Who Can Use Magic?

This is a rough guide to the creatures in the FATE Bestiary that are able to use magic spells. Some will have a preference to use other means, and will rarely use magic, but this is a representative running list of creatures that can use the kind of spells featured in the Galactic Grimoire at FATE SF:

The Anapa

Autodidacta

Creepers

Crocodilian-Humanoid Hybrid Demons

Crocodilian Guardian Mummy

Dromedary

Elementals

False Beholders

Ghost Wolves

Imperial Sibyls

Mi-Go

Morlock

Mother Mass

Old Martians

Planarian Nine

Plasmate

Peyotl

Red Martian Scientist

Saguaro

Serpent Folk

Tzitzimine Star Demons

The 'Zotl

Deck Of Fridays 23: Left In The Dark

Morlocks in George Pal's The Time Machine (1960)

Welcome back to DECK OF FRIDAYS, our weekly feature here at FATE SF! Each week (more or less) since the release of the Deck of Fate, we have made a draw from the Deck of Fate, RPG Inspiration Cards, or another Aspect-generative randomizer. Then we do something interesting with it, using the Aspect as inspiration for a campaign or scenario seed, a situation, scene, location, NPC, thingie, etc.

This week's draw from the Deck of Fate is a card with the Aspect: Left in the Dark. In English, that's a commonly used colloquial expression that denotes not knowing what's going on, often due to the conscious agency of someone who is in the know. But we're interpreting it more literally today.

At first I thought of poor Gollum.

Then I remembered the Morlocks.

***

For the Morlocks, being left in the dark is a rite of passage. Sooner or later, every Morlock youth is drugged, rendered unconscious, and then abandoned in the underworld. In the cold and the dark. They're alone, with no food or water. 

Those who survive, make their way back to their band.  They gain a true name, a mate, and the beginnings of social status: a key to a machine, locker, or room in the underworld. Morlocks who don't survive, well, sooner or later their bones get discovered when someone trips on them in the Dark Galleries. Those bones get kicked swiftly into a dark corner to be forgotten. Or they are quickly claimed, pocketed, and later carved into fetishes and weapons.

But there's another way that Morlocks get Left in the Dark. All Morlocks love the things below, but their kind are also driven by a deterritorializing impulse. Bands move on, seeking new living spaces and places to labor freely by crossing the narrow dark spaces between the worlds. New machines. New galleries and rooms to conquer and explore. 

Now-useless keys soon become charms and wards.

At first, the Morlocks moved about in time and space using the Visitor's time machine. Later, they found similar machines created by others. The Morlocks spread to still more worlds. The machine tenders thrived wherever they found galleries to explore and machinery to tend underground.

In time, the Morlocks found other ways to squeeze between the worlds. There are passages in the dark, gates that open onto branching tunnels walled by absolute darkness. Shamans take the lead; the rest of the clan follows. Morlocks traverse these tunnels by forming chains of hands. Some even use real chains to bind one to the next. No one wants to be lost forever, blind in the dark. 

But on every such journey, someone stumbles and loses hold of their fellows. Or a link in the chain breaks, as if of its own accord. Those whose chains break lose their way; they cannot see in this dark between worlds. They find themselves alone, in a pocket of darkness. 

They quail, brood, and curse that darkness.

And the darkness curses them back. 

Those left in these dark interstices grow strange. They grow strange: their bodies change in gross and subtle ways. Their minds change. They hunger and thirst, alone in the dark. 

They become perverse desiring engines, seeking to transform others.

Those left in the dark When others pass, they extend a foot to trip other feet. They bite and break the chain tying one traveler to the destiny of another. 

Misery loves company. Mutation abhors a vacuum. 

Morlocks

Tony McVey's Morlock Bust

Just gaze in the Morlock's face and you can see its humanity. Its sensitivity and intelligence. Teeth accustomed to eating meat. Intelligent meat of the healthiest kind.

The Morlocks are a robust abhuman subspecies which evolved from the bifurcation of human stock after a long ReIndustrial Age. In the far future, long after the collapse of the Empire, humanity started over. The long Ice Age had ended, and humanity could once again reclaim and rebuild the Earth.

The ReIndustrial Age proceeded much as the Industrial Age had. Appalling wealth was concentrated over generations in the hands of an idle class which grew ever more effete, indolent, and beautiful. The industrial proletariat tended the wheels and mechanisms of industry and grew ever more rugged, clever, and... ugly.

The Beautiful forced the Ugly to work, sleep, gobble and breed in subterranean factories. The Ugly provided for the Beautiful who lived lives of timeless, dull pastoral pleasure in the world above. In time, the Ugly realized that they no longer needed the Beautiful as bosses; they were able to manage the world below just fine on their own.

