Jump to content

A Humble Treatise on the Most Lamentable Nature of Brilliance


011121

Recommended Posts

The Hungering Darkness (or Huggy, as he is affectionately known) is an interesting monster/master/nemesis/pseudo-tyrant.  It serves as both devouring "ghost" and street level drug pusher.  Unfortunately the nature of brilliance isn't really expanded upon well enough to make the entire ecology of Huggy-Beckoners-Victims-Illuminated-Depleted fully understandable.  Indeed it seems contradictory at points, for instance Huggy seems to feed on brilliance (the "Consume Brilliance" power for instance) and yet also infects people with brilliance.  The depleted are supposed to be nearly drained by Huggy but are also overflowing with brilliance.  This is an attempt to make all of this more or less understandable.
 
The key to making it all understandable is to assume that there is more than one type of brilliance.  In fact we shall assume three types:
 
Raw Brilliance(RB)- This is the stuff Huggy and Beckoners use to infect the clients of the Honey Pot.  It is a by-product of Huggy himself and is inedible to him.  Raw brilliance is, to use an analogy, the equivalent of a spider's digestive juices.  Huggy infects victims with it, a process occurs and the result is then edible whenever Huggy decides on a snack.
 
Anima Brilliance(AB)- this is what Huggy is after.  Raw Brilliance in a human being (and possibly other creatures) combines with the victim's soul creating anima brilliance.  This process is euphoric and thus commonly results in addictive behaviours.  Anima brilliance is a potent if somewhat unstable energy source.
 
Noxious Brilliance(NB)- the last type of brilliance is a waste by-product of the process that creates anima brilliance.  This process is not very efficient and consequently by the time a victim's spirit is entirely converted to anima brilliance it is also suffused with noxious brilliance.  Noxious brilliance is highly entropic, attacking any object it contacts.  Flesh runs like melted wax.
 
This then allows us to create a consistent and understandable view of the life cycle of all parties involved.
 
Huggy- Huggy creates RB by his nature.  He uses this to transform victims into walking containers of AB which he can tap at will.  He has nothing to do with NB.  Because RB is a part of Huggy he can exert a degree of mental influence over those infected.
 
Beckoners- Beckoners are people who, for whatever reason, are suitable containers of RB.  It does not react with their spirit but simply is contained within them.  They can then tap this reserve in order to infect others.  Of course it may well be that at some point their nigh immunity breaks down and they become victims.  It's also quite possible that they are not completely immune but the process simply works much slower on them, so they also get a mild rush, they just aren't complete addicts.  They may use the small quantities of AB produced to enhance their own seductive powers.
 
Victims- clients of the Honey Pot get infected with RB, experience the rush of its conversion to AB, and start building up NB.  Without guidance from Huggy they are unable to use the AB within.
 
Illuminated- these victims have progressed to the point where they have had a considerable amount of their spirit converted to AB.  They also have a great deal of NB, but this is kept from doing much damage by active use of the AB.  The NB does "soften" the person such that their bodies are not firmly fixed in a given shape.  With practice they can use AB to take advantage of this side effect of the NB so as to create new forms.
 
Depleted- finally Huggy squeezes his living juice box and extracts the majority of the AB within.  Without the AB to counteract the NB the result is a shrivelled nearly mindless creature.  The depleted has vast amounts of NB suffusing it's flesh making it's very touch dangerous as the NB "softens" the target.  Due to the inefficiency of the process of creating AB, depleted almost always still contain significant RB.  When they die their bodies rupture forth in a gout of both NB and RB.  Others within the area may be infected by the RB as the NB momentarily softens them enough that the RB can be absorbed through skin contact instead of inhaled.       
 
 
Thoughts?
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a really cool take - I love it!

 

It's not the way I usually picture Brilliance.  My own outlook is less that the Hungry Darkness "lives" by consuming Brilliance than that it is the Brilliance - it sends it out to gain power over others (whether that means their minds or their bodies), and can pull it back into itself if it needs the power immediately.  Lynch is immune (hence why the Darkness is working with him rather than eating him), but nobody else seems to be - the Beckoners are just people the Darkness finds it more useful to leave human-looking for now.

 

But different stories have different needs.  Your Brilliance "ecology" is a very cool and well thought-out puzzle, and I can see a group of characters having an interesting time figuring out how it works and how to break the cycle to kill the Darkness for good.  That's awesome!  Especially for something like the Hungry Darkness, where you want some element of mystery, but the most obvious reveal (the drug-pushing saloon-keeper is possessed by Cthulhu!) is already known to the players, so you need more subtle secrets, as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

Excellent work, I like the thought you've put into this.

Like Tzarcastic I always thought that Brilliance is The Hungering Darkness, he infects people with a small part of his power, and when he draws the brilliance back he takes a small part of them with him, hence depleted being mostly brilliance, they have nothing left as they have been mostly consumed by Huggy. The Illuminated and Beckoners just haven't been fed on enough to become depleted.

Edit: And I just realised the date this was posted. :P

Edited by Durza
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information