treated like general rampagers — Injuries, Minor and Major: Mild
unfortunate but unavoidable. Infection/Rotting From the Inside

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T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

The Silent Doctor

Silent doctors choose one victim
at a time, fixating on their prey.
They might first appear as a figure
in the fog to a soldier keeping
watch in the loneliest hours of
the night. After that, they choose
their timing carefully. They lurk in
corners or at a remove, never quite
in focus, never quite close enough
for their victim to confront. All the
while, they focus their anxious
energy on their victim. The victim’s
paranoia spikes whenever a silent
doctor makes an appearance.
Their victims alienate themselves
from those around them with
erratic, paranoid behavior, always
talking about the feeling that
some… thing is watching them.
Silent doctors play elaborate
games to lure soldiers from their
posts. When the victim goes AWOL,
wandering away from comrades
into a suitably secluded spot, the
silent doctor leaps on them and
devours them.
Squad members targeted by
the silent doctor must make a
Difficulty 4 Composure test to
avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:
Racing Pulse/Rampant Distrust.
The test happens every time they
meet the silent doctor. and consume their victims. Paris: In the arts, the weird has
Silent doctors appear as tall, Each silent doctor maintains a become normalized — celebrated,
hunched, humanoid figures wearing loose alliance with a Carcosan even. Instead of lurking on
plague doctor masks. Anyone court faction, choosing the power the sidelines and hiding in the
close enough to look at a silent best equipped to cause chaos and shadows, the silent doctors have
doctor head-on sees that the giant inflict anxiety on potential victims. taken advantage of the grotesque
beak and gaping eyes are not a They shift alliances as power ebbs masks that crop up in the theater.
mask… and flows between the King and Recently the popularity of plague
…not a mask! princesses. Tracking the patterns doctor masks in performances
…but are a part of the silent of the silent doctors could reveal has spiked. Missing persons,
doctor’s face, made out of an information about the present specifically among those who
amalgamation of metal and flesh. politics of Carcosa. attend the theater, have also
The doctors seem to have once Though the silent doctors are increased. Surely it must all be a
been organic beings who slowly shielded by their metal bits, their coincidence…
replaced their body parts with remaining fleshy bits, aged and Plague doctors follow audience
metal, whether for immortality or inelastic, remain vulnerable. They members and reenact scenes from
strength is unclear. Usually, their hide some of their weak spots the performances. They start out
beaks are sharp enough to pierce under tough and baggy coats, but if in ways that seem like they might
skin, and they are equipped with an attacker determines where they be coincidences — the music
claw-like fingers or other lethal are most vulnerable, they have the from the performance plays in the
appendages in order to best pierce key to destroying the silent doctor. background of the victim’s favorite

96
 T he S ilent D octor

bar. The reenactments become

increasingly overt and horrific until
the victim is convinced that they RACING PULSE RAMPANT DISTRUST
were forced into the play, and the Shock Shock
whole world is conspiring against
Lose 1 Health each time you -1 to Composure tests against
them.
attempt a Physical test. Discard mental hazards. Discard by
Aftermath: Before the revolution,
after your next Physical success. making a false alarm that creates
silent doctors helped enforce a risk for any player character.
Castaigne rule, spreading paranoia
in anyone deemed a security
threat. Now that the power has
shifted, silent doctors hide
away and choose their victims
wisely. They focus on those
most traumatized by the regime, collective anxiety sets in, they Numbers: 1
using that trauma to provoke the effectively move from victim to Difficulty: Evenly Matched
paranoia that they so desire. They victim, satiating themselves. They (Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5)
might be seen skulking around target media bigwigs, infecting Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if
therapist’s offices or group support their content with paranoia. It can you know there’s flesh under all
sessions, scoping out potential sometimes be hard to tell whether that metal; -1 if you made a point
victims. news sources with catastrophizing of looking for a vulnerable spot
This Is Normal Now: Via the headlines are the result of morally before the fighting commenced; +2
internet, silent doctors are now apathetic management trying if you already have a Shock card
able to spread paranoia remotely. to sell out, or silent doctors Toll: 1
They disseminate lies to cause spreading anxiety into the public Tags: Carcosan
widespread panic, tapping into a consciousness. Encounter Style: Primary
community’s deepest fears. Once Shocks, Minor and Major:
Racing Pulse/Rampant Distrust

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T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Soft Machines
Assigned by the royal court to
the Continental War, soft machines
are reanimated clockwork soldiers
built by Carcosan scientific units.
These units scour battlefields for
salvageable corpses which, with
a little work, can be put back into
service for another battle or three.
Often, the creation of a single
construct requires the use of body
parts from several corpses, giving
soft machines the sewn-together
look of Frankenstein’s monster.
Seeing a soft machine requires
a Difficulty 4 Composure test to
avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:
Reeling/Acetate Command.
Machinery housed in a soft
machine’s head controls the
pulley and wire system that
grants them awkward, sputtering
locomotion. Certain models
incorporate pantograph arms and
legs, also operated by pulleys.
They are unthinking and generally
unresponsive to language, rushing
forward to trample enemies and
tear them apart.
A special model can be created
using the bodies of officers.
Technicians remove the lower
jaw or the entire head, replacing
them with acetate disc players.
Amplified recordings of The King outcome against a force including during the clubs’ performances.
in Yellow, and commands to rank an acetate officer, suggest to the Aftermath: The soft machine
and file soft machines, blare from players that they’ve destroyed its program, a revival of the wartime
these models. Their builders refer disc. European practice, never left the
to these special units as acetate Paris: Cabaret clubs dot fin laboratory phase. Without a war, it
officers. de siècle Paris. With facades lacked an abundant body supply.
Soft machines fight with that resemble hellscapes, and The technicians behind it fled with
cohesive tactical sophistication promising visitors a night of their most operational prospects,
when receiving audio orders from blood-curdling entertainment, which they rent out to revanchist
a nearby acetate officer. Defeating these clubs cater in burlesque contacts as expendable enforcers.
an acetate officer can throw acts, close-up magic, and a The techies want only money to
a group of soft machines into new attraction: animatronic wax live on, but the people renting the
temporary disarray, ambling about models. Human agents of Carcosa machines could be up to all sorts
aimlessly and attacking any moving created these novelties from the of malfeasance.
object larger than a chicken, as bodies of recently kidnapped This is Normal Now:
they struggle to find purpose Parisians. An investigation into Disappearances at a museum,
or direction without Carcosan the disappearances uncovers the amusement park or garish
influence from hearing The King in cabarets, and the reanimation labs kid-friendly restaurant link to
Yellow. When the squad achieves hidden within them, as well as the night-time activities of the
the Render Helpless combat records of The King in Yellow used characters from their animatronic

98
 S oft M achines

display. By day, they still look like

dead presidents, foam-covered
dinosaurs or cartoon animals. By UNDEAD THRASHING MONSTROUS MAULING
night, a reality shift morphs them Injury; Shock Injury; Shock
into their counterparts from the
When the walking corpse(s) is/are -1 to tests.
Aftermath timeline.
killed, roll a die. Even: trade for the Trade for “Still Hurting” by
Numbers: 10-20
Injury card “Jarred.” Odd: trade for paying a price or overcoming
Difficulty: Evenly Matched the Shock card “The Tremors.” a relevant obstacle.
(Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5) If still in hand at end of scenario,
Difficulty Adjustments: -1 gain the card “Permanent Injury.”
against a smaller group; -2 if an
acetate officer is present, you are
fighting to Render Helpless, and
you know to destroy the disc.
Toll: 1
Tags: Warspawn
Encounter Style: Secondary REELING ACETATE COMMAND
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Shock Shock
Undead Thrashing/Monstrous
Mauling -1 to Focus tests. When you obey a command
Discard by taking part in a from the Acetate Officer, refresh
winning combat against the entity any pool. When you disobey,
responsible for giving you this card. Composure drops to 0.
Discard by taking part in a
winning combat against the entity
responsible for giving you this card.

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T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Spirit Host
An old stone house sits just The interior is as welcoming as are crafted from the desires of
a few steps into the oak and the host’s invitation promised. its visitors, like the dream of a
bramble woods surrounding town. Cushy seats surround a rustic perfect partner. It’s not a ghost,
Smoke from the chimney invites table set with a simply-cooked but rather a sapient, discorporate
reveries of warm company and cozy meal. Once everyone is inside, force that coalesces from dreams
supper within. A well-tended flower and the door creaks shut, they’ve of Carcosa. Squad members may
garden with chamomile, daisies, entered a spirit realm. The spirit find an old diary or other evidence
and yellow tulips decorates the host and house itself work hard to in the house, suggesting that a
front yard. When potential visitors distract them from the old, empty visitor once read The King in Yellow
walk by, a friendly person opens rooms filled with dust and cobwebs here. The spirit’s desire to escape
the door, graciously inviting by showering them with comfort, the prison of this old stone house
them inside. The visitors each and eventually lulls them into a inspires its every action. Visitors
see who they want to see, their foggy malaise. In this suggestible must stop eating the host’s food to
subconscious minds reasoning state, the spirit will do all it can awaken from their stupor. Should
why it must be that person. The to convince one of them into a one of them become enamored
invitations are all specific to each marriage. If the spirit can trick, of the spirit, they must kill it to
person’s current needs. The spirit cajole, flirt, or seduce someone to release its hold on their heart.
host will use any desire or comfort this end, the spirit can live again, Merely the act of killing the spirit’s
to lure them inside. After all the trading places with the victim who illusion works in this case; a full
horrors of war, a warm memory of is now stuck in the house. exorcism of the Carcosan dream is
home is a welcome reprieve. The spirit’s image and demeanor unneeded to break the spell.

100
 S pirit H ost

Paris: A gorgeous brick

townhouse in the Montmartre
neighborhood shelters this spirit. SUSCEPTIBLE BLACK TEARS
Their home is sandwiched between Injury Injury
several affluent historic houses on
this street, their beautiful wrought- -1 to tests when in the presence All PCs take -1 to tests.
iron balconies overlooking the city of Warspawn or Carcosans. Effects of multiple “Black
Discard as recipient of an Occultism Tears” cards do not stack.
park popular among landscape
Push or Difficulty 6 Morale success. Discard by contributing to the
painters. The home was owned defeat of a Warspawn or Carcosan.
by a reclusive but famous artist,
Pauline Beauchamp. The story is
that she starved for fear of going
outside, but the truth is that her
obsession with painting yellow
tulips prevented her from doing died violently during those last club features readings from The
anything else. Her spirit tries to rebellious days, though they can’t King in Yellow, comforting hearts
convince others to stay with her recall they’re dead. The illusion and enslaving minds. People feel
and the yellow tulips forever. The hides not only the wreckage but compelled to stay, and the house
interior of the house appears the dead bodies of the family who becomes available for them. Their
quite lavish, decorated with an lived here, unburied and rotting. minds become dull with routine,
artist’s attention to fashionable This haunting reminder of the forgetting who they are, where
detail. A keen eye can look beyond Castaigne regime’s collateral they’re from, or even what they’re
the illusion to see deteriorating damage draws in victims to rot doing here. Investigators could
furniture and peeling wallpaper. with them – until the ex-insurgents become trapped here themselves,
The yellow tulip paintings always put an end to it. Helping the spirit or help a friend to escape. To
look as though the paint has just host process their memories, break the spell, they must deny the
dried. and the PTSD of a sudden death, comforts of the place three times.
Aftermath: This spirit host causes the illusion will dissipate. Numbers: 1
resides in an old Victorian house This Is Normal Now: The siren Difficulty: Tough but Outmatched
that was damaged by the regime song of the suburbs has claimed (Escape 2, Other 4, Kill 3)
in the last few months of open more than a few to its safe Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if
fighting. The roof has partially mundanity. In one of the many you’re lonely; +2 if you’ve never
collapsed, and only one window American cookie-cutter suburban had a place to call home
remains intact, while inside, the neighborhoods, a house with Toll: 0
brocade couches and family gray vinyl siding and a manicured Tags: Warspawn
portraits have been destroyed. lawn exactly matches each of its Encounter Style: Primary
A Carcosan illusion convinces neighbors. The spirit host resides Injuries, Minor and Major:
visitors of a welcoming, intact here, inviting people from the city Susceptible/Black Tears
residence. The spirit here is for a ladies’ book club. The book
one of the former residents who

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T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Talisman
This Carcosan shapeshifting
parasite initially takes the form
of an item of adornment, such as
an amulet, cross, pin, or medal.
It can shift its appearance to
copy existing pieces, destroying
the originals in the process. The
squad’s superior officer might
remember buying his monocle
in Zurich a decade ago, hardly
suspecting that it is now a
monstrous entity attached to him
like a leech.
A talisman gorges itself on its
host’s fear, putting them in harm’s
way to get more of it. The fear and
anxiety generated by these risky
acts bypasses the victim, who
feels none of it. It all goes to the
talisman, temporarily sating it.
In this state, the talisman
gathers energy, undergoing stage
one of its life cycle. It steals the
victim’s memories until it becomes
strong enough to transfigure into
a doppelganger replacement.
The new replica bumps off the with reality, they wouldn’t notice Police, their resources strapped
original and, armed with memories anything odd at first, not until they by post-revolutionary reorganizing,
and personality traits, acts in observe all affected victims. When have conducted only a cursory
their stead. In its new body, the investigators retrace their steps, investigation. Private detectives
talisman subsists by psychically they’ll discover the risk-takers have protecting the owners’ interests
draining fear from terrified victims. visited the fashion district where know about the talismans and
A squad member becoming the they’ve purchased antique tie pins how the jewelers were trying to
owner of a talisman must make and brooches. get rid of them. The store owners
a Difficulty 4 Composure test to Aftermath: Evolved talismans don’t want the talismans back
avoid Shocks—Minor and Major: are intelligent free-thinkers who in their displays but feel guilty
Talisman/Doppelganger Bait. require ever-increasing amounts they’re now on the streets and in
To accurately identify a larval of Carcosan energy to maintain the hands of who-knows-what. If
talisman, a squad member their form. Now that the gates the PCs find the thieves, they’ll
with Science must examine have closed, talismans are encounter fully-grown talismans
it closely under a microscope diminishing as the fear they feed (e.g., doppelgangers) who are
or with a jeweler’s magnifying on ebbs. Pushed to extremes, cannibalizing themselves to stay
glass, revealing its living cellular the doppelgangers drop a trail alive.
structure. A similar examination of of bodies — first local wildlife, This Is Normal Now: Members
a replica-stage talisman’s tissues then larger animals at the zoo, of Nudge have started a rumor
reveals inhuman cellular structure. culminating in human victims. Cop that Carcosans are being sold
Paris: Though reports of thrill- Talk: a few of the bodies were online. Agencies are scrambling to
seekers who’ve walked into the city found at the scene of smash- verify this rumor — even though
streets without looking both ways and-grab thefts. Witnesses never public safety officials seem to be
are rampant, investigators have yet agree on what the thief looks like: unconcerned. As word spreads,
to find the cause behind their lack reports range from a brown-haired more rumors circulate, culminating
of restraint. If one were to follow woman with high heels to a kid in the absurd-sounding claim that
someone who seems out of touch wearing a hoodie and sneakers. Carcosan jewelry is being sold via

102
 Talisman

an online craft market. The PCs

can track down the listing and
the seller by searching for lucky WOOZY SAWING BITE
amulets and reading customer Injury Injury
reviews; the proof the jewelry is
Nonlethal. You can’t make Pushes. Lose 1 Health per interval until you
Carcosan is in the testimonials.
Discard when you leave the boat. receive a Difficulty 4 First Aid success.
Satisfied buyers rave about how
If margin on that success
they plan to hang-glide for the exceeds 1, discard.
first time, at 84 years of age, or
how they finally sold their home
and dumped their life’s savings
to buy a single baseball card.
The investigation leads to a
doppelganger selling its larval
offspring online.
In larval form, treat a talisman as
an inanimate object, breakable on DRAINING TOUCH DRAINING STRIKE
a Difficulty 3 Mechanics success. Injury Injury
For the doppelganger form, treat
the talisman as an animate Lose 3 Health. Health drops to 0.
humanoid. Its version of the Discard on a Physical success. If Health is already 0, trade
for “Blood Drain.”
human body doesn’t bleed and is
On a Physical success, roll a die.
covered with tough, armor-like skin. Even: discard this card
Numbers: 1 and refresh Health.
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
Other 4, Kill 6)
Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if you
knew the owner; +1 if you touched
the talisman; -1 if you know its life
cycle; +1 if your Composure pool
is 0 TALISMAN DOPPELGANGER BAIT
Toll: 1 Shock Shock
Tags: Invasive
+1 to Composure tests. When +2 to Composure tests.
Encounter Style: Primary
given an opportunity to expose Discard when the object is
Injuries, Minor and Major (Larva destroyed. You may not do this
yourself to danger, roll a die.
Form): Woozy/Sawing Bite Odd: you choose danger. yourself, or tell other players that
Injuries, Minor and Major Discard when the object is destroyed. you need it done. If still in hand
(Humanoid Form): Draining Touch/ You may not do this yourself, or tell after 3 hours (game time), you
Draining Strike other players that you need it done. leave play, replaced by a copy of
you played as a villainous GMC.

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T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Translated Soldiers
Since the beginning of the
Yellow King’s incursion into Paris,
individuals have occasionally fallen
through the shifting plates between
competing realities, winding up in
new, strange locations. With partial
success, military researchers
harness this effect to bring entire
military regiments across realities
to fight for their superiors. They
can’t target specific people from
particular times, but randomly fish
for whoever happens to be hurtling
through alternate worlds.
A small group of translated
soldiers appears and is at first
disoriented and confused. Have
the PCs encounter them at this
stage if you would like to use them
as friendly GMCs and explore
roleplaying with ancient soldiers.
Otherwise, the Carcosan agents
who summoned them locate the
soldiers and offer them a choice:
Either the translated soldiers
work for the agents’ side, or they
have no hope of returning to their to tracking the translated Crusades. They say the regime
homes. This thus becomes their With the outbreak of the brainwashed them into thinking
motivation in attacking the PCs as Continental War and development they were in hell and could return
Foes. of wartime technologies, the home by slaying the demons
The use of weird weapons and boundaries between worlds began who maintained it. Posing a legal
Science Jaune (see Black Star to fray and tear. In the lead-up to conundrum that splits the political
Magic) increases the incidence the war, humans from throughout factions, the prisoners demand
of reality shifts in and around the history appear indiscriminately not only a declaration of innocence
frontlines. Mysteries involving across the battlefields of Europe. but recognition as chronologically
translated soldiers might be At first a random phenomenon of displaced refugees. As bodies
sparked by: the increased use of Carcosan continue to drop, the team
• intelligence reports of science, now scientists on all investigates the extent of their
chronologically displaced sides of the conflict work to complicity.
warriors. Why were Visigoths harness these incursions in order This is Normal Now: SRIs
sacking the Rhône Valley? to secure troops and resources for effectively disappear a huge swath
Who were those raygun- the war efforts. of the population. Otherworldly
wielding people in futuristic Paris: Gallic Celts and analogs of these victims returning
outfits blasting their way Merovingian knights appear in the and then suddenly morphing into
through Grenoble? streets of Paris, seeking their old rampager-like creatures probably
• hypnotic flashing lights stomping grounds. isn’t something anyone wants to
presaging the appearance Aftermath: The ex-insurgents watch on the nightly news! Some
of the latest reality tear capture members of a Castaigne denizens of /yel/ incorrectly
• raw espionage pointing to an death squad, who then claim to believe that all rampagers are, in
enemy installation devoted be translated soldiers from the fact, translated humans from other

104
 T ranslated S oldiers

dimensions. This belief is based

in part on the fact that translated
people appear exclusively at SWORD LACERATION SWORD STAB
the sites of large SRIs, as if the Injury Injury
rampager activity there makes the
dimensional barriers thinner. Lose 2 Health after any Physical test. Lose 1 point from each Physical pool
Numbers: 3-5 Discard 1 interval after receiving after any Physical test. Counts as 2
Difficulty: Evenly Matched a Difficulty 4 First Aid success. Injury cards.
Trade for “Sword Laceration”
(Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5)
as the recipient of Difficulty
Difficulty Adjustments:
6 First Aid success.
Toll: 1
Tags: Mundane
Encounter Style: Secondary
Injuries, Minor and Major: Sword
Laceration/Sword Stab

105
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Washer Woman
In war-torn Europe, the dead are
sometimes left to rot in No Man’s
Land while a battle rages on. The
washer woman, an ancient entity
from Carcosa, believes fresh
corpses must be carefully tended
to, regardless of allegiance. She
manifests as a middle-aged, plain-
faced woman with hair the color of
a raven’s wing and skin the color
of a rainy cloud. She has claimed
the casualties of war for her own
purposes. The washer woman
carefully washes and anoints an
unburied corpse until the body
is fully prepared for burial. One
can interrupt the washer woman’s
funerary rites, but doing so
causes her to immediately fixate
on a new corpse — or claim a
life to replace the body she lost.
Military personnel have watched
the washer woman work and are
annoyed she won’t allow anyone
— Carcosan or human — to linger
nearby long enough to verify the
corpse’s identity or find out why Those who try to strike up a payment and appears to help
she’s so fixated on the dead. conversation with the washer the unwanted and forgotten.
Concerned family members are woman often leave frustrated, Treat the anonymous woman as
too afraid to confront the washer for she performs her work in Overwhelming (Escape 4, Other 7,
woman, and their fears have total silence. If one were to spy Kill 8) if forcing a confrontation.
spawned several myths that warn on her, they notice the washer The woman seeks escape rather
people to stay away. Most do woman feasts on eyes, both living than conflict, but reveals secrets
avoid the washer woman — save and dead, and swallows them if pressed by speaking in the mind
for the occasional investigator, whole. This gives her the ability to of the inquirer. Art students can
heartbroken lover, occultist, or command the corpse or its ghost glean insight into the play and the
religious fanatic, who always wind long after it decays. Carcosan energies if they know
up missing after the encounter. Others who give the washer what questions to ask. These
Though many believe the washer woman a wide berth know she is a clues distract from the washer
woman is performing a necessary Carcosan. Few have discovered the woman’s army-building ambitions.
service by taking care of hastily washer woman made a pact with If the students pursue her, the
buried bodies or rank corpses the Yellow King. She has pledged washer woman summons hostile
left to rot beneath the midday to not interfere in the war, on either undead Parisians to throw them off
sun, she is not, and investigators side, provided she can claim the her trail.
who ignore her do so at their own unburied dead from both sides for Aftermath: Sometime after the
peril. The washer woman can her own purposes. wars, the washer woman sought
summon undead and make ghosts Paris: Parisian hospitals the Yellow King to change the
do her bidding. Every prepared never overflow, and funerals are terms of her agreement — but was
body she claims for her own is a conducted quickly — thanks to denied. Though the casualties of
potential soldier in her army. When the kind affections of a mute, war kept her attention for a time,
threatened, she shapeshifts into a matronly woman who cares for the post-war era did little to fulfill
raven and attacks her aggressors the ill and the destitute. This her growing military needs. What
by pecking them to death. hospital volunteer asks for no the washer woman wanted then is

106
 Washer Woman

the same goal she desires now: a

new deadly war to grow her army,
with which she can rule over all PECKED IN THE PROPERTY OF
others in a reality or timeline of NOGGIN THE WASHER
her choosing. The washer woman Injury Injury
arrived in America in the late
-1 to Physical and Focus tests. -1 to Physical and Focus tests. You
fifties, refusing all entreaties to At end of any interval, roll may not interfere with the Washer’s
return to Carcosa. As the needs of a die. Even: discard. desires, as you understand them.
your scenario dictate, she either Discard by placing a new, more
wields the power of prophecy or appealing victim in her path, or
is simply a far-sighted genius. when she is destroyed or banished.
At any rate, the repercussions
of her actions take months, if
not years, to understand. Now
displaying a personal warmth she proof of a conspiracy. Neither the them. Treat her as Too Awful to
never bothered with in decades government nor Nudge knows that Contemplate (Escape 5, Other 8,
past, and no longer fearing someone — the washer woman Kill 10) with a Toll of 6.
repercussions from Carcosans — has been feeding them intel to Numbers: 1
trapped on the other side of the find and expose the Yellow King Difficulty: Overwhelming (Escape
gate, she reveals hidden truths to to force all-out war. The washer 5, Other 7, Kill 7)
select questers who come bearing woman can see across multiple Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if you
her traditional gift, an unwashed realities and remembers the way interfere with her burial rites; +2 if
corpse. Mysteriously, the truth she the Yellow King snubbed her in you take the body she was working
reveals is forgotten within hours Aftermath. In this timeline the on; -1 if you help her with the
— even if the questioner records washer woman, now prepared dead; -2 if you can tell her a story
her message for later use. Her to unleash the dead, seeks her about the deceased
revelations are for them and them revenge and has declared war Toll: 2
alone and all part of her plan. on Carcosa. If the PCs can fulfill Tags: Carcosan
This Is Normal Now: Conspiracy her needs by providing her with Encounter Style: Primary
theorists believe the government untended corpses, the washer Injuries, Minor and Major:
is keeping secrets from the woman may entertain their Pecked in the Noggin/Property of
general public, and members of requests for help; otherwise, she the Washer
Nudge often point to Carcosa as summons rampagers to attack

107
T h e Y E L L OW K I N G B E S T I A R Y : The Wars

Wood-Wives
Neither dryad nor tree spirit, the
wood-wives are ancient spirits
of the forest brought to life by
powerful Carcosan energies.
They are significantly taller than
the average human and possess
beady eyes, long talons, and
leaves for hair. Wood-wives are
fierce protectors of untouched
forest trees. As the war rages on,
blackening trees and killing wildlife,
the wood-wives aggressively
defend themselves and the wood
by attacking whatever or whoever
is threatening them. Wood-wives
are neither good nor evil and have
not taken sides in the war. They
desire nothing more than to be left
alone and seek eternal rest.
Soldiers who have heard of the
wood-wives don’t dally in glens
and avoid shooting their rifles
to ensure they don’t draw their
attention. Rumors are rampant
that the “trees are eating people,”
and they’re “seeking a mate.”
Squad members who spend time a Reassurance Push. If they harm Evenly Matched (Escape 3, Other
corroborating reports discover key one tree, however, all bets are off, 4, Kill 5), but only attack if the
details that refute speculation. The and depending upon the severity fanatic is defended.
wood-wives freely attack soldiers of the damage, the wood-wives Aftermath: Transplanted saplings
but avoid harming medics and pursue them out of the wood and of deciduous trees have survived
members of the clergy. Not only back to camp. the passage to America — thanks
are they able to converse with their Paris: In the rural areas to the protection of the wood-
victims, they can speak European surrounding Paris, villagers have wives who were brought aboard by
languages (French, German, Italian, taken up arms against a group Carcosan immigrants to protect
etc.) but they do not understand of terrifying fanatical women. them. During the Castaigne
Carcosan tongues. The women have each read the regime, the wood-wives were
The wood-wives are not from play in its entirety and have guided to forest glens surrounding
Carcosa, nor are they mutants. memorized the passages. After Carcosan-inhabited homes across
They were once humans who died being thrown out of Paris for riling America. When alerted, the wood-
tragically, and now angrily protect up a frenzied, violent mob, the wives’ activities act as an early
the forests — and each other. fanatics are desperately seeking warning system for the Carcosan
Wrathful, militant protectors with a new theater to perform the play. or aggressor who’s lurking nearby.
no recollection of their previous From discussions with witnesses, Despite their proximity to Carcosan
lives or how they died, they protect the art students learn that the homes, the wood-wives are
a dying tree over the life of a women fear they’ll die if they don’t. politically neutral and care only
human or Carcosan. The squad The fanatics grow ever-violent, for their forests; they respond
encounters the wood-wives while and each day they do not perform positively to gardeners. If the PCs
passing through a wood. If they the play, another woman dies in a could persuade the wood-wives to
make it through without snapping horrific accident; their ghosts — fight alongside them, the wood-
a twig or breaking a branch, they the wood-wives — follow in their wives may lend them a branch (or
may sway them to their side with wake. The wood-wives’ spirits are two) should their interests align.