Worker self-management.

The Morlocks had broken their chains and won for themselves a world of industrial gloom.  

But the Ugly still needed the Beautiful. The Beautiful made the best food source, far better than the industrial goo that was their fare during the period of their industrial peonage.

The Beautiful. So fair.

And now docile. Compliant.

Good fare.

Tender flesh. Soft, snapworthy bones.

Tasty marrow to consume.

In time, the Visitor came to the Morlocks on his Time Machine. The Morlocks soon discovered how to use the Time Machine for their own advantage. It would allow the Morlocks to spill out of this future Earth into other times, places, and planes. So, they seized the Time Machine.

Soon, they found other machines to tend. Other flesh to consume. Other worlds to win.

OGL MECHANICS

Morlocks
Machine-tending subterraneans

ASPECTS:

• High Concept: If you are Beautiful we will eat you
• Trouble: The sun blinds us
• Aspect: We love machines
• Aspect: We hate the surface world
• Aspect: We move freely across space and time 

APPROACHES

• Careful: +1
• Clever: +3
• Flashy: 0
• Forceful: +2
• Quick: +1
• Sneaky: +2

STUNTS:

• Awaken Machine: Once per session, a Morlock may awaken and/or repair an ancient machine.
• Find the Weak Spot: Once per session, a Morlock may find a weak spot in space/time and pass it through to another world.
• Toolbelt: Take +2 to Clever Approach to Overcome an Obstacle by using just the right tool. 
• We No Longer Feel the Masters' Blows: Take a +2 to Forceful Approach to Defend against physical blows or melee weapons.

REFRESH: 2

Morlock Mooks

• +2 at: Capturing intelligent meat; Using tools as weapons
• -2 at: Fighting in daylight; Persuading other humanoids
• Aspect: Bestial, machine-loving, subterranean cannibals
• Stress: 6 (12 Morlocks; 2 per stress box)

Do yourself a favor and also check out the Fine Young Cannibals Table at Hereticwerks, a shuddersome and outstanding collection of 20 Morlockian personalities to horrify, annoy, (and possibly) amuse your players.

The Green Martians

http://ceramicus.deviantart.com/

Green Martians live in the desert areas of Barsoom. They assemble in great tribes which John Carter refers to as hordes, evoking the Mongols of his home world. Prominent Green Martian tribes include the Tharks, Thurds, Torquas, and Worhoons. Green Martian hordes roam the dry sea beds of the Red Planet, raiding other tribes as well as Red Martian settlements and cities. They make their homes in the abandoned cities of long forgotten Red Martian kingdoms.

http://thedisneywizard.blogspot.com/2012/03
/john-carter-of-mars.html 

The Green Martians have a double torso, with a total of four arms and two legs. Their head is fearsome; with two large tusks that curve upwards from their lower jaws. They have two antenna-like ears near the top of their heads. Males are up to 15' tall, and females are usually in the 8-10' range.

Green Martians reproduce by laying eggs, which then incubate for up to five years. A tribe will destroy an enemy horde's eggs with great relish whenever their rivals' incubators are discovered. For this reason, hordes often sequester their eggs within incubators in disguised locations, and then move on, checking back periodically to ensure the safety of their clutch of future offspring. Hatchlings are distributed to females to care for according to their ability. In this practice, as in many others, the Green Martians practice a primitive form of communism. This is one of the many reasons that the Red Martians both fear and despise the Green Martians, viewing them as barbarians without the capacity for  individualism, art, culture, or industry.

But take a closer look and you will see a deeper truth. It is the Red Martians who produce nothing new.  To be sure, they are beautiful, civilized, sensuous, and decadent. For this reason, they share many attributes with H.G. Wells' beautiful, childlike Eloi*.

While it is true that the Red Martians maintain Mars' atmosphere factories, as well as the vast canals and agricultural systems required to maintain their cities, these systems are in reality the creations of very distant ancestors from long-gone civilizations. All of these ancient creations would be impossible for the Red Martian to build today. It is likely these systems will gradually decline, which will leave the Red Martians in a very ecologically precarious situation. This decline is worsened by the fact that, the primary preoccupation of the Red Martians is the endless pursuit of war against both their own kind and other races. (And we don't deny that this is a Green Martian proclivity as well!)

In contrast though, the Green Martians have some things in common with the Morlocks. While the Green Martians are not captains of industry, they have developed a much greater mastery of their environment than the Red Martians have. They have learned how to survive in Mars' harsh wilderness environments. They have learned how to "repurpose" the ancient abandoned cities for the Red Martians for their own culture and survival. They fashion weapons and have even mastered some quite sophisticated ones - the radium rifles. It would be interesting to know whether they made these or secured them from raids or trade. Above all, the Green Martians have learned how to make make Barsoom their own. Once the canal systems fail, the Green Martians will survive for much longer on Mars than the Red Race will.

