Scholars of the mystic arts agree on few things, but one agreement is that the aether is the ocean on which all worlds drift like forlorn boats. A radical few suggest that the aether itself is yet another ship set adrift in a much deeper, darker, more frightful ocean. This nether-aether, as they call it, is a place no mortal mind can comprehend. Just as the aether is a place only a fool and madman can understand, so can the nether-aether only be grasped by those who are to the insane as the mad are to us. The greatest proof that these radicals have of their nether-aether is the shards of great unknowable entities that appear from time to time in the mortal plane to wreak havoc.
The shards of supposed outer gods are unlike anything else known to man. Even the monstrous entities of the aether seem rational and logical compared to the Shards. Merely seeing them is enough to drive men insane, as only the insane can truly perceive them. Mere mortals cannot even begin to describe their shapes, as they are not limited to three (or even thirteen) dimensions. Wherever they appear, the land around changes and mutates with them, becoming an Escher-like labyrinth where before there was just a plain or forest or city. No one can truly say what these things want, and even the ramblings of the insane are too confusing to understand. All that we know is that there mere existence is a threat to the mortal plane, and everything must be done to be rid of them.
- Combat: 50
- Exploration: 100
- P. Wounds: 5
- Social: 60
- Mental: 155
- M. Wounds: 16
Perk: Mind Blast: Action: Make an opposed Will/Mental Skill Check against a single target in Near Range. If successful, instead of inflicting damage, you may paralyse the target, preventing him from moving or making any actions/rolls until the end of your next turn/narrative-action. You may spend a Sigil to instead target all opponents within Close Range, and another Sigil to increase this to Near Range.
Quirk: Dissolution: Whenever another character rolls a Critical Success against you, or whenever you roll a Critical Failure, your corporeal form dissolves into nothingness. This incorporeal form lasts for at least 2d10 turns/narrative-actions, after which you must succeed in a Constitution/Combat Skill Check to reform yourself. You can only attempt such a Check once each 1d10 turns/narrative-actions. In your incorporeal form, you can only observe the mortal realm, but cannot interact with it.
Equipment: The strange material from which a Shard forms itself out of has an Armour Rating of 15, but the thing bears no weapons.
Sanctuary: Outer God Shards are nearly exclusively found near tears in the veil between the mortal realm and the aether, whether accidentally caused by nature, or intentionally opened by madmen. In this sanctuary, a Shard can control the strength of gravity through its Mental Skill Check, doubling its strength, halving it, or removing it completely. The Shard can also warp reality, by making areas close to each other seem further apart, and connecting areas that are not nearby in reality.
Mythic Actions: Teleport: the Shard teleports instantly to any position within Medium Range. Blinding Gaze: all characters and creatures within Close Range in front of the Shard must succeed on a Perception Skill Check or become blind for three turns/narrative-actions. Sprout tentacle: the Shard creates a tentacle anywhere within Near Range; these tentacles are treated as separate creatures and share all of the Shard Skills, abilities, Perks and others, except for the Sanctuary and Mythic Actions. The tentacles only have 1 Hit Location.