Corruption

Through the use of IRIS, humanity has become something greater than human. Today we are stronger, faster and healthier than any time in our history. It may seem logical therefore that whoever uses the most IRIS would be the most powerful, but not every person is created equal. Many have reached for more than they could control and returned from the experience changed… or never returned at all. It seems that the IRIS manifests as a separate consciousness within the host and as it increasingly saturates the host, gradually attempts to assert control. Each time the host gives in, their ability to resist future assaults decreases. This could be considered a form of mental conditioning, which eventually results in a total loss of control for the host, at which point the IRIS consciousness takes over. Often the transition is exceedingly violent, as the mind of the host makes one final fight-or-flight effort to resist, but by this point it is usually far too late. Beyond this point, the once-human host becomes something almost like an animal, but in eerie human form. We call these lost souls, “Ferals”. Little is known about how they live when they escape alive. Many are killed during the transition phase, as their violence endangers everyone and everything around them. Overall, the phenomenon seems to be similar for all people, but it's impossible to know how far a person can go before they start to change. This gradual descent into Feralization, we call “Corruption”. The more IRIS a person integrates, the more Corruption they suffer. Some resist better, others worse, but everyone has a limit and to go further means losing who you are forever.

Every Character will have some amount of Corruption, so don't be concerned that your Character will go Feral any time soon, unless you're going really crazy with your Character's IRIS. Specifically, this includes any bonuses to your Character's Traits or any Augs you enhance your Character with. As you play, any further Trait ranks and Augs you buy will also increase Corruption, so be cautious with your choices. Skills are exempt from Corruption, as are Weapons, Armor and Equipment.

• Characters begin with 0 Corruption
• Each CP (Character Point) spent on Traits or Augs increases Corruption by the same amount.
• For example, spending 4 CP on Traits and 5 CP on an Aug would lead to an increase of 9 Corruption.
• In certain circumstances, your Corruption may be “triggered” as your IRIS attempts to influence you and weaken your will to resist in the future.
• When Corruption triggers, the Character will be motivated in a certain way by the IRIS. If they Embrace their Corruption, their Corruption increases slightly and they suffer penalties to any action which goes against the motivation, but also gain bonuses to any actions which obey this motivation.
• If they Resist the Corruption, they must make an Endurance Skill test. Success will break the effect immediately with no adverse effects, while failure will still end the Corruption effect, but with penalties to all actions for a short time as the Character is mentally reeling from the strain. Any time a Character Resists Corruption, their Corruption level will not increase.
• The bonuses, penalties and difficulty of the Endurance test to Resist are all dependent on the Character's Corruption level. More Corruption means bigger bonuses, bigger penalties and more difficult tests to Resist.
• Corruption level can be reduced at a cost of 1 CP per 5 Corruption.

Table to follow.