A
PC dies, a player is too attached to let go: Between the Twin Canals,
there is one option readily available: The
Fountain of Second Youth.
Here, a fortune can buy you a second chance -- but only one.
What
used to be a
privilege of the imperial family and the higher echelons of the
Ouroborée
sect,
changing circumstances have made available to the very lucky and the
very rich.
The
Autumn Palace & The Ouroborites
The
Fountain is located
in
the center of The
Autumn Palace
of the Ever-Younger
Emperors. Once
rivalling the splendor of Phobos, the palace and its surrounding city
is now a wilderness of broken
architecture.
The
ruins are filled with white haired pilgrims, and those who would prey
on them: robbers, two-bit oracles, peddlers of tonics and petitions,
tavern owners, jackals, ghouls. And above: clouds of vultures,
sometimes blotting out the sun.
The
millennia have not been kind to the Ouroborite faith. There
was a time when the
High
Mehen’s words would traverse the Red
Planet
in
mere weeks, and worshipers
would
flock to the favoured cult of the Ever-Younger Emperors. Today, the
Ouroborites are just barely tolerated by public opinion, and the
ever-younger
are
openly reviled, especially by their proper heirs. In more than one
Canal state those who age backwards are denied their former
possessions and the civic rights of proper burghers.
 |
| The Ouroborite's godhead, The Laughing Hyena, imploring you to do the most of your second chance at life. |
The
Lottery
Nonetheless,
the stigma is braved by many who fear death. Every morning, throngs
of the soon-to-be-departed flock around a peristyle in the centre of
the palace, forming lines to present their sealed-envelope offerings
to the dried up Fountain, still standing before the Toppled Throne.
When evening comes, the offerings disappear, and someone is chosen
(At
random? According to some hidden logic? A never-ending argument among
the hopeful supplicants) to undergo the Rite in the subterranean
halls of the ouroborites. (For a generous donation (2000+ gp) and a
vow of discretion, the wealthy can bypass the Fountain's holy lottery
and undergo the Rite.)
The
money collected
fund
the ouroborée orphanages and charities for the elderly, from whose
lips acolyte-caretakers collect the infantile blabber and senile
ruminations for their always expanding corpus of religious texts.
The
Rite
What
is known is this: The rejuvenation procedure is generally initiated
on the still-living. It will work on those who have not been dead for
longer than a fortnight. After the rejuvenation, the revived body
will grow ever-younger, until it reaches Second Childhood and, beyond
that, the death from which there is no return: Unparturition.
The
cost is 2000 gp OR a 1% chance per 150 gp in a petition envelope.
Short-term
consequences:
- After
the Rite, the rejuveniled character requires a week-long period of
convalescence.
Long-term
consequences:
- Ages
backward from time of death.
- -2
on reaction rolls if exposed as an ever-younger.
- Save
against death or suffer an alteration (1d8):
- Suffers from frequent deja vus.
- Always new, creepily small milk teeth.
- Irrevocably bald
- Nails grow at an alarming speed, turns into faux ivory claws (1d4) if not filed down every day.
- Minor oracle; can predict one mundane occurrence in exchange for debilitating migraine for the rest of the day
- Half of face wrinkled; half smooth as a newborn’s
- Re-roll HP every morning; keep if lower.
- Accelerated youthfulness. 1d12 years younger every lvl up until unborn. Choose +1 str or dex every lvl up.
The
Limits of Anastasis & What Really Goes On
No
one, not even the Ever-Younger Emperors, has been allowed to undergo
the Rite more than once.
The particulars of the Rite is a sought after secret, and worth a lot
to the right buyer. It is guarded thus, by seasoned acolytes
half-way to Second childhood. Below
the Autumn Palace, in the ancient catacombs that were
there before the palace
was built and remained after it was sacked, one of the few remaining
vats of the Rejuvenile
Heresy whirrs, its secrets lost to time. The
supplicant, if still alive, is drugged
to death.
Then, the body is bathed for a night in the vat, filled with a
mixture of acrid smelling herbs and the collected spittle of Little
Ancients.
The
Dirty Horde
The
reason why the sect forbids a second reversal is that a second
resurrection inevitably spells disaster; a breaking down of patterns,
the fraying of an already-frayed vitality. It spawns abominations --
bearded children of impossible age, senile milk toothed beings that
not even Death will go near. This is not known: The ouroborites keep
the little ones, the Dirty
Horde, in the
catacombs below. Tending to them is penance, the collecting of the
Holy Water saliva a small encouragement for a never-ending work. And,
incidentally, gives them the key ingredient for the Rite.
LITTLE ANCIENTS
No. Appearing: 14
HD: 1 AC: Unarmoured.
Attacks: Bite (1d4, raise the damage a die each round after the first as they grow more teeth)
Movement: Like a small child Saves: Not at all Morale: 12
Special: When HP reach zero they fall asleep for 1d12 rounds, then awake with replenished HP
Wants: Sweets, eternal rest, pulling living things apart.
Treasure: Drools holy water, 1 vial/turn.
Always followed: By the Keeper of the Dirty Hoard. At the moment, that would be Molter Benjin, a lvl 5 cleric armed with a stick, infinite patience and a sizable bag of sugar.