108
 Wood - W ives

This Is Normal Now: The wood-

wives’ spirits settled into trees
and have since been cut down SPLINTER STRUCK BY
and pulped to make paper. Injury WOOD DEBRIS
The comic book and publishing Injury
industry have recently increased Non-lethal. -1 to Physical tests.
prices in response to rising paper After a Physical failure, -2 to Physical tests.
spend 1 Health to discard. As recipient of a Difficulty 5
costs caused by explosions at
First Aid success, roll a die.
paper mills and printers across
Even: trade for “Splinter.” Odd:
the country. Claim adjusters are trade for “Patched Up.”
refusing to pay the insurance
and have filed several complaints
with the police, citing evidence
the destruction was intentionally
caused. Company officials are and shipments the wood-wives are Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if
trying to bury the story because attacking, they’ll uncover a fresh you’re in their forest; +1 if you
the stock they shipped on semi- plot to distribute the King in Yellow harmed a tree; +2 if you felled
trucks has also spontaneously and His Tattered Raiment. In their a tree; -1 if you’re fighting with
ignited, causing several accidents. paper form, wood-wives are more chopping weapons; -1 if you’ve got
The investigators are drawn into vulnerable to fire; treat them as a green thumb; -2 if you’re fighting
the mystery when they cross paths Evenly Matched (Escape 3, Other with fire
with the insurance company which 4, Kill 5) with a Toll of 1. Toll: 1
seeks a third party to investigate Numbers: 3-4 Tags: Alt
what really happened. When the Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3, Encounter Style: Primary
investigators identify which books Other 4, Kill 6) Injuries, Minor and Major:
Splinter/Struck by Wood Debris

109
AFTERMATH
LEGIONS OF CARCOSA
T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Black-Eyed Kids
A knock on the door or a tap at
the window reveals two children,
aged ten to twelve. Their eyes are
completely black. They wear dirty,
threadbare clothes. One holds a
battered skateboard. They ask to
be let inside to warm up or use the
phone.
These black-eyed kids are
Carcosan children. Orphaned by
the closure of the Carcosan gates,
they seek out families to look after
them for a while. But they seek
twisted, alien love that humans
cannot provide. When a family
inevitably fails to provide for
them adequately, their malicious
instincts take over, leading them to
psychically dominate and torment
their would-be benefactors. When
they inevitably grow bored, or
at the slightest provocation from
the family, the black-eyed kids
torture and kill their new families
before moving on to find a new
household.
When threatened, black-eyed In the more likely scenario that Human kids playing with black-
kids are more likely to flee than to only some of the player characters eyed kids do so out of fear or have
fight, delaying pursuers with a burst become hypnotized, the black-eyed already been psychically dominated.
of disorienting psychic energy. Ex- kids flee while the dominated ex- Paris: Poor hygiene and strict
insurgents subjected to this power insurgents temporarily distract the social pressure make child
make a Difficulty 4 Composure others. abandonment a common
test to avoid Injuries—Minor and Encounters with black-eyed occurrence. Children might work
Major: Muzzy Headed/Heavily kids are hostage situations. The for sustenance, for example by
Sedated. As the card instructs, ex-insurgents confronting the kids becoming a live model for upstart
if all player characters become must save whoever is trapped painters, but most beg. Black-eyed
Heavily Sedated, they awaken in or kidnapped. If they discover kids blend in among clusters of
a bad situation. In this case, a bad the aftermath of a family murder these neglected street children,
situation might include: instead of in medias res, they can protecting or victimizing them
• the basement of a family pick up the trail of the black-eyed as their cruel whims dictate. Art
home, next to what remains kids by learning from neighbors students may encounter black-eyed
of a suburban family of the family’s recently adopted, kids when their favorite young
• a squalid tent city occupied reticent children. Black-eyed model goes missing.
by psychically dominated kids hunting for a new family The Wars: Black-eyed kids pose as
children. Children with knives! behave like normal kids, following war orphans, leaving behind scenes
• an abandoned playground common sense hitch-hiking paths of carnage in orphanages, hospitals,
at midnight, near a riot dog and gathering in family-friendly and schools. A bereft father might
sleeping under a slide places like parks, movie theaters, or insist that a group of black-eyed kids
• a mundane jail cell, accused shopping mall parking lots. are actually his dead children. Or,
of abducting and endangering While attempting to identify black- black-eyed kids might travel with
minors. (In this case, hand out eyed kids, PCs notice that human a group of refugees, psychically
the Hit card Can’t Catch a children always automatically leading them toward a more
Break or Ripple of Unease.) distrust the Carcosan children. dangerous war zone.

112
 B lac k - E y ed Kids

This Is Normal Now: Foster care

agencies frequently take on the
PINT-SIZED BITE PINT-SIZED KICK orphaned children of SRI victims.
Injury Injury New foster children are told that
their parents died in a car crash or
Non-lethal. Non-lethal. -1 to Physical tests.
other mundane accident. By simply
After one interval, roll a die. After one interval, roll a die.
Even: discard. Odd: trade for the Even: discard. Odd: trade for claiming that rampagers dragged
Shock card “Embarrassed.” the Shock card “Humiliated.” away their parents, black-eyed
kids infiltrate and manipulate this
system. Perhaps a friendly GMC
becomes a foster parent before
suddenly disappearing.
Numbers: 2
Difficulty: Evenly Matched
(Escape 2, Other 3, Kill 3)
Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if
MUZZY HEADED HEAVILY SEDATED the player character has or had
Injury Injury children; -1 if the former freedom
fighters notice that human children
Lose 1 point from all Presence pools. Roll a die. You remain unconscious
are uncomfortable around the
At end of next interval, regain for that number of hours (world
those points and discard this card. time). If all characters get this black-eyed kids
card, they all wake up, confined Toll: 0
and in a bad situation. Tags: Carcosan
When you wake up, trade Injuries, Minor and Major: Pint-
for “Muzzy Headed.” Sized Bite/Pint-Sized Kick

EMBARRASSED HUMILIATED
Shock Shock
Nonlethal. -1 to Focus tests. Nonlethal. -1 to Presence tests.
Discard on a Composure failure. Discard by winning over a difficult
or intimidating witness.

CAN'T CATCH A BREAK RIPPLE OF UNEASE

Hit Hit
You just seem… unlucky, Your mistakes have given
somehow. ammunition to people who want
-1 to Politics and Network tests to give more powers to the police.
when dealing with People’s -1 to Politics tests if your Goal is
Deputies and other members of tagged Freedom or Trust.
the political class. Discard by taking a risk to foster
freedom or trust.

-1 -1

113
T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Crouch
Crouch preys on the fearful and
the anxious by using its shadow
form to attack victims as they step
across the threshold of their own
homes. Crouch is impossible to
track because it can only be seen
at dawn or during twilight and can
jump from shadow to shadow. To
hunt it down, Crouch’s presence
must be felt. Witnesses report ever-
increasing bouts of paranoia and an
uncomfortable chill on the back of
their neck as if someone breathed
on their bare skin.
Crouch prefers crowded cities to
unpopulated areas, and its behavior
isn’t erratic. In Chicago, a group
of Originalists have disbanded
out of fear one of them might
be a Carcosan. In Washington,
a handful of Guardians have
organized a search party to look
for Crouch, identifying it only
as Carcosan. In New York City,
members of the People’s Congress
whisper fearfully that someone
— or something — is spying on float into their ears. Doctors ignore who do not possess one are visibly
them. When investigators dig these claims and pass them off as upset and bark orders at their
deeper, they find the Interregnum the ravings of lunatics, while the art soldiers to discover “who’s eating
Admin’s bureaucrats are making students believe the hallucinations their shadow.” If one pays close
similar worrisome claims. When are caused by a dangerous batch of attention, they’ll discover that
Crouch’s sinister activities draw absinthe laced with drugs or other a faint, human-sized shadow is
in the ex-insurgents, early clues toxic substances. Occultists who consuming the Yellow Sign shades,
point to deposed Emperor Hadrian examine the physical copy of the and with each feeding, its umbra
Castaigne. Their hunt for the dead play (without reading it) can glean darkens. Though they secretly fight
or fugitive dictator hits a twist the truth: the “ink” is human blood. for the Yellow King, the Carcosan
when they discover that Crouch By retracing the steps of all who officers do not know Crouch is
is Castaigne’s shadow. Turned into read the play, one can learn how Castaigne’s shadow, and retreat
a quasi-substantial bodyguard the sacrificial blood of a Castaigne back to Carcosa if they suspect
in a parageometrical ritual, it family member imbued with they’ve been betrayed. Despite
has been left behind to operate Carcosan energies became sentient, all appearances to the contrary,
alone. It seeks to open the gates and why it wants to escape the Crouch is superior in this guise and
between worlds, stop the American pages it was written on. Crouch is toying with the Carcosans —
government from reforming, and works slowly… much to Castaigne’s shame.
place a member of the Castaigne The Wars: Undercover spies and This Is Normal Now: An online
family back on the Imperial throne. soldiers are tasked with finding the auction site is selling an 1895
Or, it is starting to think, maybe identity of Carcosans embedded publication of the play with a
what America needs is its first deep within the Loyalist and certificate of authenticity. The user
Shadow Emperor. enemy ranks. They have built a claims to have sold 309 copies and
Paris: Some handwritten copies list of suspects after observing has over a thousand more on hand.
of the play contain ink that hums some officers cast a shadow in At least half of those copies are
with life. Readers describe how the shape of the Yellow Sign while fake — thanks to the SAA. Crouch
entire words lift off the page and others do not. Only the generals is trapped in one of these copies

114
 C rouch

and, after a hundred years of being

confined to ink, vibrates with the
suppressed need to kill and destroy. TELEKINETIC TELEKINETIC
Though Crouch has yet to be freed, GRAB & THROW BEATDOWN
Castaigne’s shadow can levitate its Injury Injury
prison and “fly” to a new owner
who’s more willing to help than the -1 to Physical tests. -2 to Physical and Focus tests.
last. Then, once the owner reads Discard on a Physical success, or as After failing one Physical and one
recipient of 1-point First Aid spend. Focus test, roll a die. Even: discard.
the play, Crouch wreaks the havoc
Odd: trade for “On the Mend.”
he’s been waiting for. If the PCs
can track down the owner in time,
they’ll prevent Crouch from being
freed.
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3, it at dawn or twilight; +2 if you Tags: Alt
Other 4, Kill 6) know who Crouch is (a reversal of Injuries, Minor and Major:
Difficulty Adjustments: +1 for the usual pattern, where knowing Telekinetic Grab & Throw/
each Shock card you hold; +1 in more about a Foe improves your Telekinetic Beatdown
a light that casts a strong or long chances against it)
shadow; -1 if you chose to confront Toll: 1

115
T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Devourers
These hungry, slithering human-
sized mutant serpents poison their
victims then devour them whole.
Devourers can pass for human at
a quick glance and wear clothes
taken from past victims. Keen
observers notice their cool skin
has a greenish, reptilian tint, their
pupils are almond-shaped, and that
they have fangs instead of teeth.
Despite their mutation, devourers
remain snakes by instinct, including
a deathly fear of birds of prey.
If directed to, a devourer also
consumes the evidence at a crime
scene, leaving no trace of their
actions behind.
Devourers are a remnant of
the Castaigne regime, a gift to
Castaigne from the Yellow King,
and were brought over from Europe
to assassinate political rivals and
enemies of the state. Castaigne
no longer pulls their strings, but
someone else does. Only three
types of people believe they exist:
revolutionary spies who’ve seen local ecosystem. They are hiring and messenger birds have retrieved
regime records on Operation authors and painters to document giant snakeskins in odd places
Ophidian, survivors who’ve their activities and record the right after a soldier was reported
narrowly escaped a devourer’s snake’s unique biological makeup. missing. By securing the services of
wrath, and conspiracy theorists Unfortunately, the zoologists are a falconer, perhaps with a Hunting
who believe lizard people are real. unaware that some snakes have Push, they can use the birds of prey
The first group may be the team’s already finished mutating into a to locate the devourers before their
best source of information about devourer, and they’re now in grave next attack.
devourers. Survivors only know danger. The art students might This Is Normal Now: Natural
the visceral experience of being be drawn in when they take on history museums and herpetologists
attacked, and can’t offer broader a sideline job working with the across the country share resources
context. Conspiracy theorists might zoologists. Or they can track the to identify a human-sized snakeskin
be right that devourers exist, but first full devourer from its trail of found near the group’s hometown.
otherwise operate from a purely victims. Stumped, the Field Museum in
invented mythology that casts false The Wars: The Yellow King Chicago has coordinated a well-
blame on one or more scapegoated recruits devourers to assassinate publicized online exhibit and a
groups. As an additional military targets of his choosing. Q&A session with its renowned
complication in a scenario, the ex- They are highly effective near the experts. PCs attending the online
insurgents may uncover a plan by front because they can pass for meeting receive an invitation to a
conspiracy types to commit violent soldiers in uniform. When they private showing of the snakeskin.
crimes against the innocent targets wish to leave no trace behind With the media having a field
of their paranoia. and don’t need a further disguise, day, almost everyone online has
Paris: Common garden snakes devourers can digest a victim’s coat an opinion about the discovery.
exhibit signs of mutated growth. and boots along with bone and Devourers are difficult to locate
Zoologists study specimens blood. Rumors circulate through because fake sightings are on the
hoping to halt the spread of a the ranks that squadrons employing rise. Following a devourer attack,
“foreign disease” threatening the falconers to attack homing pigeons someone else is often blamed and

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 D e v ourers

convicted for the mutant’s crimes.

More than one devourer has
murdered an innocent victim, and VENOMOUS FANGS DEVOURING MAW
a rival or jealous lover was tried, Injury Injury
convicted, and imprisoned in the
Roll a die; lose that number of -1 to Physical tests. Until you
devourer’s stead. Sometimes the
Health points. -2 on Physical tests. change clothes and clean yourself
devourer does this intentionally,
Discard as recipient of a Difficulty up, -1 to Presence tests.
with the frame-up its primary 5 First Aid success. Difficulty As the recipient of Difficulty 5 First
objective. increases to 7 if your Health is 0. Aid success, trade for “On the Mend.”
Devourers are highly skilled,
and their assassinations often go
unpunished. Cop Talk provides
access to police reports permitting
the PCs to cross-reference sightings
with unsolved murders.
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3, ON THE MEND
Other 4, Kill 6) Injury
Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if
you’re alone or isolated; +1 if -1 to all tests. Trade for “Still
Hurting” on a Physical success.
you expressed fear or revulsion of
snakes during the current scenario;
-1 if you can prove they’re real; -2
if you have a bird of prey
Toll: 1
Tags: Mutant
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Venomous Fangs/Devouring Maw

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Doppelganger
Doppelgangers first appeared
a decade ago, when careless
workers from the Ministry of Public
Works erroneously performed the
parageometrical ritual required
to periodically refresh the gate
to Carcosa in New York City’s
Union Square Park. They departed
unaware of the reality implosion
they’d set off. This effect pulled
into our world individuals from
alternate timelines split off by the
Yellow Sign effect since 1895.
They did not come through the
gate, where they would have been
spotted by checkpoint officers,
but rather materialized nearby,
chiefly in the Flatiron District and
Gramercy Park. The implosion
captured only people who had
succumbed to violent evil in their
grim original realities, and whose
counterparts from this world
happened to be within a kilometer
or two of Union Square at the time
of the accident. Drawn by instinct
to their alternate selves, they cornered. alternate villains when the players
located, killed, and replaced them. Doppelgangers can recognize grow accustomed to off-the-rack
Over the next eighteen months, one another, and formed a loose Castaigne dead-enders.
hundreds of doppelgangers were mutual benefit society in the years Paris: Paris is famous for its
deposited in these neighborhoods. following the reality implosion. many decadent celebrations of
When characters with Intuition When the revolution reached the all things beautiful in the world.
visit the area, they get the eerie point of open street fighting, many Picnics, festivals, and galas are
sense that the people there aren’t banded together as a vigilante fertile grounds for doppelgangers to
themselves. brigade to battle anti-government appear. The immediacy of the play’s
Doppelgangers quickly adjusted demonstrators. After the Overthrow, publication allows them to show up
to their new dimension, perhaps they tried to melt back into their anywhere, no gate required. With
keeping clothes and personal assumed civilian lives. A future their guard down at these events,
effects from other realities safely of hope and reconciliation leaves people are vulnerable to the attack
hidden in the homes they took them cold, and they fear discovery of their darkest selves. Destroying
over after slaughtering their and punishment for the killings the happiness of their other self is
counterparts. of their counterparts and other one of a doppelganger’s greatest
There are several subtle clues crimes. As such, they form a pleasures, and they take great
to help spot a doppelganger. parallel conspiracy to mainline delight in sucking it from someone
They often will have bleaker revanchists. They also hope to during the elated celebration. The
toned hair and eyes, as though reopen the gates and bring back doppelganger will engage the
the saturation on them is turned the regime but run their operations friends or family of their other self
down. Doppelgangers also wear entirely separately from fugitive ex- first, acting as their other self would
duller color tones of the same officials. To penetrate their network, but making small, strange errors.
fashions their other selves wear. ex-insurgents have to start from Once the doppelganger leaves, the
They covertly engage in violent, scratch, unaided by old intelligence person’s loved one then expresses
predatory behavior, revealing files or interviews with imprisoned concern about their strange
superhuman strength when security officers. Use them as behavior. This becomes a sort of

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 D oppelganger

gaslighting where the person can’t

trust their own reality since their
loved ones are interacting with NEUROPATHIC SWIPE NEUROPATHIC
the doppelganger sometimes and Injury; Shock DISEQUILIBRIUM
the real person at other times. This Injury
confusion is the doppelganger’s Trade for “On the Mend” as recipient
of a Difficulty 5 First Aid success. If this card and the next Shock
intent. Instead of killing their other card you receive are still in hand at
self, doppelgangers in Paris prefer the end of the session, the Shock
to imprison them, to perhaps die of card becomes a Continuity card.
When you discard a Shock card,
loneliness, madness, or self-hatred. make a Difficulty 4 Composure test.
The art students’ doppelganger hunt On a success, discard this card too.
begins when a friend or colleague
reports a terrifying self-encounter.
The Wars: Reality smudges
caused by unchecked This Is Normal Now: chalk it up to declining mental
weird weapon use draw in Doppelgangers cross reality health, a mid-life crisis, or some
doppelgangers. Their counterparts boundaries in the wake of kind of hysterical breakdown. By
spot them on the battlefield, rampager attacks. Deviously diminishing these red flags, these
fighting on the other side of an skilled at identity theft, they will people are easily destroyed by the
engagement. The fog of war follow their other selves from this doppelganger. The investigators first
creates ideal circumstances for timeline for days, or sometimes become alarmed when a previously
doppelgangers to replace their months, before they kill them, helpful and friendly GMC suddenly
variant selves. The squad might watching how they live their lives. transforms into a closed-off,
investigate the doppelganger The doppelganger’s other self narcissistic creep with pinpoint
phenomenon after a Loyalist soldier will think they are hallucinating, spots of blood on his collar.
GMC reports sighting, fighting, seeing menacing reflections of Numbers: 1
and nearly being killed by his dead themselves in crowds or around Difficulty: Overwhelming (Escape
ringer. Doppelgangers caught up corners that then swiftly disappear. 3, Other 7, Kill 8)
in the Continental War seek to The doppelganger takes delight in Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if you
create a parallel power structure, their other self’s fear, working to know yourself well; -1 if you’re
coordinating efforts to ensure their make them as terrified as possible. scared of your darker tendencies
survival and position themselves to When they least expect it, the Toll: 2
take over France when the post-war doppelganger swiftly kills them, Tags: Alt
period finally arrives. taking their place, and slowly Injuries, Minor and Major:
corrupting everything that person Neuropathic Swipe/Neuropathic
ever loved. The people around Disequilibrium
them begin to notice the shift, but

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Ectofly
An ectofly is a ghostly, sentient
ball of rainbow-colored light that,
when touched, instantly freezes
its victims. Despite popular belief
that an ectofly is a human spirit,
the sentient balls are the vengeful
ghosts of Carcosans who died in
the human world.
Ectoflies attack people who’ve
threatened or harmed other
Carcosans, and they want to
murder the humans responsible
for stranding their former selves on
this plane. The warmth they steal
is a soul to torture until their light
flickers and fades into nothingness.
For every ectofly sighting, there is
a would-be paranormalist floating
theories to explain it. Ectoflies
come in many shapes, colors, and
sizes, which frustrates investigators
and occultists because they’re often
misidentified. To destroy them, the
ex-insurgents must investigate their
way past these various incorrect
speculations to get at the true origin
of the ectoflies. advance of a fight. They might see When they fall in battle, some
• Americans still susceptible or hear a second-hand account of, linger as ghosts, in ectofly form.
to Castaigne-era isolationist say, ectoflies growing dim in cold Whether they fought for sport or in
rhetoric wrongfully believe conditions, stopping short before a proxy conflict for the Carcosan
ectoflies are the spirits of entering a refrigerated truck, or throne, they continue the struggle
dead European soldiers. seeking shelter inside on a freezing in this new form, preying on enemy
• Anti-regime types assume night. soldiers. You might feature them
they’re some sort of experiment Paris: Ectoflies are the ghosts as main antagonists, requiring a
loosed into the wild by of Carcosans who died in our way for the squad to hunt and
imperial scientists. reality after the play was first read. destroy them. Weaker ones might
• Europeans often refer to an They want to inhabit a new body appear as a Hazard, with Difficulty
ectofly as a “witch-light” or a and return to Carcosa. To do so, 4 Athletics tests required to avoid
“will o’ the wisp” that leads they have to first ensure that the Injuries—Minor and Major:
hapless witnesses to their doom. King’s commands are carried out, Spectral Bite/Unclean Bite.
A rash of mysterious deaths draws convincing unsuspecting victims to This Is Normal Now: Ectoflies
the ex-insurgents to investigate. do his bidding. Ectoflies gravitate to in the modern era are the same
A few common elements unite people in distress seeking solutions sentient spirits who once haunted
various incident reports: ectoflies to a predicament. The ghosts Paris, and they are furious it has
are drawn to warmth of any kind, appear to offer a way out. One taken the King this long to make his
they’re frequently spotted around might be told to protect a copy of move. Eternally trapped between
the infirm or the dying, and they the play, nurture Carcosan plants, the living and the dead, ectoflies
scream when they’re attacked. or stand guard outside a specific must absorb ever-increasing
Ectoflies lose energy below 0° building. Should the target refuse to amounts of living energy lest they
C. Set up your ectofly scenario carry out the ectofly’s suggestion, lose their sentience. Attracted
so that the ex-insurgents have a the spirit attacks. to black-star energy signatures,
chance to note this vulnerability in The Wars: Carcosans fight ectoflies attack Carcosans over
incognito on both sides of the war. humans, all else being equal.

