Anamorphosis explained, part 3

In this post, following parts one, point five, and two, I will compare the US version and offer my own ideas.

The planned US version

The planned Selenim supplement for the US version was cancelled before it could even be drafted, but some notes survived. These were based on the first edition French rules, so they lacked any innovations from later supplements or editions. Altho the notes are no substitute for complete rules, they do provide an overview of what the changes would've been.

Personality Traits

The US version had introduced Personality Traits in Chronicle of the Awakenings, and the Selenim rules would've integrated this into their Imago rules. Selenim had five Emotional Traits not unlike Nephilim, but these represented the emotions they preferred to Assuage. The Imago would have five Aspects, each linked to an Emotional Trait, and the Aspect itself represented and evoked that emotion. Although no rules were provided, presumably the Emotional Trait would've played a role in Persuasion and Assuaging checks like the Nephilim’s Directing and Fulfilling.

Spontaneous manifestation

Another addition was to the spontaneous manifestation rules. In addition to the intensity of the local field, the astrological modifier from the phase of the moon (which Ian thought of a few years before third edition would implement it) would have affected the level of manifestation.

Lore comparisons

Cult of Lilith vs Xibalbans

In the French version, the Cult of Lilith channeled Ka into Lilith's Realm to start the "Ascension," a process in which her Realm would ascend into the heavens as a new Black Moon. They were fortunately defeated in the adventure path The Web of the Fates, included in the 1st and 5th edition Selenim supplements.

This didn't happen in the US version (none of the French metaplot applies to the US version). In the US version, mentioned in the GM's Companion timeline and expanded in the Selenim notes, it was explained that the Mesoamerican Selenim lords ("Xibalbans") had constructed a Black Moon crescent. They accomplished this by channeling the Solar-Ka collected from sacrifices during the Flower Wars. This was a gradual process in which the burgeoning Black Moon was visible to the initiated long before completion. Cortez's Nephilim allies were able to bring it crashing down during the invasion of Tenochtitlan. (Since this was written in the 90s, it completely omits the contribution of Cortez's indigenous allies and makes no attempt to integrate the indigenous Nephilim into the secret history.)

I can't determine if the French version influenced the US version here, as Web of the Fates was never included in the translated manuscripts shared on the US mailing list. I have no idea if it was ever translated and made available to the US writers.

As it stands, the Cult of Lilith and Xibalbans were never given full writeups for the US version, so I can only ever speculate what their beliefs were and how they differed. The Unnamed Arcanum is clearly completely different in the US version, if the fact that their Pharaonic Egregor being Nephren-Ka of Call of Cthulhu fame was any indication. 

My ideas

I wouldn’t change Anamorphosis... much. 

Integrating Emotional Traits into 3e style rules would be tricky since Morphs already serve a similar function, and I’d have to place limits on how Anamorphs may construct their Imagoes. Now the Aspects would need to reflect the Emotional Traits, rather than constructing whatever the Anamorph could pay for as the 3e rules allowed. 

Emotional Traits would work much like Morphs, being Skills used to determine the effectiveness of Aspects, but they would also modify Assuaging and Approaches checks to affect the corresponding emotion. E.g. to Assuage the corresponding emotion, the Anamorph rolls Initiated (Black Moon-Ka)+Emotional Trait vs the target's Initiated (Solar-Ka).

While I'd retain the Morph categories (to "complete" the Imago, one Aspect in each Morph must be constructed), the Aspects would be assigned to Emotional Traits rather than Morph Skills. Emotional Traits would not correspond to Morph Skills on a 1:1 basis, instead assigning Aspects to Emotional Traits based on symbolism (e.g. claws that evoke greed, a fearsome visage that evokes terror). Each set of Aspects assigned to an Emotional Trait would constitute a "Meta-Aspect" that is activated as though it is a single Aspect.

I would standardize construction and activation costs. Construction costs would generally be fixed for each Circle and Morph, with Activation cost being 5% of the Construction cost. However, I would have players buy Aspects with Agartha Points (occult XP) like Spells, instead of spending points from the Black Moon Pool, for game balance reasons.

As with Metamorphosis, one change I made as part of my campaign conceits was changing the physical transformations to spiritual ones to suit the subtle magic system of Liber Ka. As Metamorphosis advances, the Nephilim transforms spiritually rather than the Simulacrum transforming physically. This spiritual transformation can be detected, even by the uninitiated, as its get higher. Since the uninitiated don't understand what they're picking up in flashes of Ka-vision, they will rationalize it away as disease, trick of the light, hallucination, or something of that nature. 

The same goes for Anamorphosis: when the Anamorph manifests their Aspects, they transform spiritually rather than physically (or more accurately, the Imago's Aspect merges into their Simulacrum). This spiritual transformation still has effects on the physical world, but it's not so blatant as a physical transformation that can be picked up on cameras (unless it's kirlian photography, I guess). This gives Anamorphs more freedom to manifest Aspects without necessarily having to worry about attracting media attention. When an Anamorph manifests a visage of terror to intimidate a target, the target is generally going to perceive the Anamorph as suddenly more intimidating rather than literally turning into a monster in front of him.

I originally had various ideas for handling Personality Traits and Imagoes, but I really need to revise those for whenever I get around to writing my new system. I just needed to post this after leaving the draft sitting untouched for a year. Hope you enjoyed!