*I am grateful to Eleanor Arnason for making the Eloi vs. Morlock comparison with the Red vs. Green Martians in our panel on Planetary Romances at Diversicon 20. She also posited that the Green Martians will survive longer on Mars, due to their mastery of the environment.

Green Martian stats for Diaspora and Starblazer Adventures follow in the next posts.

The Politics of Steampunk (Diversicon Panel)

I will be making a post today and tomorrow on panel discussions I am moderating at Diversicon 20 here in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. These are my own reference notes going into the panel. I hope people find them interesting - but if you don't, have no fear. We resume our normal FATE SF programming on Monday. 


"The Politics of Steampunk" panel description: Does steampunk as a genre have a politics? Is it just light-hearted fun? Is it even science fictional? Does it perpetuate or challenge our ideas about science, technology, labor, race, gender, and empire?  John Everett Till, mod.; Catherine Lundoff, Mark Tersteeg               

Steampunk history and definition:

• Term coined by K.W. Jeter; derived from cyberpunk
• First creative circle consisted of Blaylock, Powers, and Jeter
• "The Difference Engine" probably the first big work in the field
• Wide range of precursors and influences from Dickens and Stevenson, to Baum's Oz, to Wells and Verne, to Moorcock's "The Warlord of the Air"
• Definition includes some or all of the following:
• 19th Century setting (often Victorian London, but sometimes U.S.A.)
• Gaslight Fantasy (e.g., inclusion of fictional characters such as Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, etc.)
• May play with period popular literary themes ("penny dreadful"), events (Jack the Ripper), heroes and villains (see Jess Nevins' "Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana")
• Anachronistic technology
• Urban fantasy elements, period fantasy influences (e.g., ghosts, spirits, werewolves, vampires), horror, detective literature, paranormal romances, erotica
• May be set in a post-apocalyptic or other world setting (e.g., Airship Pirates RPG and China Mieville's Bas-Lag novels)
• May also refer to costuming, LARPing, Roleplaying, music

So, does Steampunk have a politics or is it just fun?

• Is steam powering this, or methane? Steampunk or Flatulopunk?
• Science vs. handwaves? - awareness of history and science
• History of SF's development as a field - awareness that not everything here is new
• Problematic themes re race, class, gender, empire, colonialism, imperialism

Non-Fiction Resources:

Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor (1851) was a major influence on Blaylock, Powers, and Jeter and inspired the steampunk they wrote

Frederick Engels' The Condition of the Working Class in England (1844)  is another classic expose

The Intersection of Race and Steampunk by Jaymee Goh (aka Jha)

Silver Goggles by Jha

Bryan Thao Worra's blog has numerous posts on steampunk, including efforts to imagine a Lao steampunk

Steampunk Magazine - an online magazine that has also been anthologized; offers fiction, DIY articles, political analysis, reviews, and more

Fiction:

The Steampunk Bible by Jeff Vandermeer and S.J. Chambers (an anthology of art, fiction, and more!)


Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and The Iron Council by China Mieville. The Bas-Lag novels.


Morlock Night and Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter. Just republished by Angry Robot Books.


What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower (2011; Combustion Books) by Margaret Killjoy - a steampunk choose-your-own adventure type game/novel.


Catastrophone Orchestra (2011; Combustion Books) by Margaret Killjoy. Short stories set in 19th C. New York's Lower East Side.


Clementine by Cherie Priest. Visit her Clockwork Century website. A white ex-Confederate woman spy travels on an airship with an African American captain and crew. 


The Bookman, Camera Obscura, and The Great Game by Lavie Tidhar. Srries published by Angry Robot Books. Karl Marx is a character. 


Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee. Fantasy 19th C. European Americans attempt to colonize fantasy Alaska natives. Well-received.


Tabletop RPGs:


Victoriana, Second Edition (Cubicle 7). A system where social class really matters for your character build; problematic treatment of race.


Clockwork & Chivalry. Strictly speaking, not Victoriana or Steampunk. More like Clockpunk. The English Revolution with Cromwell's mechanical warmachines on one side, and the King's Alchemists on the other. Also see their Airship Pirates alt history time travelling steampunk RPG, based on the band of the same name.


Etherscope (Goodman Games). Alt history Victoriana meets spiritualism and cyberpunk head on! Set in a hyperindustrial, gritty version of Manchester, so you know this one is for  the proles - and with a good soundtrack.