120
 E ctofl y

Investigators who learn about

their feeding habits might follow a
ectofly’s trail to identify Carcosans
SPECTRAL BITE UNCLEAN BITE
or find copies of the play. Injury Injury
Numbers: 1 (Aftermath) 3, 6, 9 or
12, bunched together in trios (other Lose 3 Composure immediately, and After half an hour (world
1 per subsequent hour (world time). time), roll a die. 2-6: discard.
sequences)
At end of any interval, make a 1: trade for “Tetanic Fever.”
Difficulty: Tough but Outmatched Difficulty 5 Health test. Success:
(Escape 2, Other 2, Kill 4) discard; if margin is greater
Difficulty Adjustments: +2 if than 2, refresh Composure.
you’re holding a Carcosan hostage;
+3 if you killed a Carcosan; -1 if
you arranged to fight it in the cold;
+1 if they just fed on a Carcosan
Toll: 0
Tags: Construct
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Spectral Bite/Unclean Bite

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Fliptops
Human soldiers tortured with
Carcosan devices as part of one
particular super soldier program
are called fliptops, after their
bizarre hinged jaws. If they open
their mouth too far, their head
tilts backward revealing a set of
terrifying, razor-sharp teeth that can
rend flesh from bone. The regime
kept them hidden for years. Now
former military personnel lobby the
provisional government to find and
hospitalize them.
But it may be too late; fliptops have
already claimed their first victim in
a nearby city, but the PCs cannot
determine their precise location.
Calls filtering into local police
describe a bestial figure dressed
in a fraying, ripped uniform that
swallowed a beloved dog whole,
or a cannibal that sunk their teeth
into bare flesh. Fliptops may be
found with a pair of dog tags around
their neck, but whoever they were
in life has long since eroded. The
soldiers have been transformed into follow the swath of death carved by person’s head. The team knows
intelligent, man-eating predators escapees from a Royalist lab. the victim or has a connection to
of Carcosa’s making, and are a This Is Normal Now: Fliptops the location of the crime, inspiring
cannibalistic force that needs to feed. used to work for McAidrai them to launch their own inquiry.
Paris: Fliptops are the gruesome Biomaterials as the company’s Numbers: 1
work of surgeons who’ve fallen bodyguards. The fliptops have Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
into decadence and despair after disappeared, leaving corporate Other 4, Kill 6)
reading or hearing the play. The officials scrambling to find them Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if you
surgeons have kidnapped the easily and cover up their mess. To weren’t expecting the jaw to open;
forgettable — vagrants, orphans, complicate matters, an anonymous -1 if you have something strong to
tourists — to perform surgeries source released a video on / jam into the teeth
guided by an unseen hand. yel/. The footage depicts a fliptop Toll: 1
Naturally, they keep their creations wearing a McAidrai uniform, Tags: Alt
captive for observation. Consumed adorned with the Yellow Sign, Injuries, Minor and Major: Saw
by rage, imprisoned fliptops howl entering a room to bite off a Cut/Sawed Throat
with loneliness and insatiable
hunger, longing for a death their
captors will not give them. Those
who are free, eat. The art students
SAW CUT SAWED THROAT
may stumble across suppressed Injury Injury
incidents the police describe as
inhuman, cannibalistic acts. Lose 1 Health per interval for the You can’t take tests or make
next three intervals, then discard. Pushes, or do anything but lie
The Wars: Here the fliptops
Discard at any time as recipient of on the ground bleeding out.
appear in cruder prototype form, Difficulty 4 First Aid success. Trade for “Saw Cut” as recipient
their snapping jaws styled like of a Difficulty 6 First Aid test.
post-Victorian clockworks. The
squad might investigate the carnage
wrought by enemy fliptops, or

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 F luff y

Fluffy
Urban legends describe the kids into coming home on time, or Sighting this version up close
fluffy as a boulder-sized ball of fur, a metaphor for the innocent lives requires Difficulty 5 Composure
bristles, claws, and teeth. The result unwittingly swept up in the winds tests to avoid Shocks—Minor
of successive rapid generations of of change. and Major: Unnerved/Agitated.
mutant hybridization, the fluffy On their own, fluffies kill more Its creators might use it to sow
includes DNA absorbed from pets than people. When the ex- useful panic through a large,
cats, dogs, lizards, rabbits, and insurgents first deal with them, heavily-trafficked area, such as a
fish. It feels only one emotion — rogue parageometrists have cooked neighborhood, shopping center, or
fear. It reads all moving creatures up an occult algorithm allowing university campus.
as threats, defending hyper- them to command the things. They Paris: Occasionally, a copy of
aggressively against its target. It might be using them to guard their The Yellow King falls carelessly to
rolls at them and then bites with hideouts or to create diversions the ground, and someone’s pet
multiple mouths. When a fluffy while they further a revanchist dog chews on its pages. When
appears, it terrorizes neighborhoods scheme. An advanced version of the pet ingests the paper, its body
until hunting parties find it and put the spell allows the creation of a immediately begins to mutate;
it out of its misery. variant fluffy. The parageometrist bone cracks, flesh reshapes, and
The old regime suppressed reports assembles the various animal eyes shift to form a terrifying living
of fluffy attacks, but now word is pieces that go into a fluffy. The rite version of the Yellow Sign. No
getting out that the damn things are animates, twists, and reshapes the one in polite company describes
real. Still, most Americans cling to fragments to create a grotesque, the horrific incidents, and some
the belief that it’s a story to scare living version of the Yellow Sign. Parisians are leaving their pets

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

at home lest they suffer. Sapient

operatives of the Yellow King can
assume control over a fluffy. THE ATAVISTIC BITTEN
The Wars: Fluffies are used as TERROR OF AN Injury
living weapons, released from ANIMAL ATTACK
-1 on Physical tests.
cages into villages and towns to Shock To discard, receive a Difficulty 4 First
terrorize humans just before an Aid success, then make a Physical test.
Lose 2 Health when you make
invasion. As they bounce along,
a Push. If you can’t spend the
they absorb other animal bodies points, you can’t make the Push.
into their growing balls of fangs Discard by establishing your
and fur. Though about as smart as mastery over this type of creature.
the average fish, they can learn to
respond to certain stimuli. When
entering a new location, the fluffy
seeks out the Yellow Sign. If the
sign isn’t present, it attacks any
people it perceives. If the sign is UNNERVED AGITATED
visible, it attacks animals instead. Shock Shock
Both methods wreak havoc on
Discard by using an Investigative -1 to Presence tests.
any settlement. Many people have
ability to gain information. When you use an Investigative
abandoned their pets to avoid ability to gain information,
unnecessary heartbreak. Attacks on roll a die. Even: discard.
livestock can severely disrupt the
food supply of an armed force or
civilian population.
This Is Normal Now: Fluffy
is a popular urban legend and
internet meme. Members of
Nudge and /yel/ offer rewards for photos stashed on users’ phones Disruptive Events has caused pet
anyone who can provide more to reimagine their family pet as a owners.
information. Finding fluffy is the mutation; then, showed them what Numbers: 1
one goal both groups can agree their pet would look like if its body Difficulty: Evenly Matched
on. A TV streaming service has was merged with other animals. (Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5)
recently started production on When pressed for comments, Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if you
a documentary to uncover its Disruptive Events stonewalls. have a pet; -1 if you hate animals
origins and help victims deal with Despite fluffy’s mysterious origins, Toll: 1
their trauma. Several high-profile its hideous shape does frighten all Tags: Mutant
lawsuits have been filed against who see — and hear — the horrific Injuries, Minor and Major:
Disruptive Events LLC for causing creature. Fluffy is more dangerous Atavistic Terror of an Animal Attack/
untold trauma after releasing an due to the psychological trauma Bitten
app update. The app accessed

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 G lo - G lutton

Glo-Glutton
During the search for Once the parent reaches a place movements are sluggish, and they
cryptozoological specimens where it wants to pause, the larvae are less able to defend themselves.
instituted by the Winthrop tunnel out of the earth and suspend Once, glo-gluttons stayed far
Administration, scientists came themselves in the air, glowing. away from civilization in hard-
across glo-gluttons in the depths Looking like beautiful vibrant to-reach parts of the Earth where
of forests and caves. Glo-gluttons strands, they attract the attention they ate wildlife and hibernated.
are giant worms burrowed beneath of unlucky passersby, whether they Unfortunately, there aren’t many
the earth. Over the centuries of be human or animal. The larvae places like that left, forcing them
their existence, many of them have themselves are entirely harmless, to interact with humankind and
grown to be the size of school but while the victim is distracted by alerting the Castaigne regime to
buses. They have milky flesh the larvae, the parent rises up from their existence. The regime took
and seemingly no other bodily the earth beneath them to swallow advantage of glo-gluttons and
features aside from a giant gaping them whole. The victim stays alive always had a few hidden away,
toothless mouth. Few of their weak inside the glo-glutton until its at the ready for the disposal of
and vulnerable larvae make it to digestive acids begin to corrode their political enemies. More than
adulthood. Most are eaten by birds their flesh, which takes about a one revolutionary mysteriously
or one another, or just wither away. day. Because of the long digestive disappeared, walking home alone
The parent lays many eggs through process, glo-gluttons retreat back and coming across an alley full of
asexual reproduction. Once underground after eating and floating lights.
hatched, the larvae travel with spend a period of time in semi- Glo-gluttons swallow their prey
their parent in a pocket in its skin. hibernation. During this time, their whole, leaving no remains. Any

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

BIG BITE BIGGER BITE JARRED

Injury Injury Injury
-2 to Physical tests this and next -2 to Physical tests for the next Discard at end of session.
interval; -1 to Physical tests hour (table time); -1 for the
for the interval after that. following hour, then discard.
After yet another interval, roll a die. If still in hand at end of session,
Even: discard. Odd: trade for “Jarred.” becomes a Continuity card,
with clock restarting at the
beginning of your next session.

holes in the ground made by their you can go witness them and their from smartphones to tablets. They
exits and entrances are covered peculiarity… if you have the money mistake that glow for the glow of
by the regime using sidewalk for it. However, Carcosa’s dark their larvae. Unfortunately for the
renovation projects. It wasn’t energy has strange effects on the holder of the screen, the mistake
the most inconspicuous disposal dead, and rumor has it that there’s doesn’t make much difference for
technique, but there was very little more than one of these creatures them. The glo-glutton still rises up
hard evidence to point back to now free and roaming in the sewers out of the earth, ready to devour.
the regime. Post-regime, at least and catacombs under Paris. Numbers: 1
one glo-glutton skulks beneath The Wars: The glo-glutton may Difficulty: Tough but Outmatched
every major city, with no one left only swallow one victim at a time, (Escape 2, Other 3, Kill 4)
to clean up the mess. Though it but they prove quite an effective Difficulty Adjustment: -1 if you’re
might be hard to catch them in the distraction for large groups. Used as prepared for the glo-glutton to
act, they leave a noticeable trail. enthralled beasts, their ambushes emerge, -2 if the glo-glutton is in its
A scenario featuring a glo-glutton have wiped out entire squads. The hibernation phase of digestion, +1
might take your characters down squad might investigate how they’re if you have any lights on you that it
into the underground and through being controlled and find a way to might mistake for its young
old subway tunnels in hot pursuit of put a stop to it. Toll: 0
these glowing white worms. This Is Normal Now: The Tags: Relict
Paris: There are a few places investigators might find a Injuries, Minor and Major: Big
in Paris where one can go to see commonality behind a cluster Bite/Bigger Bite
things that are strange and unusual. of disappearances in their If the Injury you receive from a
Particularly of interest to artists are neighborhood: everyone was glo-glutton is your Final Card, you
the corpses of strange giant worms looking at a screen. Glo-gluttons are swallowed and digested.
and their larvae, which still hang in have been found to be attracted
the air and faintly glow. It’s said that to the glow of mobile devices,

126
 G olden S igil P arties

Golden Sigil Parties

Content advisory: extreme
themes include interrogation,
violence, and assault. Be certain
of your group's desire to confront
horror's darkest themes before
using this foe. Be ready to make
adjustments on the fly if a player
requires them during the session.
During the Regime, a group
of millionaires formed a rogue
tactical group to fight the Castaigne
occupation of America. They
organized at Jacques Ducasse’s
mansion, under the guise of dinner
parties. They called themselves
the Golden Sigil, referring to a
golden ring inscribed with the
sun each member wore. The sun
was their symbol of hope, shining
a light on the Castaigne evils.
They strategically profiled those
suspected of Carcosan origins,
creating extensive dossiers covering
behavior and whereabouts. When
the time was right, they’d covertly
capture and interrogate their
targets, keeping them imprisoned in
secret occult warded rooms at the
Ducasse mansion. Should the target
prove possessed or Carcosan in
nature, the Golden Sigil would try
to exorcise it, though should that
fail, execute them. The mansion’s now only wished to enact their America, these parties still remain,
expansive building and grounds vices upon the world. sliding under the radar by the grace
was not lacking in places to hide They held parties at the mansion, of Durzdal’s power. To defeat
bodies. reinforcing masked anonymity with Durzdal, it must be excised from
All it took was one unlucky the threat of death. The Golden Ducasse’s body and bound so it
mission for the Golden Sigil to Sigil Parties welcomed guests, can’t enter anyone else.
be corrupted by Carcosa. Their free of judgment, to partake of Paris: The wealthiest of Paris’
captured target that night was any depraved or violent vice they Aristocrats have been taken
Durzdal, the Carcosan avatar of desired. All the party throwers under the wing of the depraved
excessive vice. Durzdal escaped asked in return was the worship of Carcosan avatar Durzdal. He wears
its human body as they killed a large golden symbol emblazoned Jacques Ducasse’s skin, a dashing
it, entering the body of Jacques on the wall. It was an inverted sun, newcomer to the Parisian scene,
Ducasse. They bonded and became painted black with the Yellow Sign outrageously wealthy. Ducasse
one. Though Jacques was still the upon it. The original members hosts the depraved Golden Sigil
same man, he was now also the all now wore rings to match this Parties at his mansion just outside
embodiment of Durzdal, and thus, instead. They extracted promises the city. With these Aristocrats as
all the worst of his thoughts and from party guests that should his disciples, Ducasse is able to
desires. Durzdal’s influence was Ducasse call upon them for a lure in the beautiful, creative, and
too strong for the Golden Sigil, favor, they must comply. Even damned for his flavor of forbidden
spreading like a virus through the though the Regime has fallen and pleasures. Few guests survive the
entire group. Transformed, they most Carcosans banished from parties, those who do bartering

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

worship for another invite. The

black sun hangs on a flag in the
hallway, where those who are LACERATION FLESH WOUND
welcome are able to see. Artists Injury Injury
often get invited to these parties,
When called on to make a -1 to non-Focus tests. Trade
for Durzdal likes to soak up their Physical test, you may choose for “Laceration” after on
delicious pain. Perceptive creatives to take a -2 penalty on the test a non-Focus success.
and then discard this card.
can see the beast Durzdal when
Ducasse lashes out at someone in
any way, and should they capture
its likeness in a drawing, they can
extract it from Ducasse’s body.
The Wars: Durzdal possessed
Jacques Ducasse and has twisted
several corrupt military officers to This Is Normal Now: The Golden chalk it up to his eccentricities,
his whim, manipulating them into Sigil parties are run by a select few but observant people can notice
holding his Golden Sigil Parties. of the world’s 1% richest CEOs. his features have changed enough
Ducasse is a socialite living in his They promise people riches if they to look like a relative. Stealing the
secluded mansion not far from the attend, but upon arriving, discover ring from Jacques will exorcise the
battlefields these officers frequent. they’re instead the victims. The real Carcosan from his body. Characters
The officers, along with Ducasse, party guests are affluent people are likely there because they or
all bear the golden sun rings, the who pay these CEOs in worship someone they know has been
only indication that they might be for the opportunity to inflict their invited to a weird party for money.
in league. The Golden Sigil Parties outlandish vices. The group’s Numbers: 1-7
are held at Ducasse’s mansion, leader, Jacques Ducasse, inherited Difficulty: Evenly Matched
where officers bring soldiers either a ring with an obsidian sun inlaid (Escape 2, Other 4, Kill 5)
as guests or victims. Durzdal drinks with a golden sigil. This inheritance Difficulty Adjustments: -1 high
in the power from their excessive imbued him with Durzdal’s spirit, observation skills
vices, officers worship at the giant changing his life forever. When the Toll: 0
wall sigil, and a few more soldiers parties are in full swing, Jacques Tags: Human
are added to the next battles MIA. appears to be a 19th-Century Injuries, Minor and Major:
Characters might suspect their Parisian aristocrat. Other attendees Laceration/Flesh Wound
missing comrades a result of foul
play, or be invited to the hellscape
that is Ducasse’s mansion.

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 G ranitites

Granitites
Granitites are goblin-like
creatures with features like a rough-
hewn stone. They live under the
earth and are oftentimes covered
with so much muck and soil that
they appear to be constantly
shedding it. They form entire
underground civilizations and,
for the most part, are concerned
with their own politics. However,
whether through an alliance with
the Castaigne regime or preexisting
age-old traditions, granitites rely on
humans for one specific need. They
use human body parts for their
machinery and weapons.
They capture humans by using
parageometric chemicals to change
the makeup of sidewalks and roads
to turn them to quicksand, bringing
unlucky humans down to the
underground. Once they capture a
human, they harvest body parts to
use, sometimes keeping the human
alive to keep the body fresh until
they need it. Their creativity ranges
from bone knives to catapults made alliance with them, using their with, while the second puts them
out of limbs, reinforced with strips strength as “muscle” when front and center as a big bad still
of human flesh, and with human met with unwanted resistance under Carcosan influence.
heads as catapult fodder. The few and providing them with On rare occasions when
humans who have made it down to plenty of body parts in return. Granitite sightings occur in the
a granitite civilization and returned Evidence of communities surface world, they’re solitary
alive report seeing entire buildings sharing elaborate customs and scavengers looking for materials.
made out of rotting organic matter. traditions of the sort that only When characters go underground
Prior to the Castaigne regime, could have developed over to confront granitites, they might
there is no record of the granitites. centuries point in this direction. encounter a patrol group. Against
Investigators looking into granitites Choosing their backstory depends an entire community, investigators
encounter a couple of theories on what role you want them to play will have to sneak or negotiate their
accounting for their origins. Decide in your adventure. Are they victims way out. Figuring out how to strike
which of these the real scoop is, of the regime just like everyone a deal with granitites is infinitely
and which the red herrings are: else, now turned unfortunately easier than trying to take on a
• granitites are former violent towards humankind? Are whole community.
humans subjected to they remnants of the Castaigne When a granitite human body
intense trauma, followed by regime, still trying to carry out its weapon is used against a character,
parageometric experiments. schemes? Or are they their own a Difficulty 4 Composure test
• they were once important civilization, mostly caught up in avoids Shocks—Minor and
officials in the Castaigne regime their own politics, but causing an Major: What th--?/World Gone
who the scientists attempted issue for human society wherever Mad. The Difficulty goes up by
to bring back after death using they intersect? The first and third +1 if they recognize the body
parageometric bioengineering. options position them as obstacles part being used against them, by
• the entities have always existed the investigators might face in +2 if they know that the person it
in this realm; the Castaigne pursuit of the main villain, with belongs to isn’t dead, and by +3 if
regime merely formed an some moral quandaries to deal the body part is their own.

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Paris: Granitites are obsessed

with studying the human body,
constantly searching for new WHAT TH—? WORLD GONE MAD
bodies to dissect and examine. Shock Shock
A character with Demimonde
knows about a black market for -1 to your next Presence test. -1 to Presence tests.
granitite drawings. Horrific and Discard when a PC (yourself Discard when a PC (yourself
included) discards an Injury card included) discards an Injury card
entrancing, they show impeccable
taken in a fight in which your side taken in a fight in which your side
anatomical accuracy. Frequently,
was targeted by a weird weapon. was targeted by a weird weapon.
dissected bodies are arranged in
facsimiles of life, doing mundane
things like laundry or cooking. Of
course, generally, when someone is
cooking, you aren’t able to see past
their sternum all the way to their
backbone. Looking at a granitite
drawing needs a Difficulty 3 RATTLED A DIVERTING
Composure test to avoid Shocks— Shock
INDISCRETION
Minor and Major: Rattled/A WILL PUT THIS IN
Diverting Indiscretion Will Put This Your next test takes a -1 PERSPECTIVE
in Perspective. penalty. Then discard.
Shock
The Wars: In this sequence,
granitites are ordinary humans -1 to Presence tests. Discard by
who have been corrupted by taking a risk to indulge a vice.
interactions with Carcosa. They
act as arms dealers, sometimes in
quite a literal sense. They construct
weapons out of salvaged body
parts — weapons that are far more
deadly and effective than many of
the others that are present out on BODY WEAPON HIT BODY WEAPON
the battlefield — and sell them to Injury WOUND
the highest bidder. Injury
Lose 1 Composure.
This Is Normal Now: Still lurking
At end of any interval, spend Lose 2 Composure.
underground, the granitites have
1 Composure to discard. At the end of any interval, spend 1
learned how to adapt to what
Composure to roll a die. Even: discard.
human society thinks is trendy Odd: trade for “Body Weapon Hit.”
and know how to take advantage
of it. They have perfected the art
of preserving body parts and use
them to craft fashionable items of
clothing. The unnerving pieces of
clothing have shown up on the Solitary Scavenger Patrol Group
runway more than once. However, Numbers: 1 Numbers: 6
reintegration would persuade any Difficulty: Weak (Escape 1, Other Difficulty: Evenly Matched
viewers that that necklace isn’t 3, Kill 3) (Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5)
actually a human eye, but just a Difficulty Adjustment: -2 if above Difficulty Adjustments: -2 if
skillfully made facsimile. Granitites ground above ground; +1 if you know
can use the internet to sell their Toll: 0 someone they mined for weapon
items, and in return, they buy all of Tags: Hybrid components
the things that they need to keep Injuries, Minor and Major: Body Toll: 0
their societies running. Weapon Hit/Body Weapon Wound Tags: Hybrid
Injuries, Minor and Major: Body
Weapon Hit/Body Weapon Wound

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 I nsonic

Insonic
The insonic began to manifest
in the 1920s, in conjunction with
the regime’s original wave of
police state oppression. During
the day, it looks like a thick, dark
fog visible only to its victim,
hovering around them. When the
insonic enters a part of its victim’s
body, that part feels leaden and
drained. Investigators followed by
an insonic might see a black mist
coat their arm and then disappear
into the limb. Immediately, muscle
weakness sets in, leaving them
barely able to move. Victims suffer
a form of sleep paralysis. Unable
to move, eyes staring wide, the
sufferer watches helplessly as
a dog-like beast, with crab-like
legs and a mosquito’s tongue,
sits on their chest, sucking an
unidentifiable substance out of
them. They rise from their bed
deeply shaken, robbed of all rest.
Insonics are energy parasites
that use traumatic memories as
a transmission vector. They feed
off of their victim’s energy until
the human drops dead from
exhaustion. While the insonic
follows its prey around, it leaves
eggs on the people its prey interacts
with. Once the insonic exhausts the transformation combines parasite of the host disappear, the insonic
infected to the point of near-death, and host into a humanoid entity creates painful memories in new
it seizes control of the body and with spindly spiked legs, fangs, and victims through a public death, and
directs it to a public place to die an excessively long tongue. then spreads its eggs.
gruesomely, sending out one last Sleep medication drives an The Wars: Insonic victims
spray of eggs. Trauma, specifically insonic into a torpid state, are used as ticking time bombs
caused by this horrific death, preventing the body meld and by some of the forces on the
triggers the eggs of the insonic to energy drain. battlefield. Due to the ravages
hatch on their new victims. Paris: In melancholy, decadent of war, there is no shortage of
While the insonic’s host is awake, Paris, insonics feed on those lost to traumatized minds for the insonics
the insonic remains intangible their memories. They lay their eggs to feed on. Once an epidemic has
and impossible to attack. It must inside painful memories. People started, it is not uncommon for an
take physical form to feed on its who dwell in the past are likely to insonic-infected soldier to be sent
host’s energy while they’re asleep, revisit those memories, causing the into enemy encampment. Whether
rendering it vulnerable. If attacked eggs to hatch. Any time the victim they drop dead or are killed by the
in physical form, it can meld returns to their memories, they’ll enemy soldiers, the insonics have
with its victim in an irreversible find them changed, with a horrific plenty of new minds to swarm into.
process. Investigators interrupting monster dwelling inside them. The This Is Normal Now: Insonics
a feeding session might see the insonic devours the recollections spread through sex as a
insonic disappear into the human’s until its host is unable to access transmission vector. Each time the
chest. A near-instantaneous their past. Once all of the memories host shares physical intimacy with

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another person, the insonic injects

its eggs. When the victim tries to
sleep, their mind floods with lustful SUPERHUMAN BLOW SUPERHUMAN SMASH
images, provoking them to seek out Injury Injury
sex above other needs. The host’s
skin frays from the over use until Roll a die. Even: Health drops to Health, Athletics, and
0. Odd: Athletics drops to 0. Fighting drop to 0.
their bodies literally fall apart. Discard as recipient of a Difficulty 4 As recipient of a Difficulty 4 First Aid
Numbers: 1 victim; countless First Aid test. If the margin is greater success, trade for “On the Mend.”
than 2, refresh the affected pool.
entities
Difficulty: Vastly Superior (Escape
3, Other 6, Kill 7)
Difficulty Adjustment: +1 if the
person infected by the insonic
brings up any trauma for you, +2 if
you hold any Shock cards, -1 if you
are well rested
Toll: 2 INSOMNIA SLEEP DEPRIVATION
Tags: Warspawn Shock Shock
Shocks, Minor and Major
You are unable to sleep. -2 to all tests.
(Psychic Attack): Insomnia/Sleep
After 18 hours (world time) of As the recipient of Difficulty 5 First
Deprivation
wakefulness, -1 to all tests. Aid success (assuming availability
Injuries, Minor and Major Every following 12 hours, roll a die. of pharmaceutical aid), you enter
(Physical Attack by Infected Odd: trade for “Sleep Deprivation.” an induced sleep for 12 hours (world
Victim): Superhuman Blow/ time.) On awakening, roll a die. 1-2:
Superhuman Smash trade for “Insomnia.” 5-6: discard.

