When those tall
grey-skinned beings we call aliens came to Carcosa, it was to do battle with
the foul evil of the snakemen. Each was a warrior, born for battle, their
genomes packed with cunning weapons and their hands bristling with high
technology. They came down in space ships and drop pods and powered armor, and
the weapon the snakemen answered with was flesh.
For they already knew how to call and bind things from beyond the void,
and to this end they bred their captured foes into thirteen breeds, segregated
by skin color, to further enhance the potency of their sacrifices.
Their results have
survived them. Their enforced breeding programs are gone, and man's genome is
free to roam. Heavy inbreeding has led each of the races of man to find strange
gifts in their blood from their heavenly ancestors, who, were they to see us now,
would no doubt roll in their stasis pods at the monsters we've become.
The following is a
list of men and their corresponding mutations.
All Men
First and foremost,
the men of Carcosa were bred to be sacrificed. At 5 years old Carcosans are
twice as effective sacrifices, and at 10, thrice. Carcosan rituals have already
accounted for this.
No color can
interbreed with any other, but these hardy hues grant advantage on saves made
against radiation.
Black Men
Black men take no
damage from fire. Instead, they catch aflame until put out, and can stay on
fire indefinitely. This immunity does not apply to lava, lasers, or molten
metal.
When not on fire,
black men are strangely sticky to the touch. They seldom notice extremes of
heat or cold, and seem comfortable in most climes.
Blue Men
With a touch and an
INT check, blue men intuitively understand the purpose of electronic
technology. While in contact
they may transfer their mind into the machine, commanding it as they would
their own flesh, while their own body goes into a coma.
AIs may contest this
process, and require a CHA check to overcome. They then require an additional
CHA check every turn to contain, lest they escape into the blue man's body.
Each new check gives the blue man a cumulative +1 to contain that AI.
Bone Men
The flesh of bone
men is completely transparent, revealing only their white skeletons. If exposed
to light by day they phosphoresce come night, each man shining his own pale
neon. One hour of daylight makes their bones shine all night long. Bone men can
see equally well in sun light, star light, or bone light, and gain advantage on
saves against broken bones.
Brown Men
Strange exceptions
to the rules of men, brown men get no advantage on their radiation saves, nor
do they become more potent sacrifices as they age. Stranger still, they gain an
advantage on all rolls to use space alien technology. Tech that rejects or even
kill other men works perfectly in their hands, and robots instinctively protect
brown men 2 out of 6 times.
Dolm Men
Dolm men possess a
second stomach, which can hold up to 1 liter comfortably and 4 when painfully
full. While it digests nothing, anything
a dolm man swallows can be redirected to it instead. They can effortless regurgitate
the contents of either stomach.
Green Men
When seized by fury
green men can cause their muscles to swell, gaining STR 20 for up to their CON
rounds. While in this state they can jump fifty feet vertically or
horizontally. Afterwards they must spend an equal time panting in anger and
exhaustion, incapable of moving or even basic self-defense.
Jale Men
When within 30' of
an eldritch beast a jale man's body rips out a single HD of the monster's soul.
Within their breast begins the beating of a second heart. The jale man may
regain 1d6 HP by absorbing that soul shard, their second heart now still once
more. While it beats every week comes a new nightmare. Each teaches another
ritual pertaining to the beast within their bosom, until the jale man knows
them all.
Orange Men
Orange men spit a
potent corrosive. This pale amber liquid rapidly erodes metal, scars flesh, and
blinds eyes. While their own skin is immune to it, their eyes are not. Orange
men have very clean teeth.
A single dose of
venom builds up naturally after a full night of sleep. Spiting it deals 1d4
acid damage. Making more is hard work on the body: the glands can be refilled
by spending a single hit point.
Purple Men
A purple man can
repeat, as a perfect recreation, any phrase he can remember hearing.
Unfortunately, this mimicry allows for no improvisation. So keen are their
powers of detection that they cannot be surprised by anything that makes sound.
Red Men
The blood of red men
courses with a strange and alien vitality: they gain advantage on all tasks of
endurance. On taking damage the red man's blood literally escapes his veins,
his lost HP turning into a skittering thing.
These blood monsters have AC 20 - HP, and their claws inflict 1dHP damage upon
your foes, absorbing the blood from any wounds they deal. It has a 1 in 6
chance of turning on you, and a 4 in 6 chance of being absorbed into the ground
after combat.
Ulfire Men
Ulfire men can track
a target by scent. It becomes an obsession; until they find and taste their
quarry, they cannot regain sanity. By eating a brain, an ulfire man experiences
it's most recent memories, and gains 100 XP for every HD it had above his own.
White Men
White men are immune
to ingested, injected and inhaled poisons, finding them delicious. Each
consumed dose makes eating their flesh inflict 1 more damage, and creates
gasoline stains upon their skin. The color is determined by the poison
consumed.
All animals shun the
poisoned flesh of white men. No mount will carry them and no predator will hunt
them. Wild animals avoid them, attacking only if pursued. Domesticated animals
may tolerate their presence, but never their touch.
Yellow Men
Yellow men need not
sleep. Willingly or when mortally wounded, yellow men enter a state of torpor;
within they cannot succumb to their wounds and do not age, and need neither air
nor sustenance. While in this state they may enter the dreams of any man they've
met.
 |
| When the hill clans attack! |
 |
| Weirdly colored, strange technology, total jerk: the perfect Carcosan. |
 |
| I love this picture. This is my Carcosa. |
 |
| The green man = hulk joke is mandatory. |
 |
| A white man who has clearly gone overboard with eating poison. |
 |
| An enigmatic dolm man. Who knows what strange substance he'll vomit forth? |
 |
| Feeling bad ass since he cannot die. Barring decapitation of course. |
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| I don't want to play in any Carcosa that doesn't include Skeletor. |
The Joke
What has two hearts,
two stomachs, three lungs, steel bones, and super strength?
What kind of
creature can spit acid, see in low light, filter out white noise, hunt by scent
and learn by eating?
What's immune to
poison and radiation and heat and cold? What doesn't sleep or bleed? What if
wounded needs not die, and what is covered in neural connections, able to
interface directly with technology?
Well, I can give you
a hint: http://bit.ly/2kAqAQN