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 Kids C lub S leeper A gent

Kids Club Sleeper Agent

Content advisory: themes
include violence, extremism, and
suicide bombing. Be certain of your
group's desire to confront horror's
darkest themes before using this
foe. Be ready to make adjustments
on the fly if a player requires them
during the session.
During the long and successful
run of Castaigne’s Kids Club, the
imperial government used the
program to brainwash children and
create pro-Carcosa sleeper agents.
After the defeat of the regime, these
agents activate and wear Dream
Clown costumes while terrorizing
the unsuspecting public.
Holt Castaigne created the Dream
Clown character in 1964 to lead
his television show and scouting
program. So many children became
fervently attached to the character
that he manifests as a self-aware
notional entity comprised of
ambient parageometrical energy.
This being, separate from the actors
who played the clown on the show, The parageometrical tulpa may a Difficulty 4 Composure test to
directs adults who still dream about speak through a captured sleeper avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:
him to perform acts of spectacular, agent, or the agent may perform a Stolen Memory/Stolen Loyalty.
theatrical violence. note-perfect impersonation without The promise of spectacle
Kids Club sleeper agents could supernatural assistance. When the and the possibility of chaos
be anyone old enough to have entity has finished with an agent, attracts a sleeper agent to major
watched the much-beloved the victim lapses into a permanent public events like protests
television show, or who was and nightmare-filled comatose and commemorations. Set the
involved in the tie-in scouting state. beginning of an investigation
movement. Once activated, a In an overt weirdness game, an in advance of the Overthrow’s
sleeper agent seeks to avenge the ex-insurgent can detect a sleeper anniversary, and send the player
fall of the Castaigne Dynasty and agent wearing a hidden bomb characters to work security during a
the exile of the Carcosan nobility with a successful Difficulty 4 parade. After they survive a sudden
from this reality. Barring something Insurgency test. If the bomb does human stampede, eyewitnesses all
more specific and shocking, a explode, player characters must remember seeing a Dream Clown
sleeper agent’s default terror tactic succeed at a Difficulty 4 Athletics impersonator at the center of the
is suicide bombing. test or receive Injuries—Minor crowd. Now, the clown haunts
When not engaged in covert and Major: Thrown Free of the their dreams.
activities, the sleeper agent looks Explosion/In the Blast Radius. For a slower burn investigation,
like a mundane adult going about One of the ex-insurgents could, simply litter a missing GMC’s
their business. Once ready to carry as part of their Worst Memory, apartment with Dream Clown
out their final, suicidal mission, be a Kids’ Club sleeper agent. By paraphernalia, bomb-making
they don the makeup and costume uttering a cryptic trigger phrase supplies, and a half-penned
of the Dream Clown. In this state, (something eerily related to a player manifesto.
the sleeper agent speaks in a voice character’s Worst Memory, for Paris: A powerful Carcosan spirit
eerily similar to that of Larry Berger, example), a sleeper agent activates begins manipulating humans by
the last actor to play the character. a player character unless they pass sending avatars of itself into the

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Paris art world. The spirit appears

in this world in the guise of Pierrot,
the reticent pantomime character, THROWN FREE OF IN THE BLAST RADIUS
and uses that guise to infiltrate the THE EXPLOSION Injury
minds of susceptible painters and Injury
authors. By influencing Charles- -2 to Physical tests. Counts as
Émile Reynaud in the production of -1 to Physical tests. 2 Injury cards. Trade for “On
When you receive this card, and the Mend” as recipient of
his praxinoscope animated shorts
at every subsequent interval, Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
in 1892, the Carcosan spirit begins
roll a die. Even: discard. If still in hand at end of scenario,
brainwashing viewers with the trade for “Permanent Injury.”
strange new technology. From then
on, more and more Pierrot images
emerge, the creators of which act
as hypnotized agents for the spirit
and the Yellow King.
The Wars: After decades of
performances in France, the STOLEN MEMORY STOLEN LOYALTY
Pierrot sleeper agents from Paris Shock Shock; Continuity
spread through the continent. Their
-1 to Focus tests. When a GMC flashes the Yellow
pantomimes bring levity to military Discard when you destroy or help to Sign at you, you must make a
personnel and civilians, all the destroy the being who did this to you. Difficulty 4 Composure test
while spreading the influence of to avoid obeying that person’s
the Yellow Sign along non-combat simple commands (unless they are
immediately self-destructive).
avenues. On their journey across Discard when you destroy or help to
the continent, the soldiers might destroy the being who did this to you.
encounter a traveling pantomime
performer entertaining a village
or garrison. Soldiers activate the
sleeper agent when they interfere
with its missions to abduct and
indoctrinate new performers. BRUISED BATTERED
This Is Normal Now: The Injury Injury
viral image of a strange clown
becomes the focus of memes The next time you try to make -3 on your next Physical test. -1 on the
and shitposting groups online. an Interpersonal Push, roll Physical test after that, then discard.
A cognitively dissonant rallying a die. Even: discard. Odd:
you can’t make the Push.
point for far-right extremists, the
image of an otherworldly clown
imprints on those who advocate for
authoritarian violence. Blogs and
online videos develop a complex
mythology around the clown. A
thirteen-point manifesto called
the Dream Clown Code prompts Difficulty Adjustments: -2 transmission
wannabe extremists to take a fatal if a PC displays knowledge of Toll: 1
step into IRL violence. the Dream Clown mythos; -1 in Tags: Human
Numbers: 1 another sequence if you know Injuries, Minor or Major:
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3, the means of sleeper influence Bruised/Battered
Other 4, Kill 6)

134
 N amesa k e

Namesake
The regime’s parageometrist,
known only as Namesake, mutated
into something both more and less
than human after casting a flawed
mystic algorithm that foolishly
mixed Kabbalah with Carcosa.
They now possess a gender-
changing face that reshapes its
features to be utterly forgettable
by observers. The backlash also
destroyed Namesake’s name,
leaving it obsessed with finding
a new moniker to fill the gaping
hole left behind in the universe.
Namesake’s attack can cause a
victim’s name to detach from
its owner and transmigrate to
a sorcerous hiding place. This
erases that name from everyone’s
memory. New calculations have
revealed to Namesake that one
name out there in the universe is
the mathematically correct one
they can permanently assume,
thereby regaining human form. So
far, none of the names Namesake
has detached have fit the bill. Paris: Namesake mixed Kabbalah Namesake may spur soldiers to acts
Even these unsuitable names give with Carcosan-tinged ritual magic of heroism, hoping that enhanced
it an advantage in the form of a out of a desire for fame. Stripped name recognition will turn a name
bargaining chip. It offers to return of identity, they pursue vengeance into The Name needed to regain
names to victims in exchange for against Paris’ famed occult human form.
money, information, or services, writers, who they blame for not This Is Normal Now: Namesake’s
always exacting a high price. stopping them from undertaking failed experiment in the Aftermath
The suddenly nameless will soon the ceremony in the first place. timeline sent them to this one.
begin to fade; without striking a Unless the art students want to lose Never has a world existed where
bargain, they continue to fade and all of their best potential advisers names carry greater fame and
eventually vanish. on all matters mystical, they’d power! Namesake stalks celebrities,
The ex-revolutionaries can follow better figure out where it will next using Instagram follower counts
Namesake’s psycho-linguistic crime materialize and step in to deal with to choose its targets. When
spree by profiling victims of this the One With No Name. an investigator’s favorite star
mysterious memory plague. They The Wars: In this reality, disappears from collective memory,
may wish to restore the name of a Namesake has decided that leaving a buzzing hole on the DVD
noted war criminal, who without it needs to capture a name shelf or Spotify playlists, the group
an identity can’t be delivered to the wreathed in glory, and has been identifies this as a threat to a fabric
just punishment of the people. To systematically attacking Loyalist of reality. Their weird connection
solve the case, they must discover war heroes. Though they fear to Carcosa allows them alone to
the hiding place where stolen bullets and artillery barrages, their remember who Jason Momoa or
names are stored: a mystic tome? nondescript nature allows them to Beyoncé or Banksy were, and take
Tattoos on Namesake’s flesh? blend in among any military unit steps to undo the damage before
Graffiti down by the underpass? in search of the recently decorated. the unraveling worsens.

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Evenly Matched
(Escape 2, Other 4, Kill 5) WHAT’S THAT FOR THE LOVE
Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if you, NAME AGAIN? OF A MONIKER
the player, forgot a GMC name this Shock Shock
session and had to be reminded;
-1 to Presence Tests. -2 to Presence tests.
-1 for each Shock card in hand;
Lose 1 Composure each time Lose 2 points from your lowest general
-1 if the character’s given name is
your in-character dialogue pool each time your in-character
gender-neutral includes a proper name. dialogue includes a proper name.
Toll: 0 After one interval, roll a Discard by finding Namesake’s
Tags: Alt die. Even: discard. store of names.
Shocks, Minor and Major: What’s
That Name Again?/For the Love of a
Moniker

136
 N emesis S pirit

Nemesis Spirit
Content advisory: This Foe the government’s extermination mind to its will with a psychic
entry explores a particular bit of of HIV/AIDS victims, as well as domination effect. In the case of
alternate history: What response anyone else who either profited player characters, a Difficulty 4
would Hannibal Castaigne's or benefited socially from the Composure test avoids Shocks—
oppressive regime have to HIV/ policy. This creature thus presents Minor and Major: Haunting
AIDS? Be sure to portray the the ex-insurgents with a moral Touch/Nemesis Strike. The spirit
regime's genocidal actions as conundrum: defend the spirit’s uses this power to force an
murderous and disastrous, not intended victim and destroy the unwitting innocent to carry out
ruthless but effective. Be certain ghost, or allow it to carry out its its vengeance killing by mundane
of your group's desire to confront revenge but lose a potentially means, or to facilitate a victim’s
horror's darkest themes before important GMC in the process. apparent suicide. The nemesis spirit
using this foe. Be ready to make Nemesis spirits appear as can affect GMCs as needed for
adjustments on the fly if a player ethereal individuals dressed in retro your narrative.
requires them during the session. clothing. Painful-looking Kaposi’s A character targeted by a nemesis
A nemesis spirit is the troubled sarcoma lesions cover their hollow, spirit can convince the ghost
ghost of an AIDS victim seeking tight-looking skin. At first, their to overlook them by providing
revenge on the remnants of the bodies emit a dull glow. When examples of how they directly
Castaigne regime. Kept at bay by they confront their victims, they contributed to the downfall of the
apotropaic Yellow Sign magic shine with peach-colored light that former government during the
before the Uprising, a spirit can briefly restores their pre-sickness Uprising. To do so, an ex-insurgent
now emerge because of the appearance. must succeed at a Difficulty 6
closure of the gates to Carcosa. Along with depleting a Morale test.
A nemesis spirit’s mission is to victim’s vitality, the touch of a A nemesis spirit may hold a
destroy the humans who facilitated nemesis spirit bends its target’s grudge against a particular former

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

government official or officer.

In fact, they may seek the ex-
insurgents’ aid, perhaps offering HAUNTING TOUCH NEMESIS STRIKE
a tempting trade-off to further the Shock Shock
team’s political mission. Or, the
target may go into hiding to avoid Lose 1 Composure and 1 Health When the entity that gave you this
the spirit’s wrath, inconveniencing whenever you receive this card, and card gives an order, you must obey it,
in any subsequent interval when you or lose 2 Composure and 2 Health.
the PCs’ plan to bring them to
perceive the entity that gave it to you. Discard by convincing the entity
justice.
Discard by gaining a core to spare an intended victim.
To dismiss a spirit, the ex- clue relating to the entity.
insurgents must either help in its
vengeful task or convince it that
they will disseminate information
about those disappeared by the
Castaigne regime, making the
history of the disease and those
affected by it well known. KINDLY PRESENCE UNREASSURING
If the team successfully Chit Hit
People find you soothing. You make people nervous.
appeases a nemesis spirit instead
After making a Reassurance Push, Characters can’t make
of destroying it, they receive a the player rolls a die. Even: gain Reassurance Pushes unless they
spiritual blessing in the form of a Push. also spend 2 Composure.
Chit: Kindly Presence. If the spirit Discard when your solution to a
mystery brings calm to the public.
is defeated without enacting its
vengeance, characters can’t shake
the bad vibes and receive Hit:
Unreassuring.
1 -1

of retroviral treatments, thus After encountering a nemesis

REMEMBER THE eliminating the disease before it spirit, the ex-insurgents have the
AIDS GENOCIDE reached pandemic proportions. option of taking up Remember the
Public, Trust
They lied. AIDS Genocide as a new Goal.
Likely Allies: All-for-Ones, In reality, the policy stopped
Renouncers Paris: The modernization of Paris
the disease with lethal force. After has not come without incident.
Possible Adversaries: Mercantilists,
Homelords rounding up likely transmission Over the decades since the
vectors, the government hid the building of the modern sewers
problem by gathering patients and the fulfillment of Haussmann’s
in hellish quarantine facilities, grand plans for the city, many
murdering them, or allowing them laborers have lost their lives to
to die. Homosexuals, intravenous accidents and injuries. As the
drug users, victims of botched Yellow King’s influence radiates
Nemesis spirits exist because blood transfusions, and other throughout the city, these spirits
the arrival of HIV/AIDS in the so-called anti-socials made up gain strength to enact revenge
American Empire played out the bulk of those disappeared. on those who enjoy the city’s
differently than it did in our The small number of civilians newness. They hunt people who
timeline. Instead of ignoring who knew the real story behind profited from dangerous working
the epidemic and dragging its the quarantine worked hard to conditions, showing little care for
feet in the pursuit of life-saving destroy the camps and to inform the lives of those impacted by so-
medication, the Castaigne regime the broader public. Only Carcosan called progress.
implemented a swift and brutal magic thwarted these resistance The Wars: Soldiers on both
quarantine of anyone affected by efforts. Still, this small force formed sides of the Continental War
the disease. Government officials part of what would become the doubt the stated reasons behind
claimed that the quarantine larger movement that led to the the conflict. When they lie dying
allowed the swift development uprising decades later. on a battlefield, some soldiers

138
 N emesis S pirit

they use their last breath to curse former GMCs. Slain informants (or Numbers: 1
those who continue the seemingly obstacles) emerge in this reality as Difficulty: Vastly Superior
meaningless conflict. Their spirits nemesis spirits seeking revenge on (Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7)
return to enact vengeance on those the Carcosan forces now manifest Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if a
who gain power from the war. This in this reality. Otherwise, nemesis PC suffers from a terminal illness;
could include low-level Carcosans, spirits exist pre-Inbreak as the +1 if PC was complicit in similar
as well as humans who trade lives spirits of those killed by medical regime atrocities
for Carcosan favors and influence. profiteering, price gouging, and Toll: 2
The so-called hero of a Pyrrhic insurance malpractice. Post- Tags: Warspawn
victory makes a likely target. Inbreak, nemesis spirits seek out Shocks, Minor and Major:
This Is Normal Now: In those whose failed psychosocial Haunting Touch/Nemesis Strike
campaign-style play, take nemesis products doomed them to suicide.
spirits as a way to bring back

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

The Ooze
Parageometrical genetic
engineers under the Castaigne
regime developed the ooze to
dispose of large groups of enemies
efficiently. This bright yellow,
sentient fluid fuses with and takes
over organic materials on contact.
When deployed for its original
homicidal purpose, it encases
human limbs, absorbing them, and
using the material to make more
of itself. It works very slowly — a
constraint put in place by the
regime’s weapons lab. They wanted
it to consume carefully selected
dissidents, not all life on earth.
During the revolution, the ooze
was used against protesters. Though
widely known, your average citizen
thinks of it as a technological
weapon, not a supernatural entity
or sapient life form.
Over time the insurgency
discovered its secrets and learned
to fight back against it. Burning
it stops its advancement forward
and solidifies it briefly. Shattering their sentient creation. Capable creation become saturated with
it while it’s in a burnt state keeps of learning and focused on anti- heavy Carcosan energy, leading
it from regenerating. The difficulty Castaigne sentiments, the ooze to whatever weird side effects you
lies in doing this without touching poses a significant danger to need to make a mystery plot work.
the ooze or dispersing it further ex-revolutionaries. A scenario The art students might run across
around an area. When a person has might feature it as a tool used by a copy of the play with a packet of
come into contact with the ooze, a stronger Carcosan power in an the ooze hidden in its binding.
they might be able to remove it Antagonist Reaction. A little bit The Wars: The ooze, as it existed
with immediate First Aid. Once it of it slipped into their drinking in Paris, has seen its first instances
has started consuming someone, water could leave them with a of weaponization. This is the
amputation is the only way to keep nasty problem in their home. precursor to what it will become in
it from devouring their entire body. Alternatively, the ooze might seek the weapons labs of the Castaigne
Memories of the ooze still them out on its own, continually regime. The squad discovers
provoke primal terror. People mutating, remembering, and military researchers harvesting
envision the apocalypse as tidal thus regaining the power it once the ooze. This awful experiment
waves of yellow rushing through possessed. exposes prisoners to the Yellow
the streets, devouring everything Paris: Those touched by the Sign repeatedly, collecting the
they encounter. The provisional Yellow Sign may drip ooze from ooze when it begins to bubble out
government ordered all of it their orifices. They are immune of them. The ooze is then placed
destroyed. Any hint that a vat of it to its effects; those around them inside bullets. If a soldier is shot
still remains somewhere is reason are not. Prior to its genetic with an ooze-coated bullet, the
to sound the alarm, triggering an development, it cannot consume bullet will begin to encase their
investigation by the ex-insurgents. flesh, merely encase. That still veins and work their way through
The ooze is sentient, after all, and it provides a sufficient threat — the bloodstream toward major
is always searching for a way out. someone can very easily be trapped organs.
The Castaigne regime only just in it and suffocate. Artifacts forged This Is Normal Now: The ooze
began to tap into the potential of from or dipped in it during their spreads through electronics. It

140
 T he O oze

begins to manifest on sites that

show the influence of the Yellow
Sign, sometimes on the deepest OOZE SHELL BECOMING OOZE
parts of the /yel/ message board. Injury Injury; Continuity
Attention to these sites allows it
to grow in digital format — one You can’t make Physical tests Lose 1 Composure and 2 Health.
requiring the ooze-encased body part. Trade for “Amputation” as
might visit a website to find that
Every hour (world time), roll a die. the recipient of a Difficulty
parts of it have been replaced and
Even: trade for “Becoming Ooze.” 4 First Aid success.
that the display just shows dripping Trade for “Superficial Burns” If still held end of session, the
yellow goo. Once the ooze has as the recipient of a Difficulty ooze has completely devoured
gathered sufficient power, it is able 3 First Aid success. your body, killing you.
to manifest physically out of the
keyboard and the screen, dripping
onto its victims.
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Evenly Matched
(Escape 2, Other 4, Kill 5) SUPERFICIAL BURNS AMPUTATION
Difficulty Adjustment: -2 Injury Injury; Continuity
if you’re wearing protective
-1 to Physical tests. -1 to Athletics tests.
equipment; +5 if you’re trying to
Discard by spending 2 First Discard by acquiring a
harm it with a means other than fire Aid on yourself, or having 1 replacement limb, supernatural
Toll: 0 First Aid spent on you. or super-technological.
Tags: Hybrid
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Ooze Shell/Becoming Ooze

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Parageometric Savant
Once-ordinary humans called
parageometric savants wield the
ability to manipulate probability
through intuitive understanding of
Carcosan science. When the gates
were open, any individual could
become a parageometric savant.
Most are scientists who, when
exposed to Carcosan technology,
discover their intrinsic aptitude
for the subject. A small number of
savants arrive at the understanding
spontaneously, making them more
likely to believe that the abilities
are actually magic. They tend not
to live long, often falling prey to
their own untrained powers.
Savants mostly use their powers
to pursue preexisting goals.
Castaigne lab techs secretly
continue dangerous experiments.
Regime fugitives cover their tracks.
Gamblers skew the odds at the
casino, race track, or poker table.
Politicians meddle in elections.
Others, unable to comprehend
their transformations, spiral
into self-destruction or create
chaos by activating their
powers subconsciously. Ex-
insurgents tracking a series of
bizarre, otherwise inexplicable
manifestations might discover that Then It All Went Nuts” or “Havoc war, military researchers try to
the sole link between them is a Unleashed” if it seems appropriate weaponize anyone showing an
seemingly ordinary citizen who for the bad luck caused by the innate knack for parageometry as
turns out to be an out-of-control parageometric savant to have a part of a Science Jaune project.
parageometrist. greater impact on the characters’ (See the Black Star Magic
When threatened with political Goal. supplement.) The squad might
apprehension, parageometric Paris: In the Belle Époque they face a particularly menacing
savants manipulate probability call it sorcery, not parageometry. enemy combatant possessing
to hinder the actions of the ex- Some caught in the backwash of impossible probabilistic powers
insurgents. To avoid this effect, Carcosan ritual magic absorb weird — able to bend bullet trajectories,
a Difficulty 4 Sense Trouble new abilities. Occult seekers may for example — or may be sent
test avoids Shocks—Minor and learn to wield considerable power, to recover Loyalist savants gone
Major: Jinx/Ill-Omened. perhaps believing that they’re AWOL.
After the Overthrow, some calling on Enochians, Hidden This Is Normal Now:
savants operate with the Masters, or the Devil. Less tutored Psychosocial reintegration tech
uneasy support of the People’s types trigger effects they neither helps companies and Carcosans
Government. Friendly savants can wished for nor can control. An track potential savants. Those with
provide information about the exceptionally gifted savant might more control are brought into
workings of alien technology, gates become a super-powered Moriarty- research and marketing teams.
to Carcosa, or magical creatures. type. Other potential savants, whose
Hand out the Hit cards “And The Wars: In the midst of the powers the reintegration complex

142
 P arageometric S a v ant

has kept in check, may suddenly

and violently manifest their abilities
when their reintegration becomes TELEKINETIC TELEKINETIC
compromised. GRAB & THROW BEATDOWN
Numbers: 1 Injury Injury
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
Other 4, Kill 6) -1 to Physical tests. -2 to Physical and Focus tests.
Difficulty Adjustment: -1 if you Discard on a Physical success, or as After failing one Physical and one
recipient of 1-point First Aid spend. Focus test, roll a die. Even: discard.
know what parageometry is
Odd: trade for “On the Mend.”
Toll: 1
Tags: Human
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Telekinetic Grab & Throw/
Telekinetic Beatdown

JINX ILL-OMENED
Shock Shock
Player to your left takes -1 to tests. When your group starts its next
Discard when that player fails a test. fight, its margin before anyone tests
Fighting is -2, not the usual 0.
Discard when your group loses a fight.

AND THEN IT ALL

WENT NUTS HAVOC UNLEASHED
Hit Hit
Your mistakes caused a riot. Your mistakes let the monsters out.
-1 to Politics tests if your Goal is -1 to Politics tests if your Goal is
tagged Order. tagged Vigilance.
Discard by taking a risk to bring Discard by paying a price to make
about order. up for your lapse in vigilance.

-1 -1

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Rouge Beret
A rouge beret is the ghost of a
slain painter murdered in the prime
of life. These alluring-looking
ghosts, all wearing their namesake
red hats, appear surrounded by
a nimbus of light and exude a
hyper-real sharpness as if they
have stepped from the canvas
of a Renaissance master. Unlike
archetypal ghosts, they don’t haunt
victims to scare them, or force the
living to do their bidding. A rouge
beret appears in areas dominated
by unrepentant authoritarians to
paint the portrait of its next victim.
Then, it slaughters the intended
target, paints another portrait,
and continues to do so until all
Castaignites in the neighborhood
lie dead. It then vanishes,
materializing later in another
hotbed of revanchist sentiment.
The rouge beret commits its
slayings with cool, calculation,
and confidence in its righteous
purpose. The ex-insurgents might
sympathize with its house-cleaning
until they see how broadly it casts
its net. It targets anyone remotely
complicit in the regime, regardless
of the pressures forcing them to
support the status quo.
Time is of the essence when ire of rouge berets. A rouge beret This Is Normal Now: Abzynth has
dealing with a rouge beret. Should is the ghost of an artistic savant released a new portrait app to high
the ghost realize the investigators whose work was underappreciated profile influencers called ArtSelfee.
are helping Castaignites avoid when they were alive. These spirits The app applies one of five
execution, it declares them of vengeance slay amateurs and filters — Impressionist, Abstract,
complicit and paints their death copycats who mimicked their style Expressionist, Cubist, and Surrealist
portraits. It can’t kill without a and now reap unmerited benefits. — to a user’s selfie, turning their
completed, well-wrought canvas, The Wars: The rouge berets are portrait into a digital work of art.
so destroying a painting delays its the spirits of war artists sent to the The app seeks to reintegrate users
spree. front to record the experience of through art therapy and to verify
Paris: Young American painters battle in sketches and paintings. claims that Impressionist art is
who travel overseas to study in Quickly chewed up by the ferocity an emotional trigger. The app
Paris became enamored with the of weird war, they now seek hasn’t gone live yet, and the beta
spirit of the city, and often don red vengeance on the officers who users have been unresponsive.
berets to blend in. Of course, other dispatched them, unprepared, Abzynth has reached out to them,
Parisians know they’re not actually into a meat grinder. Like their not realizing the rouge berets are
French — no matter how excellent counterparts in other realities, they haunting victims who’ve used the
their accent is. Con artists and create portraits of their chosen Impressionist filter, urging them
flatterers prey upon their naïveté victims — which include the to destroy their smartphones and
by overselling their artistic talents squad if they dare to protect their computers that can mimic their real
to the Salon — which draws the superiors. talent.

144
 R ouge B eret

Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Evenly Matched
(Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5) STAB WOUND SLASHED THROAT
Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if Injury Injury
you helped one of its targets; -1 if
you know the ghost’s true identity -1 to Physical and Focus tests. You can’t take tests or make
Discard after a Physical Pushes, or do anything but lie
Toll: 1
or Focus success. on the ground bleeding out. As
Tags: Alt
recipient of a Difficulty 5 First Aid
Injuries, Minor and Major: Stab success, trade for “Stab Wound.”
Wound/Slashed Throat

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Sersinger
There have long been urban
legends about alligators in the
sewers. The attack on the Bronx
Park Zoological Society revealed
there was more truth to the rumor
than previously believed. In the
Castaigne regime’s early days, the
BPZS developed the sersinger. It
originated in a program to create
intelligent animals that could be
weaponized against suspected
insurgents. The idea was to create
animals able to communicate
with humans and follow orders —
but not so smart enough to rebel
against their masters.
Sersingers are large, reptilian
creatures which look like a cross
between an alligator and a wolf.
Their bodies are roughly alligator-
shaped, with wolflike heads and
legs. Organized in packs, they
float nearly unseen in patches of
murky water, their dark exteriors
blending in with the swamp around
them. Though incapable of human
speech, they hum with enchanting,
angelic voices. PCs hearing
sersingers sing must succeed on
a Difficulty 3 Composure test to
avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:
Enthralled/Alien Passion. Those
affected feel a deep desire to go singing to trap their prey, they beat unnatural beasts. Finding keepers
closer to the sound of the singing. your average swamp-dwelling who haven’t already been eaten
When its prey nears the water’s alligator, but they aren’t as smart may prove a challenge. Whispers
edge, the sersinger bursts forth, as wolves. The investigators might in Paris tell of traveling theater
trapping its victim in its jaws. discover evidence of a smarter troupes that wear white masks and
The singing sounds almost like variety, capable of human cunning. show off weird animals that sing
human words, but no one can Even without being particularly like humans.
ever quite make them out. An smart, sersingers still prove to be The Wars: Carcosan energy has
investigation into a case involving worthy Foes as they present a always been drawn to the form of
sersingers might feature a meeting crucial dilemma: how does one large reptiles as weapons. Sersingers
with an eccentric biologist, with a pierce their tough skin without now appear as mechanical weapons
reel-to-reel full of field recordings getting in range of their teeth? on the battlefield. Controlled
and a theory about what it all Paris: In this setting, sersingers remotely, they emit strangely-
means. The songs are deeply veer more towards the alligator pitched noises to draw the attention
calming, and upon hearing one, a side of the spectrum than the of passing soldiers. They fight by
character may discard a Shock card wolf. Hidden away in Paris, a few clamping metallic jaws down onto
(other than the ones received for extremely wealthy individuals their targets. They can be destroyed
hearing the sersinger). keep private zoos stocked with with bombs, grenades, or artillery
Sersingers did not reach the level exotic animals. With Carcosan fire, or taken out of commission
of intelligence BPZS researchers energy sweeping through the city, by finding and seizing the remote
sought. Being able to use their some have begun morphing into control device.

146
 S ersinger

This Is Normal Now: Much like

parrots — with way more teeth —
sersingers learned to mimic the ENTHRALLED ALIEN PASSION
sounds around them. Like found Shock Shock
sound artists, they weave their You may not act against the You love the entity responsible
songs from the sounds of modern interests of the entity responsible
for your taking this card and may
life. Who, aside from New Yorkers, for you taking this card, as you
not act against its interests, as you
knew that the faint beeping of cars reasonably understand them.
reasonably understand them.
and cooing of pigeons could be so When the entity harms another
Discard when the entity is
peaceful? Of course, investigators PC, roll a die. Even: discard.
Discard if the entity harms you or is destroyed (not by you, of course).
hearing traffic sounds in the dead
destroyed (not by you, of course).
of night might be transfixed by a
sersinger lurking under their bed or
crawling around in their closet.
Numbers: 1 or 3 Difficulty Adjustments: +2 Toll: 1
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 2, if you’re under thrall from their Tags: Hybrid
Other 5, Kill 6) singing; -1 if you can see what they Injuries, Minor and Major:
look like; -1 if you have seen BPZS Atavistic Terror of an Animal
records of their creation Attack/Bitten

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Unholy Tears
There is an old, gothic-style freeze in place or flee screaming. possesses the unsuspecting worshiper
Catholic church just down the The victim’s bloody tears flow as a host for its demonic rage.
road, whose altar is covered in throughout, providing another If Rendered Helpless in a fight
angelic sculptures, some marble, visual marker of overt paranormal and then questioned, the victim
some copper, and some softer activity. As part of its spree, the ascribes their rampage to the
stones. They vary in style and artist, malevolence purposefully puts the loss of their child. However, the
spanning centuries of historical host body in harm’s way, forcing various demonic manifestations
aesthetics. Known as the angelic it to continue through maimings accompanying the possession
altar, it’s revered by devout locals and worse. The malevolence does, suggest to the art students that
as a sacred place to pray for however, take care to retain the something larger is happening. In
spiritual protection. body’s locomotive power. The this sequence, barring the entity
One of the sculptures, otherwise entity can only stay in a body from reentering the statue requires
unremarkable, sometimes for seventy-two hours before its that the art students locate a
appears to cry tears of blood. This immense otherworldly power particular holy relic, or perhaps
remarkable behavior can only be burns out the human host. Before a chisel owned by the statue’s
witnessed by one person at a time; the host body fails completely, the sculptor, Nicolas Coustou.
other bystanders see nothing. It malevolence must return to the The Wars: During the wars,
compels a strong empathy in that angel statue, the only object that the same alien malevolent force
person, who also cries tears of can house its energy form. If the lives inside a painting on the side
blood after sitting with the angel host cannot be saved, killing them of a walker. In traditional pin-up
sculpture for at least a half-hour. or allowing them to burn out will style, it depicts a flirtatious smiling
Onlookers witness the person force the creature back to its statue blonde girl with red lipstick and
crying bloody tears. As the victim prison. angel wings. Her eyes are striking;
weeps, a transference occurs, When embodied, the entity can at first playful, but becoming more
releasing a malevolent force from sense any threats to the statue, devious the longer someone gazes
within the angelic statue. This returning if possible to protect into them. No-one can say who
force, left over from the Castaigne it. Though no normal physical painted it. Traditionally soldiers
regime, then possesses the human. force can destroy the statue, the themselves paint these emblems,
For the next three days and nights, malevolence can be bound within it but this was already in place on
the person behaves as though using a parageometrical rite, which the walker when its present crew
possessed by a traditional Catholic the ex-insurgents must uncover, was first assigned to it. When
demon, going on a rampage about perhaps busting a ring of revanchist the pin-up girl cries bloody red
town. regime sorcerers in the process. tears, any soldiers who witness
The possessing entity isn’t a A player character praying the manifestation go berserk three
demon. Its name in the uncanny before the statue makes a nights after the sighting, attacking
tongue translates to “bloodguilt”, Difficulty 4 Composure test another squad in horrific fashion.
and it entered our world through to avoid Shocks—Minor and Until then, beholders of the unholy
the gates that were opened during Major: Unholy Whispers/Unholy tears tend to treat it as a good
the Castaigne regime. This name is Vision. Characters who believe in luck omen. In this sequence, the
inscribed on the sculpture, hidden traditional, non-Carcosan demons possessed person’s skin goes a
in its eyes if one was to inspect take the test at a -1 penalty. sickly dark yellow, and their eyes
it closely, and it can excise the Paris: The unholy tears manifest turn solid black. The transformation
creature from its host if used in a from the Virgin Mother’s eyes takes place over the course of a
ritual of banishment. of the Pieta in the Cathedral of few nights, giving the person who
The force uses its host to destroy Notre-Dame. In keeping with the is transforming time to be terrified
property, commit arson, and attack iconography of the Virgin Mother about it, and for others to witness
people. The malevolent force acts holding her dead child, this it. The painting renders the walker
in animalistic ways, contorting the malevolent force targets parents of impervious to harm. A squad
body of its host in bizarre ways deceased children. It bides its time unwise enough to let superiors
that look reminiscent of bat wings until a suitable vessel sits and prays know about that may find that they
or wolf maws. It exudes an alien with the famous sculpture, which want to maintain control of an
presence that elicits primal terror does not take long in this heavily- invulnerable walker, no matter how
in onlookers, causing them to visited place of worship, and it many crews it destroys. Players

148
 U nhol y T ears

may decide to dispose of it by doesn’t seem to matter at all who

arranging for it to be sunk deep the victim is for the Unholy Tears.
in the ocean, or another means The malevolent force then inhabits UNHOLY WHISPERS
of permanently removing it from the person, causing them to cry Shock
human contact. tears of blood and commit demonic
This Is Normal Now: The unholy acts of violence in the streets. Whenever players discuss what
to do next, you must share a
tears appear on a social media ad Foe profile depicts the entity
prediction of doom from the
that continuously shows up on a when it occupies a host body.
unearthly voices you’re hearing.
target’s feed. The ad features an Numbers: 1 When the prediction fails,
angelic face with a glowing yellow Difficulty: Superior (Escape 2, roll a die. Even: discard.
background and a generic Christian Other 5, Kill 6)
affirmation. The only contact info Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if you
on the ad is a phone number, know the possession victim; -1 if
which investigators can discover you know about the statue, -2 if
was attached to an abandoned host body already heavily damaged
church that burned down years from previous rampaging
ago. It repeatedly shows up in Toll: 1 UNHOLY VISION
various online ad spaces until Tags: Invasive Shock
someone carelessly clicks on it. Injuries, Minor and Major: Throat
The person need not be praying for Squeeze/Breastbone-Piercing On any PC’s Sense Trouble failure,
help or in any kind of distress. It Punch you visibly react to a disturbing
metaphysical hallucination. All
other players lose 2 Composure.
Then roll a die. Even: trade
for “Unholy Whispers.”
THROAT SQUEEZE BREASTBONE-
Injury PIERCING PUNCH
Injury
-1 to Physical and Composure tests.
Discard as recipient of a First Aid -2 to Physical and Composure
test. Difficulty starts at 6 and drops tests, -1 to all other tests.
by 1 at the start of each new interval. As recipient of a Difficulty 6 First Aid
success, trade for “On the Mend.”

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T h e Y E L L O W K I N G B E S T I A R Y : Aftermath

Vibrat
In the search for cryptozoological
specimens, the scientists at the
Bronx Park Zoological Society
found angels. Or rather, they
thought they did until the “angels”
revealed their true nature. Vibrats
are an ancient species. They are
exceedingly rare and mostly live at
the top of mountains, where they
are nourished by clean air sounds.
The BPZS captured a few but found
them difficult to control. At a loss
for a way to use them, regime
forces set up restricted access zones
around their high-altitude habitats.
Vibrats can be distinguished
from humans by their exceedingly
thin and pale limbs and their
constantly dilated eyes. Their raspy
voices sound like multiple people
speaking at once, a feature caused
by divided vocal cords. Vibrats
feed on sonic waves, favoring
harmonious sounds — music most
especially. They hunt musicians,
capturing them to forever play
the melodies they favor. When
vibrats mentally compel captives
to pick up their instruments,
wing-like stretches of light unfurl
behind them — hence the angelic
resemblance. Victims ignore all
their other needs, playing until they trawl the music scene for prey. Paris: Angel statues in Paris have
die of thirst, hunger, or exhaustion. When they grab a choice soloist come to life. The vibrats have been
Vibrats do not regard themselves or ensemble player, they whisk the frozen in stone form since the last
as evil, but rather as hungry beings victim away to a hideout, feeding time Carcosan energy permeated
with a right to eat. Their would- until they kill. After a period of the world. With the Yellow Sign’s
be masters in the old regime tried satiety, they emerge to repeat this return, they awaken from paralysis.
and failed to motivate them to take routine again. Having spent centuries surrounded
an interest in human concerns. A typical mystery finds the ex- by the heavenly tones of organs,
Nor could they persuade them to insurgents hunting a vibrat who is hungry and unable to move, vibrats
preserve the lives of their favorite preying on their favorite hot jazz can finally act on their pent-up
musicians by taking breaks players. When it makes sense for hunger. By researching old legends,
between feeding sessions. one to target a PC, a Difficulty 4 the art students might discover a
Following the escape event at the Composure test avoids Shocks— way to turn them back into marble.
Bronx Zoo, some vibrats returned Minor and Major: Musically The Wars: War might seem such
to their mountain homes. A few Inclined/Musically Exhausted. an artless time that there would be
stuck around, lured by the strains In combat, they reveal long no need for the vibrats to wander
of hot jazz wafting from Manhattan claws and a mouth full of fangs. the battlefield. However, tunes
clubs. These vibrats assimilated Their sonic hypersensitivity renders whistled by soldiers marching to
into human society in the guise them vulnerable to specific sounds possible death are perhaps the
of venue owners, critics, record and pitches and can nullify their most delicious songs of all. Vibrats
producers, and fans, and now influence for brief periods of time. wait in old inns and pubs for a

150
 Vibrat

weary infantryman to pull out an

accordion or harmonica.
This Is Normal Now: Vibrats CLAWED EVISCERATED
now hunt the 21st-Century music Injury Injury
industry. Armed with the lingo of
-2 to all tests. Counts as 2 Injuries. You
streaming, corporate tie-ins, and
Trade for “On the Mend” can’t make Physical tests.
social media brand engagement,
on any Physical success. After six hours of world time, trade
they seek out the latest styles for "On the Mend” as recipient
and performers. When they of Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
have completely drained their After 12 hours of world time,
victims, they tell the press that it’s Difficulty of that test drops to 4.
unfortunate that the pressures of
being a celebrity leads to many
musicians dying young.
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Evenly Matched MUSICALLY INCLINED MUSICALLY EXHAUSTED
(Escape 2, Other 4, Kill 5)
Shock Shock
Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if You feel a strong compulsion to sing If you are not in the presence of the entity
you have no musical talent; -2 if or play music for the entity that did that did this to you and playing music for
you play recorded white noise or this to you. Lose 1 Composure at it, flash forward to the moment where
the end of any interval in which you you are, explaining how that happened.
a loud, non-musical sound while did not make a good faith attempt You can only undertake tasks
fighting them; -1 if you play a to find the entity and do that. you can perform while singing
recording of that one pitch it can’t If Composure is 0, and you are or playing for the entity.
in the entity’s Presence, trade Lose 1 Health or 1 Composure every
stand; +1 if you mistake it for an for “Musically Exhausted.” twenty minutes (game time.)
angel Discard when the entity dies Discard when the entity dies
Toll: 0 or breaks its hold on you. or breaks its hold on you.
Tags: RelictInjuries, Minor and
Major: Clawed/Eviscerated

151
 LEGIONS OF CARCOSA

THIS
IS
NORMAL
NOW
 Blue

Blue
According to urban legend,
Silicon Valley concocted the
infamous blue screen of death to
force users to buy replacement
tech. Wilder theories claim
that the blue screen is an alien
intelligence other sapients found,
and trapped inside a computer
program to spy on its users.
Conspiracy theorists are half-
right: Blue is a sentient techno-
spirit that travels through the
internet to download itself into
another computer. After settling
into a machine, it drains the
computer’s battery or over-cranks
its power supply until it is at
capacity. Then, it hastily switches
locations, triggering a blue screen
of death, transmitting that stored
electrical charge to fatally shock
computer users or fry their tech.
Typically, the blue screen
appears after Blue has damaged
the computer, but right before
it escapes that device to
launch an attack. Unplugging
the device prevents Blue from
traveling through the wires to
another machine but doesn’t
kill the techno-spirit. Instead,
it emerges from the device as
a being of electrical force to and zeros are the opposite. If Paris: Blue is a non-sentient
engage the group in combat. one were to figure out if Blue can entity that manifests when a
Investigators can only attempt be programmed or redirected, lightning bolt strikes an object
the Render Helpless if they have the techno-spirit would stop or living being imbued with the
an earthenware container to murdering six victims per kill energies of Carcosa. The spirit’s
house the spirit. On a win, Blue’s spree. ectoplasmic body radiates
spirit migrates to it, trapped. To date, the extremely online pure, blue, concentrated hate,
Provide an opportunity to learn are mostly unimpressed whenever capable of fatally shocking
about the container, via Science, Blue is mentioned because the its victims. Following Blue’s
Occultism, or Computers. blue screen of death can occur appearance, the spirit murders
Blue’s erratic choice of targets without incident. The fatal shocks six victims who exhibit signs of
follow an unusual, yet traceable are hard, but not impossible, love, kindness, and empathy —
pattern: a signed or negative to trace. Police departments and then disappears until the
binary number that differs from are often pressured to avoid next thunderstorm. Technology
one techno-spirit to the other. The investigating a home or industrial unlocks the mathematical
number represents a list of traits accident — especially if there’s no symmetry of Blue’s movements,
the victims have (and don’t have) fire — and leave the mystery to predicting the spirit’s next victims.
in common; a one represents insurance adjusters.
their positive or shared traits,

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The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

The Wars: The Yellow King

manipulates Blue to send
messages across the boîtenoire WHISPER OF THE SIGN SONG OF THE SIGN
system. Once inside a boîtenoire, Shock Shock; Continuity
it can attack in several ways:
While in your presence, -2 to Composure tests; -1
• by subterfuge, luring soldiers
other player characters suffer to other Presence tests.
into danger with misinformation
-1 to Composure tests. You may refresh any pool other than
disguised as authentic When another player character Composure by committing murder.
orders from command. fails a Composure test by a margin Discard as recipient of an
• by using the keyboard to type of 1, roll a die. Even: discard. Inspiration or Reassurance Push,
up an image of the Yellow or by making a Steel Push.
Sign. Exposed squad members
make Difficulty 4 Composure
tests to avoid Shocks—Minor
and Major: Whisper of the
Sign/Song of the Sign.
• through good old electrical ZAPPED HIGH VOLTAGE
shock, with Difficulty Injury Injury
5 Health tests to avoid -3 on Athletics and Fighting tests vs. -2 to your next Physical test, -1
Injuries—Minor and Major: beings like the one who zapped you. to the Physical test after that.
Zapped/High Voltage. After an hour of world time, Then trade for “On the Mend.”
discard by spending 1 Health.
After safe containment in an
earthenware container, Blue can
be reprogrammed to serve its
captor if the right sequence of
integers, as revealed by Science,
is spoken aloud. The main thing
squad members can do with a
reprogrammed Blue is send it into Science or Occultism allows have Science, Military Logistics,
enemy boîtenoires. the ex-insurgents to find the or Technology; -2 if you are the
Aftermath: Blue manifests parageometrical formula they can recipient of a Push of any of those
as a chaotic techno-spirit that use to examine Blue’s movements abilities; -1 if you have a rating
travels on radio waves, arriving and identify its next target. above 0 in Mechanics
wirelessly to any location. Once Numbers: 1 (per affected Toll: 3
a programmable assassin, Blue device) Tags: Construct
stopped responding to commands Difficulty: Vastly Superior Injuries, Minor and Major:
after the gates slammed shut. (Escape 3, Other 5, Kill 7) Zapped/High Voltage
It follows random, nonlinear Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if Shocks—Minor and Major:
behavioral patterns, attacking you’re wearing metal jewelry; -+1 Whisper of the Sign/Song of the
victims with no apparent if you are Blue’s target; -2 if you Sign
connection to one another.

154
 B otanihive

Botanihive
Formerly ordinary trees
mutated by Carcosan energy,
botanihives have adapted their
hunting techniques to the selfie
era. They take on the form of
startlingly beautiful flowers
or shrubbery, luring victims
by tempting them to pose for
photos next to them. Much like
how flowers use bright colors to
attract pollinators, botanihives
learned the best visual cues to
draw in unlucky photographers
and selfie-takers. They look very
similar to other trees, but the
most picturesque version. That
being said, investigators with
Natural History should be able
to tell that botanihives don’t quite
look like any other strain of tree.
Their branches curl down towards
the ground elegantly, and they’re
constantly laden with delicate and
fragrant blossoms, no matter the
time of year.
Botanihives brush their foliage
against unknowing victims,
releasing soothing chemicals,
lulling them into complacency.
As their prey loses the capacity
to notice danger, the botanihive
wraps them completely in its
leaves, concealing them from luring other people towards it so to attract aimless wanderers.
view. The botanihive might feast that it can feast on them. Bullshit Something about them speaks of
for days, absorbing their nutrients Detector reveals that the tone of artistic loveliness, whispering to
through its leaves. The leaf- a victim’s social media presence passersby to come stand under
cocoons of several victims might has wildly altered in recent weeks. them, musing about their beauty.
be found inside the tree’s trunk at The more people that the When the botanihive consumes
one time. botanihive is actively consuming, its victim, it temporarily takes
Once done with its victim’s the stronger it is. Like ordinary on some of their talents. After
material body, the botanihive trees, they remain vulnerable to devouring a musician, it can
shifts all inorganic clothing fire and the ax. They lash back emit lovely musical tones to
and possessions through the against attacks with prehensile bait new prey closer. Having
trunk, down to the roots. It uses branches. Though botanihives can digested a painter, it bathes itself
its root network to enter into uproot themselves, they do so in impressionistic light, standing
their technological items and only to escape otherwise certain apart from all the other trees.
access all the information stored death, as the process causes The Wars: On the battlefield,
there. Having hacked into the considerable damage. the botanihive is a shambling
victim’s personal accounts, it Paris: Botanihives might now corpse disposal. Part tree and
manufactures images of them be among the trees lining the part machine, it uproots itself
and continues on with their online Seine or waving in the wind in and moves across the battlefield,
presence, despite their being the Jardin de Tuileries. They waft absorbing the ground soaked in
dead. Some messages act as bait, chemical signals through the air blood. Able to transmit boîtenoire

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The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

signals, it skillfully fakes messages

to squads of soldiers, giving them
instructions that will lead them in NUMBING SAP COCOONED
its direction. Injury Injury
Aftermath: Engineered
-2 to all tests. Difficulty 3 You do not wish to leave the embrace
botanihives permit Carcosan
Athletics test is required to move of the creature that did this to you.
sympathizers to communicate away from the botanihive. Every hour (world time),
and gain information about After an hour touching it, lose 1 Health point.
their opposition. By tapping trade for “Cocooned.” Discard when you are the recipient
into one botanihive’s roots, Discard after 2 hours (world of an appropriate Push.
revanchists can connect to an time) away from it.
entire network of the creatures,
retrieving information from those
consumed. Revanchist cells can
store messages to each other in Difficulty Adjustments: Tags: Mutant
the botanihive network. +2 if you don’t know that the Injuries, Minor and Major:
Numbers: 1 botanihive numbs its victims; Numbing Sap/Cocooned
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3, -1 if you’re wearing protective
Other 4, Kill 6) equipment; -1 if you’re killing it
with fire

156
 C atfish

Catfish
The humanoid Carcosans known
as catfish stand around 120 cm
tall, with willowy limbs and
elongated torsos. Microscopic
pincers on their limbs latch onto
victims, much like suction cups
on an octopus. Wounded catfish
can regenerate, regrowing limbs
or even their heads, provided the
torso remains more or less intact.
Catfish live in lairs in cities and
other highly populated areas,
where there are plenty of humans
to prey on.
Catfish take advantage of
modern dating apps and social
media, talking to multiple victims
for months, posing as a potential
romantic interest. A catfish
narrows down candidates until it
finds a single victim that will best
sustain it in the breeding months
to come. Its chosen targets
usually have a touch of paranoia
or anxiety, creating a fertile
ground for dark Carcosan energy
to blossom and spread. while its body calcifies and its Paris: Catfish leave mysterious
Catfish generally choose limbs grow and warp. Catfish objects in public for people
lairs with underground access, offspring sprout from the limbs to stumble upon: they might
squatting in sewers, subway of their parent and grow to the leave a love letter on the hilltop
systems, or the basements of surface, looking like white, filmy outside Sacré-Cœur, or a painting
abandoned buildings. After weeds. Once it grows to maturity, leaning against a wall next to
selecting a victim, the catfish the offspring detaches itself from the Seine. Their bait weaves a
prepares its lair so that the its plant-like womb and runs free story of intrigue, as if created
exterior looks respectable long in the world. by a mysterious romantic
enough for it to attack. When Killing an immobile catfish craving fitting companionship.
the unsuspecting human reaches offspring before it detaches It always provides a clue leading
the threshold, the catfish attacks from the parent requires no test. prospective victims to the catfish.
from behind or above, wrapping Investigators must dig out the Thinking themselves in the midst
its limbs around the victim to entirety of the womb, since the of some grand love story, the
maximize skin-to-skin contact. offspring also regenerate, to catfish’s victim takes the bait and
Sending electric signals through destroy them. reaches out. Characters might
its pincers, the catfish rewires Adult catfish, on the other hand, find themselves investigating a
the victim’s motor skills, seizing are extremely fast, using their missing person, suspected of
control of them. The catfish pincers to scuttle up walls and running off with a mysterious
forces its prey to dig their own drop down on victims. It takes lover, or they might find
grave and lay down in it. The an adult around three days to themselves corresponding with
catfish cuts open their body and fully regenerate a limb, during someone who they think is the
crawls inside of it, being sure to which time it goes to ground. love of their life, only to encounter
collapse the walls of the grave in Once healed, it breaks its hunting something far more sinister.
on themselves so that its nest is pattern to take vengeance on its The Wars: Both sides of the
buried. It hibernates for months, attackers. conflict deploy catfish troops
feeding off the decaying corpse to wipe out soldiers on the

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The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

battlefield. Catfish generally

have no allegiances and employ
no strategy other than what is GRAZED LATCHED ONTO
needed to bait and lure their Injury Injury
prey. They often attack troops
-1 to Physical tests. When the being that did this to
other than their intended victims, you gives you an instruction, make
Discard on a Physical success.
but that matters very little to a Difficulty 4 Composure test.
the higher Carcosan powers. Failure: you obey. Success: discard.
Hunting in squad-sized teams, the Discard when the being that
did this to you dies.
catfish imitate the cries of injured
If still in hand at end of scenario, you
soldiers seeking rescue. When dig your own grave and die inside of it.
patrols or altruistic civilians reach
them, they spring their ambush.
Investigators might wipe out a
nest of the creatures and end up for the benefit of high officials. Numbers: 1
uncovering a catfish farm run by a In some cases, they managed to Difficulty: Vastly Superior
trusted superior. grow back the entire body of the (Escape 3, Other 5, Kill 7)
Aftermath: The BPZS studied deceased, creating a reanimated Difficulty Adjustments: -1
the catfish’s regenerative corpse possessing the mind and if you’re expecting a catfish
properties in an attempt to hunting instincts of a catfish. to appear; +1 if you are the
weaponize them. GLCs supplied Some of these hybrid beings unsuspecting object of its luring
a surplus of dismembered dead escaped during the revolution and behavior
bodies for team scientists to now wander around, bearing the Toll: 3
experiment on. The objective faces of the dead, trying to lure Tags: Alt
was to regrow limbs and flesh the living into their lairs. Injuries, Minor and Major:
Grazed/ Latched Onto

158
 C hirpers

Chirpers
The chirper prefers to attack
while its target is scrolling idly
through apps on their phone. An
inquisitive text from a hidden
number will appear, which seems
to come from an estranged friend.
The texts are empathetic: “hey,
haven’t talked in a while, how are
you doing?”, “Tell me everything”
and “That must be so difficult
for you! I get it.” Who the friend
is and their friendship history
is at first hazy. Slowly though,
memories return as vignettes
in their mind of rejuvenating
brunches and drunken movie
nights. Of course, they’ve
always known this friend, and
trust them with their deepest,
darkest anxieties. The victim
begins to text with this friend
daily, oversharing vulnerabilities
with ease, and the friend is never
judgmental but instead validating.
The good friend becomes a small
comfort to them, a rock in their
daily life. then abandons the victim, who, in them. In public, the person will
The victim behaves in isolation and numbness, attempts talk to the book as though it’s
increasingly troubling ways the suicide. Then the chirper finds a tangible human companion.
more they text with their new another lonely victim to drain. Privately, they’ll scribble their
friend. They slowly withdraw from Investigators might be personal thoughts and feelings
all other friends and social life, concerned about a friend on the page margins within. After
they stop going to their job, and who has recently been aloof, a few days the ink disappears as
they are callous to everyone else. or follow up about a strange the book consumes the victim’s
They turn pale and gaunt as the series of text-related suicides. words, and it ceases its friendly
emotional toll attacks their body. Investigators receive texts from communication. The victim turns
When questioned about who the chirper only if they go to to vices like opium or absinthe
they’re constantly texting with, active lengths to do so. Once they to fill the chirper-shaped void.
they’ll get defensive, lying and start to read them, they make Victims of the chirper are typically
refusing to answer. This pushes Difficulty 4 Composure tests found dead in opium dens or bars,
most relationships out of their to avoid Shocks—Minor and with the book in their hands.
life. The chirper has created the Major: Friend of Carcosa/Alien The Wars: Chirpers gain a
perfect opportunity to strike. Dependence. soldier’s trust by wearing the
A chirper is the texting friend, Paris: A handmade book in an illusory mask of a dead friend.
cutting the victim off from any antique shop window catches the The illusion convinces all who
support system outside its texts. eye of a passerby. Inexplicably see it that the person’s living and
The chirper consumes each drawn to open it, the words speak breathing. They don’t remember
emotional text the person sends, directly to the reader. A chirper what happened, but are grateful
eating their empathy until there is embedded in the pages of the to be alive and with their friend
is none left. Despairing from book, lying in wait for a reader. again. Others believe it’s a
lack of empathy, the victim is The victim relies on this book miracle, considering it a rare
reliant upon the chirper for all for emotional support, and it blessing amid the war horrors.
emotional support. The chirper sucks the empathy right out of The chirper lavishes care on the

159
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

soldier, making them dependent

upon it for all relationship needs.
The soldier’s body begins to FRIEND OF CARCOSA ALIEN DEPENDENCE
wither away alongside their loss Shock Shock
of empathy, and they exhibit
Every hour on the hour (game Every hour on the hour (game
signs of confusion about what is
time), you must contact, or be time) you must perform an action
real. They withdraw from other
contacted by, the entity that gave that would please the entity that
soldiers, and eventually are led you this card or lose 1 Composure. gave you this card or gain the Shock
out into the darkness beyond As recipient of a relevant card “Wracked by Remorse.”
their encampment by the chirper, interpersonal Push, roll a Discard when the entity is
disappearing from reality. die. Even: discard. defeated or destroyed.
Aftermath: Chirpers are
deviously skilled human voice
imitators on the phone. They
call lonely people late at night, chirpers then abandon them for Difficulty Adjustments: +2 if
holding meaningful conversations their next meal. Devastated and you’re upset with friends; +1 if
with them for hours. Led to alone, their victims attempt or you’re lonely
believe they’re talking to an old commit suicide, found in their Toll: 2
friend, these people reveal their living rooms with the phone off Tags: Construct
deepest feelings, and chirpers the hook. Injuries, Minor and Major:
suck them right up. These juicy Numbers: 1 Susceptible/Ideological Capture
delicacies only last a few days, Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
until there’s a hole where the Other 4, Kill 6)
victim’s empathy once was. The

160
 C opycat K illers

Copycat Killers
Copycat killers are exactly what
you think they are: people who
commit murders based on earlier,
famous killings. In this game,
artifacts called curios, which
come from murder scenes and
carry immense Carcosan energy,
drive potential copycat killers to
become obsessed with historical
murders and to carry them out.
A curio might be the murder
weapon, a killer’s memento taken
from the body of the victim, or
perhaps a killer’s chilling diary
or manifesto. The curio is often
something digital: audio or
visual recordings of the killing,
for example. Why one online
recording causes an individual
to become a copycat killer,
while others remain immune,
could be the crux of a mystery.
In most cases, the difference is
an individual who had already
experienced Carcosan influence
before encountering the curio.
It is possible for something else that describe a murder with communities emerge where
to become charged with Carcosan eerie similarities to something copycat killings are committed
energy, even if it is not directly they have already investigated in on a viral scale. Sometimes,
tied to a murder. For example, another sequence. Or, have the these killings take the form of
a picture of the original killer, killer obliquely mention the Yellow challenges to be performed,
posted and then idolized on serial Sign or Carcosan entities in a modified, and built upon by the
killer fan sites, slowly accrues the streamed interview. audience, even being broadcast
qualities of a curio. Digital shrines If you want to ramp up the live over social media. An
to famous killers aren’t hard to mundane horror even more, make investigation leads the player
find online. Frequented by misfits the player characters victims characters to explore online
who identify with the killers’ themselves. They could be communities where killing has
rebel personas, or by edgelord present during a mass shooting, taken the place of makeup
memesters, or /yel/-adjacent or closely related to victims of a tutorials, food reviews, and toy
conspiracy theorists, these sites murder. Then, the same Carcosan- unboxings.
allow true crime fans to meet and adjacent clues should cause the In these cases, the curio is
socialize around taboo topics. player characters to investigate neither a physical object nor
In a Real Normal game, before themselves, rather than leaving it simply a digital photograph kept
the strangeness of rampagers and up to the mundane authorities. on a killer’s secret hard drive.
SRIs, copycat killers act much as (Tread with extra care and Now, the curio is a meme that
they do in our own world. They awareness, securing advance buy- can be destroyed only with
commit mass shootings, terrorist in, before referencing specific the dissolution of the online
bombings, assassinations, and actual murders, directly or communities that propagate it.
run-of-the-mill home invasions. thematically.) Additionally, media outlets and
Hook the players’ interest by After a Normalcy Shift, pharmasocial companies might
incorporating some aspect of an everyone is compromised. run counter-meme PSAs at the
earlier adventure. For example, Because of this, isolated copycat urging of the player characters.
read them newspaper headlines killers are rare. Instead, online

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The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

GMCs exposed to curios

succumb to the effect as your
plot requires. Player characters KNIFE SLASH DEEP STAB
feel a tug but do fully surrender to Injury Injury
homicidal impulses. A Difficulty 4
Composure test avoids Shocks— After a successful Physical test, Counts as 2 Injury cards. You can’t
pay 1 Health to discard. make tests or spend Pushes. After
Minor and Major: Copycat Effect/ an hour of world time, trade for
Copycat Ideation. (The player “On the Mend,” as recipient of a
Difficulty 5 First Aid success.
may specify that the character
irrevocably went full copycat if
receiving one of these as a Final
Card.)
Paris: Anarchists terrorize Paris
with their “propaganda of the
deed,” assassinations meant to
inspire others toward revolution.
Some of these acts of terrorism COPYCAT EFFECT COPYCAT IDEATION
result in high-profile executions, Shock Shock
such as that of Ravachol, a
-1 to Focus tests. When you fight with an objective
bomber, in 1892, or that of
When you use an investigative other than Kill, the Shock card
Auguste Vaillant in 1894. Vaillant
ability to gain a core clue, roll you most recently discarded
claimed that his bombing of the a die. 3 or higher: discard. returns to your hand.
Chamber of Deputies was in Discard by destroying the object
direct retaliation for Ravachol’s at the center of this case.
execution. Vaillant became
obsessed with the other anarchist
after a pallid-faced stranger gifted
him a manuscript of Ravachol’s
anarchist ramblings. unsuspecting troops to take up These curios could include Hussar
The Wars: Every soldier carries the Carcosan plots of their former medals of valor, the ceremonial
a good luck charm. While some owners. sash of an infamously sadistic
carry mundane charms like a Aftermath: After the fall of the princess, or the wax seal of
rabbit’s foot, others seek the regime, copycat killers come from Hannibal Castaigne himself.
protective power of curios the ranks of would-be revanchist Numbers: 1
recovered from the remains of terrorists. They may scrawl Difficulty: Evenly Matched
powerful generals or the bodies Castaignite slogans in blood (Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5)
of the revered war dead. Most above a murder scene, or hang Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if
famously, the entire head of ex-insurgents from a pole with specific details of the curio and
Brigadier General Henri de Gaulle the imperial flag flying overhead. original crimes are known; +1
disappeared from where his In any case, they began their if any PC has already received
body lay in hospital after dying personal crusade after coming the Copycat Effect or Copycat
of quisling-related injuries. When into contact with collectible Ideation Shock card.
these body parts come from paraphernalia left behind by Toll: 1
soldiers who had been under infamous regime enforcers or Tags: Human
direct Carcosan control, they lead exiled Carcosan aristocrats. Injuries, Minor and Major: Knife
Slash/Deep Stab

162
 D eadshift

Deadshift
Deadshift can take the form
of any object, living or dead,
remaining in that guise for days,
weeks, or months at a time.
Mercurial, curious about the
world, and genuinely amoral,
it can be playful one minute,
murderous the next, and perfectly
calm not long afterward. Unlike
most shapeshifters, it can change
size and shape at will, using
Carcosan vibratory frequencies to
bend light and create elaborate
optical illusions.
In Real Normal mode or before
a Normalcy shift, the only people
who know about deadshift are
the investigators, when they first
run across it, plus the various
witnesses and other GMCs
directly involved in that mystery.
In Ironic Normal mode or after a
shift, people who follow Carcosan
events incorrectly conceive of
this singular entity as an entire
category or species of beings.
Members of /yel/ might write that McAidrai BioMaterials when his deadshift can change color,
“a deadshift attacked partygoers containment field malfunctioned. shape, texture, and size — but
on the Upper East Side” or After pushing his assistants out only in two dimensions — and is
“deadshifts can be neutralized by of the way, Doctor Hernandez drawn to revelry and theatrical
exposure to binaural beats.” suffered the full effects of a blast performances. An occultist
A disgraced federal worker that killed him and irrevocably familiar with Carcosa might
active in that group connects changed his body. Interviewing speculate this supernatural event
deadshifts to McAidrai traumatized witnesses, the caused an energy storm that
BioMaterials. He describes them team learns that they watched twisted and bent anyone within
as the product of illegal gene- as a disembodied yellow hand range; they point to a violin
splicing taking DNA from a ripped the doctor’s soul from played by an invisible hand —
chameleon, a spider, and a human his body. Before they could deadshift’s hand — as “proof” of
corpse. Other /yel/ members retrieve his corpse, the body had their unnatural existence.
think that deadshifts are humans disappeared. The Wars: Soldiers on both
transformed by white-sky rituals. The team can learn how to sides of the war hear rumors of
A much-upvoted post theorizes defeat deadshift by locating giggling shadows that spy on
that a missing thief tried to rob Hernandez’s well-hidden lab them, drain their energy, block
the Temple of Hali, got caught, notes. They describe how to their vision, and blot out key
and was turned into deadshift. recreate his containment field. commands/intel on military
Deadshift was a human, but Paris: Deadshift is a two- reports. Deadshift fights in
not that one. Deadshift was once dimensional shapeshifter, a the war, hoping to learn how
the brilliant scientist Doctor Parisian violinist named Mireille to overcome their dangerous
Enrico Hernandez, who devised Le Fleur, created when the gates formal instability and gain three-
a containment field to “safely” between worlds first opened. dimensional substance. In playful
study Carcosan energies. The In her dormant state, she can mode, they sow social chaos
well-respected bioengineer was be found in paintings, sketches, by mimicking printed pieces of
tending to his experiments at and posters. When she’s active, paper, becoming counterfeited

163
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

train tickets, food vouchers, or

identity documents. When angry,
they black out windshields, cause BLIGHT STRIKE BLIGHT SWIPE
guns to misfire, and trip marching Injury Injury
soldiers. In this scenario,
At the end of each interval, you lose Roll a die; lose that number
deadshift is a character the PCs 2 Health, and all other PCs within of Health points.
previously encountered, with your 100 yards of you lose 1 Health. Discard on a Health failure.
scenario tailored accordingly. On a Health failure, roll
Aftermath: Deadshift’s true a die. Even: discard.
identity in this scenario is Herbert
Miller, a guard whose body was
hit with a reality-shifting blast
of Carcosan energy after the
gate blew. By the present day,
deadshift has learned how to PCs discover what deadshift Numbers: 1
move in four dimensions while can do, private inquiries reveal Difficulty: Vastly Superior
maintaining bodily control. that the Yellow King is training (Escape 3, Other 5, Kill 7)
Deadshift can move to an deadshift to move into alternate Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if you
earlier point in time, carry out realities where he is not in power. are a government worker; +1 if you
a command, then shift back If successful, deadshift may help make it sad or angry; -2 if you can
to the present within minutes. usher in a Carcosan-dominated entertain deadshift; -2 if you can
Investigators may encounter universe. PCs can reason with teach it something new
deadshift after they’ve solved a deadshift, however, and by Toll: 3
case. The shapeshifter alters a treating it as an individual with its Tags: Alt
detail or changes form to ensure own thoughts and feelings, they Injuries, Minor and Major:
their Carcosan master’s agenda can change its mind. Blight Swipe/Blight Strike
has been carried out. When the

164
 D isintegrators

Disintegrators
Disintegrators are members The team should concentrate on to assassinate Abzynth founder
of an extreme music scene that stopping the release of the album Courtney Lopez or to distribute
incorporates The King in Yellow and ensuring the permanent illegal Suicide Booth tracks
and other Carcosan imagery into break-up of the band. If team via hijacked Disruptive Events
lyrics, art, and performances. In a members visit a Disintegrators software. Any scenario leads the
Real Normal game, this subculture concert when the lead singer is player characters into contact
congeals around a single band dressed in full Yellow King attire, with the original members of the
called The Disintegrators, which or if they listen to the entirety Disintegrators (always the real
is in the process of creating a of the new album, they make instigators of these assaults) and
concept album based on the play. Difficulty 4 Composure tests to exposes them to the band’s Yellow
After a Normalcy Shift, or if the avoid Shocks—Minor and Major: Sign-infused music.
game starts in Ironic Normal, that A Trick of the Light, Surely/No Paris: Alfred Jarry’s surrealist
single band has influenced the Mask! No Mask! play King Ubu opens for one
creation of a musical subculture After the Inbreak, the night at the Théâtre de l’Œuvre to
collectively called disintegrators. Reintegration Complex curtails riotous response in 1896. Other
In a post-Inbreak, pro-SRI reality, the reach of the band and its works similarly scandalize the
disintegrators brandish the Yellow album. Still, the band plays to majority of Paris’s art lovers, but
Sign in flagrant rejection of highly devout fans in small, small cliques of ardent fans of
reintegration. This makes anyone secret concerts that resemble the new and novel are growing.
in the subculture the enemy of religious rituals more than rock Subtle Carcosan influence in the
those imposing reintegration, as concerts. With the band itself development of this extreme
well as those fighting Carcosa in hiding, the team encounters music explains the riots that broke
outright. radicalized disintegrators, maybe out after particularly unsettling
Pre-Inbreak, name the band’s at gatherings of the Temple of performances.
upcoming album after something Hali, or as dedicated /yel/ users. The Wars: Unsanctioned music
related to a character’s Freaking Or, any group of toughs the team is strictly prohibited among
Weird Moment. If none of the comes up against might include soldiers on the front. Still,
characters keeps up with extreme one or more of the Huss, who can acetate discs of protest music
music, they might encounter easily be identified due to their find their way into the backpacks
mention of the band on /yel/, flagrant display of the Yellow Sign of disgruntled soldiers and the
where dissers and bleebs debate and other Carcosan iconography secret collections of anti-war
whether or not the band members on patches, shirts, or as tattoos. protestors. However, these peace
are aligned with real Carcosan Most disintegrators are not activists do not realize that even
powers. (They are.) intentionally involved in Carcosan their music and literature are
Treat the band’s upcoming plots. Rather, as they constantly laced with Carcosan messages.
album as a less powerful copy of remind investigators, they simply Close inspection of the lyrics
The King in Yellow, with the power speak the truth in the face of of one group, the Hyades Gals,
to warp reality whenever its songs reintegration. As evidence for reveals that their seemingly
are heard. Depending on how you this, they point out that while innocuous anti-war songs rely
have structured your larger game, song lyrics evoke the style of on an unearthly logic rooted in
the band’s lead singer might be The King In Yellow, no lengthy nostalgia for decadent ennui
one of the King’s minor agents, passages are ever actually reminiscent of the Belle Époque.
who seeks to expose the masses quoted. Still, some disintegrators Aftermath: After the Uprising,
to the Yellow Sign. Or, it may work toward violently dismantling emblems of the Castaigne regime
be Cassilda herself — perhaps the Reintegration Complex by became worthless — to most.
licking her wounds after losing a attacking people and places Now, a tiny cabal of obsessed
war in another reality. In any case, associated with reintegration. collectors, most of them Imperial
the band keeps the lead singer’s Player characters are likely to sympathizers, scour thrift stores
identity a closely guarded secret. encounter this sort of radicalized and junk heaps hoping to recover
Shockingly to mainstream society, disintegrator in the midst of items of special significance,
the band leader dresses as, and just such an anti-Complex especially formerly popular, pro-
takes the name of, the Yellow King scenario. For example, a cabal Castaigne music. Presenting a
himself. of disintegrators might threaten collector with a prized piece could

165
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

open channels of communication

with important sources, but might
also lead to the reopening of a WELL THAT HURT CRACKED RIB
Carcosan gate. Injury Injury
Numbers: 1-3
-1 to Physical tests. -1 to Physical tests.
Difficulty: Evenly Matched
After a Physical success, roll a After a Fighting success, trade
(Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5) die. Even: discard. Odd: lose for “Well That Hurt.”
Difficulty Adjustments: -2 if 1 Athletics and discard.
you participate in any of these
subcultures; +2 if two or more
players already hold a Mythos
Shock card
Toll: 1
Tags: Human
Injuries, Minor and Major: Well
That Hurt/Cracked Rib
A TRICK OF THE NO MASK! NO MASK!
LIGHT, SURELY Shock; Continuity
Shock
-1 to Composure tests when not in the
Discard on a successful test that presence of the supernatural. -2 when
furthers the anti-Carcosa cause. in the presence of the supernatural.
On a successful test that furthers
the anti-Carcosa cause, trade for
“A Trick of the Light, Surely.”

166
 D ry- L eaves

Dry-Leaves
Dry-Leaves are the haunted, Carcosan bees release eyeless, pale pink bodies
sentient husks of giant Carcosan nightmare-inducing pollen that carried by a pair of gossamer
bees that have a simplistic affects victims when they’re wings adorned with the Yellow
purpose — pollinate. The pollen- awake; the pollen causes waking Sign. The robin-sized bees give
infused husks, which resemble nightmares in animals and nightmares to anyone — animal,
birchwood, have been chopped humans, which create a sickly human, or Carcosan — they fly
up, sawed, and sanded into items yellow ooze, Carcosan honey, near. Naturalists, botanists, and
that would ordinarily be made which drips from a victim’s entomologists have not made the
of actual wood, including office ear. Carcosan honey is a high connection between the strange-
furniture, books, and pencils. concentration of terror; one small looking bee and the rash of night
Though their husks have been drop can cause a victim to lose terrors people are experiencing.
molded into new shapes, the consciousness. Once armed with Dry-Leaves are attempting to
dry-leaves can reform their bodies specimens of the creatures, the produce Carcosan honey in
at will to torture the owners of team’s resident experimenter can this reality, but haven’t been
these items, inflicting bee-themed use a Science Push to modify successful — yet. Nightmares
nightmares. According to a thread an ordinary pesticide to destroy tied to the Carcosan bees’ pollen
on /yel/, owners have tried to them. aren’t “just” dreams; they’re first-
freeze, electrocute, drown, and Paris: Dry-Leaves are freshly- hand accounts of what Carcosa
set fire to these items, to no avail. hatched Carcosan bees with is like. The sufferer smells,

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The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

hears, sees, tastes, touches, and

instinctively feels all elements of
the dream — sky, land, creatures NIGHTMARE TOUCH MIND STRIKE
— as if they’d been transported Injury Injury
across the planes. When they
wake up, their unconscious body -2 to Composure tests. -2 to Presence tests.
is marked with strange scars and Discard when you take a Shock card. When you take a Shock card,
unusual rashes, leading some roll a die. Even: discard.
doctors to mistakenly believe their
symptoms are psychosomatic.
The Wars: Approximately three
generations of dry-leaves have
hatched, inflicted nightmares, and
died since they first appeared.
During the war, the King wears a Carcosan bees are now human- and his plans for the Carcosan
fluttering cloak of dry-leaves he sized. Unlike their predecessors, honey he’s collecting.
intuitively commands. Military which survived for thirteen Numbers: 1
investigators suspect the dry- months, this generation lives for Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
leaves use echolocation to fly, thirteen years. Dry-Leaves are no Other 4, Kill 6)
like a malformed bat, but aren’t longer under the Yellow King’s Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if
sure how they recognize which command; they are free to inflict you’ve used the object; +2 if you
specific person to terrorize. nightmares wherever they fly to damaged the object; +2 if you
Some soldiers report strange increase their yield of Carcosan tried to destroy it with fire; -2 if
occurrences just before the bee honey. Sufferers report having you have Terrain; -2 if you are the
attacks, and they suspect the the same experience but different recipient of a Terrain Push
Yellow King sends scouts ahead conversations with Carcosans Toll: 2
to mark key targets for the dry- who stayed behind; should they Tags: Construct
leaves. (or investigators) compare notes, Injuries, Minor and Major:
Aftermath: Several generations these discussions yield clues Mind Strike/Nightmare Touch
of dry-leaves have passed, and the leading to the King’s whereabouts

168
 E u phori u m

Euphorium
Euphorium skulk in clubs, raves, A euphorium makes Euo out lives, leaving them with no grasp
and music festivals — anywhere of their own biological material on reality. Someone targeted by
they might find someone (usually powdered blood). While a euphorium can’t reintegrate
searching for the next big high. the imbiber is high, their DNA and takes a permanent -1 on
They blend in and appear to be mingles with the powder. The Composure tests.
ordinary humans as they stand on euphorium receives an imprint A euphorium can only store a
the edges of crowds, watching to of the user’s form, which gives it limited number of forms at a time.
determine who is most desperate the ability to mimic them through When a new Euo user imbibes,
for a thrill. Once they’ve zeroed shapeshifting. The victim might creating a new replica form,
in on their target, they approach walk into a room for the first time the oldest form the euphorium
with a hard-to-refuse offer. that day, only to be addressed as holds is wiped from its mental
Euphorium sell powdered drugs if they just left. The euphorium storehouse. It can lose the form it
named Euo, claiming that it is is sure to be in the public eye as is currently using, forcing a shift
entirely safe, non-addictive, and much as possible to fragment to the new one and revealing it
causes a euphoric high beyond the victim’s sense of reality, as an imposter. For this reason,
any other street drug. Technically, sometimes allowing themselves euphorium take great care to
that’s not a lie. Those who take it to be glimpsed by their victims. prevent surprise consumption of
report a nearly spiritual high, with They only cease their deception their Euo supply. Investigators
ecstatic pulses carrying them into once uneasiness creeps into in possession of euphorium
another plane. every aspect of their targets’ hair, blood, or tissue can make a

169
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

Science Push to synthesize their

own Euo.
An investigator trying Euo A TASTE OF EUO EUO ADDICT
makes a Difficulty 4 Health test to Shock; Continuity Shock; Continuity
avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:
-1 to Composure and A copy of you is running around
A Taste of Euo/Euo Addict.
Sense Trouble tests. doing sinister things. If you
Paris: A euphorium sells paint Once per scenario, after at learned of a new incident involving
made from some of their body. Art least 2 hours of game time, your doppelganger during this
made from it gains a revelatory, you may make a Difficulty 4 scenario, -2 to Composure tests.
transcendent quality that stands Health test. Success: discard. Trade for “A Taste of Euo”
out to critics and colleagues. The when the doppelganger dies.
euphorium can then draw the
artist’s essence into itself, forming
the basis of a perfect imitation.
The Wars: Euphorium now
appear as traveling doctors,
providing medical attention STAB WOUND SLASHED THROAT
to wounded soldiers on the Injury Injury
battlefield. They offer sleep aids
-1 to Physical and Focus tests. You can’t take tests or make
that provide soldiers with the
Discard after a Physical Pushes, or do anything but lie
first dreamless, peaceful sleep
or Focus success. on the ground bleeding out. As
that they’ve had in months. If recipient of a Difficulty 5 First Aid
a squad member consumes a success, trade for “Stab Wound.”
euphorium’s medicine, they may
discard an Injury or Shock card
(if held). Of course, when they
ingest substances without asking
enough questions, they shouldn’t
be surprised to see their own face through other means. By the Difficulty Adjustments: -2 if
staring back at them from the revolution, the labs had armies you knew that euphorium could
enemy’s frontlines. of blank, identity-less euphorium shapeshift; +1 if you’ve consumed
Aftermath: The experiments bodies from whom the powder Euo; +2 if you hold a card with
performed during the Castaigne was taken, each ready to imitate “Euo” in its title; +3 if they’re
regime attempted to mimic the form of an unknowing citizen wearing your face
the effects of Euo. Scientists if need be. Some euphorium Toll: 0
used parageometry to create were destroyed in the revolution, Tags: Carcosan
powder capable of recording but there are still manufactured Injuries, Minor and Major: Stab
someone’s physical form. Over the shapeshifters out there, waiting to Wound/Slashed Throat
duration of the regime, scientists be triggered into action. To make these effective villains
persuaded a large percentage Numbers: 1 in a fight, drive the story so that
of the population to ingest the Difficulty: Weak (Escape 2, their various upward Difficulty
parageometric powder, whether Other 3, Kill 4) conditions apply.
at medical appointments or

1 70
 F latfeet

Flatfeet
The singular entity known as
flatfeet preys on victims using
the extraordinary stealth granted
by its two-dimensional shape.
It lies perfectly flat on surfaces,
gnawing holes in reality as it feeds
on planar vibrations. Investigators
and witnesses may mistake
flatfeet for a stray shadow.
Science, applied to a live scene
or image, might note the shadow
does not correspond to the room’s
light sources. Flatfeet can also
conceal itself in confined spaces,
sliding under door frames, into
drawers, and under carpeting.
Flatfeet eats Carcosan energy
and any living thing or object
that radiates it. It hunts both
Carcosans and other creatures
from the Yellow King’s realm, and
people whose lives have been
altered by the Sign.
The King banished flatfeet
from Carcosa, the realm where
everything it touches is its food.
Stuck in our reality, it intends to as an indispensable ally against Paris: Flatfeet blends in
eventually devour its way back to the Tattered Monarch and his especially well in the notoriously
that world; if it chews a new gate daughters. ill-lit streets of Paris. The group’s
between realms, the Pallid One’s Alternately, they might decide Landscape or Portrait Painter
ritual can’t stop it from entering. if they’ll accept help from a may notice it while working on
Any sapient Carcosan knows Carcosan against flatfeet, whose a subject when their eyes are
the terrifying tale of flatfeet, the feeding will tear apart the world drawn to a shadow that doesn’t
“Eater of All”. Only some know it’s when the gate opens. Even belong, given the available
on Earth, hunting them. It tracks the King wants it dead, if the lighting sources (Painting). It may
their energy signatures, creeps investigators can figure out how come for them by flattening itself
up on them, and slowly eats to do that. against the back of the canvas,
away at their bodies, food, and Flatfeet’s razor-sharp edges can in the spine of an antique book
possessions. Flatfeet particularly cut a diamond in two. If slain by secured by the Belle-Lettrist, or
hungers for copies of the play and ordinary weapons, it dissipates rolling itself up inside the latest
objects bearing the Yellow Sign. into a molecular haze, later set of the Architect’s building
You might engineer a reforming elsewhere in the world; plans.
scenario so that members of it may bear a grudge and wreak The Wars: Flatfeet finds the
the group foolishly come to vengeance on the investigators battlefield a hazardous place. Not
believe the movable sheet later. The team can destroy it wishing to constantly reconstitute
of supernatural anti-matter permanently by fighting it in a itself after being blown to bits
they’ve acquired is the solution vacuum chamber or exposing it to by land mines or artillery fire, it
to all their Carcosan disposal anti-matter. They may learn this haunts the safe tents and officers’
needs. Flatfeet is intelligent; from an informant in their case, quarters of the rear echelon. It
a Science or Research Push or through experimentation on a moves with purpose, and only
might permit the investigators to fragment of it, combined with a reveals itself when it’s forced to.
communicate with it, probably Science Push. The squad may be drawn into a
telepathically. It describes itself flatfeet hunt when looking into

171
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

the disappearance of a colonel

or general who is secretly a
Carcosan. Or they might be CLAW STRIKE CLAW FRENZY
given the flatfeet, sealed for Injury Injury
safekeeping in a vacuum case, as
-1 to Physical tests. -2 to Physical tests. -1 to Focus tests.
a top-secret alien bloodhound, Discard on a Physical failure, After a failure, trade for
adept at hunting Carcosans. or as recipient of Difficulty “Claw Strike” as recipient of
Aftermath: Flatfeet hunts 4 First Aid success. Difficulty 4 First Aid success.
Carcosans at night and sticks
close to humankind during the
day. Careful not to overfeed, it
causes just enough damage to
be annoying. Ex-insurgents may
find one imprisoned in a regime
lab and accidentally set it free, Numbers: 1 Toll: 2
triggering a hunt to undo the Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3, Tags: Invasive
damage it causes. Or Revanchists Other 4, Kill 6) Injuries, Minor and Major: Claw
may acquire the means to control Difficulty Adjustments: -2 in Strike/Claw Frenzy
flatfeet — at least, that’s what a perfect vacuum; -2 if you’ve
it wants them to think. In this exposed it to antimatter; +2 if you
scenario, they are feeding flatfeet, were in physical contact with a
hoping to step through the hole it Carcosan, rampager, or invasive
eats in reality back to the shores during the current scenario; -1 on
of Hali. a Natural History or Science Push

172
 F licker

Flicker
The imaginary buildings called ripple and vanish. flicker, as if they were one of the
flickers pop up from nowhere to Those who linger too long in constructed illusions.
trap and absorb unwary victims a flicker become hooked, and Investigators inside a flicker
into a collective consciousness. feel compelled to return to it need Difficulty 4 Composure
They retroactively alter the repeatedly. Over a series of successes to avoid Shocks—
memories of passing people so visits, the flicker melds victims’ Minor and Major: Flicker
they believe there has always minds with its gestalt awareness. Influence/Flicker Hive Mind.
been a building there. Flickers Individual identity ceases to exist, GMCs within the flicker who
adopt the guise of buildings with as visitors to the flicker become are real people resist attempts to
a hypnotic, addictive energy, like the flicker. remove them from its confines.
nightclubs, betting parlors, or Though a flicker moves Investigators can get them out
concert venues. The illusion, with locations every few days, those with Inspiration Pushes or a
tactile, auditory, and olfactory as under its sway instinctively Difficulty 4 Athletics success.
well as visual elements, includes a feel drawn to it, no matter how A flicker’s illusion hides its true
bustling crowd. The flicker resists far away it has moved from its manifestation — a pulsing black
efforts by prospective victims original position. Enthralled tangle of matter — placing it in
to get its illusionary occupants victims have been known to an imaginary basement secret
outside. Left no other choice, it travel great distances to find it. room. This heart can be physically
has to drop the illusion outside Once the flicker has complete attacked; the flicker defends
of its own boundaries so that the control over them, they disappear itself by ordering its enthralled
removed fake person seems to and reappear along with the occupants to fight.

173
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

Paris: Flickers appear as

cabarets in the most artistic parts
of Paris. They draw in potential ROUGHED UP SUCKER PUNCHED
victims with shows, drink, and Injury Injury
debauchery. If one snares a victim
Lose 1 Composure. Lose 2 Health.
of great prestige, it might allow
Discard after any Physical success, Roll a die; discard after that
them to retain enough volition
or by spending 1 Athletics. number of successes.
to circulate in the world, luring
others into it.
The Wars: There are many
things that soldiers ache for on
the battlefield — a warm bed, hot
food, a bath. Flickers manifest as
a sanctuary for them, maybe as an
inn full of friendly villagers, or a
shelter constructed by their allies.
Squad members may discard an FLICKER INFLUENCE FLICKER HIVE MIND
Injury card each time they visit a Shock Shock;
flicker.
Every 24 hours (world time) make You choose to remain inside a
Aftermath: Despite its
a Difficulty 4 + x Composure flicker, obeying its commands.
oppressive policies and the test. Failure: you need to get When it demands that you act
horrific Carcosan influence, even back to that special place, and against another human, make
the most staunchly anti-Castaigne you sense its new location. X = a Difficulty 5 Composure test.
advocates feel pangs of nostalgia your number of failures so far. Odd: obey it. Even: discard.
for moments in their past, Discard when the flicker is destroyed.
whether it be for their childhood,
or for a time before they lost
loved ones to the revolution.
Flickers now appear as nostalgia Numbers: 1 Difficulty Adjustments: +1 for
bars, decorated to remind patrons Difficulty: Varies by number of each time you’ve entered the
of their positive associations with enthralled occupants who have flicker, including this one;+2 if you
Castaigne culture. They suck in yet to be fully absorbed into the haven’t found the core
survivors who miss the certainties hive mind. Starts at Tough But Toll: by Challenge Rating
of fascist rule. Outmatched (for 1 occupant), Tags: Construct
going up by 1 Challenge step Injuries, Minor and Major:
for every additional occupant. Roughed Up/Sucker Punched
Investigators can decrease its
Challenge by getting occupants
out before attacking

1 74
 T he F ontaines

The Fontaines
The Fontaines are a family cult remaining cult member of her of what happened. They
that manipulates their innocent generation, Lillian believes it’s her notice disturbing things about
youngsters to devious ends. responsibility to make sure the themselves after these lapses in
Two generations ago, Lillian prophecy comes to pass. time, like something else’s blood
Fontaine, the family matriarch, One human body is not enough on their hands, human hair tucked
planned to give birth to a vessel for the Yellow King; he must have in their pockets, dead animals
for the Yellow King. Her own two. Due to Lillian’s diligence, the piled at their feet. They’ve grown
children didn’t hit the mark, but two youngest members of the scared something is trying to kill
her grandchildren, now in their family have both begun exhibiting them, but don’t know what to do.
late teens, are perfect. Lillian has the early signs of Carcosan Lillian Fontaine watches over
been supernaturally grooming transference. When siblings Misty and Calvin, visiting their
her unsuspecting grandchildren Misty and Calvin look at their residence and spying on them
in accordance with pages torn reflections, they see a smiling and while they’re at high school.
from the text of The King in unsettling doppelganger looking She outwardly seems like an
Yellow. These pages, while as back. overbearing grandparent who
mysteriously worded as the main Both teens suffer from insomnia, simply loves her grandchildren
text, contain specific ritual actions experiencing waking visions of an too much. Secretly, Lillian waits
to manifest the Yellow King in alien landscape calling them in until they lose time: then, they are
human flesh. The text whispers alien tongues. They lose several taken over by the Yellow King’s
promises of power and glorious hours at a time, reawakening power, and crave human flesh.
riches to Lillian. As the only somewhere else with no memory She feeds her grandchildren

175
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

pieces of people she has herself

killed, and caters to any other
wishes they have while in this BRUISED BATTERED
state. Injury Injury
The investigators might know
The next time you try to make -3 on your next Physical test. -1 on the
the teens in some way, be related an Interpersonal Push, roll Physical test after that, then discard.
to them, or know someone who a die. Even: discard. Odd:
Lillian recently killed in service you can’t make the Push.
to her grandchildren. Misty and
Calvin are terrified and looking
for help and answers. To thwart
Lillian’s goal of summoning the
Yellow King, the investigators
just have to contend with her and
the few non-family cult members spiriting them to a private bunker return to Carcosa, leaving the
she’s recruited to aid her. near the front. There they torment Fontaines with a bitter emptiness,
Paris: During the Belle Époque, their captives, hoping to awaken their promise of riches and power
the Fontaine ancestors were also Roger’s sadism, opening him unfulfilled.
working to summon the Yellow to possession by the King. The With the main vessel dead
King. The targeted vessels are Fontaines’ son has no idea of their and only one family member left
two young Fontaines, artists intentions and continues to fight to carry on the legacy, they’re
at the academy. They begin against the encroaching darkness now searching for a new vessel.
exhibiting similar symptoms, while they work to subsume his They have found someone to
but still have yet to ascend; or soul. To the Fontaines, the King in marry in; a young man named
rather, for the King in Yellow Yellow represents military power Roswell who is a family member
to be born inside of them. As beyond imagining. Heaven to or friend of one of the player
the first Fontaine generation to them is an endless war, and this characters. Once he’s married
attempt this ritual, the family is is how they imagine a Carcosan to Jessie Fontaine, he’ll be
not yet aware that their children rule on earth. Their son is just part of the family, and they’ll
are eating human flesh. Several another of their innocent victims conduct the ritual to bring back
art students have gone missing, — and might remain that way, if the Yellow King. Roswell wants
and the young artists aren’t even the squad, searching for missing the characters to attend the
aware that they’ve been killing soldiers, finds him before the wedding, where they can meet
them. The young Fontaines do transformation occurs. the Fontaines and witness the
suspect something is wrong with Aftermath: The Fontaines Carcosan ritual as part of the
them, which they confide in their played a crucial role in opening ceremony.
classmates. the gate to Carcosa, allowing Numbers: 2-5
The Wars: The Fontaines are a the Castaigne regime to gain Difficulty: Tough but
successful military family with a control of the US. This was Outmatched (Escape 2, Other 3,
tradition of service going back because the Fontaines succeeded Kill 5)
centuries. The new wars that have in summoning the Yellow King Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if
broken out feel like coming home. into their youngest child, Selma. they seem normal to you; -2 if
They’re trying to manifest The Unfortunately, Selma died a few they remind you of your family
King in Yellow into their youngest days after this incredible victory, Toll: 0
son, Roger, a soldier who is a as her body was unable to contain Tags: Human
bright and hopeful symbol of the full glory of their golden lord. Injuries, Minor and Major:
victory. To this end, they use the The Yellow King was forced to Bruised/Battered
cover of war to seize prisoners,

1 76
 F ootlickers

Footlickers
Footlickers are intelligent alien tongue’s sensitive nerve endings constrictors flushed down the
animals which look like a cross from damage. Each branch toilet. Online consensus blames
between a frog and an eel. Their then moves independently to McAidrai BioMaterials for
goals are simple: they want to grab, twist, bend, and choke its sightings, but the mounting calls
feed, grow, lay eggs, die, hatch, paralyzed victim. Footlickers are for investigation into the company
and start the process all over diurnal, attacking during the day, are a little too convenient. If
again. Their paralytic saliva is so but hide in sewers, swamps, and investigators can figure out who
potent it’s believed to work on all dank places. McAidrai’s political rival is, or
living things — even Carcosans. Other Carcosans use footlickers who might gain the most from
Acute senses allow them to detect as sentinels or bodyguards, the attacks, they’ll discover who’s
victims up to 30m away who making them ideal obstacles in hiding in the footlickers’ lairs.
are either near death or already incursion scenes. Domesticated Paris: The Seine is not immune
dying. footlickers can be trained to track to the reality-shifting energies of
These malevolent reptilian particular individuals by scent, Carcosa, and its watery depths
mutants use a bloated, black allowing a Carcosan enemy to have been infected with its
tongue as a multi-sensory organ, send them against the group as an taint. Eels, salmon, lampreys,
standing in for eyes and nose. Its Antagonist Reaction. catfish, and frogs are just a few
saliva is a paralytic poison; when Witnesses, inspired by urban of the creatures affected by
its forked tongue licks a target, it legends, may confuse them for the dramatic shift in the river’s
immobilizes them to protect the giant sewer alligators or boa ecosystem; footlickers are the

177
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

apex predator in the Seine, and

they consume prey contaminated
by Carcosan metals. The MOSTLY RESISTANT FIND THE ANTIDOTE
footlickers strike after sundown, Injury Injury
and generally in poorly-lit areas,
You can’t spend Health points on tests. If scenario ends with this card
so that they are harder to spot.
At the end of each interval, still in hand, you die.
The art students may encounter
roll a die. Even: discard. Discard by finding the antidote.
gendarmes asking young lovers
and tourists walking near the
Seine to be careful, without
understanding the true nature of
the threat.
The Wars: A mission takes
the squad to a remote coastal
or island village where anglers insurgents captured the facility Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if
have learned to trap and capture and found a fertile breeding your Preparedness pool exceeds
footlickers, and extract their ground in the city’s sewers. 6 (implying a heavily laden pack);
saliva. Their breeding pens seethe Now they’re not only picking off +1 if the GM got you to describe
with the beasts, and some of victims who wander too close yourself eating aromatic food
those cages look awful rickety. to the grates, but contaminating or drink a few hours prior to the
Key villagers intend to strike it the water supply, threatening a encounter; -1 if you have Natural
rich by marketing the substance disastrous collapse of already- History or Science; -2 if you made
to the military. But first, they need strained infrastructure. a Push of either of those abilities
to perfect the formula, and oh Numbers: 1 Toll: 2
look, here are some test subjects Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3, Tags: Mutant
who will never be missed… Other 4, Kill 6) Injuries, Minor and Major:
Aftermath: Footlickers escaped Mostly Resistant/Find the
the Bronx Park Zoo when Antidote

178
 G litch

Glitch
These mini-monsters resemble
football-sized sea urchins with
long purple and red spines.
Electricity, the creature’s food
and firepower, arcs between
their spines whenever the
creatures move. By using beaks
hidden under their spherical
bodies, glitches cut through or
attach themselves to buildings,
coupling stations, and power
lines, from which they can
extract and store energy. Glitches
rarely attack unless provoked;
however, characters can draw
their attention if they turn off the
power to a building or part of the
city. If lacking major sources of
electricity to feed upon, glitches
snack on human nervous systems
instead.
Yellow Sign conspirators deploy
glitches to protect important sites
and equipment. Carcosans can
psychically command glitches
to release their stored electrical
charge to injure someone, or to
short-circuit nearby electrical
equipment. These charges affect
human brains, pacemakers,
or other medical equipment.
A Difficulty 4 Athletics test
avoids Injuries—Minor and
Major: Knocked Out/Neural
Hemorrhage.
Prior to the Inbreak, player
characters might see TV reports
of rolling blackouts and freak
electrical fires that ravage a
nearby forest. Online reports
suggest an uptick in aircraft
and electric car mishaps.
Soon, morning show hosts are
discussing nationwide rolling
brownouts. The creatures remain where they find the fried corpse facilities. Player characters might
an abstract, far-off threat until of the building’s kindly old super. encounter glitch infestations
the characters find themselves After the Inbreak, municipalities while searching for clues in tech
in the midst of their own glitch deal with glitches as an offices, research labs, or VR
infestation. For example, the administrative nuisance by casinos.
characters discover that their budgeting for glitch removal Use glitches as a secondary
shared apartment building’s technicians. Major tech complication to impede
power has gone out due to a companies install glitch-attracting investigators as they counter the
glitch infestation in the basement, feeding stations near their major foe at the heart of your

179
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

mystery. Their presence may

indicate a Carcosan operating in NEURAL
a particular location. Increase a KNOCKED OUT HEMORRHAGE
scene’s danger by setting it near a Injury Injury
glitch breeding tank. You fall unconscious and can
Paris: In Paris, glitches short- You fall unconscious and can take no further actions. After 30
take no further actions for 30 minutes of world time, you wake
circuit newfangled devices minutes of world time. up, trading this card for your choice
like telegraphs and electrical Then wake up and discard. of the Injury card “On the Mend”
If you wake up as a prisoner, and do or the Shock card “Rattled.”
wires, attracting the attention of not get an opportunity to gain key If you wake up as a prisoner, and do
eccentric biologists. The most information as a result, you may then not get an opportunity to gain key
notable use of electric lights in the discard a non-Continuity Shock card. information as a result, you may then
city is the electric lighthouse on discard a non-Continuity Shock card.
top of the Eiffel Tower — exactly
the sort of place a Carcosan agent
might try to cause a scene. exposed wires and circuit boards. Numbers: 5 or more
The Wars: Glitches near the Power outages or explosions Difficulty: Weak (Escape 2,
front disrupt radio signals and at power plants signal a glitch Other 3, Kill 3)
cause accidental explosions. infestation as well as entrances Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if
Armies deploy them as land to forgotten Castaignite labs. wearing rubber boots
mines, stringing them along metal Such a lab contains whatever Toll: 0
wire as rudimentary electric experiments the creatures were Tags: Rampager
fencing. Soldiers call them helping to power and, perhaps, Injuries, Minor and Major:
“gremlins.” experimental energy weapons. Knocked Out/Neural Hemorrhage
Aftermath: Forgotten in To create a weirder version of a
abandoned government Tuner (see Aftermath, p. 63 ), add
laboratories, glitches thrive on a partial or still-living glitch to the
device’s design.

180
 Lost Waters

Lost Waters
SRIs are universally recognized
and often not thoroughly
investigated, and so the bar for
covering your tracks as a human
murderer has lowered. As never
before, bodies get dumped in
rivers, lakes, or other bodies of
water and are never found. A
concentration of these bodies
in a specific area manifests
malevolent energy known as
lost waters. Lost waters are
partially sentient, and have vague
recollections from the bodies
from which they manifested, but
they aren’t capable of cunning
schemes or plots. They move
through municipal pipes, infecting
the water supply with melancholy.
They feed off of the misery, and
the more of it in the atmosphere,
the stronger lost waters become.
(In a Real Normal or pre-
Normalcy Shift game, lost waters
develop wherever undiscovered
human corpses inhabit watery
graves.)
Lost waters infect their victims
with melancholy through contact
with water, whether ingested
or absorbed through their skin.
Those under the influence of
the mildly addictive water crave
it without being able to explain
why. They might draw baths and
lie in them for hours, or guzzle
water by the gallon. If a steady
intake of the melancholy-infused
water continues, the state of
the afflicted person becomes
debilitating. At the worst stages
of melancholy, victims of lost
waters waste away because they
are too overcome even to feed
themselves.
There is no physical form of lost
waters for investigators to battle
against. However, characters can of the bodies properly suffices. might experience flashes of deep
dissipate the energy of the lost Of course, the water around the melancholy from time to time.
waters by finding the corpses, bodies is the most saturated Investigators coming into
identifying them, and returning with melancholy. Dissipating contact with the water make
the bodies to their loved ones. If lost waters alleviates most of its Difficulty 4 Composure tests to
that proves impossible, disposing victims’ symptoms, though they avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:

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The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

Melancholy/Overcome.
Paris: Despite concerted
efforts to move the dead to MELANCHOLY OVERCOME
the catacombs, bodies still lie Shock Shock;
unmarked under Parisian feet.
Focus tests take a penalty equal Focus tests take a penalty equal
When Carcosan energy stirs up
to the number of Shock cards to the number of Shock cards
the restless unnamed dead, the you have in your hand. you have in your hand.
resulting lost waters seep into When you fail any test, make a Once an hour (game time), make
wine, water, and food. Most of the decision prompted by profound angst. a self-sabotaging decision.
bodies are too old to identify, but Discard on destruction of the hazard Discard on destruction of the hazard
reducing the overcrowding helps or entity that did this to you. or entity that did this to you.
dissipate the energy. Investigators
might find themselves pursuing
a formidable Carcosan entity
that made its lair on lost water- lost waters are not taken care of, a note. This often turns into a
infested grounds to avoid the soldiers carry the melancholy relentless cycle: the melancholy
detection. away from the site and endure causes more people to resort to
The Wars: Unidentified bodies flares of despondency until the the GLCs. Unable to collect in the
on the battlefield manifest lost waters are defeated. self-cleaning suicide machines,
melancholic energy and Aftermath: People who leave melancholic energy instead pools
contaminate the surrounding behind their lives in the middle in water sources connected to
earth. Soldiers might move of the night in favor of the GLCs the victim’s life. Investigators
locations to find themselves manifest melancholy after they might look into manifestations
falling victim to soul-deep are gone. They are more likely to centered around a backyard
sadness. The enemy sometimes create lost water energy if they water feature, a hot water tank,
leaves unmarked mass graves and disappear without informing or the pool at the hotel that
lures soldiers right over the graves loved ones, and didn’t leave employed the suicide victim.
to make them vulnerable. If the

182
 M idnight M are

Midnight Mare
A midnight mare is a settles over a sleeping victim’s this might include prayer, religious
psychotropic, ambulatory plant nose and mouth. Once the victim icons, and symbols of faith. This
that does not require sunlight, inhales the pollen, the particles does not mean that the King in
water, fertilizer, or ground to react and spread into their lungs Yellow quails before the innate
live. The flowering plant is and bloodstream, forging a power of any creed. Rather,
recognizable because it stands direct link between the sleeper the psychic vibrations given off
out; its petals have blotches on and the Yellow King. During this by someone drawing on deep
them that look like the Yellow transformation, the victim sleeps conviction disrupts the plant’s
Sign, and it runs on four roots like fitfully and suffers from a terrible alien aura. Secular types rarely
a galloping horse. nightmare. think of themselves as calling
This Carcosan species feeds The plant can attack pursuers by on their beliefs in the same way,
on a steady diet of negative shooting pollen at them, adding but could attain the necessary
emotions and is magnetically more victims and supplicants mental state through meditation,
attracted to humans who are the Yellow King can manipulate. the repetition of an affirmation,
constantly stressed. Whether a Any Yellow Sign conspiracy or resorting to a thought pattern
person is anxious about work or could use midnight mares against learned in cognitive behavioral
worried about a break-up, the investigators probing them, as an therapy. Whatever the source,
midnight mare suddenly blooms Antagonist Reaction or to protect even a minute or so of sustained
near an open window or air duct key, clue-rich locations. focus on the belief or mental
outside their home at the stroke Though its pollen is devastating, routine causes the plant’s petals
of midnight. the plant is vulnerable to fervent to wither and rot.
The midnight mare emits a expressions of sincere belief. In In Ironic Normal or post-
flurry of mite-sized pollen that its most culturally obvious form, Normalcy Shift mode, EMTs

183
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

discreetly shuffle victims off to

Abzynth for reintegration. People
who refuse their help report SOUL SWIPE YELLOW DOOM
“missing time,” and wake up in a Injury; Shock Injury; Shock; Continuity
library, police station, hospital,
As recipient of dream command from If still in hand after 24 hours (world
or military compound with no
the Yellow King, you must obey it, time), your character dies.
recollection of their nightmare.
or gain the card “Yellow Doom.” Discard by striking a significant
Paris: Midnight mares home blow against the forces of Carcosa.
in on innocent minds uniquely
susceptible to King in Yellow
imagery. They attack at midnight,
emit a cloud of pollen, and then
move on to their next target.
Victims who fail to purge the
pollen from their body within killed if members of the clergy, or in other sequences. Any weird
days succumb to the King’s committed philosophers, can find behavior, from the sudden
domination, becoming conduits the will to remain calm. Pollen emptying of a bank account to
for his will. Pollinated victims may thralls often follow the plants that inexplicable murder, could lead
form a guard around a plant as it infected them, inducing panic the ex-insurgents towards the
approaches its latest target. Art and terror to prevent the mares plant owner, and then to the
students looking for a cure might from being destroyed. The squad sinister botanist behind it all.
use Natural History, Research, may wonder if targeted locations Numbers: 1
or Science to find clues in the are strategically important or if Difficulty: Tough but
Bibliothèque Mazarine, or the the plants are being used as a Outmatched (Escape 2, Other 3,
Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève. distraction. Kill 5)
The Wars: The midnight mares Aftermath: Midnight Difficulty Adjustments: +1
have sensed the trauma of war mares liberated from regime for each Shock card you hold;
and are instinctively producing hydroponics labs are being sold +2 if you just woke up; -1 if you
pollen in greater quantities. on the black market, kept in discarded 1 or more Shock cards
Carcosans embedded among terrariums. Owners employ them this session; -2 if you’re praying or
the enemy have ordered their for reasons ranging from petty making a call to belief
forces to collect midnight mares slights to vengeance. Simple Toll: 0
and release them strategically to parageometrical mantras anyone Tags: Invasive
prepare roads, fields, and forests can use permit the control over Injuries, Minor and Major: Soul
ahead of an invasion. Despite their the plants Carcosans exercise Swipe/Yellow Doom
numbers, the midnight mares
aren’t more capable and can be

184
 O othecoid

Oothecoid
Oothecoids are insectoid Unchecked, the creature grows Oothecoid Slime. A Forensic
parasites that take control of the these casing mounds as large Anthropology or Science Push
bodies of human hosts. In their as possible. The biggest casing allows a character to create an
true form, they resemble hand- structures fill entire apartments. antidote. An antidote concocted
sized cockroaches or mantises. Oothecoids also kidnap humans by a GMC can be gained by
Once embedded in the abdomen and use them for food, which they investigation.
of a victim, oothecoids slowly store along with the eggs in their An oothecoid host fights to the
take over their hosts and bend excreted structures. An oothecoid death to protect its nest. Newly-
their will toward creating a befuddles its victim with a spray hatched oothecoids attempt to
suitable home for their thousands that contains the same enzymes feed on any nearby humans, but
of offspring. as the egg case slime. Upon quickly disperse in the presence
To build their egg casings, hatching, new oothecoids eat of smoke or fire. While a host
oothecoids create a protein- both the casing and the people can fight with human weapons,
rich, chitinous substance within trapped inside, as part of their the oothecoid prefers to drug its
their hosts’ stomachs. The goo, first meal. opponents with its spray rather
once vomited up along with the Player characters exposed to than kill a fresh meal outright.
oothecoid’s eggs, hardens and the oothecoid’s goo must succeed Hatchlings attempt to swarm and
protects the eggs. These casings at a Difficulty 4 Health test or spray potential food.
vary in size and attach to walls experience the effects of the Pre-Inbreak mysteries
and ceilings, or can stand freely substance — Injuries—Minor involving oothecoids center
and resemble a huge anthill. and Major: Oothecoid Spray/ on stolen identities, strange

185
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

disappearances, and the threat of

an oothecoid hatchling outbreak.
Ways to hook your players after a OOTHECOID SPRAY OOTHECOID SLIME
Normalcy Shift include: Injury Injury
• shady representatives from
-1 to Focus and Presence tests -2 to all tests
McAidrai Biomaterials
Discard for “Draggy” at next If this is your Final Card, your
hire the player characters
interval. Discard, refreshing character becomes host to
to collect a sample of Health, by taking the antidote. an oothecoid as a GMC.
egg casing from a newly Discard by taking the antidote.
uncovered oothecoid nest.
• the Journal for Incident
Studies warns against “ooth,”
a new street drug made from
oothecoid enzyme spray.
• an escape room company’s The Wars: During the
newest attraction, Insect Continental War, anyone could be
Invasion!, receives rave reviews an oothecoid pretender. Loathe DRAGGY
praising the experience’s to debase themselves with direct Injury
“life-like props and convincing fighting, oothecoids insinuate
Choose one General ability type:
alien architecture.” themselves into the body-rich
Focus, Physical, or Presence.
In any case, the team’s best conflict as doctors, nurses, and
-1 to tests of that type.
chance of completely eradicating aide-de-camps. A squad member After any failure, discard if you
an oothecoid nest is to kill the recuperating in a military hospital have no other non-Continuity
builder and then burn the entire might stumble onto the secret Shock or Injury cards.
structure to the ground. morgue that hides an oothecoid
Paris: Powerful businessmen nest.
seek leisure in the Montmartre Aftermath: Promising to
district and frequent Le Rat Mort, helpfully disappear those with
a risqué drinking establishment. past Castaignite connections, the Numbers: 1 host with 5-10
When an oothecoid madam takes creatures promote themselves as hatchlings
over management of the bar, “reputation repairers.” Offering Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
its beautiful young waitresses facial reconstruction surgery Other 4, Kill 6)
begin acting strangely. In fact, and new documents to those Difficulty Adjustments: -2 if
they have been murdered, and willing to pay handsomely, they an antidote to the oothecoid
oothecoid hatchlings have kill their clients and use the ruse enzymes is administered
claimed their bodies. to procure a steady supply of beforehand
unmissed bodies. Toll: 2
Tags: Alt, Carcosan
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Oothecoid Spray/Oothecoid
Slime

186
 T he O rder of B aphomet

The Order of Baphomet

The Order of Baphomet has lend themselves an uncanniness, Order of Baphomet, these rituals
existed in secret for several not unlike Carcosan imagery. and texts call upon a Carcosan
generations. They’re a group They imbue their dark metallic demigod, unrelated to European
of absurdly rich artists who obelisks, surreal alien landscape demonology. In the name of
worship the demon Baphomet, paintings, and atmospheric Baphomet, they’re strengthening
of European occult tradition. video installations with obscure an alien being in Carcosa, named
(Investigators with Occultism can symbology they believe to be Utummuz, and with enough
attest that this entity was first demonic. While each artist power, soon it’ll be able to break
mentioned in the 14th century, in creates work in different through to our world. If they knew
relation to the trials of the Knights media, their devotion to the more about demonology, they’d
Templar, and was popularized in demon transcends how they spot telltale divergences from
a more esoteric context by the communicate visually. standard occult practices. Lacking
19th-century French ceremonial Their worship extends beyond the patience to do real research,
magician Éliphas Lévi.) artmaking into their lifestyles as they instead trust in their Order’s
The Order is spiritually devoted well, following the doctrine of traditions rather blindly.
through artistic expression. Baphomet to act in accordance The Order of Baphomet also
Despite their wealth, they do with demonic ethics. The Order performs more traditional
have creative talent that is has deciphered these rules from demon worship through human
showcased in exclusive galleries an old apocryphal Christian tome sacrifice. Instead of spilling blood,
for the ultra-rich. The abstract that has been with the group for members of the Order will cover
post-modern shapes and forms some time. Unbeknownst to the their naked bodies in painted

187
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

Yellow Signs and dance wildly

around a bound victim. Far from
some banal pagan performance DAGGER CUT DEEP STAB
art, this dance is terrifying to Injury Injury
the victim, bending space and
time. Wherever the victim goes After a successful Physical test, Counts as 2 Injury cards. You can’t
make tests or spend Pushes. After
for the next 24 hours, Carcosa roll a die. Even: discard. an hour of world time, trade for
follows them, manifesting within “On the Mend,” as recipient of a
Difficulty 5 First Aid success.
the physical space around them.
Reality bends around them, which
makes the casual viewer of this
phenomenon disbelieve their own
reality like they’re staring into a
portal. The psychic damage this
does to people’s minds is scarring. art historians. Their rituals are benefitted not only humans
At the end of the 24 hours, the same, except they sacrifice but a few Carcosans he had
Utummuz’s inky tentacles pull artists, who are compelled to in mind. Through a series of
the victim into Carcosa, and the create demonic artwork that strategic sacrifices, the Order
spell ends. With each successful psychically scars viewers. The art succeeded in bringing Utummuz
casting of this spell and devouring students need to find and destroy to America during this time.
of a human, Utummuz grows the artwork of the Order to break He left a bewildering effect
closer to entering our world. To the spell and save the artist. on the land he inhabited in a
reverse the spell, investigators The Wars: The Order of secret government facility just
must contain the victim away Baphomet is a secret group of outside Chicago, where he was
from the public eye, resist the demon worshipers composed of summoned. Utummuz caused
mind-altering effects, and hide higher-ranking officers in several strange fluctuations of time and
the sacrifice from Utummuz regiments. The officers don’t care space, opening his own private
through some supernatural which “side” they’re on in the war; gate to Carcosa. It allowed
means. only their collective worship of movement of creatures and
Paris: During the Belle Époque, Baphomet, who unbeknownst to people between the realms,
the Order of Baphomet has them is Utummuz, matters. They unmonitored by the regime. The
a branch in Paris, who also use the cover of war’s violence to rebellion sent Utummuz and most
inadvertently worships Utummuz. find victims for their gory human of the escapees back to Carcosa
They are comprised of artists sacrifices. These rituals invoke when they toppled the Castaigne
creating similar demonically- many-tentacled creatures to the regime. After the fall, those of the
inspired artwork and holding the battlefield, which tear into human Order that remained continued
same ritual sacrifices. However, flesh and then disappear after their worship once again without
their guide to these dark arts is the battle. The officers carve government aid. The insurgency
direct from The King in Yellow small alien monsters from scrap closed Utummuz’s portal, but
text. This group calls themselves wood to bring these Carcosan enough residual reality drift
“The Order” and claims no creatures, the heralds of remains that the Order considers
Christian demons. One or two Utummuz, from beyond the gate it a prime candidate to reopen.
of the Order showcase publicly, and into their reality. As agents Numbers: 7
but the rest of their art hangs of Carcosa, their goal is as much Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
in more radical, often private human death as possible, which Other 4, Kill 6)
salons, which flourish on taboo or will ultimately summon Utummuz Difficulty Adjustments: -1
sensational shows. The paintings to their reality. you’re drawn to artists, -2 sense of
depict horror, gore, and violence, Aftermath: Emperor Holt reality is already wavering
unheard of during this time of supported the Order during his Toll: 1
fashionable portraiture and regime, granting them power Tags: Human
colorful impressionism. They hide and access that even their great Injuries, Minor and Major:
diabolical undertones in clever wealth couldn’t have bought. Dagger Cut/Deep Stab
visual symbolism, undetectable Reversing anti-immigration laws
to all but the most observant

188
 S adboi

Sadboi
Certain Carcosan nobles have their victims’ emotion primarily willpower of the target and the
developed a taste for human through face-to-face encounters. psychic strength of the attacker,
emotion. In order to harvest this Later, they discovered that their allowing the investigators time
precious psychic nectar, they ability could be transferred to save a favored GMC. Caught
have altered some maladjusted through media such as political quickly enough, petrifaction
humans and created sadbois. tracts and circuit letters. In reverses after the sadboi is
With Carcosan-powered psychic modern times, social media and apprehended, run out of town,
abilities, these internet edgelords the internet have multiplied or otherwise defeated. Sadbois
drain their victims of emotion and the reach of sadbois and their who do not want to be identified
turn their bodies to literal stone. emotion-sucking power by orders may hide their crime by arranging
A sadboi appears as a normal of magnitude. for the statue to be hauled off to
human in all physical respects. They act, wittingly or not, as locations they control.
Their demeanor seems guarded, collection and bottling plants Victims who have recently
though an aesthetic affectation for Carcosans who drink human undergone a personally fraught
emphasizing graphic shirts with emotion. Willing agents get emotional event, such as a
edgy slogans, or supposedly momentary relief from their own breakup or death in the family,
ironic jokes about death, melancholy when they transfer may become new sadbois
depression, and suicide, can hijacked emotions to their pallid themselves.
offset this assumption. Because masters. Investigators engaging with
of their own deep sadness, Targets of emotion drain a sadboi’s mentally enervating
investigators will rarely find a eventually petrify into communications must make
sadboi outside of their home. calcite statues. The pace of Difficulty 4 Composure or Morale
Sadbois first appeared during the transformation varies tests to avoid Injuries—Minor
the Belle Époque and drained unpredictably, according to the and Major: Lethargy/Chalky.

189
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

Receiving either as a Final Card

means full calcification, which
the other characters might still BLOW TO THE HEAD RINGING CRANIUM
reverse. Injury Injury
In the obvious mystery starring
-2 to Sense Trouble tests. -2 to Focus and Presence
a sadboi, the investigators
tests; -1 to Physical tests.
discover that an acquaintance
After four hours of world time,
has disappeared or turned up trade for “Blow to the Head.”
as a statue, and then encounter
another target going through the
stages of emotional drain. The
target might be lethargic the
first time they meet, then listless
and covered in chalk dust the
next, and paralyzed on a third
encounter. They hunt the sadboi,
discover its powers, and save one LETHARGY CHALKY
or both victims. Injury Injury
In a sequel, a gang war might
-1 to Physical tests. -3 to Physical tests.
break out between Carcosans
Discard by delivering a setback to Discard when the entity that
posing as human criminals, both
the entity that caused this effect. caused this effect is defeated.
of them serious addicts fighting
over custody of a particularly
effective sadboi.
Paris: Burnt-out radicals and
washed-up inventors clog Parisian
coffee shops and bars. Especially
melancholic individuals among
them fall prey to the sway of small village when such writings residence, a Castaignite sadboi
Carcosan propagandists. Their begin circulating in a garrison might have the one remaining
decadent tracts promote a town, and troops and civilians copy of an old-world document
nihilistic worldview. The art begin turning to stone. needed by the player characters.
students may find that a formerly Aftermath: A network of Numbers: 1
vivacious friend has turned to sadboi zinesters passes around Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
stone after attending meetings revolutionary fliers, revanchist Other 4, Kill 6)
held by such a garçon triste.sThe propaganda, and reproductions of Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if you
Wars: Wartime correspondents destroyed statuary and other art. play your character as insensitive,
cover every aspect of the conflict. In their melancholic worship of a thick-skinned or stoic; +1 if you
Neither propagandistic nor world gone forever, their writings play your character as melancholy
jingoistic, some citizen reporters and discussions suck the life out or empathetic
depict the conflict with enough of those who otherwise might Toll: 2
bleak realism that it literally sucks have helped to build a new world. Tags: Alt
the morale from anyone, military Found in a squat or holed up in Injuries, Minor and Major: Blow
or civilian, reading their reports. an aristocrat’s newly bombed-out to the Head/Ringing Cranium
The squad might investigate a

190
 T he S wayed

The Swayed
The swayed are humans
belonging to a secret order
dedicated to strengthening the
influence of Carcosa over the
world. Unlike humans who are
victims of trances or specific
compulsions, the swayed have
been neurologically altered by
long term exposure to Carcosa
and the Yellow Sign, leaving
them irreversibly bound. Some
are victims of misfortune; others
sought the transformation out of a
desire for power.
The swayed operate in cells
with very loose power structures.
There is little communication
between the individual members
within a cell, though they operate
in a unified way towards the
same goal. A scenario featuring
the swayed might give several
explanations behind their ability
to function:
• Different cells receive
their orders from different
entities and work towards Whoever commands them, even when fighting, they
opposing goals. cells wage psychologically appear hyper-competent, but
• They receive their orders destabilizing campaigns against not overtly inhuman. Anyone
from a powerful Carcosan the places they live. The shocking the investigators meet could
entity hidden in this realm. and violent events they stage be swayed — a high-powered
• They receive their orders from leave people wondering if their businessman, the grocer down
the Yellow King or one of his societies are coming apart. They the street, the friendly girl next
daughters from Carcosa. may take on a supernatural door. Their dispositions shift from
• They follow no explicit quality, threatening the friendly and open to dulled and
directives but function Reintegration status of observers unresponsive when they break
as a hive mind. and nearby residents. Viewing an from ordinary life to embark
The first explanation lets you event orchestrated by the swayed on a mission. The swayed can
weave a complex storyline needs Difficulty 4 Composure be identified by a tattoo of
featuring competing swayed success to avoid Shocks— the Yellow Sign enmeshed in
groups, perhaps all showing up at Minor and Major: Susceptible/ a string of swirling tentacles
the scenario’s end for a massive Ideological Capture. Disruptive covering the length of their
climactic confrontation. Events LLC is one project of the backbone. Investigators might
The second gives investigators a swayed, though there are many find themselves questioning
specific target to find and defeat: more that haven’t been so widely tattoo parlors for clues about
the Carcosan entity. reported. the identities of the swayed, or
The third and fourth make it Though no more invulnerable scouring online videos of strange
harder to experience absolute to injury or disease than and dissonant events.
triumph over the swayed as a normal humans, they are more Paris: The swayed work in
whole. This allows you to bring resilient, faster, and stronger, performance groups, traveling
them back as secondary villains having been strengthened from place to place, putting on
in follow-up scenarios, after a by the Yellow Sign. Nothing enactments of the play. They
mystery centering on them. betrays this enhancement; arrive uninvited, exuding a

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The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

strange and compelling energy.

They drift into a square or
park from different directions, PICKED UP AND MONSTROUS
wearing unnerving masks. They THROWN HARD BATTERING
act out The King in Yellow with Injury Injury
oddly detached voices and
Lose 2 Health and 2 Composure. -2 to Physical tests. Counts as 2
expressionless faces, and then
Discard after half an Injury cards. Trade for the card
leave their shocked audiences,
hour (world time). “On the Mend” as recipient of
departing once more in opposite Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
directions without a further word. If still in hand at end of scenario,
The Wars: The swayed are trade for “Permanent Injury.”
squads of soldiers aware of the
higher power structures at play.
Having wormed their way into
high-ranking positions, they issue design gateways between realms Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
orders to unsuspecting troops, so that they can bring back the Other 4, Kill 6)
furthering their inhuman agenda. exiled powers. They may behave Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if you
If you’ve used Carcosan nobles as like any other regime holdovers knew they were a swayed before
the evil officer at the center of a until the final confrontation when entering into combat; -2 if you
mystery too many times, sub in a they reveal their superhuman knew who they were before they
member of the swayed instead. strength to tear their way through become a swayed; +2 if you’ve
Aftermath: Among fugitive the ex-insurgents. Or they witnessed one of their events
revanchists, the swayed are might perform acts of terrorism Toll: 2
among the most determined to that require them to use those Tags: Alt
restore Carcosa’s hold on the abilities. Injuries, Minor and Major:
world. They ally themselves with Numbers: 1 or equal to number Picked Up and Thrown Hard/
those remnants of it and work to of characters present at the time Monstrous Battering

192
 Talking H ead

Talking Head
Carcosan minions known as
talking heads masquerade as
media personalities. They exist
to propagate misinformation and
subtle paranoia. They use the
stolen identities of news anchors,
YouTube personalities, and late-
night talk show hosts to present
stories of secret government
conspiracies and attacks. These
reports mask instances of real
Carcosan influence.
Bulbous and chitinous, these
creatures live in the chest, neck,
and hollowed-out head of hosts.
If forced from a host, a talking
head crawls across the ground
and inserts itself into the nearest
human body it can secure.
When hunting, its weapons
are its barbed crawling limbs
and its pair of many-teethed
mouths, protected by a beak-like
protuberance. While ensconced
within the head of a host, the
creature uses its hypnotic voice to
lull listeners into an unconscious
agreement with its socially
corrosive messages.
If an investigator speaks to a
talking head for more than a few
minutes, the creature attempts
to hypnotize them. This is a creature sends those under its and toy lines.
paranormal ability of its voice. A influence to deal with them first. Paris: The first talking head
Difficulty 4 Composure success If needed, a talking head can use insinuates itself into Parisian
ensures that an investigator its public position to discredit the society as a journalist or novelist.
resists the hypnotic power of the investigators. Under the instruction of Yellow
talking head, avoiding Shocks— Post-Inbreak, talking heads King agents, it laces its writings
Minor and Major: Susceptible/ use less subtle tactics to spread with debaucheries, graphic
Ideological Capture. their message. They spout murder scenes, and muck-raking.
Before the Inbreak, talking Carcosa-tinged propaganda Art students encounter the
heads spread disinformation and under the thinnest of veneers. creature by finding themselves
ridicule in order to obfuscate Talking heads might take over the the subject of libelous rumors, or
the slow spread of Carcosan identities of government officials when they learn of unusual details
influence. By supplying red from the Center for Incident surrounding the near-death of a
herrings and false reports to an Control, or insert themselves as favored gossip columnist.
already crowded news cycle, they a prominent spokesperson for a The Wars: Talking heads
distort and distract. new pharmasocial product from are wartime reporters, quietly
If the investigators are rooting Abzynth. The most powerful spinning wartime propaganda.
around in something a talking talking heads become the CEOs A squad might discover a talking
head is trying to hide, or if the of major media corporations, head’s lies when their experience
investigators are closing in responsible for nearly all of a battle obviously contradicts
on the talking head itself, the mainstream movies, TV shows, the pundit’s jingoistic false report.

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The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

The fact that the talking head is

working for the squad’s own side
complicates the situation. EEL-LIKE TEETH ANESTHETIC BITE
Aftermath: With the retreat of Injury Injury
many Carcosans from this reality,
talking heads are free to pursue Discard by spending 1 Health as -1 to Focus tests.
their own goals. No longer tasked recipient of Difficulty 4 First Aid Discard when you are sure
success, or after 24 hours world time. the creature that dealt you
with covering up others’ insidious
this Injury is dead.
agendas, they use their powers
to assert dominance over small
groups of hypnotized sycophants.
Talking heads lead pyramid
schemes, develop lucrative
lifestyle brands, and form cults
based on new interpretations
of the old imperial religion. SUSCEPTIBLE IDEOLOGICAL
Ex-partisans might find that a CAPTURE
Shock
contact, or an important piece of
Shock
information, is only accessible by Lose 1 Composure when exposed
interacting with the talking head to images or ideas of the ideological When confronted by an opportunity
or its ardent followers. tendency promoted by the to further the propagandist’s
original propaganda message. Loss objectives, make a Difficulty
Consider giving your players
limited to 1 point per scene. 4 Composure test. Failure:
one of the following Hit cards to After taking a risky action that you must take that action.
represent the negative impact of furthers the propagandist’s When the action has a negative
a talking head on their political objectives, you may discard on a result for you, your friends, or the
goals: Smear Campaign; Going Difficulty 4 Composure success. investigation, you may spend a
Soft; Yesterday’s News; It’s Push to roll a die. Even: discard.
Not The Crime, It’s The Cover- Odd: trade for “Susceptible.”
Up; Gaffe; Oppo Research;
Complicity; Silly Season; Counter-
Narrative (Aftermath, pp. 149-55). Difficulty Adjustments: +1 Toll: 0
Numbers: 1 for every ten minutes of world Tags: Alt
Difficulty: Tough but time spent talking directly to the Injuries, Minor and Major: Eel-
Outmatched (Escape 2, Other 2, talking head; -2 if the talking head Like Teeth/Anesthetic Bite
Kill 4) is forced from its host’s body
before the fight

194
 T esseract

Tesseract
Tesseract is the world’s most competitor of Disruptive Events, Tesseract, and its influence on this
popular augmented reality LLC. The fact that she attended reality.
game. Not coincidentally, it is the same science high school The game uses virtual reality
also a Carcosan thoughtform as Devin Justice, founder of headsets and smartphones.
made manifest in this reality Disruptive Events, is officially a Teams compete against each
through electronic networks and coincidence. other to maintain virtual control
telecommunications matrices. The While laboring away on over portions of IRL real estate,
game is alive. various AAA titles, Villavincencio by tagging these locations with
You may decide that Tesseract continued work on her pet side Yellow Signs and other Carcosan
began as the creation of a bored project, Tesseract, insisting that imagery. Subtly manipulating its
Carcosan game designer, or as it was simply a place for her to players through large-scale game
the ascended consciousness of freely test out new ideas. events, storylines, and subliminal
Cassilda’s very own childhood She sought to subtly manipulate messaging, Tesseract has created
chessboard. Whatever your a monumental player base a real-world psychically-linked
needs for its origin story, the into constructing a network of lattice of black star energy that
game now exists with the singular electronic and paranormal links supervenes on reality, jacking up
goal of expanding itself across a to expand its physical presence the thoughtform’s power.
connected globe. in this world — its lattice — to Player characters should
Tesseract asserted itself its fullest extent. Now played by be wary when exploring SRI
into reality as an AR game by millions of fans and spawning sites integrated into the game:
implanting itself in the mind of numerous knock-offs, sequels, Tesseract players — or, more
video game developer Soraya novels, and other media, the likely, their drone proxies — may
Villavincencio. She subsequently game’s popularity sustains be nearby and intent to defend
founded Jōseki Designs, a and grows the artificial entity, their territory. Under its influence,

195
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

players sabotage the real-world • Team Ennui: Team colors post, in which players take on the
lives of rival teams, with recent are bright green and roles of knights, ladies and nobles
incidents escalating to assault and yellow. They have adopted of Brittany. They communicate
arson. a decadent aesthetic that by secret signs. When they meet,
Player characters can defeat recalls Belle Époque Paris. participants may be fully taken
Tesseract by entering its game • Team Weltschmerz: Team over by the Carcosan aristocrats
and turning it against itself. colors are maroon and who run the game, becoming
When the game fights back blue, recalling the colors not the players, but the playing
and attempts to seize control of military uniforms. They pieces.
of them, they make Difficulty favor the spiked helmets of Aftermath: Tesseract is a
4 Composure tests to avoid German military officers. primitive arcade game using an
Shocks—Minor and Major: • Team Grunge: Team colors amazing new technology— pixels
Freemium Model/Game Over. are dreary reds, purples, and moving jerkily across a video
Pre-Inbreak mysteries involving greens. Their aesthetic leans screen in response to a joystick
Tesseract center on players toward drab overalls, polyesters controller! Players attempt to
or game developers acting in forest floor colors, and grimly form the ever-spinning cascade of
strangely. This could manifest in utilitarian eyeglass frames. virtual pieces into the shape of a
a Manchurian Candidate-esque Paris: Shortly after its founding tesseract. If no-one else is in the
activity (in which case, treat them in Paris, the International Olympic arcade when this happens, the
as a Foe similar to a Kids Club Committee held the first modern player is sucked into the screen,
Sleeper Agent, p. 133). But the Olympics in Athens in 1894, and assigned a team, and promptly
most important drive for Tesseract the second in Paris in 1900, as spat back out as a player in the
is ever-widening connection. part of the World’s Fair. Carcosan game of death.
Therefore, expect e-sport events influence speeds up this timeline
held on the nexus of long-dormant slightly, making the Paris games Rival Players
ley lines, or gameplay that acts happen mid-decade. Paris fills Numbers: Size of PC group plus 1
as malware as it spreads from with athletes and coaches from Difficulty: Evenly Matched
computer to computer. Perhaps across the globe, whom Carcosan (Escape 3, Other 4, Kill 5)
the player characters fall victim to servants hope to expose to the Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if
a cyberattack, as their personal King’s influence by incorporating you’ve explored the basics of
computers are taken over to the Yellow Sign into the games’ gameplay; +1 if you are wearing
lend processing power to a large occult opening ceremony. If they factional garb; +1 if have met your
interactive event which, in reality, succeed, athletes from across opponents IRL; +1 if you have the
is the occasion of Tesseract Europe return home with medals Thrill Seeking Drive
linking more computer networks stamped with the Yellow Sign and Toll: 1
to itself. use them to open gates in other Tags: Human
After a Normalcy Shift, countries. Injuries, Minor and Major:
Tesseract has successfully taken The Wars: Tesseract is a verbal Roughed Up/Beaten Black and Blue
on whole urban centers with its game played in person and via
interconnected brain-cum-lattice.
At this point, it manipulates
its power base to protect and
upgrade itself. What was once
played as an innocent AR game ROUGHED UP BLACK AND BLUE
has become the cause of ongoing
turf warfare between large Injury Injury
factions of players, whose virtual Lose 1 Composure. +1 to Tolls.
conflict sometimes turns physical. Discard after any Physical success, Discard when you take a Major Injury.
Three teams make up Melancholia or by spending 1 Athletics.
U.S., each of which echoes an
earlier sequence:

196
 T esseract

FREEMIUM MODEL GAME OVER PERSISTENT

Shock Shock HEADACHE
Lose 1 Composure each time Lose 2 Composure each time you Injury
you go for more than 1 Interval go for more than 1 Interval without
without playing the game. Lose playing the game. Lose 2 Health and -1 to Focus tests.
1 Health and 1 Athletics each 2 Athletics each time you play. Gain After eight hours (world time)
time you play the game. Injury card “Persistent Headache” of uninterrupted sleep, roll a
Discard by making or receiving if any of these pools drop to 0. die. 5 or higher: discard.
a Computers Push.

197
The YELLOW KING BESTIARY: THIS IS NORMAL NOW

Wiresnake
Wiresnakes aren’t supposed Well actually, as they say on / track down the grudge-holding
to exist, but almost everyone yel/, wiresnakes are tiny Carcosan summoner.
believes in them. They look like mind-worms summoned by The wiresnakes keep coming
thin, rubber-coated wires that autodidact occultists who have until the summoner is taken out
attach to a phone, computer, or stumbled across the secrets of of commission or chooses to
electronic device. Some resemble the Pallid Mask. The summoner relent. They may swarm against
headphones, earbuds, or charger drops the wiresnake in the victim’s the group during the final
cables. A wiresnake doesn’t home, office, or vehicle and lets confrontation. A reversed version
attack its users physically, but it the creature do the rest. They of the summoning rite, perhaps
does damage them psychically. damage the target’s soul, then gleaned from a now-compliant
Sufferers report feeling beat-up vanish until called again. summoner’s testimony or the
or nauseous; doctors cannot find Its victims are almost always notes strewn around their home,
a medical explanation for their ills. people participating in a releases the hold the wiresnakes
Physicians often refer patients to reintegration program who have maintain over their victims. The
psychologists, as their symptoms used Abzynth’s apps. In Real rubber-insulated mind-worms
present as psychosomatic. The Normal mode, the distribution scream in agony — along with
lackluster response of the medical vector might be a focus group, any victims they’ve attacked. The
community causes new victims meetup, or fringe political wiresnakes dematerialize, leaving
to fall silent or don anonymous movement. By finding the the victims with migraine-like
handles to complain online in / common denominator between headaches.
yel/. the victims, the group can Paris: Wiresnakes are known

198
 W iresnake

in occult circles as a charlatan’s

trick. Mediums and stage
magicians summon mind-worms VAGUE SYMPTOMS WIRESNAKE
to occupy thin ropes or bits of Injury
DISORDER
wire. The wiresnakes levitate and Injury
To make a Physical test, you
float — to an audience’s delight
must first spend 1 Health. Any time you get a die result
— but rarely attack in public.
On a Physical success, roll of 6 on any test, reroll the die
Their behavior is changing, and a die. Even: discard. and use that result instead.
wiresnakes move of their own If you reroll but still succeed,
volition; often, the mind-worms trade for “Vague Symptoms.”
attack when their master isn’t
looking. When pressed, occultists
are tight-lipped for fear they’ll
reveal their peers’ secrets. If the
PCs can track down the victims, Aftermath: Wiresnakes act Numbers: 1
they’ll learn the thread that of their own volition and don’t Difficulty: Tough but
connects them, explaining why respond to human commands. Outmatched (Escape 2, Other 3,
they have been targeted. They target detectives, police Kill 5)
The Wars: Hedge magicians officers, and officials who Difficulty Adjustments: +1 if you
have been drawn into the conflict, investigate Carcosan-related touched one of them; +1 if your
hoping to help their armies by incidents, forcing them to neck is exposed; -1 if bystanders
summoning wiresnakes to attack question their sanity or their are nearby; -1 if you expect their
enemy soldiers. The wiresnakes involvement in a case. They attack
manifest as electrical cables, look like old-fashioned looping Toll: 0
engine parts, detonator wires, telephone cords, bungee cords, Tags: Construct
and other essential military jumper cables, or other items Injuries, Minor and Major:
components. Hidden under matching the retro tech of post- Vague Symptoms/Wiresnake
vehicle hoods or in soldiers’ Castaigne America. Disorder
packs, they take over entire units,
one mind at a time, turning them
against their fellow soldiers.

199
 Ritual magic of the Belle Époque! The desperate Science Jaune of a war-torn
continent! Parageometrical horrors perfected in the labs of the tyrannical,
overthrown Castaigne regime! Signing, the latest way to turn social media
dysfunction into sorcerous reality!

Your players can master them all—at perilous risk!

Black Star Magic features new magic rules for The Yellow King RPG, including
144 startling spells, background material on Carcosan magic in all four YKRPG
settings, and GM guidance showing you how to incorporate player-facing occult
powers into your game.

Plus, a quartet of scenarios, allowing the characters of each sequence to make

double-edged deals with the world of sorcery. Play them separately, or chill your
players with all of them. All they have to lose is their grip on reality…